Hard disk Diagnostic software

  • Thread starter Thread starter PeoplesChoice
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PeoplesChoice

Since I can't afford to lose any of my data (who can?), I'd like to
have something on my laptop that monitors the hard drive - and any
external USB drives. Free is good but I also want quality. Perhaps
some readers have suggestions for software for me? Don't worry, I keep
an external hard drive for backup and use it often. But, it wouldn't
hurt if I had something to monitor my drives. The external hard drives
crap out to often and leave me without a backup until I replace it.
 
I know I'll get flames on this
Monitoring a PC hard drive IMO is like predicting where lightning will
strike
In the old days you'd get bad sectors as a warning
Now They just fail. *At lease in my experience)

There's some out there and some good draggers etc.

but To Monitor a hard drive on a laptop?
I prefer a passive approach mostly because I have no faith in HD monitoring
software
(Too Little too late)

I'd suggest using your fav image backup software
and regular backups

I honestly have no faith that a Hard drive software will warn me in time of
a failed drive..
If your Laptop can hold two drives RAID1 is a good solution for you.
Russ

--
Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist
24hr SBS Remote Support - www.SBITS.Biz
Question or Second Opinion - www.PersonalITConsultant.com
Free Trial Microsoft Online Services - www.Microsoft-Online-Services.com
 
I know I'll get flames on this
Monitoring a PC hard drive IMO is like predicting where lightning will
strike
In the old days you'd get bad sectors as a warning
Now They just fail. *At lease in my experience)

There's some out there and some good draggers etc.

but To Monitor a hard drive on a laptop?
I prefer a passive approach mostly because I have no faith in HD monitoring
software
(Too Little too late)

I'd suggest using your fav image backup software
and regular backups

I honestly have no faith that a Hard drive software will warn me in time of
a failed drive..
Click to expand...


I agree with everything you say, until the next sentence.


If your Laptop can hold two drives RAID1 is a good solution for you.
Click to expand...


I think RAID1 is a poor solution for almost everyone, but especially
for those with a laptop.

RAID 1 (mirroring) uses two or more drives, each a duplicate of the
others, to provide redundancy. It's used in situations where any
downtown can't be tolerated (almost always in business situations, not
in homes), because the way it works is that if one drive fails the
other takes over seamlessly. Although some people thing of RAID 1 as a
backup technique, that is *not* what it is, since it's subject to
simultaneous loss of the original and the mirror to many of the most
common dangers threatening your data--severe power glitches, nearby
lightning strikes, virus attacks, theft of the computer, etc. Most
companies that use RAID 1 also have a strong external backup plan in
place.

Note the words "theft of the computer" in the next to last sentence
above. That's what makes RAID 1 an especially poor thing to do on a
laptop, which is particularly prone to getting stolen.

See "Why RAID is (usually) a Terrible Idea" at
http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles?&id=29
 
Ken,
Well OP concern was Drive Failure
Not Backups.
and RAID 1 covers that.

He said he did regular backups

But you are correct People think RAID1 is a form of a backup

It is not.
It is just for hard drive Failure.

And Please Explain why a RAID1 is worse for theft vs non raid?
If the Computer is stolen it's stolen?

Russ

--
Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist
24hr SBS Remote Support - www.SBITS.Biz
Question or Second Opinion - www.PersonalITConsultant.com
Free Trial Microsoft Online Services - www.Microsoft-Online-Services.com
 
Ken,
Well OP concern was Drive Failure
Not Backups.
and RAID 1 covers that.

He said he did regular backups

But you are correct People think RAID1 is a form of a backup

It is not.
It is just for hard drive Failure.

And Please Explain why a RAID1 is worse for theft vs non raid?
Click to expand...


Because 99% of home users who use RAID1 think of it as backup. It's
*much* worse when you compare it to real external backup.

If the Computer is stolen it's stolen?
Click to expand...



Right. But if you have external backup, you haven't lost everything.
If all you have is RAID1, you *have* lost everything.
 
Hard drives monitor themselves. Windows will offer to do a backup if the
drive starts to fail. You cansee the status in Reliability and Performance
Monitor and run a System Diagnostic and look under SMART disk status.
 
OK?
I can't see the stolen part
Anyway
The Original Poster said he did backups
So I was just providing a drive failure solution.

