Software

Benchmarks

For methodology references behind the tools below, see the Testing, Benchmarking & Preconditioning section of SSD Links.

CrystalDiskMark is a very popular storage benchmark. Linux users can use KDiskMark, which provides a similar GUI experience by wrapping fio. CDM lets you tailor its I/O benchmarks to some degree and is ideal when comparing drives under the same conditions. It can be useful for testing with one variable changed, such as having an SSD on PCH/chipset lanes versus CPU lanes to determine the latency hit.

AS SSD is an older SSD benchmark with less relevance for modern drives. It can still be useful when used in tandem with other benchmarks to locate issues. Anvil’s Storage Utilities sits in a similar role: older but still referenced in legacy comparisons.

ATTO Disk Benchmark is another popular storage benchmark with decent configurability. It is useful for showing performance at various I/O block sizes.

HD Tune is another older SSD benchmark that has largely fallen out of use. If set up correctly it can still provide useful information in some cases.

3DMark and PCMark offer storage benchmarks for gaming and office use. UL’s 3DMark Storage Benchmark is the most directly gaming-storage-focused component test, using practical scenarios rather than pure synthetic load.

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test and AJA System Test target video editing workflows. Blackmagic’s tool is a Mac staple. Both give a quick sense of sustained throughput at large block sizes, which matters more to editors than to general computing.

Simply transferring files can be an effective way to do a “real world” test for your drive, assuming a good mixture of files and a sufficiently large transfer. Programs like DiskBench can help here, or Microsoft’s DiskSPD, the storage performance tool maintained by the Windows and Azure infrastructure engineering teams and the basis for CDM.

There are also full test suites such as Phoronix Test Suite and ezFIO.

A more classic approach involves Iometer, although programs that offer more flexibility and Linux support, like fio and elbencho, have largely supplanted it for serious work.

DirectStorage exists, but drive-to-drive differences are still hard to expose in real games. Current options include 3DMark Storage Benchmark and Microsoft’s DirectStorage samples, but results should be treated as workload-specific rather than universal SSD rankings.

Enterprise & Advanced Benchmarking

Tools that target server, datacenter, and developer workflows. Not appropriate for casual consumer testing, but referenced here for completeness.

  • Vdbench – Oracle’s command-line workload generator for storage performance and data integrity validation
  • SPDK – Storage Performance Development Kit; userspace NVMe and storage framework for very high-performance testing and development
  • DiskSpd – Microsoft’s storage performance tool, suitable for both consumer and enterprise scenarios

Validation & Fake-Capacity Testing

Use these for USB flash drives, SD cards, cheap external SSDs, and any suspicious high-capacity device. They are destructive or write-heavy tests, so do not run them on a drive containing data you care about.

  • F3 (Fight Flash Fraud) – Linux/macOS-oriented fake-capacity validation; writes pseudorandom data and verifies the device returns the same data
  • H2testw – Windows classic for USB flash drives, SD cards, and questionable removable storage
  • ValiDrive – quick fake-capacity spot check for Windows; non-destructive but only samples

Health & SMART Monitoring

CrystalDiskInfo is a popular Windows application for checking SMART values and other characteristics of your drive. Monitoring and maintaining the health of your SSD can be important.

Hard Disk Sentinel is a more robust disk health monitoring program with extensive options for the power user. The Borecraft homepage carries a promo code link.

smartmontools is an excellent SMART suite for multiple platforms that gives direct access to drive information. GSmartControl is the GUI front-end and is the easiest way for non-CLI users to read smartctl output. smartctl itself is the best cross-platform second opinion when GUI tools disagree.

nvme-cli is the canonical command-line tool for managing NVMe SSDs on Linux. It exposes Identify data, log pages, sanitize, format, and feature commands. Some SSDs ship with vendor plugins that surface drive-specific telemetry through the same tool.

HDDScan is a Windows-side disk diagnostic with surface scanning, SMART display, and benchmarking. Useful as a second opinion alongside CrystalDiskInfo, but be cautious running aggressive scans against suspect drives.

HWiNFO is a comprehensive system information, monitoring, and diagnostics tool that surfaces drive temperatures, link width and speed, and motherboard sensors alongside the rest of the system. Useful for correlating drive behavior with thermal or power events.

Victoria (search by name; the canonical hosting moves) is a long-running advanced disk diagnostic with surface scanning and low-level access. Useful but not for first-time use; treat it as expert-only territory.

Vendor SSD Toolboxes

Most major SSD vendors ship a desktop utility for their drives. Functionality varies but typically includes firmware updates, SMART and health logs, optimization, and secure erase, sometimes with cloning. For firmware flashing in particular, prefer the vendor’s own tool over third-party paths.

