{"id":4110,"date":"2012-10-16T23:29:46","date_gmt":"2012-10-16T15:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/howto\/?p=4110"},"modified":"2023-06-22T16:34:48","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T16:34:48","slug":"how-to-check-disk-read-write-speed-in-linux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/howto\/how-to-check-disk-read-write-speed-in-linux\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Check Disk Read and Write Speed in Linux with HDPARM Utility"},"content":{"rendered":"

Checking the disk read and write speed is essential to understand the performance of your system and useful to determine the performance of your storage device, especially when it comes to disk read\/write speeds. This is crucial for tasks such as server management, where the speed of data transfer can significantly impact performance.<\/p>\n

Whether you’re using a dedicated server<\/a>, a VPS server<\/a>, or cloud hosting<\/a>, knowing how to check disk read\/write speed in Linux is a valuable skill. In Linux, there are various tools available to check disk read and write speed. <\/p>\n

In this tutorial, we will be focusing on how to use hdparm, a command-line utility that serves as a powerful tool for checking disk read\/write speed in Linux.<\/p>\n

hdparm is a Linux utility used to set and view hardware parameters of hard disk drives. It can also perform several types of disk performance measurements, such as reading disk sectors into the operating system’s page cache and measuring the speed of reading through the cache to the processor.<\/p>\n

I will explain how to check disk read and write speed using the hdparm and dd commands. This guide will be useful for those who want to test disk speed in Linux<\/em>, specifically check disk read\/write speed<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Install hdparm<\/h2>\n

Before we can use hdparm, we need to ensure it’s installed on our system. On most Linux distributions, hdparm comes pre-installed. However, if it’s not, you can install it using the package manager of your Linux distribution.<\/p>\n

For Debian-based systems like Ubuntu, use the following command:<\/p>\n

\r\nsudo apt-get install hdparm\r\n<\/pre>\n
For Red Hat-based systems like CentOS, use the following command:<\/p>\n
\r\nsudo yum install hdparm\r\n<\/pre>\n
For example:<\/p>\n
\r\n[root@server ~]# yum install hdparm -y\r\nLoaded plugins: fastestmirror\r\nLoading mirror speeds from cached hostfile\r\n * Webmin: download.webmin.com\r\n * base: mirror.upsi.edu.my\r\n * epel: ftp.cuhk.edu.hk\r\n * extras: mirror.upsi.edu.my\r\n * updates: centos.mirror.secureax.com\r\nSetting up Install Process\r\nResolving Dependencies\r\n--> Running transaction check\r\n---> Package hdparm.x86_64 0:9.43-4.el6 will be installed\r\n--> Finished Dependency Resolution\r\n\r\nDependencies Resolved\r\n\r\n====================================================================================================\r\n Package               Arch                  Version                      Repository           Size\r\n====================================================================================================\r\nInstalling:\r\n hdparm                x86_64                9.43-4.el6                   base                 81 k\r\n\r\nTransaction Summary\r\n====================================================================================================\r\nInstall       1 Package(s)\r\n\r\nTotal download size: 81 k\r\nInstalled size: 150 k\r\nDownloading Packages:\r\nhdparm-9.43-4.el6.x86_64.rpm                                                 |  81 kB     00:00\r\nRunning rpm_check_debug\r\nRunning Transaction Test\r\nTransaction Test Succeeded\r\nRunning Transaction\r\n  Installing : hdparm-9.43-4.el6.x86_64                                                         1\/1\r\n  Verifying  : hdparm-9.43-4.el6.x86_64                                                         1\/1\r\n\r\nInstalled:\r\n  hdparm.x86_64 0:9.43-4.el6\r\n\r\nComplete!\r\n<\/pre>\n
Step 2: Check Disk Read Speed<\/h2>\n
To check the disk read speed using hdparm, run the following command:<\/p>\n
sudo hdparm -t \/dev\/sda<\/pre>\n
Replace \/dev\/sda with the actual device name of your storage device. This command will test the sequential read speed of your storage device and display the result in megabytes per second (MB\/s).<\/p>\n
\r\n[root@centos63 ~]# hdparm -tT \/dev\/sda\r\n\r\n\/dev\/sda:\r\n Timing cached reads:   4128 MB in  2.00 seconds = 2065.62 MB\/sec\r\n Timing buffered disk reads:  276 MB in  3.06 seconds =  90.30 MB\/sec\r\n<\/pre>\n
\r\n[root@centos63 ~]# hdparm -tT \/dev\/sdb\r\n\r\n\/dev\/sdb:\r\n Timing cached reads:   3410 MB in  2.00 seconds = 1705.84 MB\/sec\r\n Timing buffered disk reads:  364 MB in  3.00 seconds = 121.29 MB\/sec\r\n<\/pre>\n
Step 3: Check Disk Write Speed<\/h2>\n
To check the disk write speed, we will use the dd command. Run the following command:<\/p>\n
sudo dd if=\/dev\/zero of=test bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct<\/pre>\n
This command will create a test file named test with a size of 1 gigabyte (GB) and write it to your storage device. The oflag=direct option tells dd to bypass the file system cache and write directly to the disk. The bs option specifies the block size.<\/p>\n
After the test file is created, dd will display the write speed in bytes per second (B\/s).<\/p>\n
Step 4: Clean Up<\/h2>\n
After you have finished testing the disk read and write speed, you can delete the test file by running the following command:<\/p>\n
sudo rm test<\/pre>\n
Commands Mentioned:<\/h2>\n