▷ Atto disk benchmark: what is it and what is it for? ?

We continue the small series where we explain some more or less known applications in the orbit of computing. Today, we are going to show you a certainly well-known program that even some hardware companies use to test their devices. In case it did not sound familiar, we will briefly talk about ATTO Disk Benchmark .

What is ATTO Disk Benchmark ?

Unlike other programs we have seen, this one has a rather common name. Disk Benchmark is an application created by ATTO , a company dedicated to creating electronic devices, drivers and software. Obviously Disk Benchmark belongs to the latter group.

As you will see, the name of the program says it all. The application is used to test memory units, although not only HDDs and SSDs , but also works on RAID systems, for example. According to the company itself, major manufacturers such as Hitachi use their benchmarks to check the quality of their units.

As you will see below, ATTO Disk Benchmark is a simple interface program. It is quite intuitive and presents the information in a visual and easily understandable way. In addition, we have a very acceptable selection of benchmarks and options that does not give rise to the feeling that nothing is missing.

As you can see in the image above, the interface is very direct and offers us a series of very easily configurable tests . If we compare it with previous versions, honestly, the change is quite noticeable.

As the benchmarks are carried out, the results will be reflected in the vertical graph and in the Write / Read columns. So you can see how your memory performs and if it is suffering from a notable failure by not reaching the expected speeds, for example.

How do I download it and how does it work?

The download method of ATTO Disk Benchmark is not very common. You will have to go to their website and "register" (rather leave your data) to access the download website.

Once there, you can easily download its software and you will download a compressed file with an installer inside. We warn you that, after installation, you will not have a Direct Access on the Desktop , but do not worry, the program will be installed. You just have to open Start and search ATTO , for example, to run it.

When you open the application for the first time you will see it with this appearance:

Next, we will briefly explain what each option we have in the window is for.

Main options

Tests test data transfer, but information can be moved with different settings.

First of all, you will have to choose the unit to test on. In our case, we will use a Samsung SSD 840 EVO 500GB .

On the other hand, if you look, it is you who tells the program the upper and lower limits and the file sizes. You can select input sizes from 512 Bytes to 64 MegaBytes and file sizes from 64 KiloBytes to 32 GigaBytes.

Obviously, we recommend you keep an average size of 256 or 512 MegaBytes , since the largest sizes are for testing more massive memory systems. Also, if your drive is an HDD or even a standard transfer rate SSD (500MB / s) , it will probably take a long time to complete a test of 16 or 32 GigaBytes .

The description is useful in case we want to save the information of a benchmark with some type of comment. It can be useful if you want to compare yields, save an interesting or important result or to save the state of your unit to compare it in the future, for example.

Now we will go to the benchmark options related to its method of realization.

Benchmark Options

The following three options are markable and complement each other.

The first, 'Direct I / O' , is for the benchmark to be performed without the system helping you at any point.

Normally, the computer supports the hard disk by saving data in cache memory (much faster) or with system buffers. Although it is a performance closer to reality, it is advisable to activate this option to know the gross performance of the unit.

Transfer without system assistance

Transfer with the help of the system

The 'Bypass Write Cache' option is used to skip the memory configuration and perform the benchmark under the program rules. At best it will not affect the numbers and at worst it will worsen its performance, but this way we can more objectively compare two memories of different brands, for example.

Then the 'Verify Data' option performs parallel checks to see if the memory unit is damaged or at risk. In general, it should not affect performance and if everything goes well, at the end of the test it will open a small window indicating that everything is in order.

Of course, when activating this option, 'Queue Depth' (or 'Queue Depth' ) is blocked at 1 and the option 'Test Pattern' and 'Run Continuously' appear .

The 'Test Pattern' is used to select one among different patterns when writing data, while 'Run Continuously' is used to run the test for several minutes. If a problem arises before the estimated minutes, the test would end prematurely and open a window informing us.

Finally, 'Queue Depth' is the number of reads / writes that we want to be done at once and we can choose from 1 to 256 simultaneous actions. The more actions we do at the same time, the less accurate the test will be, but the faster it will be performed (as long as your CPU can keep up).

If we activate the Verify Data option , the depth is locked at 1 to individually check that each action has been carried out correctly.

Top bar options

When we navigate the top toolbar, we will notice that there are not too many buttons.

First, we'll start by looking at the 'File' option.

• New: Used to open a new Disk Benchmark application. Open…: Open a.bmk file that contains information from a benchmark. Save: Saves the result and parameters of the current benchmark on the file already created. If there is no previous file it works like ' Save As…' and creates a new file (similar to how it works in Word and similar programs) . Save As…: Save the benchmark made in a new file to which we will have to give a name. Export Image: It is used to save the result in.jpg format.

Then we have 'Scale Factor…', which is used to re-scale the information graph. In the first instance, the scale will automatically adjust to the data that is obtained during the benchmark, but at the end we can change this magnitude. The only thing to keep in mind is that we can only increase the scale, never decrease it from what it already is.

Finally, we have a section of recent files and here is an example of a test done (1 C: \ Users \… \ Untitled.bmk). Then we have the Exit button that helps us to close the application.

On the other hand, we have the 'Help' option, which also does not have many variables, but one that will help us to better understand the program.

And even if you don't want to use it for any day-to-day task, we would advise you to download it to find out the status of your memory units. You never know when a bad movement when moving the box, an overload or a short circuit could have affected your equipment. Seeing if your album and other components are fully functional is a good habit that you could use to adopt.

And you, what do you think about ATTO Disk Benchmark ? Would you use this software above others or do you think there is a better one? Share your ideas in the comment box.

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