Test Hard Drive For Mac

Posted on by admin

Sep 18, 2020 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions

Do you want to carry out a hard drive speed test for your Windows or Mac? You are probably wondering which hard drive speed tester is the best for your Mac or your Windows. Below is top selections software to test your hard drive speed. You can choose the best hard drive speed tester from the top 6 hard drive speed test software for Windows and the top 4 for Mac. If you meet problems of data lost due to hard drive, go looking at our solutions for Windows and Mac.

Part 1. Top 6 Hard Drive Speed Test Software for Windows

Mac hard drive test software - creating the definitive list. Disk Utility, diskutil (FREE, comes with OS) Smartmon Tools (FREE, Open Source) SMARTReporter ($4.95 for commercial version, but an older version is FREE) Scannerz Lite ($21.95) Scannerz with Phoenix and FSE-Lite ($39.95) Disk Tools Pro ($79.99) Disk Warrior ($99.00) Drive Genius ($99.00). This drive also perhaps the most interesting drive on test here. You can use the WD My Passport Wireless Pro like a standard wired hard drive, but it also has integrated Wi-Fi and a 10-hour. Seagate SeaTools. Works from both inside and outside of Windows. Completely free.

1. HD Tach

If you want to perform a hard drive speed test for your windows device, the HD Tach is here http://www.techspot.com/downloads/6714-hdtach.html

The main features of this hard drive tester include:

  • It reads from all areas in the hard drive
  • Provides an average speed report
  • It logs read speeds to a text file for loading in a spreadsheet
  • Performs sequential as well as random reads
  • It also tests the burst speed of the drive

How to use HD Tach to test hard drive speed?

  • Download the application and install it into your device
  • Open the installation folder and then right-click on HD Tach
  • On the Compatibility tab, select Windows XP ( Service Pack 3) and then click Run this program as administrator

Run the application and click run test

When the test is complete, you will see the screen appearing in this manner

2. ATTO Disk Benchmark

Features of ATTO Disk hard speed tester includes:

  • It can transfer sizes up to 64 MB and lengths up to 32 GB
  • Supports overlapped I/O
  • Its time mode provides room for continuous testing
  • It supports several queue depths

You can get this app from http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/ATTO-Disk-Benchmark.shtml

How to use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test hard drive speed on Windows?

  1. Download the hard drive speed tester install it
  2. Run the Benchmark.exe
  3. Select the drive and hit Start
  4. Wait for the test to complete then check the results

3. Anvil's Storage Utilities

Features of Anvil's hard drive speed test includes

  • Performs complete read/write tests using random and sequential operations
  • Provides a full set of results which include response time
  • It comes with three IOPS tests

How to use Anvil's Storage Utilities to test hard drive speed?

  1. Download this hard drive speed tester and install it in your device. Simply go to http://as-ssd-benchmark.en.softonic.com/
  1. Unpack the app. It will detect and display the information related to the computer in its interface
  2. Check the settings to ensure that everything is configured correctly.
  3. Click start for the test to start.

4. roadkill Speed test

Features of RoadKil hard drive speed test includes:

  • Provides details on how fast your drive can transfer data
  • Allows you to compare different drive speeds

How to use the software to test your hard drive speed?

The usage of this app is very straight forward.

  1. Download and install the app. To download, click http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=13
  2. Run the program and select the disk to be tested
  1. Hit begin the test and wait for it to complete.

5. Parkdale

Features of Parkdale speed test for Windows hard drive includes:

  • Measures speeds of hard disks, network servers, and Cd Rom devices
  • Transfers are measured in kb/s or MB/s
  • Available for both Mac and Windows
  • Has 3 different modes; FileAccess, QuickAccess, and BlockAccess

To use this Speed tester to test hard drive speed, follow these simple steps:

  1. Download the app
  2. Run the up, select the drive, and choose one of the three modes that you would like to use to speed test the hard drive.
Test external hard drive mac
  1. Click start and let the process run

6. CrystalDiskMark

This is a freeware utility that is used to check hard disk performance.

Some of its features to test hard drive speed are:

  • Runs both sequential and random read/write tests
  • It can test any drive. This means you can perform an external hard drive speed test.

To download this app, go to http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskMark/index-e.html

Steps on how to use CrystalDiskMark to perform hard drive speed test

  1. Download CrystalDiskMark and then install it
  2. Run the program
  1. Select the following setting in this step
    • Number of runs 1
    • Size to test 50 MB
    • The disk you would like to check

Hard Drive Speed Test For Mac

  1. Click ALL to start the test.

Part 2. Video Tutorial on Hard Disk Speed Test

Part 2: Top 4 hard drive speed test software for Mac

1. BlackMagic Disk Speed Test

This is one of the best apps that you can use to perform a hard drive speed test on Mac.

