Hard Drive diagnostic software

[DarkSerge]

Greetings!

 

I just got myself a USB adapter for SATA/IDE internal drives. I have a few old drives laying around and now I can hook them up and see if they're any good.

 

Any good generic hard drive diagnostic tools anybody would recommend to check out these drives to make sure they're working properly? They all work well enough I can read them with the adapter but I want to scan and test them to see what condition they are in or if there are any issues. They've been in storage for a while.

[securitybreach]

If on Linux, install smartmontools and run this (replace sda with drive letter):

sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda | less

[securitybreach]

Gsmartcontrol is a graphical tool to do the same.

 

Here are some Window's alternatives to scan drives for bad sectors: https://www.howtogeek.com/134735/how-to-see-if-your-hard-drive-is-dying/

[DarkSerge]

I'm on Windows 10.

 

Sorry, forgot to mention that.

[abarbarian]

Greetings!

 

I just got myself a USB adapter for SATA/IDE internal drives. I have a few old drives laying around and now I can hook them up and see if they're any good.

 

Any good generic hard drive diagnostic tools anybody would recommend to check out these drives to make sure they're working properly? They all work well enough I can read them with the adapter but I want to scan and test them to see what condition they are in or if there are any issues. They've been in storage for a while.

 

https://www.seagate.com/gb/en/support/downloads/seatools/

 

Most manufacturers have special tools to check the state of their drives. Like the Sea Tools for Seagate drives.

[securitybreach]

I'm on Windows 10.

 

Sorry, forgot to mention that.

 

In that case,

Start>Run>cmd

wmic

diskdrive get status

[DarkSerge]

I have a Seagate, 2 Maxtors, a Hitachi, and one more I'm not sure of since it's in use but might remove it soonish.

 

So something that's decently universal would be best since I have different brands and makes.

[raymac46]

https://www.lifewire...rograms-2626183

SeaTools looks like the way to go. I use Speccy fot a quick look at all hardware including drives.

Edited May 11, 2019 by raymac46

[securitybreach]

Well as I mentioned on post #6, there is a way to use a built in windows tool called wmic to do this.

[DarkSerge]

I downloaded SeaTools. I believe I used it before I put an SSD in my current system.

 

I will check out WMIC also. I haven't heard about it until I posted this so I'll give it a look as well.

 

Thank you for your input everyone.

[securitybreach]

I downloaded SeaTools. I believe I used it before I put an SSD in my current system.

 

I will check out WMIC also. I haven't heard about it until I posted this so I'll give it a look as well.

 

Thank you for your input everyone.

 

Great! Let us know how it goes.

[DarkSerge]

SeaTools only recognizes one of the drives when connected through the USB adapter, so looks like I'll have to learn some WMIC commands.

 

I tested an old 40GB Hitachi drive and it failed the short and long read tests.

[goretsky]

Hello,

 

Western Digital's (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technology's) Drive Fitness Test program might be of interest, as well as CrystalDiskInfo.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

[zlim]

Info on the first program mentioned above

https://www.lifewire.com/windows-drive-fitness-test-review-2624565

 

Portable version of CrystalDiskInfo

https://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/crystaldiskinfo_portable

[DarkSerge]

CrystalDiskInfo detects everything just fine. Even hooked up my previous system drive before my SSD and it's got a few cautionary marks.

 

I'll give Windows Drive Fitness Test a try