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I'm looking for a free program, I really don't want to spend any money as I've only got a few hard disks that I want to sell, I want to test the integrity of the disks to make sure there are no errors.
What programs do people recommend ?
I have the hard disks connected through one of these: http://image2.cccme.org.cn/i_supply/..._123338424.jpg
Scandisk. Easy. Free. Inc in Windows.
Filesystem: Scandisk.
Hardware: The manufacturer will have their own tools, but you'll need to connect it through its native interface (SATA for example)
gSMARTcontrol
http://gsmartcontrol.sourceforge.net/home/
but as Agent said, for low-level SMART commands you might have to connect via the native interface (although that does somewhat depend on USB controller chip on your dock).
Full h2testw check to write to (almost) everywhere.
Then check SMART values using either Speedfan (free; it has an online report function), HD Sentinel (trial+payware; I use this 24/7), or the manufacturer diagnostics tool.
Manufacturer diagnostics tools generally usually primarily do read tests, which isn't enough to thoroughly "exercise" a drive.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'no errors'. All disks will show up errors as some point, but the important thing is whether they are recoverable or not - is the data written to and read from the disc identical?
There are sophisticated algorithms within the disk controller to ensure data integrity, and there are spare sectors within a disk that are mapped into use if an in service sector stats showing up errors .
SMART data will give you most of what you probably need, although interpretation can be tricky.
Scandisk? What is this, 1997?
Chkdsk :)
Also as others have pointed out - you likely won't be able to run the low level vendor checks on the disk in a USB caddy. I've had mixed results using eSATA, but it's generally best to hook up over a regular SATA port.
yeah splash thats what I meant. Havent used it for ages, but I know its still there
HDTune does some nice tests and if its just for that you can probably just get away with using the trial.
I just want to make sure there are no errors on the disk before selling it. Take screen shot, put on ebay for proof. So I and the buyer of the disk has peace of mind, well as much as they can with a 2nd hand disk.Quote:
Originally Posted by peterb
Don't worry Splash, I've installed Windows 98 SE just to use Scandisk ;)
I don't have a problem with connecting the hard drive to my PC, however it's just easier to plug into my dock.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrComputerSaint
Ah, OK! A screenshot of the smart data - then they can decide. The smart data includes the make and serial number too, so it does 'authenticate' the disk.
The only problem is that potential buyers may not be able to interpret the data, or know that an apparently abnormal reading is actually OK. (I have a disk that showed two DMA errors - both within 6 hours of initial installation, I think they were caused by an unexpected power down, and in the several hundred hours since then all has ben fine - but what would a potential buyer think?)
If you are selling the disk though, I trust you have given some thought to securely erasing it?