The features of the hard drive speed tester are:

  • It has only one window
  • Requires a few simple settings
  • Compatible with OS X 10.10 Yosemite
  • It shows write/read speeds in MB/second

Interested in this app? Well, go to http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/38019/blackmagic-disk-speed-test to download the app for your Mac.

How to use BlackMagic Disk Speed Test to speed test hard drive on Mac?

  • It is just one simple step. Click the Start button and the app will write test your drive.
  • To access files use the File and Stress menu to choose the right hard drive to be tested.

2. NovaBench

This is another popular speed test app for Mac that you can use for hard drive speed test on your mac.

Features

  • Comes with 3D graphic speed tests
  • Tests the floating-point arithmetic speed of CPU
  • Tests write speed of the selected or primary hard drive

To download this app, go to https://novabench.com/download.php

Here are the steps about how to do a hard drive speed test by using NovaBench

  1. Download NovaBench app into your Mac
  2. Startup the Program
  1. Close all other applications before you run the speed test.
  2. Run the Speed test process. Go to Tests>> Run All Tests
  1. When it is completed, you will receive something like this:

3. Parkdale

The features of this hard disk speed tester include:

  • Transfers are measured in kb/s or MB/s
  • Measures speeds of hard disks, network servers, and Cd Rom devices
  • Has 3 different modes; FileAccess, QuickAccess, and BlockAccess
  • It is available for both Mac and Windows

To use this Speed tester, follow these simple steps:

  1. Download the app from http://run.to/sz
  2. Run the up, select the drive, and choose one of the three modes that you would like to use to speed test the hard drive.
  1. Click start and let the process run

4. Geekbench

This is a hard disk speed test tool which has the following features;

  • Benchmark: Measures Speed and performance
  • It measures how your computer manages tasks and applications.
  • It determines the stability of the computer system.
  • It supports Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.

Hard drive speed test using Geekbench

Just follow these simple steps to perform a hard drive read-write speed test using Geekbench. It can also do an external hard drive speed test.

  • Download Geekbench into your device. You can get it from http://www.primatelabs.com/geekbench/
  • Switch all the applications on your computer to get maximum results.
  • Launch the Geekbench application
  • Click on Run benchmarks. If you are using a free trial version then you will be limited to 32-bit mode. If you purchase it then you can use 64-bit mode.
  • Once the progress is complete you will see your results as in the figure below.

What's Wrong with Drive

Recover Your Drive
Fix Your Drive
Format/Wipe Drive
Know Your Drive
Get a data lifeguard for Mac
Disk Drill brings deleted files back from the dead.

Most of the time, when you connect an external hard drive to your Mac’s USB port, you soon see it mount on the desktop. Apple likes to ensure these are easy to find, so they also appear in the Finder in the left-hand column under Devices, since Mac’s treat them the same way as another computer.

However, sometimes, an external hard drive doesn't show up. It’s annoying, especially when you need to transfer something right then. And besides, there can be a risk that data on the external USB pen, hard, or flash drive is corrupt, which means you can’t transfer what you need between devices at all.

Corrupt data can be one reason your Mac won't recognize an external drive, but there are other reasons too. Let’s take a look why this is happening and how you can get an external drive to appear on your Mac and get recover data to access to your documents.

How to fix an external disk drive that won't show up on a Mac

Why an external disk drive is not showing up? There could be a few reasons why a USB flash drive isn’t making an appearance.

Open an External Drive Not Showing on Mac

Get a huge set of top utilities for troubleshooting external hard drives not mounting on a Mac

Start with the basics:

  1. Check whether the drive is properly plugged in. It sounds obvious, but since this relies on a wire - either a USB cable or HDMI cable - if it’s not connected properly then it won’t appear on your desktop.
  2. Faulty cable. Assuming it’s plugged in correctly, not wobbly or loose, the cable could be at fault. Try connecting the same device with a different cable.
  3. Damaged USB or flash drive port. It could be a hardware issue with the Mac. If you’ve got another port, try connecting the device to that one.
  4. Reboot your Mac. Sometimes, if a USB disk won't boot, the cause is macOS issue. Hopefully, some data damage that can be fixed by restarting. Choose the Apple menu > Restart. Or press and hold the power button and, when a dialog box appears, click the Restart or press R. Restarting your Mac essentially clears your macOS’s memory and starts it up fresh.
  5. Incorrectly formatted drive. Not every external drive is optimized for Macs. It could be that you are trying to connect something only fit to interact with Windows devices. If you’ve got a PC or laptop, it’s worth connecting and seeing if you can access the files through another device. The best way to look for an incorrectly formatted drive is to go to
    Apple (in the top toolbar menu) > About This Mac > Storage.
    See if the external drive shows up here. For more information, go to the same menu option, then select System Report.
  6. Mac not formatted to display external drives on the desktop. It could be that your Mac already recognizes the device, but just isn’t showing its icon on the desktop screen. Even if that is the case, the drive will still appear in the left-hand column of the Finder menu under Devices. You should be able to access your drive that way, and, in the Finder menu under Preferences > General, you can check External Drives to ensure that from now on it shows up on your desktop too.
  7. Reset NVRAM. To do this, shut down or restart your Mac, switch it back on and immediately press these four keys together for at least 20 seconds: Option, Command, P, and R. It should look as though your Mac has started again; if it has, release the keys when you hear the second startup chime. Hopefully, the hard drive has shown up now.
  8. Check Apple’s Disk Utility to see if an external drive is showing up. Disk Utility is within System Preferences, or you can find it using Spotlight. If it is visible, then click the option to Mount, which should make it visible on the desktop and in the External Drives option in the Finder menu.

