Benchmarks are a fundamental resource for verifying the speed and stability of our hardware, but we are well aware that they don't work perfectly. Something as simple as a background update can ruin a session, and eliminating variables is as important as the results themselves. That's where ReadSpeed comes in, a high-precision benchmark for SSDs and hard drives that can analyze different regions on a drive and deliver values with excellent repeatability.
The quest for consistency when running benchmarks never ends. From Windows itself (which has a life of its own) to the version of installed drivers, through the potential for throttling, and even firmware changes among components of the same series, all that and more can throw any result out the window if the variables are too broad.
That's why benchmark developers repeat the warning to not compare results between different versions of their programs, but there is another path: working outside the operating system. For storage units specifically, there's the ReadSpeed application, created by Gibson Research Corporation, best known for its InSpectre module. This benchmark for SSDs and hard drives stands out for its high precision, but you need to adapt a bit before using it.
A benchmark for SSDs and hard drives, under DOS
As the subtitle indicates, ReadSpeed works directly in DOS, and I'm not referring to the system console. The Windows download only creates a Live USB loaded with FreeDOS and the main ReadSpeed executable. Once you reboot your computer from that drive, ReadSpeed will run its read benchmark, after confirmation with the Enter key.
The benchmark focuses on five regions of each drive, with virtual markers for 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent. This helps detect speed changes between different positions of the same SSD or hard drive, but ReadSpeed can also recognize interface anomalies, for example, a SATA 3 drive connected to a SATA 2 port.
ReadSpeed is especially useful if you have doubts about the physical integrity of a drive (on modern PCs and retro equipment alike), or if you're thinking of applying the old short stroking technique to speed up hard drives. However, we can't deny that it has some limitations.
First, it doesn't support m.2/NVMe drives, and its inclusion will take time. Second, ReadSpeed only gets read speeds, so you'll need something else if you want to measure write performance. Finally, working in DOS isn't a problem for me (after all, I grew up with that operating system), but other users may decide to keep some distance. Give it a try!
Official site and download: Click here
