Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test VS fio

Compare Blackmagic Disk Speed Test VS fio and see what are their differences

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test logo Blackmagic Disk Speed Test

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test is a tool that allows users to quickly measure disk performance while working on it.

fio logo fio

Generate I/O for benchmarking, stress testing, verification or workload reproduction purposes.
  • Blackmagic Disk Speed Test Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-05
  • fio Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-15

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    The software features a straightforward and intuitive interface that allows users to easily start and understand their disk speed tests without complex configurations.
  • Performance Metrics
    Blackmagic Disk Speed Test provides detailed information about your disk's read and write speeds, which is crucial for understanding performance and diagnosing issues.
  • Video Format Support
    It offers insights into how your disk would handle various video formats, making it particularly useful for video editors and creators who need specific performance benchmarks for different codecs and formats.
  • Free Utility
    The tool is available for free, making it a cost-effective choice for both professionals and casual users who need to measure disk performance without additional expense.

Possible disadvantages of Blackmagic Disk Speed Test

  • Limited Platform Availability
    Blackmagic Disk Speed Test is primarily available for macOS, which can be a limitation for users who operate on Windows or Linux systems.
  • Basic Features
    It lacks some of the advanced features and customization options available in more comprehensive disk benchmarking tools, which might be needed by users requiring more detailed analysis.
  • No Historical Data
    The tool does not offer a way to store historical data or compare past results, which could be a drawback for users looking to track performance changes over time.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running the speed test can be quite resource-intensive, potentially affecting system performance during the test, especially on lower-end machines.

fio features and specs

  • Highly Flexible
    Fio is highly configurable, allowing users to simulate various types of workloads with detailed parameters. This flexibility makes it suitable for a wide range of performance testing scenarios, including block devices, files, and networked filesystems.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Fio is designed to work on multiple operating systems, including Linux, Windows, and macOS. This cross-platform support enhances its usability in diverse environments and facilitates testing across different systems.
  • Rich Feature Set
    Fio supports a multitude of I/O engines, including sync, mmap, libaio, posixaio, and others. Additionally, it allows for dynamic generation of patterns, scripting via functions, and varied reporting formats, which are ideal for comprehensive performance analysis.
  • Active Development and Support
    Being an open-source tool with a large community, fio receives regular updates and improvements from contributors, ensuring that it remains robust and relevant for modern testing needs.
  • Detailed Reporting
    Fio provides detailed and customizable output formats, such as JSON and normal text, which help users analyze performance metrics in depth and facilitate easy integration into performance testing workflows.

Possible disadvantages of fio

  • Complexity for Beginners
    The extensive configuration options, while powerful, can be overwhelming for new users. It may take time and effort to learn how to effectively use fio and interpret its results without prior experience in performance testing.
  • Limited GUI Support
    Fio primarily operates from the command line, lacking a native graphical user interface (GUI). This can limit its accessibility for users who prefer visual tools and may require additional tooling or scripts for enhanced usability.
  • Resource-Intensive
    Running fio with complex workloads or on large-scale systems can be resource-intensive, potentially affecting other processes on the test system. Users need to ensure that appropriate resources are available to avoid skewed test results.
  • Steep Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    For users seeking to employ advanced features like custom scripting or network testing, understanding the full scope of fio's capabilities and configuration syntax can be challenging without comprehensive documentation or community support.

Analysis of Blackmagic Disk Speed Test

Overall verdict

  • Blackmagic Disk Speed Test is considered a good choice for assessing disk performance due to its simplicity, reliability, and focus on video throughput testing. It provides clear, relevant results that help users understand if their storage solutions can meet the demanding data rate requirements of high-resolution video processing.

Why this product is good

  • Blackmagic Disk Speed Test is a popular tool used by many professionals to measure and evaluate the performance of their storage devices, particularly in video and multimedia workflows. It provides an easy and comprehensive way to assess how well a drive will handle video streams, which is crucial for tasks like video editing and playback.

Recommended for

    This tool is recommended for video editors, content creators, and multimedia professionals who need to ensure their storage systems can handle large video files. It's particularly useful for those working with high-resolution video formats such as 4K and 8K, where disk speed is critical for smooth playback and editing.

