Abstract: A process for uniformly measuring the performance characteristic of a computer peripheral by accommodating for variations in the clock rate of the host computer system is disclosed, where after connecting the target to the host and initializing the system automatically calibrates itself to the clock rate of the host and determines the parameters of the target. The user may then define a select test, a set of test, or a continuous set of tests to be run on the target. In performing the selected test or tests, the system determines the amount of overhead time associated with the host and target, and the data transfer time, before determining the various base access times of the target. Upon the determination of a base access time, the host overhead time is then removed to yield an accurate access time measurement that is independent of variable characteristics of the host computer system.