Is your Mac’s storage system up to snuff?
Just how fast is that new drive you hooked up to your Mac?
What Is Blackmagic Disk Speed Test?
One of the simplest drive performance tools to use.
Geared toward video pros, but works for anyone.
Doesn’t provide extensive performance information.
No data logging for comparing multiple speed tests.
While Blackmagic makes the app freely available to anyone, its emphasis is on video capture and playback.
SelectSettings(gear icon) above the Start button.
ClickSelect Target Drivefrom the drop-down menu.
In the left panel of the Finderscreen, choose the disk orMac volumeyou want to test, then clickOpen.
Click theSettingsbutton, then choose the size of the Stress file the tool will use.
Options range from 1 GB to 5 GB.
Click theSpeed Test Startbutton and watch as the information loads on the screen.
The entire test takes about 16 seconds, but it repeats over and over again.
To stop the test, clickStartagain.
How to Read the Results
Below the two main speedometers are theWill It WorkandHow Fastresults panels.
Each format in the panel has multiple options for color bit depths, and individual read or write checkboxes.
Test Size Options
Blackmagic refers to the test size as the stress size.
It’s the size of the dummy file the app uses for writing and reading.
The choices are 1 GB, 2 GB, 3 GB, 4 GB, and 5 GB.
The size you choose is important.
Ideally, it needs to be larger than any cache a hard drive may include in its design.
When testing the performance of a modern drive, use the 5 GB stress size.
In addition, let the test run through more than one write and read cycle.
you’ve got the option to see this occur on the write and read speedometers.
The test continues until you click theStartbutton again to stop it.
The Results
The results are where the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test needs the most work.
If you watch the speedometers during a test, they jump around quite a bit.
The speed displayed when you nudge the Start button is only the speed at that one moment in time.
You get no report of average speed or peak speed.
Even with this limitation, you get a reasonable ballpark figure for how fast the drive is performing.
Final Thoughts
Blackmagic Disk Speed Test gives a quick test to determine how well a drive performs.
It’s also useful for measuring how external enclosures perform with the same drive installed in them.
Disk Speed Test works well to quickly see how well a storage system performs.
