Hard Drive Diags

[ameilius]

anyone recommend any hard drive diagnostic programs?

nortons disk dr is terrible - and we have to test multiple hard drives all the time -

any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[kcnychief]

Depending on the manufacturer of your hard drive, you may want to go with the tools made by your vendor.

Maxtor and Western Digital make quality diagnostic tools.

 

[LeeJend]

Turn SMARTs on. It is better than Dagnostics it is Prognostics. It predicts imminent failures BEFORE they occur.

Second to that, what Kyn said. The WD tools are excellent and well priced.

 

[ameilius]

im more looking for a universal one.... we test a wide range of HD's

 

[kcnychief]

Different branded hard drives - OK

Do you have the same manufacturer for PC at least? i.e. Dell or HP

Dell has great diagnostics for instance, installed on a utility partition that is around 71MB for their newest build.

Alternatively you could download diags based on your manufacturers individually -

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

That really is your best bet though, since they would know their drives the best. Perhaps setup a station with hot-swap cabaility and have utility drives with these installed to boot to directly.

 

[ameilius]

Different branded hard drives - OK

Do you have the same manufacturer for PC at least? i.e. Dell or HP

Dell has great diagnostics for instance, installed on a utility partition that is around 71MB for their newest build.

Alternatively you could download diags based on your manufacturers individually -

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

That really is your best bet though, since they would know their drives the best. Perhaps setup a station with hot-swap cabaility and have utility drives with these installed to boot to directly.

cooool - thanks thanks....

yea we do hot swapping now and mainly run disk dr (norton) - but thats terrible....

 

[kcnychief]

Norton Disk Doctor = poop

Let me know if you need help setting up a testing station with those, I have done it before.

 

[ameilius]

Norton Disk Doctor = poop

Let me know if you need help setting up a testing station with those, I have done it before.

well being that we test about 10-15 HD's a day, all different brands - what do you think is the best way to set up the test machine?

i mean we have IDE ports always open etc - we normally yank the HD from the computer we are working on - connect it to the test machine and run disc dr (poop) - -

now, with these utils you linked me with - whats the best way you think?

 

[kcnychief]

The best way to do it in my opinion is to get a removable bay, that can be yanked and have the drive inserted. This way you can keep the case for your test box sealed.

Could probably find a cheaper one, but here's an example -

http://store.orbitmicro.com/commerc...ray-for-u6-1-external-hdd--ide-01-s241054.htm

 

[ameilius]

yea we just leave the case open - we have like 4 test machines going at all times....

thanks for the info! -been very helpful!

 

[kcnychief]

You are welcome and good luck with the testing