You can do ' hdparm -t /dev/blah ' multiple times (I usually do 3.)

You can also copy a file from cdrom / HD to " /dev/null " and this will give you the *maximum* sustained transfer speed, but it's not exactly real-world data.

' time cp -v /mnt/cdrom/file /dev/null '

--For a norton-utilities type monitor, I did:
' apt-cache search hardware |sort |less ' and found:

hardinfo - Displays system information
hardware-monitor - Monitor applet for the Gnome panel

Also:

gkrellm-hdplop - A hard drive activity monitor GKrellM plugin


--I have no personal experience with these pkgs, but it is a place to start.