Data in a hard drive is transferred at lightning fast speeds.
The write speed of your hard drive is based on many different factors, including the mechanical latency, which is the amount of time it takes for the hard drive to find the data; the rotational speed, which is how fast the hard drive spins (e.g. 5400, 7200, 10000 RPMs; and the disk transfer rate, which is how fast the drive can move data from one platter to another. Checking the speed of your hard drive cannot be done on your computer; you have to download a special program called "Nu2" to test the hard drive write speed for you.
Instructions
Nu2
1. Visit nu2.nu (See Resources). In the list on the web page that appears, choose the download link (bst514.zip) that is nearest your location (USA probably) and click on it to download the Nu2 program.
2. Open the folder that you downloaded and click on the file that reads "bst5.exe." This will launch the installation process.
3. Click "Next" through the entire installation process, which is rapid, until you click "Finish."
4. Open the "Start" menu and click on the "All Programs" list. Scroll down to Nu2 and open it. This will open the Nu2 program.
5. Click "Options" on the first window and then select "Quick Speed Test (write + read," which is the last option in the "Operations" box. Nu2 will now begin checking the read and the write speeds. When the test is completed, a window will pop up displaying the results. For a picture, visit the second link in the resources.
6. Check the values under the "written" box. The number in the box next to "Avg/s" is the average write speed of your hard drive. The number in the box next to "Max/s" is the maximum speed that the hard drive attained while being tested. For a picture of how the results should appear see Resources.
Passmark
7. Go to PassMark.com and download the program (See Resources). After you download the program, open it, which will start the installation process, and follow all of the steps necessary to install the program.
8. Go to the Start menu, click on "All Programs" and double-click the Passmark software.
9. Click on "Advanced Disk Test" in the main menu of the Passmark software. This will open a window called "PassMark Advanced Disk Test." For a picture of the window, see References.
10. Select the hard drive that you want to check the write speed on in the box under "Test Configuration." If you have more than one hard drive, it will appear in this box.
11. Click the "Go" button on the bottom of the window. The real time results of the test will appear in the window titled "Status." The speed in the column titled "MB Written" is the amount of data that has been written in the amount of time that the number under the "Time (Sec)" specifies. When the test is complete, a window will appear called the "Disk Speed Graph," which will show you how consistent your hard drive is in terms of speed. The write speed of your hard drive will be listed next to "Ave. Speed."
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