How to Use NonCompressibleFiles Portable to Verify Real-World Transfer Speeds
Testing a new USB drive, external SSD, or network share often yields misleading results. Many storage benchmarks use highly compressible data, which allows drive controllers to use compression tricks to report artificially high speeds. To see how your hardware handles uncompressed data—like movies, music, and zipped archives—you need to test it with non-compressible data. NonCompressibleFiles Portable is the perfect lightweight utility for this task.
Here is how to use it to discover your hardware’s true, real-world transfer speeds. What is NonCompressibleFiles Portable?
NonCompressibleFiles Portable is a free, lightweight Windows utility that generates files filled with random, non-compressible bytes.
The Compression Problem: Many modern solid-state drive (SSD) controllers use built-in compression algorithms to speed up data writes and reduce wear.
The Reality Check: When you transfer already-compressed data (like MP4s, MKVs, or ZIP files), the drive controller cannot compress them further. The transfer speed slows down.
The Solution: By creating files that cannot be compressed, this tool forces your storage hardware to work at its raw, unoptimized limit, revealing its actual real-world performance. Step 1: Download and Run the Tool
Because this is a portable application, it requires no installation and leaves no registry footprint.
Download NonCompressibleFiles Portable from a trusted source (such as SoftwareOK or PortableApps). Extract the ZIP file to a location of your choice.
Double-click the executable file (NonCompressibleFiles.exe) to launch the program immediately. Step 2: Configure Your Test Files
Once the clean, simple interface opens, you can customize the files you want to generate based on the hardware you are testing.
Set the Number of Files: Choose how many files you want to create. For a quick test, 1 to 5 files is usually enough.
Set the File Size: Adjust the size slider or type in your target size. If you are testing a fast NVMe external drive or a network connection, generate a large file (e.g., 5 GB to 10 GB) so the transfer takes long enough to get an accurate reading. For a cheap USB flash drive, 1 GB is sufficient.
Choose the Target Folder: Click the ”…” button next to the destination path. Select a folder on your fastest internal drive (usually your C: drive SSD). You want to create the source files here so your internal drive doesn’t bottleneck the test later. Step 3: Generate the Non-Compressible Data
With your parameters set, you are ready to create the test files. Click the Create button at the bottom of the window.
Wait a few moments. The tool will quickly generate the requested files filled with random, non-compressible data at your specified destination.
Close the program or leave it open if you plan to generate different sizes later. Step 4: Perform the Real-World Transfer Test
Now that you have your dummy test files, you can use them to benchmark your destination device.
Open Windows File Explorer and navigate to the folder where you saved the generated files.
Connect your target device (the USB drive, external SSD, or network folder you want to test).
Select the generated files, right-click, and select Copy (or press Ctrl + C).
Navigate to your target device in File Explorer, right-click an empty space, and select Paste (or press Ctrl + V).
Click More details on the Windows copy dialog box to view the live transfer speed graph. Step 5: Analyze Your Results
As the file transfers, watch the speed graph closely. Real-world performance usually reveals two things:
Peak Speed vs. Sustained Speed: You might see the transfer start at a blistering 400 MB/s, but drop down to 40 MB/s after a few seconds. This happens when the drive’s high-speed cache fills up, forcing the drive to write directly to its slower native storage chips.
The True Speed: The lower, steady speed displayed during the second half of a large file transfer is the true, real-world sustained write speed of your device. Conclusion
Standard benchmarking software is great for theoretical maximums, but NonCompressibleFiles Portable gives you the truth about your everyday performance. By keeping a few of these generated files on hand, you can accurately test any new storage device, network connection, or cloud upload speed under the most demanding, real-world conditions.
To help tailor further storage or networking advice, tell me:
What specific type of storage device (USB flash drive, external SSD, NAS) are you testing?
What interface are you using to connect it (USB 3.0, USB-C, Wi-Fi, Ethernet)?
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