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test videos

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test 4.1

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to test your hard disk speed ?!! Blackmagic Disk Speed Test
  • Review - Blackmagic Disk Speed Test pcie nvme ssd Windows Version Link Below (01-2019)

fio videos

MAZAYA CHAMBRA FIO | Review [+18]

More videos:

  • Review - Como escolher minhas tesouras (Fio, Tamanho e material) - REVIEW #15
  • Review - Os MELHORES fones sem fio de 2020? (Review)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Blackmagic Disk Speed Test and fio)
Monitoring Tools
37 37%
63% 63
Utilities
42 42%
58% 58
Hard Drive Tools
44 44%
56% 56
Log Management
44 44%
56% 56

User comments

Share your experience with using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test and fio. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, fio should be more popular than Blackmagic Disk Speed Test. It has been mentiond 14 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test mentions (4)

  • Should I render my videos in premiere?
    Can you send a link to their website? Just tried the blackmagicdesign.com, and the registration menu was really sketch and didnt lead to an actual download, it just closed the window to register. Source: over 2 years ago
  • DaVinci Resolve Cloud Update
    Blackmagicdesign.com now has a countdown clock until April 18th that says 'DaVinci Resolve Cloud Update' ahead of the National Association of Broadcasters show (NAB 2022). NAB starts April 24. Any reliable rumors about new cameras or the Resolve update? Source: over 3 years ago
  • Is Davinci Resolve safe?
    To make sure it is the official site, check that the URL is blackmagicdesign.com and that your browser shows a closed lock to the left of the URL. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Need help with this scrubbing and reverse-esque effect in resolve
    Step 1: Install DaVinci Resolve 17 Step 2: Understand the basics. This video should help. Step 3: Learn about time remapping Step 4: Understand the looping concept. Source: over 4 years ago

fio mentions (14)

  • Dire SMB speed with on PC to NAS
    Assuming two systems use flash storage, network bandwidth is identical and it is configured the same way, there should be an issue within the PC, either system or storage drive. Check the system logs for errors and warning events related to data transfer from/to NAS. Try to benchmark the PCs' disks using fio to confirm they have similar performance. https://github.com/axboe/fio. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: What are some good resources for learning about low level disk/file IO?
    Not specifically addressing your question, but when you get to the point of wanting to start doing some experiments you may find that 'fio' [1] is very handy. [1] https://github.com/axboe/fio. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • KVM virtual machines on ZFS benchmarks
    The dd is not a good benchmarking tool, you should use something like fio and probably tune it to use the ioengine most similar to your use case (eg. a database server will probably use some async IO interface). In your first example (with bs=1G) probably something (the guest OS, the qemu/kvm or the host OS) have split into smaller chunks anyway. Source: over 2 years ago
  • SSD Sequential Write Slowdowns
    All linux tests are run with fio 3.32 (github) with future commit 03900b0bf8af625bb43b10f0627b3c5947c3ff79 manually applied. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Just write the f*****g parser.
    Agree, I used flex/yacc to add an arithmetic expression evaluator to fio a few years back to allow simple math with some units in fio's job files, and for stuff like that, they're fine, but I wouldn't want to use them for a real language, the error handling is kind of a nightmare. Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Blackmagic Disk Speed Test and fio, you can also consider the following products

CrystalMark - CrystalMark is a full included benchmark application that can be utilized for surveying the execution and capacities of a PC.

CrystalDiskInfo - CrystalDiskInfo. A HDD/SSD utility software which supports a part of USB connection and Intel RAID. >> Download. Intel RAID (IRST). IRST 11.

HD Tune - HD Tune Pro is a hard disk / SSD utility with many functions. It can be used to measure the drive's performance, scan for errors, check the health status (S. M. A. R.

Iometer - As the Iometer Users Guide says, Iometer is an I/O subsystem measurement and characterization tool...

Macrorit Disk Scanner - Macrorit Disk Scanner is a third party disk surface portable tool for scan disk bad sectors which...

Diskspd - A Robust Storage Testing Tool (superseding SQLIO)