Managing SSD tools with TKperf
No Detour
TKperf combines several SSD tools under one roof. You can use TKperf to investigate SSDs before deployment and even to measure performance.
Linux offers several low-level tools for investigating solid state drives (SSDs). Admins are well advised to deploy these tools immediately, because they overwrite all data, which is a problem for SSDs in production use. One example of an SSD tool is FIO [1], an I/O-benchmarking application by Jens Axboe. Upon request, FIO bypasses the Linux page cache, starts multiple jobs in parallel, and runs with different I/O depths and workloads.
The tool can even claim Linus Torvalds' blessings. "It does things right, including writing actual pseudo-random contents, which shows if the disk does some "de-duplication" (aka "optimize for benchmarks)," Torvalds posted on Google Plus in 2012. "Anything else is suspect – forget about bonnie or other traditional tools," he added.
Hdparm [2] is also an old friend that can set and read parameters on (S)ATA hard disk drives; recent versions of Hdparm even support SSDs. Hdparm is capable of obtaining information about SSDs, and it also has a secure erase feature that erases the contents of the pages.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
CIQ Releases Security-Hardened Version of Rocky Linux
If you're looking for an enterprise-grade Linux distribution that is hardened for business use, there's a new version of Rocky Linux that's sure to make you and your company happy.
-
Gnome’s Dash to Panel Extension Gets a Massive Update
If you're a fan of the Gnome Dash to Panel extension, you'll be thrilled to hear that a new version has been released with a dock mode.
-
Blender App Makes it to the Big Screen
The animated film "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2025 and Blender was a part of it.
-
Linux Mint Retools the Cinnamon App Launcher
The developers of Linux Mint are working on an improved Cinnamon App Launcher with a better, more accessible UI.
-
New Linux Tool for Security Issues
Seal Security is launching a new solution to automate fixing Linux vulnerabilities.
-
Ubuntu 25.04 Coming Soon
Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) has been given an April release date with many notable updates.
-
Gnome Developers Consider Dropping RPM Support
In a move that might shock a lot of users, the Gnome development team has proposed the idea of going straight up Flatpak.
-
openSUSE Tumbleweed Ditches AppArmor for SELinux
If you're an openSUSE Tumbleweed user, you can expect a major change to the distribution.
-
Plasma 6.3 Now Available
Plasma desktop v6.3 has a couple of pretty nifty tricks up its sleeve.
-
LibreOffice 25.2 Has Arrived
If you've been hoping for a release that offers more UI customizations, you're in for a treat.