Background, aim, and scope The concentration and change of mineral species may contain environmental information. Hematite and goethite are common iron-containing compound and nearly distributed in all of the sediments. In research on paleoclimate, content change of hematite and goethite could reflect dry and wet climate change. Diffuse reflection spectrum (DRS) method is generally used to measure the relative content of hematite and goethite, because of its advantages, such as high sensitivity, high speed, high precision and so on. However, we have to grind samples by hand before measuring and this is time-consuming with regard to researchers who have large number of samples. Machine grinding method is high productive but we have no knowledge about whether it would influence the DRS results. Materials and methods Here, we selected 30 fluvial or lacustrine samples for magnetic minerals and DRS comparative analysis. Results The goethite concentration has a minor difference, however, the general trend is nearly the same although there are differences about concentration. Discussion The concentration of the handmade is a bit high than machine grinding at some points. This may be led by the goethite mineral change which is possibly generated by the machine grinding transient temperature exceeded the goethite Currie temperature after rejecting other factors. Conclusions Machine grinding method is priority if we just invert the climate change processes by general trend and this method is highly efficient. On the other hand, handmade method is priority if we do research about the content and so forth. Recommendations and perspectives Machine grinding method is priority if we just invert the climate change processes by general trend and this method is highly efficient. On the other hand, handmade method is priority if we do research about the content and so forth.