How to use Blackmagic Disk Speed Test on a PC

Working with video often requires big storage and fast speeds. Here, we use SSDs to either capture the video directly (like with the BMPCC) or to create an on-location backup (like with everything we do). When we need to evaluate the performance of an SSD, we turn to benchmark software.

There are many SSD benchmarking tools out there. CrystalDiskMark is probably ranked at the top, but there are others too. For video, though, one of the best benchmarking software is the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test. Sadly it is only available for Mac. I use a PC.  So in this tutorial, I will show you how to install and enable the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test on a PC.

Luckily, Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test is part of a bigger software suite called Desktop Video, and that package is both free and PC compatible. Here are the steps you need to install it.

1. head over to the Blackmagic support page for capture and playback devices here.

2. From the download list, select the latest Desktop Video release (in the screen capture above, it’s 11.6). Now go ahead and download the install package.

3. you will be treated with a registration screen, but Blackmagic also allows you to “download only” check the download only link at the bottom left.

4. the next steps are to download and install the Desktop Video package. You would need to restart your computer, so make sure you don’t have anything running.

5. This is it. You can now head over to your start menu and look for Black Magic Disk Test and run the software.

Here are the results from a recent test we ran on the Samsung T7 2TB drive on a recent I7 6700 desktop with a Type-C USB 3.1 Gen 2 socket.

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