:)
I still think it was good advice :)
Russ

--
Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist
24hr SBS Remote Support - www.SBITS.Biz
Question or Second Opinion - www.PersonalITConsultant.com
Free Trial Microsoft Online Services - www.Microsoft-Online-Services.com


Ken Blake said:
Ken,
Well OP concern was Drive Failure
Not Backups.
and RAID 1 covers that.

He said he did regular backups

But you are correct People think RAID1 is a form of a backup

It is not.
It is just for hard drive Failure.

And Please Explain why a RAID1 is worse for theft vs non raid?
Click to expand...


Because 99% of home users who use RAID1 think of it as backup. It's
*much* worse when you compare it to real external backup.

If the Computer is stolen it's stolen?
Click to expand...



Right. But if you have external backup, you haven't lost everything.
If all you have is RAID1, you *have* lost everything.


Ken Blake said:
On Mon, 8 Feb 2010 14:59:48 -0800, "Russ SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]"

I know I'll get flames on this
Monitoring a PC hard drive IMO is like predicting where lightning will
strike
In the old days you'd get bad sectors as a warning
Now They just fail. *At lease in my experience)

There's some out there and some good draggers etc.

but To Monitor a hard drive on a laptop?
I prefer a passive approach mostly because I have no faith in HD
monitoring
software
(Too Little too late)

I'd suggest using your fav image backup software
and regular backups

I honestly have no faith that a Hard drive software will warn me in
time
of
a failed drive..


I agree with everything you say, until the next sentence.



If your Laptop can hold two drives RAID1 is a good solution for you.


I think RAID1 is a poor solution for almost everyone, but especially
for those with a laptop.

RAID 1 (mirroring) uses two or more drives, each a duplicate of the
others, to provide redundancy. It's used in situations where any
downtown can't be tolerated (almost always in business situations, not
in homes), because the way it works is that if one drive fails the
other takes over seamlessly. Although some people thing of RAID 1 as a
backup technique, that is *not* what it is, since it's subject to
simultaneous loss of the original and the mirror to many of the most
common dangers threatening your data--severe power glitches, nearby
lightning strikes, virus attacks, theft of the computer, etc. Most
companies that use RAID 1 also have a strong external backup plan in
place.

Note the words "theft of the computer" in the next to last sentence
above. That's what makes RAID 1 an especially poor thing to do on a
laptop, which is particularly prone to getting stolen.

See "Why RAID is (usually) a Terrible Idea" at
http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles?&id=29
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hard drives monitor themselves. Windows will offer to do a backup if the
drive starts to fail. You cansee the status in Reliability and Performance
Monitor and run a System Diagnostic and look under SMART disk status.
Click to expand...
Could you be a little more explicit:

1. What is the Reliability and Performance Monitor?
2. Recommend a System Diagnostic app.
3. Where do I find the SMART disk status?

These may sound like simple questions but I'm just getting started with
RAID arrays and could use a little help with the three items above.

The reason I'm getting into this is that I had a 500GB external USB
drive that I counted on to hold my backup files. It crapped out and I
don't now have a backup. So I researched on the web for reviews from
users on all the major external drives. Many people had good luck with
them - but many people complained about drives that failed out of the
box or within a few months. After all the research, I decided to
protect myself with an external USB LaCie Quadra double drive in one
enclosure with a RAID array. It's due in the mail by this Thursday. My
thought was that if one drive failed, I would still have another good
drive with my backup data while I replaced the bad drive (quickly). I
found SpinRite on the web - but they don't directly support a RAID
array. I'm basically just trying to protect myself from a catastrophe.
Besides putting my backups on the RAID array, I plan to put my C: drive
image(s) on the drive also using True Image.
 
I know I'll get flames on this
Monitoring a PC hard drive IMO is like predicting where lightning will
strike
In the old days you'd get bad sectors as a warning
Now They just fail. *At lease in my experience)

There's some out there and some good draggers etc.
Click to expand...

What is a dragger?
 
I agree with everything you say, until the next sentence.





I think RAID1 is a poor solution for almost everyone, but especially
for those with a laptop.

