{"id":"external-drives.how-does-the-drive-speed-test-work","url":"/faq/external-drives/how-does-the-drive-speed-test-work","category":{"id":"external-drives","title":"External drives"},"subcategory":{"id":"setting-up","title":"Setting up your drive"},"question":"How does the drive speed test in Storage Studio work?","alt_questions":["What does Run benchmark do?","Is the speed test safe for my drive?","How long does the drive benchmark take?","storage studio benchmark external ssd","Why does Storage Studio test my drive speed?","Does the speed test delete anything?"],"short_answer":"Run benchmark briefly writes a test file to the drive, reads it back and deletes it — about 5–10 seconds — then shows read and write speeds with a verdict. Your own files aren't touched.","answer_markdown":"Click **Run benchmark** in Choose Drive and Storage Studio briefly writes a test file to the drive, reads it back, then deletes it. It takes about 5–10 seconds and shows two bars — **Read** and **Write** — coloured green, orange or red, with a combined verdict underneath.\n\nThe test only touches its own temporary file; nothing of yours is read, changed or removed. It needs a little free space on the drive to run. Transfer Drive and Backup Drive run the same quick check on the destination before copying.","answer_html":"

Click Run benchmark in Choose Drive and Storage Studio briefly writes a test file to the drive, reads it back, then deletes it. It takes about 5–10 seconds and shows two bars — Read and Write — coloured green, orange or red, with a combined verdict underneath.

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The test only touches its own temporary file; nothing of yours is read, changed or removed. It needs a little free space on the drive to run. Transfer Drive and Backup Drive run the same quick check on the destination before copying.

","answer_text":"Click Run benchmark in Choose Drive and Storage Studio briefly writes a test file to the drive, reads it back, then deletes it. It takes about 5–10 seconds and shows two bars — Read and Write — coloured green, orange or red, with a combined verdict underneath.\n\nThe test only touches its own temporary file; nothing of yours is read, changed or removed. It needs a little free space on the drive to run. Transfer Drive and Backup Drive run the same quick check on the destination before copying.","tags":["benchmark","speed test","choose drive"],"related":[{"id":"external-drives.does-the-speed-test-wear-out-my-ssd","question":"Does running the drive speed test wear out my SSD?","url":"/faq/external-drives/does-the-speed-test-wear-out-my-ssd"},{"id":"external-drives.how-do-i-set-up-my-external-drive","question":"How do I set up my external drive in Storage Studio?","url":"/faq/external-drives/how-do-i-set-up-my-external-drive"},{"id":"external-drives.what-do-looks-good-warnings-and-not-suitable-mean","question":"What do \"looks good\", \"usable with warnings\" and \"not suitable\" mean in Choose Drive?","url":"/faq/external-drives/what-do-looks-good-warnings-and-not-suitable-mean"}],"applies_to":"all","last_reviewed":"2026-10-01","title":"How does the drive speed test in Storage Studio work? — Storage Studio FAQ","description":"Run benchmark briefly writes a test file to the drive, reads it back and deletes it — about 5–10 seconds — then shows read and write speeds with a verdict. Your own files aren't touched.","crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"FAQ","path":"/faq/"},{"name":"External drives","path":"/faq/external-drives/"},{"name":"How does the drive speed test in Storage Studio work?","path":"/faq/external-drives/how-does-the-drive-speed-test-work"}],"jsonld":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/external-drives/how-does-the-drive-speed-test-work","inLanguage":"en","dateModified":"2026-10-01","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How does the drive speed test in Storage Studio work?","alternateName":["What does Run benchmark do?","Is the speed test safe for my drive?","How long does the drive benchmark take?","storage studio benchmark external ssd","Why does Storage Studio test my drive speed?","Does the speed test delete anything?"],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Click Run benchmark in Choose Drive and Storage Studio briefly writes a test file to the drive, reads it back, then deletes it. It takes about 5–10 seconds and shows two bars — Read and Write — coloured green, orange or red, with a combined verdict underneath.\n\nThe test only touches its own temporary file; nothing of yours is read, changed or removed. It needs a little free space on the drive to run. Transfer Drive and Backup Drive run the same quick check on the destination before copying.","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/external-drives/how-does-the-drive-speed-test-work"}}]},"fragment":"
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External drives · Setting up your drive

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How does the drive speed test in Storage Studio work?

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Short answer: Run benchmark briefly writes a test file to the drive, reads it back and deletes it — about 5–10 seconds — then shows read and write speeds with a verdict. Your own files aren't touched.

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Click Run benchmark in Choose Drive and Storage Studio briefly writes a test file to the drive, reads it back, then deletes it. It takes about 5–10 seconds and shows two bars — Read and Write — coloured green, orange or red, with a combined verdict underneath.

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The test only touches its own temporary file; nothing of yours is read, changed or removed. It needs a little free space on the drive to run. Transfer Drive and Backup Drive run the same quick check on the destination before copying.

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