Unfortunately, if none of those options has worked and the external drive still isn’t visible, then it could have crashed, or be well and truly broken. But there might still be a way you can recover the data on the external drive.

How to show connected devices in Finder

  1. Go to the Finder menu and select Preferences (Cmd+comma).
  2. From General tab tick External disks to ensure that from now on it shows on the desktop.

In the Sidebar tab you can choose which folders and devices will be shown in the left-hand column of the Finder window.

How to add cloud storages to Finder

You can also mount cloud storage as local drive on your Mac. By connecting Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon to your computer, you get more space for securely accessing and sharing files. For your ease, add cloud drives to Finder with CloudMounter app, so that you keep them close at hand. You can read detailed instructions on managing cloud storage as local drives here.

Repair the failed external drives with First Aid

If your drive is having problems, you can try to fix them yourself with First Aid and therefore get access to your files. First Aid tool will check the disk for errors and then attempt a repair as needed. It helps to verify and repair a range of issues related to startup HD and external drive problems. If you are able to fix the hard drive or SSD in your Mac (or an external drive) using Disk Utility you will hopefully be able to recover your files.

To run Fist Aid on an external hard drive:

  1. Open Disk Utility. You can searching for it using Spotlight Search or via Finder > Application > Utility
  2. Check on your external hard drive, click the First Aid tab and select Run to start running diagnostics.

If First Aid successful in fixing errors, the external drive should be available to mount. If the utility unable to repair issues, your drive truly is broken or formatted using a file system that the Mac cannot read - in this way we suggest you follow the next steps to recover data from a damaged disk drive.

How to recover data from a crashed drive

Thankfully, there is an app for that. Disk Drill is the world’s premier data recovery software for Mac OS X. Powerful enough to retrieve long-lost, mistakenly deleted files from Macs, external hard drives and USB drives and camera cards.

Get a file recovery app

With Setapp you get a pack of professional tools for file recovery and Mac maintenance.

An easy way to recover lost files on an external hard drive

Providing you already have Disk Drill Pro version, which you can get automatically by downloading from Setapp:

  1. Connect your drive to the Mac.
  2. Quit all other applications on the Mac, especially those that may be trying to access the external drive (e.g. iPhoto, Words)
  3. Launch Disk Drill.
  4. Click on the external drive that you are trying to recover files from. If it has partitions, you will see all of them. If, however, you still don’t see any volume to the external drive then you may need to try some of the steps above again or read the Disk Drill Scanning FAQs.
  5. To avoid the external drive being accessed during the recovery process, click Extras next to the drive or drive partition or file, then select Remount Volume As Read Only. A padlock will appear, protecting the drive during the process.
  6. Now click Rebuild (or Recover) next to the file(s) you are trying to recover. Once the scan is finished - it may take some time if the files are large - a list of files will appeal.
  7. Next, click Mount Found Items as Disk button on the bottom-left below the scan results.
  8. Disk Drill “strongly suggest saving the files to a different drive than the one you are trying to recover files from. Saving to the same drive substantially lowers your chances of recovery.”
  9. A drive icon will appear, which once you double click will give you the option to open the files as you would do before they were lost. Drag them to another location, such as your desktop or a folder on your Mac.
  10. Open the files to ensure they have been recovered properly and safely eject the external drive.

Disk Drill does have other ways to recover lost files but assuming there aren’t complications, this method is the most effective. Disk Drill Pro recovery app is available from Setapp, along with dozens of Mac apps that will make your life easier. Never have to worry about a crashed or corrupted external drive again.