Windows Built-In Storage Tools

Not every storage task needs a download. Windows ships with capable tools for most day-to-day partitioning, optimization, and inspection.

  • Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) – basic partitioning
  • diskpart – CLI partitioning, cleaning, and scripted setup
  • PowerShell Storage cmdlets – Get-Disk, Get-PhysicalDisk, Get-StoragePool, and friends for inspection and storage-spaces management
  • Optimize Drives / defrag.exe – TRIM/retrim and scheduled maintenance
  • fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify – quick TRIM-state check
  • Event Viewer – disk, storport, stornvme, and NTFS warnings worth checking when behavior is suspect
  • Resource Monitor (resmon.exe) – quick “what is hitting the disk right now?” view

Utilities, Imaging & Partitioning

VLO’s utilities are a suite of tools for identifying the hardware on your SSD and, in some cases, repairing older drives. Some surface HMB status and other configuration details. Use with caution. Several of VLO’s utilities and the broader category of MPTools (mass production tools used by OEMs to write firmware and alter drive parameters) sit close to firmware-flashing territory, where a wrong move can brick a drive permanently. MPTools surface intermittently on sites like USBDev; treat them as expert-only territory and confirm the tool matches your exact controller and flash configuration before running anything that writes.

USB Device Tree Viewer is useful when working with external SSDs and enclosures, particularly for identifying USB-to-NVMe bridge chips and confirming UASP support.

MultiDrive by Atola Technology is a free Windows tool for backing up, cloning, erasing, and restoring drives. It can clone or back up drives with read errors that Windows itself cannot access, drawing on Atola’s data recovery background.

Parted Magic and similar recovery environments can be useful for unbootable systems or for performing a sanitize / secure erase. Building your own live Linux media, for example with Debian, is also viable for running tools like hdparm and nvme-cli. For a curated bootable kit including data-recovery tooling (TestDisk, PhotoRec, ddrescue, DMDE), see the USB Emergency Kit.

The same environments are useful for imaging and cloning. Dedicated software includes Clonezilla and Macrium Reflect. Note that Macrium Reflect Free is end-of-life as of January 1, 2024 and no longer receives security patches; rely on the current paid version, an alternative imaging tool, or a bootable rescue environment for new systems. For partitioning, MiniTool Partition Wizard tends to be easier than Disk Management, though watch the installer for bundled offers and the free-tier feature limits. For many one-off jobs, Windows’ built-in tools or Linux options like GParted, Rescuezilla, and Clonezilla are cleaner choices.

Trace & Troubleshooting

These do not benchmark the drive directly. They help identify what process, driver, or workload is causing disk activity, latency, or unexpected wear.

Tiering, Caching & Pools

Many users like the idea of using SSDs in more complex configurations: tiering or caching with HDDs, or running them in a RAID. For tiering and RAIDs, the easiest path is usually Storage Spaces, which is built into Windows. PowerShell may be required for more complex setups. RAID can also be done in Disk Management, or pre-boot via the storage controller or in UEFI.

Some programs allow for RAM caching on SSDs and in general this should not be used. Examples include Samsung’s Rapid Mode and Crucial’s Momentum Cache. For finer, useful control over caching, refer to PrimoCache.

For pool use and management, something like StableBit DrivePool makes sense, paired with StableBit Scanner for surface scanning and SMART monitoring across the pool. SnapRAID adds parity-based protection for collections of drives without striping and is a common pairing with DrivePool for archival workloads. Beyond that lie the more advanced options of Unraid and TrueNAS.

Storage Drivers

In general, modern Windows, Linux, and macOS systems do not need third-party NVMe drivers for basic SSD functionality. Use vendor drivers only when they are explicitly supported for your drive and platform, or when you need a specific feature.

  • Microsoft StorNVMe (in-box NVMe driver) – the normal default for Windows. DirectStorage in its current form relies on this driver.
  • Samsung NVMe Driver – mainly relevant to older Samsung NVMe models (950 PRO, 960 PRO/EVO, 970 PRO/EVO/EVO Plus). Modern Samsung drives generally use the Microsoft in-box driver.
  • Solidigm Synergy Driver – supported only on Solidigm SSDs; provides features such as host-managed caching (HMC) and is DirectStorage-compatible. Works with the Intel 665p, Intel 670p, Solidigm P44 Pro, Solidigm P41 Plus, and future Solidigm drives. RAID and VMD modes do not support third-party storage drivers and must be disabled to install it.
  • Intel RST / VMD – platform and OEM-specific. Can complicate Linux installs, recovery environments, and third-party drivers; worth understanding before enabling on a system you may need to rescue later.
  • Windows Server 2025 Native NVMe – advanced. Native NVMe is generally available for Windows Server 2025 with an opt-in model and is disabled by default as of the relevant cumulative update.
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