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CrystalDiskMark: Product Overview & Features

CrystalDiskMark interface.

Bottom Line CrystalDiskMark is one of the most popular benchmarking tools for computer and external drives. It’s open source, free, and one of the best free drive benchmark software choices. CrystalDiskMark performs good low-queue reads and provides multiple test modes for drives. The software allows users to test SSDs, including NVMe drives — a useful […]

Written By

Jenna Phipps

Aug 27, 2021

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Bottom Line

CrystalDiskMark is one of the most popular benchmarking tools for computer and external drives. It’s open source, free, and one of the best free drive benchmark software choices. CrystalDiskMark performs good low-queue reads and provides multiple test modes for drives. The software allows users to test SSDs, including NVMe drives — a useful feature for PCIe users who want to test their high-performance drives.

Also Read: Best SSD Benchmark Tools of 2021

Service Description

CrystalDiskMark performs benchmark tests for hard disk drives and solid state drives, showing users how they respond with different queue depths, numbers of threads, and read requirements.

CrystalDiskMark interface.

CrystalDiskMark is available as a free download for Windows computers or servers. There are three versions of the software: Standard edition, Shizuku edition, and Tsukumo Tokka edition.

Features

CrystalDiskMark runs under the following specifications and offers the following features for benchmarking drives.

Supported Hardware

CrystalDiskMark tests performance of local and external hard drives and solid state drives, including NVMe SSDs.

Test Areas

Sequential read/write speeds
Random read/write speeds
Three different modes to run benchmarks: Peak, Real World, and Demo

System Requirements

Operating system:

Windows XP/Vista 7, 8, 8.1, 10
Windows server 2003, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019
Windows versions 95 to 2000 are not supported.

Support

CrystalDiskMark is available in at least 14 languages.
The website lists answers to a few frequently asked questions.
CrystalDiskMark provides a contact email address for users if bugs arise.

Security

CrystalDiskMark is open source software. The vendor website provides no information about the program’s security or its encryption features, if any.

Key Markets and Use Cases

CrystalDiskMark is best suited for:

NVMe SSD testing
Computer hard drive testing for consumers and personal users
Small businesses that regularly benchmark their computer and server hard drives
Small to medium businesses that have many external NVMe drives and require high-speed data transfers.

Jenna Phipps

Jenna Phipps is a staff writer for Enterprise Storage Forum and eSecurity Planet, where she covers data storage, cybersecurity and the top software and hardware solutions in the storage industry. She’s also written about containerization and data management. Previously, she wrote for Webopedia. Jenna has a bachelor's degree in writing and lives in middle Tennessee.