HardDrive Testing Software

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gabriel Knight
  • Start date Start date
G

Gabriel Knight

Hi all

I picked up a 20 gig IDE hard drive out of an old pc that will be used for
my main C drive because my other 40 gig drive is toast at the moment and I
dont know anything about it in stability wise so I need to know what the
best free software there is out there to scan it for bad clusters and
everything else like the inside motor and read and write heads and anything
else that needs to be tested.

So a full test is what I need.

Thanks all
GK
 
Gabriel Knight said:
Hi all

I picked up a 20 gig IDE hard drive out of an old pc that will be
used for my main C drive because my other 40 gig drive is toast at
the moment and I dont know anything about it in stability wise so I
need to know what the best free software there is out there to scan
it for bad clusters and everything else like the inside motor and
read and write heads and anything else that needs to be tested.

So a full test is what I need.
Click to expand...
Hi GK, go to the H/drive manufacturers site, and d/load their test
tools.
bw..
 
In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt "Gabriel Knight"
Hi all

I picked up a 20 gig IDE hard drive out of an old pc that will be used for
my main C drive because my other 40 gig drive is toast at the moment and I
dont know anything about it in stability wise so I need to know what the
best free software there is out there to scan it for bad clusters and
everything else like the inside motor and read and write heads and anything
else that needs to be tested.

So a full test is what I need.

Thanks all
GK
Click to expand...
Spinrite.
 
Spinrite.
--
_____
/ ' / T
,-/-, __ __. ____ /_
(_/ / (_(_/|_/ / <_/ <_
Click to expand...


Hi Frank I found spinrite 6 with a search but thats not the sort of program
I need as spinrite 6 recovers files from dammaged HDD's but what I need is a
test program for a HDD that tests for bad sectors and other measures across
the board (or platter) so I can find out if the drive I have is worth
installing in my pc. Thanks though.

GK
 
Hi all

I picked up a 20 gig IDE hard drive out of an old pc that will be used for
my main C drive because my other 40 gig drive is toast at the moment and I
dont know anything about it in stability wise so I need to know what the
best free software there is out there to scan it for bad clusters and
everything else like the inside motor and read and write heads and anything
else that needs to be tested.

So a full test is what I need.

Thanks all
GK
Click to expand...

Have you tried the test software that the manufacturers put out?

You neglected to post ths manufacturer and model of the drive so
that's the best I can do for you.

Bill
 
In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt "Gabriel Knight"
Hi Frank I found spinrite 6 with a search but thats not the sort of program
I need as spinrite 6 recovers files from dammaged HDD's but what I need is a
test program for a HDD that tests for bad sectors and other measures across
the board (or platter) so I can find out if the drive I have is worth
installing in my pc. Thanks though.
Click to expand...
Um ... That's exactly what Spinrite *DOES*; and far better than *ANY*
other program! It has more options of doing far deeper tests than any
other program you can find *anywhere*.

It also has the option of *FIXING* bad sectors, recovering bad sectors,
or just reporting errors.

Its one major fault is that it's a stand-alone program. Because of the
depth of the search for bad sectors and the way it does sector-checking,
it cannot run under Windows. It uses factory commands to turn on/off or
adjust retries and ECC error-recovery so that it can find (and often
recover) bad sectors; or at the least flag them as unusable. So the
usual way of running Spinrite is to have a DOS boot-disk that contains
Spinrite.

Believe me: Spinrite is *exactly* the program you're looking for.
Nothing else comes even close.

Other than that, Just run Scandisk in full mode; or if you have Norton
Utilities, run Disk Doctor (again, in full mode). Disk-Doctor is about
twice as fast; but otherwise doesn't have any better diagnostics.
Either one will do a "quick and dirty" check for errors; but to my
notion neither one is worth a damn. However, either/both are about as
good as any other program out there except Spinrite. They just do a
fast read of the disk and see if any errors are reported. (The way
drives work these days, hiding errors from the user, usually none *will*
be reported, even on a drive about to fail in two hours.) ;-{

Nope: Get Spinrite or just toss the disk.
A 20 gig drive these days is so small, it might not be worth the cost of
buying Spinrite ... Besides, the drive is old.
 
Hi all

I picked up a 20 gig IDE hard drive out of an old pc that will be used for
my main C drive because my other 40 gig drive is toast at the moment and I
dont know anything about it in stability wise so I need to know what the
best free software there is out there to scan it for bad clusters and
everything else like the inside motor and read and write heads and anything
else that needs to be tested.

So a full test is what I need.

Thanks all
GK
Click to expand...

Chkdsk /r does sector checking. Otherwise just download the drive maker's
software to do a full scan. Just stay away from Spinrite - it's total
bullshit snakeoil.
 
Gabriel said:
Hi Frank I found spinrite 6 with a search but thats not the sort of program
I need as spinrite 6 recovers files from dammaged HDD's but what I need is a
test program for a HDD that tests for bad sectors and other measures across
the board (or platter) so I can find out if the drive I have is worth
installing in my pc. Thanks though.

GK
Click to expand...

I think if you look further into Spinrite you will find it will do
everything you want. It will recover data as well as test the soundness
of the surface. Even that test can be set as to how thorough you want
to test it.
 
Back
Top