How to Use CrystalDiskMark

This video shows you how to use the CrystalDiskMark disk benchmark utility and how to interpret the results.

CrystalDiskMark is a relatively quick and dirty disk benchmark utility that is very easy to use. It is very useful for doing a quick sanity check on your storage performance. You can use it on any machine running Windows XP or newer, whether it is a laptop or a multi-socket server.

CrystalDiskMark was first released on March 31st, 2007. CrystalDiskMark has used Microsoft DiskSpd since version 4.0.0, which was released on April 30, 2015.

Version 8.0.0 added many new settings and options, so if you have used older versions in the past, this will be a good refresher.

The latest version at the time of recording is version 8.0.4.

⏱️TIMESTAMPS⏱️
0:00 Intro
0:16 What is CrystalDiskMark?
1:12 Finding and downloading CrystalDiskMark
2:24 Unzipping and starting CrystalDiskMark
3:27 GUI Walkthrough Part 1
6:54 GUI Walkthrough Part 2
9:15 GUI Walkthrough Part 3
11:13 Running a disk benchmark test
12:39 What is CrystalDiskMark good for?
15:20 Saving your test results
16:57 Bonus Chorizo footage!

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SOCIAL
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Host, Video: Glenn Berry

[robertbaker]

Thanks so much, Dr. Berry! I learned quite a bit - in particular I hadn't known about the Windows feature (Windows-Shift-S) to cut sections of the screen to the clipboard. I had been using Windows-PrintScreen, pasting the full window to a Word document, then using Word picture tools to crop and resize. Thanks for taking the time to do this video!

[atlantroppus]

Bravo, what a teacher this Glenn Berry!

[VandashStumpedKnee]

Thank you, a lot you gave great details, and in-depth explanation which I need to help myself understand due to learning disabilities.

[dirtrider]

this worked perfectly, thank you very much. especially for the link to download it because the website is confusing.

[Jose_T]

thank you master, now I can compare my current m2 vs my future samsung m2

[burgermeister]

Hi Doc. Thanks for making this video. I've seen several You-Tubers use CrystalDiskMark in their PC hardware videos, but I'm just learning the details of the program tonight for the first time. I noticed that when you ran the first test on your 2TB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD you kept the settings at default (instead of switching them to NVMe SSD first). Why?

[endotherm]

You can use Ctrl-S under the file menu to grab a screenshot of the window too. Ctrl-T gives you the same thing in text format. No need for Windows utilities etc. Helps a lot seeing my keyboard doesn't have a PrtSc key :(.

[salehhassan]

Excellent tutorial thank you for your time

[ThePreciseClimber]

Any idea if it's okay to use a PCIe 4.0 SSD without a heatsink in a PCIe 3.0 laptop? I assume the 3.0 limitations are going to prevent overheating.

[portman]

Got 2444 MB/s read with my 1TB WD Blue SN550. Pretty good for the low price I paid.

[thesilentgeneration]

Clear a mud to me. Of course, I'm 79 and not a tech guy. I did download the zip and ran the options, but the numbers are Greek to me. I was hoping for something simple that told me either my drive was good and about how long it would last or go buy a new drive, stupid! Thanks for the video though maybe I will find a use for it later.

[serhii]

How much data is written to the drive in one test? I had 200 GB written to my SSD, and there is no warning anywhere about how much will be written, I find this annoying

[_bt]

Sir very useful video and informative.Subscribed immediately.
Would you please clarify each 4 rows on the benchmark table?? 1 st one is the r/w speed of large files as far i know but not sure about other 3 rows....

[megadicon]

I don't know, Rick, some numbers don't add up.

[jasonmoss]

Mine says failed to create file for my external ssd, Can you give me some advice and thanks!

[SchooiYT]

After using it, my device became write protected an I have tried everything, yet it can't be removed.

[MelonSplitter]

How does it know what drive to test if you have multiple drives? Just by typing the name of the drive?

[iZacq]

I have Microsoft Surface Book 2 - 15" with 1TB (2018)
I ran the test on both :
Regular - Read - 2600 Write - 1300
NVME - Read - 2600 Write - 1200
Does that mean my SSD is good or very Good ?

Does it mean I have USB 4.0 port or how do I chk that ?

Samsung T7 has speeds of 1000 I think
Which other faster SSD should I look for ?
Thank You

[shobanbabu]

Hi, am using samsung 980 pro but my crystal disk penchmark show read:2700mb write:2800mb what is the reason

[mqcapps]

Except for the 2tb m.2...I have exactly the setup and got almost the same results....so...my question becomes....given all this horsepower ...how fast can ms word go....gaming benchmarks don't tell me much...but the day to day stuff matters....how will spss or a 3 gb excel file go