A few more tips on getting your files back

Test Hard Disk Mac Os X

  1. Macs and third-party apps that look after Macs, such as Disk Drill and iStat Menus come with a S.M.A.R.T. (also known as Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) status monitor. If a SMART check reports errors, then it could mean the hard drive is at risk of failing completely. Within Disk Utility and Disk Drill, there are several solutions for this: Repair Disk Permissions and Repair Disk. If neither work, it’s recommended that you backup all of the data from the disk, erase, then run a SMART check again. The external hard drive should show up as Verified.
  2. Partitions can get lost within hard drives, temporarily hiding all of the information contained within. Disk Drill can help to identify and restore this information.
  3. Within Disk Drill, you can restore data when a hard drive is damaged or add formatting, which is also something Disk Utility can help with.
  4. CleanMyMac, another useful app available from Setapp, can help you identify external hard drive errors and repair them. It is an essential tool worth trying when you’re having external hard drive difficulties.

Try all these apps for free

Get a huge set of top apps for keeping your Mac in shape. Best utilities in one pack, give it a go!

Alternative ways to recover data from an external hard drive

Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) if your Mac shuts down when you plug in an external hard drive. Then use a different port to connect the external hard drive. If you’ve got a battery that you can’t remove:

  • Shut down and unplug the power adapter
  • Press Shift-Control-Option and the power button at the same time. Do this for 10 seconds
  • Release all keys
  • Plug the power adapter back in and switch your Mac back on

For Macs with removable batteries, you need to switch them off, remove the battery, then press and hold the power button for 5 seconds. After that, put the battery back in, plug in the power adapter and switch the power on again.

What’s your file format? One reason your Mac isn’t recognizing the hard drive is the file format. Windows uses NTFS file formats, while Macs, up until the introduction of Sierra, have used HFS+. Now, Apple has introduced the Apple File System (APFS) for newer operating systems. It is possible to format a hard drive so it can be read on Mac and Windows computers, providing you format using exFAT. However, if you’re having problems accessing the files and the issue is due to formatting, you will need to connect it to a device it can be read on, and then format the files correctly for the computer you are going to use it on next.

How to make Ext2/Ext3 drives readable on Mac

The common issue is Ext2- and Ext3-formatted drives are not readable on macOS. There are two ways to access such external drives on your Mac – via Linux OS or FUSE system. The easiest would be installing Linux to a secondary drive or virtual machine.

If you go with Linux installation, dual boot your Mac with Linux on another drive and use FAT32 as a transfer intermediary. If you don’t have a drive to install Linux to, use virtual machine as an interface for it. Transferring can be done the same way – with FAT32, or via network.

Another option for reading Ext2/Ext3 disks is mounting disk with Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE). Basically, it works as an extra interface enabling file system access via specially installed modules. Here’s how to mount drives with FUSE:

Stress Test Hard Drive Mac

  1. Install FUSE for macOS or MacFUSE as well as fuse-ext2 module.
  2. Use the following Terminal command to enable Disk Utility’s debug menu and see all partitions: defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled 1
  3. Attach your Ext2/Ext3 drive and locate the device name via Disk Utility.
  4. In your user account, create a folder to be used as a mount point.
  5. Use the following Terminal command to mount the drive as read-only: fuse-ext2 /dev/disk2s2 /Volumes/mountpoint
  6. For write support, use the command: fuse-ext2 -o force /dev/disk2s2 /Volumes/mountpoint

And that’s not the only case where Terminal helps you access external drive.

Employ the handy all-powerful Terminal, which always comes forward with solutions for difficult problems. Especially if System Information does recognize the USB or hard drive, but continues to hide it from you, disconnect the drive and try to find it using the Terminal, which you can find in Applications > Utilities.

Disk Speed Test For Mac

  • Once in the Terminal, type in the command diskutil list
  • A list with information about volumes and drives should appear
  • Look for a section labelled /dev/disk_ (external, physical)
  • Make a note of the whole line after the word disk
  • Now put the following command into the Terminal diskutil info disk followed by the number or digits assigned to that disk
  • Now you should see detailed information about the drive, therefore confirming that your Mac can and does recognize it
  • Eject using the Terminal by entering the command diskutil eject disk followed by the number or digits assigned to that disk
  • Physically remove the disk from you Mac
  • Plug it back in and your Mac should recognize it

Console is also reliable when it comes to solving tricky problems, although it isn’t always that easy to use. You can find Console under Applications > Utilities > Console. Console shows if an external drive or any error is detected under the Errors and Faults tab. If no errors show up, then the problem is not caused by the device.

Mac Disk Health

To sum up, there are lots of potential solutions for a Mac not reading an external hard drive. If we were to pick one, Disk Drill seems to be the most well-rounded, offering plenty of customizations and power in an easy-to-use interface. Disk Drill Pro recovery app is available via Setapp, along with 150+ Mac apps that strive to make your life much much easier. At the very least, you’ll never have to worry about a crashed or corrupted external drive ever again.

Setapp lives on Mac and iOS. Please come back from another device.

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

Mac Hard Drive Diagnostic

Read on

Test External Hard Drive Mac

Sign Up

Setapp uses cookies to personalize your experience on our website. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our cookie policy.