How to Check How Much Slower Is HDD Than SSD
So I have a mid-level gaming PC, which can handle my games with good performance. But I only have one SSD in there, and it's out of space. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if I put in an HDD and put games on it, would it cause my games to play worse or lag? How much slower is HDD than SSD? How can I tell? Thank you.
Best Answered by
Cici· Answered on Oct 05, 2025
Hi, it would be a wiser choice to choose an SSD rather than an HDD for gaming. An SSD performs better in several aspects of gaming. Among them, the speed performance between HDD and SSD is significant. In general, SSDs can perform at a speed of around 500MB/s. If you use an M.2 NVMe SSD, the speed can be up to 7500MB/s. In contrast, HDD runs slower at approximately 30-160MB/s. This is the average data in theory.
You can check the speed of your SSD and HDD on your computer using some tools. I recommend a software called EaseUS Partition Master Professional. You can see a lot of detailed information about your disk, such as disk temperature and speed. In the report, you can see the read and write speed and delay speed in detail. If you insert a new HDD, you can also check the speed for it. Within minutes, you can get to know how fast your drives run. More importantly, its simple interface and friendly graphic design will make it easier for you to understand.
You can follow the steps to check for your SSD and HDD speed:
Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master and go to the "Discovery" section.
Step 2. Select "DiskMark" and activate it.
Step 3. Select your target SSD C drive, test data, and block size. Click "Start" to perform the test.
Step 4. Insert your HDD if you have already bought one. Select it as the target drive and apply the same as in Step 3.
You can check how much slower is HDD than SDD with the help of this tool. If the results show that SDD is much faster, you can consider get another SSD for your PC to get a smoother gaming experience. Click to learn more about HDD vs SSD for gaming.
