AJA System Test vs CrystalDiskMark

AJA System Test evaluates drive performance so users can estimate whether a drive system can record and play back different resolutions and codecs. It measures read and write speed and overall throughput, including on network mapped drives. In its graphical interface, users select a test type, drive, video size, frame rate, file size, and connected video device. Results can appear in MB/sec or FPS with graphs. The report generator produces text results that users can copy into spreadsheets or other software, and result exports include text report, PDF, and SPX formats. Custom test profiles are supported. Workload areas also include PCIe bandwidth, AJA-device DMA, and combined disk and device I/O; PCIe bandwidth testing is part of the full version included in AJA Desktop Software downloads. The standalone Apple Store and Windows versions are listed as AJA System Test Lite v16.0 at free. The software runs on macOS and Windows, and AJA offers a download path that does not require signing up.

CrystalDiskMark is Windows software for benchmarking disk and storage performance. It measures sequential and random read, write and mixed workloads, with Peak, Real World and Demo measurement modes. Users can create custom test profiles, and results can be exported as UTF-16LE text with a BOM, PNG, JPEG or BMP. The download page lists Standard, Aoi and Shizuku editions; Standard is available as an installer, ZIP or source code. Listed system support spans Windows XP through Windows 11 and Windows Server 2003 through 2025, across x86, x64 and ARM64. However, the installer and x64 version do not support XP or Server 2003. The maker warns that benchmarking may shorten SSD or USB memory life and that results cannot be compared across different major versions. Results may also vary with test file size and position, fragmentation, storage controller, CPU speed and, for some SSDs, test data pattern. The free desktop edition costs nothing. A separate Microsoft Store edition costs 9.99 USD once.