can you measure the transfer speeds of usb memory devices?

[hthi]

debian 8 64bit mate main
usb memory sticks
usb hdds

Is there a program that can measure the write and read speeds of usb storage devices?
Thanks.

[GarryRicketson]

Is there a program that can measure the write and read speeds of usb storage devices?

Yes there is, Actually there are many.
There are also some simple commands for that, no need for any "programs".

[debiman]

here's a script that just uses dd.
it is non-destructive, but requires root privileges for some actions.
also note the link at the bottom.

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash

me="$(basename "$0")"
search_usb="/run/media/$USER"
bs="1M"
count="256"
statfile="/tmp/$me.stats"
sep="========================================================================="

function usage {
echo "Usage:
	$me [device or path]

Test a mounted storage device's read/write speed and output results.
	Prerequisites:
		- the device is mounted and
		- there is at least $count x $bs free space on it.

You can provide the full path to the device's mountpoint, or the label it
shows up under $search_usb.
If you provide neither, the current path is assumed to be on the drive to be
tested.

The script will require sudo authentication to clear the buffer-cache to
accurately measure _read_ speeds directly from the device.
"
exit 1
}
function cleanup {
	rm
}

[ "$@" = "-h" ] || [ "$@" = "--help" ] && usage

if [ "$#" -gt 0 ]
then
	if /usr/bin/ls -1 "$search_usb" | /usr/bin/grep -Fxq "$@"
	then
		mountpoint="$search_usb/$1"
	else
		if [ -d "$@" ]
		then
			mountpoint="$@"
		else
			echo "ERROR: \"$@\" is not a directory.
	"
			usage
		fi
	fi
else
	mountpoint=.
fi

trap "rm \"$mountpoint/$me.tempfile\"" EXIT

#~ dev="$(/usr/bin/mount | /usr/bin/grep -F "$mountpoint")"
#~ dev="${dev%% *}"

#~ echo "$dev"

echo "$sep"

df -h "$mountpoint"
echo "
===== Writing ====="
dd if=/dev/zero of="$mountpoint/$me.tempfile" bs="$bs" count="$count" conv=fdatasync,notrunc status=progress 2>&1 | tail -1

echo "
===== Reading ====="
sudo sh -c "echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches"
dd if="$mountpoint/$me.tempfile" of=/dev/null bs="$bs" count="$count" conv=fdatasync,notrunc status=progress 2>&1 | tail -1

echo "$sep"

exit 0

# See: wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Benchmarking/Data_storage_devices#Using_dd

written for archlinux, you might need to adjust some stuff.