Disk benchmark/test software

Emlyn_Dewar · 10 May 2011 at 10:06

Recently updated the firmware on a G.Skill Falcon II that came with a 2007 Macbook I bought from these forums.
Due to me being an idiot, I didn't actually bother testing the drive on Windows before reassembling the Macbook and reinstalling the OS.

Ran Xbench? on it and got quite disappointing read results ~110mbps. Results should be nearer 200mbps.
The write results were pretty much spot on with the manufacturer claims ~110mbps...

Before the flash I ran a clean utility from G.Skill so I would not expect the drive to be giving these results.

Does anyone know of any other disk benchmarking software available for OSX? The system "feels" fast enough, but I'd rather just make sure everything is working at the expected speed before using this as my day-to-day system.
I'd prefer not to have to take the laptop apart again and bin the install...

As you can probably tell, I'm pretty new to OSX so not overly sure of the tools that are available.

Thanks for any help.

uniQ · 10 May 2011 at 16:22

Xbench is pretty much the defacto standard for osx. But you could also try QuickBench. I think most data rescue programs such as tech tools pro have some disk benchmarking features too.

Haven't tried it myself but apparently the AJA System test is also quite good and looks likes it's exactly what you are after:

http://www.aja.com/products/software/

MacRS4 · 10 May 2011 at 17:06

Yeah AJA System Test is a good way to consistently test throughput. I've had varying success with XBench in terms of drive stats - they can be somewhat unpredictable, whereas the AJA thing seems quite consistent.

Emlyn_Dewar · 10 May 2011 at 17:17

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll give them both a go.

The xbench results did seem to fluctuate between runs for me so I'd just like to give something else a go to see if it's right.
As I say, the machine seems fine but it'd be better to find out first.

Emlyn_Dewar · 10 May 2011 at 19:21

A fan of that AJA system test.

It confirmed that my write speed is bang on manufacturer claims.
Read speed is @ 125mbps though... Not sure what the deal is.