How to Run a Hard Drive Stress Test on Windows?
Running a hard drive stress test on Windows is an effective way to evaluate disk performance, stability, and health under pressure. In this guide, we’ll show you how to effectively monitor disk health.
Why You Should Run a Hard Drive Stress Test?
A hard drive stress test pushes your hard drive (HDD or SSD) to its limits. It simulates intense workloads, such as rapid read/write operations, simultaneous file access, or prolonged data transfers. By running a hard drive stress test, you can:
👉 Evaluate performance under demanding conditions
👉 Expose hidden defects or early signs of failure in the drive
👉 Ensure the reliability of a new hard drive before using it for critical data
👉 Verify stability during tasks like gaming, video editing, or server use
Whether you're stress testing a new hard drive or troubleshooting old ones, it is an effective way to avoid potential issues before they lead to unexpected results.
How to Stress Test a Hard Drive on Windows?
Diskspd is a free command-line utility developed by Microsoft, widely used for hard drive stress testing on Windows. It allows you to specify parameters like test duration, block size, read/write percentages, queue depth, and thread count, offering a highly customizable testing environment.
Here’s how to use Diskspd to stress test your hard drive:
Step 1: Download Diskspd from Microsoft’s official GitHub repository, and install it on your PC.
Step 2: Press Windows + S, type cmd, and select Command Prompt > Run as administrator.
Step 3: Type the following command and press Enter.
cd c:\path\to\diskspd\amd64fre (Replace “path” with the exact path of diskspd.exe on your PC.)
Step 4: Type the following Diskspd command and execute it.
Diskspd.exe -b16K -d90 -Sh -L -o2 -t4 -r -w30 -c50M c:\testfile.dat
- -b16K — sets block size to 16KB
- -d90 — test duration of 90 seconds
- -Sh — disables hardware and software caching
- -L — enables latency measurement
- -o2 — sets 2 outstanding I/O requests per thread
- -t4 — uses 4 threads
- -r — random access mode
- -w30 — 30% write and 70% read operations
- -c50M — creates a 50MB test file at C:\testfile.dat
Step 5: If you'd like to save the test results for later review, run:
Diskspd.exe -b16K -d90 -Sh -L -o2 -t4 -r -w30 -c50M c:\testfile.dat > c:\testresults.txt
This will create a testresults.txt file in the root of your C: drive with all the benchmark data.
Additional Tests to Fully Evaluate Your Hard Drive
In addition to a hard drive stress test, there are several other tests you should perform to fully evaluate your hard drive. AOMEI Partition Assistant is a reliable tool for these tasks. This professional and user-friendly disk partition management software includes a range of useful disk diagnostic features, helping you visually check your drive's condition and repair common issues.
Option 1. Health Check
AOMEI's hard drive health check function can test the health status of the disk by obtaining the S.M.A.R.T. information of the disk. If your disk health status is poor, you will be prompted, and the disk data can be backed up at this time.
100% SecureStep 1: Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. It will automatically retrieve the S.M.A.R.T. information for all connected hard drives in the background. If any drive’s health is poor, a red exclamation mark will appear on its disk icon.
Step 2: Click on the drive and select Properties > S.M.A.R.T Health
There are 3 states of hard disk health.
- Good: The disk is in good condition and safe to use.
- Caution: One or more attributes are approaching their warning thresholds. The disk can still be used normally, but it is advised to back up data regularly.
- Bad: One or more attributes have reached or fallen below critical thresholds. The disk may fail soon and risk data loss. It is advised to clone this disk and replace it with a new one.
Step 3: You can click Details to see specific S.M.A.R.T. values. Red text indicates that the value of the item is equal to or exceeds the threshold.
If the disk is not S.M.A.R.T. enabled or is a virtual disk, then the disk health status cannot be obtained. You will see prompt information like this:
Option 2. Surface Test (Bad Sector Scan)
Sometimes, bad sectors can corrupt your saved data as well as slow down your computer. AOMEI Partition Assistant provides the Disk Surface Test function to check if your hard disk has any errors.
100% SecureStep 1: Click the disk that you want to check, then select Test > Disk Surface Test.
Step 2: In the pop-up window, choose the last option and click OK.
Step 3: Tick the Quick Check option and click Start.
After the check process is complete, you will find that normal and damaged sectors are displayed.
Option 3. File System Check
Over time, your hard drive’s file system may develop errors. AOMEI Partition Assistant makes it simple to check for and fix these issues by using the built-in Windows CHKDSK tool through a user-friendly interface.
100% SecureStep 1: Right-click the partition you want to test and go to Advanced > Check Partition.
Step 2: Choose the first option and click OK.
Step 3: A progress window will appear. Once it's finished, click OK to finish.
Summary
In this guide, we've explored how to run a hard drive stress test on Windows. To thoroughly assess your drive’s condition, it’s also recommended to use AOMEI Partition Assistant. This tool allows you to test your drive from multiple angles, helping you detect and prevent potential issues.
Moreover, this powerful software offers a wide range of disk management features, including disk cleanup, partition resizing, and reallocating free space to the C: drive. Feel free to download it and give it a try!