- 1). Right-click the file to be used for the data transfer test and select the "Copy" heading from the context menu.
- 2). Navigate to the external hard drive and right-click in any destination folder.
- 3). Select the "Paste" heading from the context menu. A data transfer dialog box appears, detailing the source and destination disks as well as the current transfer speed.
- 4). Monitor the data transfer speed and take note of the lowest and fastest speeds presented throughout the data transfer process. These values provide a sample of the minimum and maximum transfer speed for the hard drive.