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FlashTester 0.4.0

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@Dissimilis Dissimilis released this 22 Oct 11:27
v0.4.0
9b24b25

FlashTester v0.4.0 adds quick diagnostics: one run on a whole disk that answers in minutes what a full test takes hours for, as far as sampling can.

New in this release

  • Quick diagnostics. In the GUI, select a whole disk and choose Quick diagnostics (listed first, under "Recommended"). On the command line: flashtester diagnose --disk N --destroy. The run erases the disk, then samples its capacity, watches sequential writes for the point where the write cache fills, and reports the speed before and after it, whether fast writes come back after idle, sequential read speed, mixed small writes, random 4K reads and writes, whether reads freeze during writes, stalls, TRIM and SMART changes. It stops early on lost data, mismatches or new SMART errors. The default limit is 3 minutes on USB 2, 10 on USB/SD and SATA, 15 on NVMe; --max-time 2m shortens it, and every check still gets its share.
  • Hide serial numbers. --hide-serial (and a checkbox in the GUI's drive details) leaves serial numbers out of everything printed or saved, so a report can be shared.
  • Fixed: random 4K speed on whole disks in Windows. iops --disk failed with error 87 since v0.2.0; it works now.
  • Fixed: the quick capacity probe on drives with a small write cache. Its first timed writes could land in the cache, so it planned for far too many positions; on one stick it ran for over 50 minutes. It now times its real writes and coarsens the grid when it falls behind.
  • Smaller changes: the HTML report's speed chart marks positions in GB; in the GUI, a finished test offers "Back to menu", and the setup pane scrolls when it is taller than the window.

Downloads

Platform Binary Interface
Windows 10/11 x64 flashtester.exe GUI and CLI
Linux x64 flashtester-linux-x86_64 GUI and CLI
Linux ARM64 flashtester-linux-aarch64 GUI and CLI
FreeBSD amd64 flashtester-freebsd-x86_64 GUI and CLI
Haiku x64, experimental flashtester-haiku-x86_64 CLI

Windows needs no installer or extra DLLs. Linux and FreeBSD binaries are statically linked. The Linux and FreeBSD GUIs need X11 or XWayland. On Unix, run chmod +x <filename> and then ./<filename> for the GUI or ./<filename> --help for the commands.

See SHA256SUMS for hashes and BUILDINFO.txt for build provenance and validation.

Limits

  • Quick diagnostics samples. Capacity is checked at spaced positions and test writes cover at most half of the disk; cache size and recovery are estimates, less certain when the drive cannot be trimmed. A whole-disk discard can erase all of the disk. A run whose checks do not finish is reported as incomplete, not OK. Use the full test to check every byte.
  • Quick diagnostics was run on USB 2 and USB 3 sticks and a USB SSD (with TRIM) on Linux, on a USB stick under Windows 11 and on more in a Windows 11 virtual machine, on VHDs, and on emulated USB, SATA and NVMe disks under FreeBSD. Internal SATA and NVMe drives have not been tested on hardware.
  • FreeBSD is tested in QEMU/KVM virtual machines, not on physical FreeBSD hardware.
  • Haiku remains experimental, CLI-only and untested at runtime.
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