Check USB for Speed and Version

- September 01, 2026

Testing a USB drive's version and speed on Linux is easy using built-in terminal tools. You don't necessarily need to install third-party software.

Step 1: Identify the USB Version and Port

To check what USB generation your drive is currently connected at, you can inspect the kernel logs or use lsusb.

Find your drive's device name (e.g., sdb, sdc) by plugging it in and running:

lsblk

Check the USB connection speed via dmesg:

sudo dmesg | grep -i usb | tail -n 20

Look for lines indicating the speed connection, such as New USB device found... speed 480M (USB 2.0), 5000M (USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen 1), or 10000M (USB 3.1 Gen 2).

Step 2: Test Read and Write Speeds

Method A: Using `dd` (Built-in, No Installation Required)

The dd command is standard on almost all Linux distributions and is great for a quick benchmark.

⚠️ Warning: Be very careful to select the correct drive partition or mount point. Writing directly to a raw disk (/dev/sdX) can erase data if misused. The example below uses a mounted directory path, which is safer for a quick test.

Test Write Speed: Create a 1GB test file on the mounted USB drive (replace /mnt/usb with your actual mount point):

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/usb/testfile bs=1M count=1000 conv=fdatasync status=progress

Test Read Speed: Clear your system cache first, then read the file back:

sudo sync && echo 3 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches sudo dd if=/mnt/usb/testfile of=/dev/null bs=1M status=progress

Clean Up: Remove the test file:

rm /mnt/usb/testfile

Method B: Using `fio` (Advanced & Accurate)

If you want a more thorough benchmark similar to Windows tools, install fio (Flexible I/O Tester).

Install fio (Ubuntu/Debian):

sudo apt install fio

Run a basic read/write benchmark on the mounted drive:

fio --name=usb_test --directory=/mnt/usb --ioengine=libaio --rw=randrw --bs=4k --size=500M --numjobs=1 --iodepth=32 --runtime=30 --time_based

Are you seeing speeds that match what the manufacturer advertised?

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