New free benchmark tool

I wanted to check my RAID from the performance point of view and so downloaded three benchmark utilities:

• HD Tune Pro
• Crystal Disk Mark
• BenchMe

 The price of HD Tune Pro is $34.95 and it provides linear read speed, access time, and quite a few other metrics most of which are not significant. I say these things because I just don't know where I could use this data. One more disadvantage is that it was difficult to find such a main performance characteristic as IOPS.

 CrystalDiskMark doesn't have an option to benchmark a physical data storage device, but is limited to partitions only. From my point of view this might be a drawback. The tool gives read/write speed for various number and size of requests. You can also get benchmark either for linear or random read/write speed.
All tests are designed in such a way that one is able to vary amount of data to be read.

And finally meet one more benchmark tool, BenchMe, that is a really easy-to use benchmark software. Unlike CrystalDiskMark, it benchmarks physical devices, but not logical volumes. Using the software one can get the various performance parameters such as linear read speed, distribution of access time, and a list of features. IOPS (I/O operations per second) values are measured for queue depth 1 and 32.

 Thus, the conclusions of benchmark software review are:

• HD Tune Pro is a paid software with a lot of useless benchmark parameters.
• CrystalDiskMark is a free tool which is characterized by inconvenient interface and with no ability to scan physical data storage devices.
• BenchMe is a free program that gives only really needed benchmark parameters in the most convenient representation.