Hard-Drive Testing Tools

[manuleka 0]

So i have quite a few hard drives lying around, some i haven't used in more than 5 years or so...I wanna see how reliable they are, might throw some in on a new build... any recommended tools?

[Logan Deathbringer 0]

That depends on the interface type are they IDE, SATA, or SCSI? If it's an IDE drive I use a program called DFT (disk failure test) I can't remember where I got it, pm me. If its a SATA drive, DFT will kick out a possible false failure...I'd use an updated version of Western Digital disk test software. If its a SCSI drive, go to the manufacturers website and see if they offer test software, if not give me the information on the drive and I'll see if I can come up with software that will test it for you.

[manuleka 0]

all SATA drives

[yordan 10]

I would first see if the disk can be used. I would connect it to a computer, and try to create a partion, copy a couple of gigs on it and simply use the Crosoft Windows disk verification tool.

[manuleka 0]

So is there a way of testing the drive to see the amount of life it has left? I'm just curious because i had a browse on our local ebay and saw some people selling hard-drives with an approximation of hours left... all the drives do work, i just thought there could be some special programs that can do a thorough analysis on hard-disks or something

[yordan 10]

So is there a way of testing the drive to see the amount of life it has left? I'm just curious because i had a browse on our local ebay and saw some people selling hard-drives with an approximation of hours left... all the drives do work, i just thought there could be some special programs that can do a thorough analysis on hard-disks or something

The throughout analysis is probably a low-level formatting. It makes the bad sectors unused during the OS formatting. But it cannot predict when the disk will fail.
Of course, some electronics attached to smart disk devices can give predictive results, knowing the average lifetime of such disks, but I'm pretty sure this cannot be an accurate value.
After three years, any electro-mechanical device can fail at any time. Statistically, you may be lucky and use the disk during a very long time, but it can also last only some hours.

[manuleka 0]

The throughout analysis is probably a low-level formatting. It makes the bad sectors unused during the OS formatting. But it cannot predict when the disk will fail.Of course, some electronics attached to smart disk devices can give predictive results, knowing the average lifetime of such disks, but I'm pretty sure this cannot be an accurate value.
After three years, any electro-mechanical device can fail at any time. Statistically, you may be lucky and use the disk during a very long time, but it can also last only some hours.

aah i see... so even with a standard windows Formating, it should be sufficient

[yordan 10]

Standard Windows formatting, write some gigs, and then a standard windows disk verification.

[manuleka 0]

ok... hey yordan off-topic i can't get to this topic i created, is it just me or is the thread been removed?

 

http://forums.xisto.com/topic/33960-upgraded-cpu-g620-i3-3220/

 

i get the [#10340] You do not have permission to view this topic. Error

[yordan 10]

Sorry, bad click, should be back again.

[manuleka 0]

what happened to it? things have been gone weird on me with the forum lately... last week my IP was blacklisted... i didn't know until i submitted a ticket after a few days (maybe close to a week)

[yordan 10]

IP was blacklisted... i didn't know until i submitted a ticket after a few days (maybe close to a week)

Probably wrong password three times

[Logan Deathbringer 0]

To test the drives and see if they are starting to fail I'd use Seagates SEATools diagnostic testing. For SATA drive I've found it to be the most reliable and gives the least false readings. Depending on the variables you use be prepared for the drives and computer to be in use for hours possibly, depending on the size of the drives.

[manuleka 0]

I do notice when i plug in some of the drives (a few 2.5" ones) they tend to make a clicking noise... so i'm not sure whether that's just the normal mechanical noise or not... it happens on power up then it seem to come and go depending on file access to the drive

[wutske 0]

@manuleka: in most cases that's normal. Those smaller drives park their heads a lot quicker and more often than regular drives in order to protect the disk in case you drop your laptop.

 

Concerning your test: I'd simply format the drive and use it, I have a few 20 years old disk drives that still work like a charm. From the beginning these things have had a large fault tolerance and they are hard to destroy when they're not running. If you really need to be 100% sure you can:

read out the SMART values. It might sound odd, but I use SpeedFan for this because it provides you with an interesting on-line in-depth analysis

write and verify data until the disk is full (but this takes a lot of time and I wouldn't know what tool to use)

listen, listen and listen. Mechanical failures are easy to spot as long as you listen carefully.