AS SSD Benchmark Portable: Correct Use Without Installing

AS SSD Benchmark is portable: there is no installer, no setup wizard, and nothing to uninstall. You extract a ZIP, keep its contents together, and double-click the executable. That simplicity causes one classic mistake: copying only the executable to a USB stick or a new folder, then wondering why the tool opens in German or behaves like a different program. This guide explains the correct portable layout, how to carry the tool on a USB stick, and how to move it between computers without breaking it.

Get the ZIP from the download page, which points to the file served by the official site. The current and final version is 2.0.7316.34247. Everything below applies to that portable package and its familiar layout of an executable next to a language folder.

The one rule: keep the folder together

Inside the extracted folder you will see the AS SSD Benchmark executable and a folder named en-US containing the English language files. The executable looks for its language files next to itself. When it finds the en-US folder in the same directory, the interface can run in English. When the executable is alone, with no language folder beside it, the program falls back to its default language, German, because the author’s original interface language is German and the English text lives in that separate folder.

So the rule for every copy, move, backup, and USB stick is simple: always move the whole folder, never the executable alone. Treat the folder as the program. Rename the outer folder freely if you like tidy names, but do not rearrange its contents, do not move the executable out of it, and do not delete the en-US folder to save space; it is tiny and it is the difference between an English tool and a German puzzle. The language issue itself is covered step by step in fixing a German AS SSD interface.

Setting up a clean portable folder

Extract the ZIP into a dedicated folder in a stable location, for example a Tools folder on your data drive or on the USB stick itself. Extract it once, open the folder, and confirm you can see both the executable and the en-US folder side by side before you run anything. Then start the program from that location and confirm the interface language and that the correct drives are listed.

Avoid running the executable from inside the ZIP preview in Windows Explorer. It may appear to start, but its companion folder is not really beside it in a normal directory, which is another route to the German-interface surprise and to confusing, temporary locations. Always extract first, then run. That habit also means the folder you tested from is the same folder you later copy, with no doubt about which copy is the good one.

Carrying it on a USB stick

A USB stick is the natural home for this tool. Copy the entire extracted folder onto the stick, eject the stick properly, and you can walk to another Windows computer, plug in, open the folder, and run the executable directly from the stick. No installation on the host computer is needed, which is ideal for checking a friend’s slow laptop, testing a second-hand drive, or keeping a known-good benchmarking kit with your other utilities.

• Copy the folder, then verify on the stick itself that the executable and en-US folder are both present before you travel.
• Keep a small text note in the folder with the version, 2.0.7316.34247, so you never wonder which build is on an old stick.
• Run the tool from the stick, but select the computer’s internal drive in the drive drop-down if that is what you want to measure; the program’s location does not choose the test target.
• Eject properly after use, especially if you saved result screenshots to the same stick.

Remember that benchmark results belong to the drive selected inside the program, not to the drive the program sits on. Running from a slow USB stick does not make an internal SSD test slow, as long as you selected the internal drive. Conversely, if you deliberately test the USB stick itself, expect modest numbers; that is the stick being measured, not a fault in the tool.

What portable does and does not mean

Portable means the program does not require installation and does not depend on an installer having prepared the system. It still runs on Windows and still interacts with the system normally while it works: it needs a supported version of the .NET Framework present as many Windows tools do, it creates a temporary test file on whichever drive you benchmark, and that drive needs enough free space for the selected test size. Portable does not mean the test is read-only or that it works on other operating systems; there is no Mac or Linux edition of this tool.

It also means updates are manual and simple: there are none to chase. Version 2.0.7316.34247 from January 2020 is the final release, so a correctly kept portable folder today is the same tool you will use next year. If you download the ZIP again for a new computer, extract a fresh full folder rather than mixing new and old pieces together.

Troubleshooting portable problems

If the interface opens in German on a new machine, check the folder layout first, before changing any settings: is en-US really in the same folder as the executable you double-clicked, or did a shortcut or a partial copy separate them? Fix the layout, then use the Language menu to choose English. If the program does not start at all from a copied folder, re-extract a clean copy from the original ZIP and compare; a truncated copy from an interrupted transfer is a common cause, and the download page lists the file size and hash so you can verify the ZIP itself.

Used correctly, the portable design is the best thing about this tool: one small folder, carried anywhere, identical everywhere. Follow the main run workflow in how to use AS SSD Benchmark once your folder is in place, and your results from different computers stay comparable because the tool itself never changes.