RAID 1 (mirroring) uses two or more drives, each a duplicate of the
others, to provide redundancy. It's used in situations where any
downtown can't be tolerated (almost always in business situations, not
in homes), because the way it works is that if one drive fails the
other takes over seamlessly. Although some people thing of RAID 1 as a
backup technique, that is *not* what it is, since it's subject to
simultaneous loss of the original and the mirror to many of the most
common dangers threatening your data--severe power glitches, nearby
lightning strikes, virus attacks, theft of the computer, etc. Most
companies that use RAID 1 also have a strong external backup plan in
place.

Note the words "theft of the computer" in the next to last sentence
above. That's what makes RAID 1 an especially poor thing to do on a
laptop, which is particularly prone to getting stolen.

See "Why RAID is (usually) a Terrible Idea" at
http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles?&id=29
Click to expand...

Ken, I'll look this site up tomorrow. But note my response to <.>.
 
Ken,
Well OP concern was Drive Failure
Not Backups.
and RAID 1 covers that.

He said he did regular backups

But you are correct People think RAID1 is a form of a backup

It is not.
It is just for hard drive Failure.

And Please Explain why a RAID1 is worse for theft vs non raid?
If the Computer is stolen it's stolen?

Russ
Click to expand...

Thank for clarifying what I am looking for. Please see my response to
<.>.
 
Ken,
Well OP concern was Drive Failure
Not Backups.
and RAID 1 covers that.

He said he did regular backups

But you are correct People think RAID1 is a form of a backup

It is not.
It is just for hard drive Failure.

And Please Explain why a RAID1 is worse for theft vs non raid?
Click to expand...


Because 99% of home users who use RAID1 think of it as backup. It's
*much* worse when you compare it to real external backup.

If the Computer is stolen it's stolen?
Click to expand...



Right. But if you have external backup, you haven't lost everything.
If all you have is RAID1, you *have* lost everything.


Ken Blake said:
On Mon, 8 Feb 2010 14:59:48 -0800, "Russ SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]"

I know I'll get flames on this
Monitoring a PC hard drive IMO is like predicting where lightning will
strike
In the old days you'd get bad sectors as a warning
Now They just fail. *At lease in my experience)

There's some out there and some good draggers etc.

but To Monitor a hard drive on a laptop?
I prefer a passive approach mostly because I have no faith in HD
monitoring
software
(Too Little too late)

I'd suggest using your fav image backup software
and regular backups

I honestly have no faith that a Hard drive software will warn me in time
of
a failed drive..


I agree with everything you say, until the next sentence.



If your Laptop can hold two drives RAID1 is a good solution for you.


I think RAID1 is a poor solution for almost everyone, but especially
for those with a laptop.

RAID 1 (mirroring) uses two or more drives, each a duplicate of the
others, to provide redundancy. It's used in situations where any
downtown can't be tolerated (almost always in business situations, not
in homes), because the way it works is that if one drive fails the
other takes over seamlessly. Although some people thing of RAID 1 as a
backup technique, that is *not* what it is, since it's subject to
simultaneous loss of the original and the mirror to many of the most
common dangers threatening your data--severe power glitches, nearby
lightning strikes, virus attacks, theft of the computer, etc. Most
companies that use RAID 1 also have a strong external backup plan in
place.

Note the words "theft of the computer" in the next to last sentence
above. That's what makes RAID 1 an especially poor thing to do on a
laptop, which is particularly prone to getting stolen.

See "Why RAID is (usually) a Terrible Idea" at
http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles?&id=29
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Ken, I'll look this up tomorrow. It's late - but thanks for the
feedback.
 
Search on S.M.A.R.T for background.

Type Reliability in Search on Start, choose Reliability and Performance
Monitor. Click Data Collection Sets - System and Right click System
Diagnostics and choose Start.

The Report in under Reports - System - System Diagnostic and choose the one
with the todays date. SMART status is under Hardware Configuration - Disk
Checks - SMART disk status.

NB SMART must be turned on in the BIOS
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

--
..
--
Search on S.M.A.R.T for background.

Type Reliability in Search on Start, choose Reliability and Performance
Monitor. Click Data Collection Sets - System and Right click System
Diagnostics and choose Start.

The Report in under Reports - System - System Diagnostic and choose the
one with the todays date. SMART status is under Hardware Configuration -
Disk Checks - SMART disk status.

NB SMART must be turned on in the BIOS
Click to expand...
 
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