Speed Test Mac - Blackmagic Disk

If you work with high-bitrate video—be it ProRes, DNxHD, or RAW from a cinema camera—your storage speed is just as critical as your CPU or GPU. A slow drive means dropped frames, failed recordings, and frustrating playback. Enter Blackmagic Disk Speed Test , the free, industry-standard benchmarking tool for macOS. What is Blackmagic Disk Speed Test? Developed by Blackmagic Design (creators of DaVinci Resolve and Blackmagic RAW), Disk Speed Test is a lightweight, free utility available exclusively on the Mac App Store. Unlike generic synthetic benchmarks (like AJA System Test or AmorphousDiskMark), this tool is purpose-built for video professionals .

| Drive Type | Typical Write Speed | Video Capability | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | 50–90 MB/s | 1080p ProRes 422 (maybe) | | 7200 RPM HDD | 120–180 MB/s | 1080p ProRes 422 HQ | | SATA SSD (2.5") | 450–520 MB/s | 4K ProRes 422 HQ / 4K RAW (light) | | NVMe SSD (PCIe 3.0) | 1,500–3,000 MB/s | 8K ProRes 4444 / 6K RAW | | NVMe SSD (PCIe 4.0) | 5,000–7,000+ MB/s | 8K RAW, 12K Blackmagic RAW | | Thunderbolt 3/4 RAID | 2,000–5,000+ MB/s | Multi-stream 8K editing | blackmagic disk speed test mac

macOS 10.13 or later (Apple Silicon native). If you work with high-bitrate video—be it ProRes,

Before your next project, test every drive you plan to use. You will avoid dropped frames, corrupted recordings, and the horror of discovering your "fast SSD" is actually a bottleneck halfway through an export. What is Blackmagic Disk Speed Test

It does not simply measure theoretical maximum read/write speeds. Instead, it simulates real-world video workloads and answers one critical question: "Is my drive fast enough to handle this specific video format?" The app writes (then reads) a large block of test data—typically 5 GB by default—to the target drive. It measures the sustained performance, not just burst speeds (which are often misleading for video work).