Is there a hard drive burn-in utility?

[Shargrath]

I dont remember where, but somewhere I was told that there is some sort of program that you can run on a new hard drive that will rigorously test it and they say that it usually will "break" the drive if it's already bound to break in the near future.

Basically, I want a program that I can use to burn in a new hard disk so I can return it if its bound to break in a month or something...I am not sure if I am clear enough but I remember someone telling me about a utility like this. Thanks.

 

[Winterpool]

Mmm, I've wondered about this as well. Essentially I suppose one would want to give the read/write heads a real workout and do a complete sector scan. I suppose the latter could be accomplished through the usual drive utilities or even a thorough format.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Do you mean MHDD?

 

[Shargrath]

No I dont think that's it.

It was a burn in program that would run ur hard drive at full load to see if it breaks...

Dont remember anything else...

 

[Nothinman]

I always just run something like bonnie++ for a day and see what happens.

 

[Elixer]

A full format, instead of a quick format should be done. Anything above that, is extra, since there really is no way to detect when a HD is about to go belly up.

You may get lucky, and get a SMART warning/error, but 9 out of 10 times, the HD just dies without a peep from SMART.

 

[Blain]

Any recommendations for a power supply burn-in application?

 

[vlosuit]

Originally posted by: Shargrath
I dont remember where, but somewhere I was told that there is some sort of program that you can run on a new hard drive that will rigorously test it and they say that it usually will "break" the drive if it's already bound to break in the near future.

Basically, I want a program that I can use to burn in a new hard disk so I can return it if its bound to break in a month or something...I am not sure if I am clear enough but I remember someone telling me about a utility like this. Thanks.

your mean is shanghai ?

 

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: Blain

Any recommendations for a power supply burn-in application?

About the best you can do for testing that would be put as much load as possible on it. That would mean running OCCT, and something gfx intensive, like 3dmark or something along those lines, at the same time.

You also need a monitoring program to check if the rails are stable, or drop, and that depends on which motherboard you have.

 

[Billb2]

I need a burn in program for my USB chainsaw.

 

[F1shF4t]

Originally posted by: Billb2
I need a burn in program for my USB chainsaw.

All I have to say is, why???


To the OP, just format the drive a few times, if there is anything obviously wrong with it it might show up.

 

[Emulex]

format
fill with random data
format
fill with random data

repeat for a few days. that should keep the cobwebs out.


real raid controllers will start scavenging sectors after 3-15 seconds of idle time to look for errors and handle them proactively. so you don't hit those 30+ second remaps under load.

i was wondering myself if there was an app that did this. when system is idle;

1. make a copy of the whole drive.
1a. do a read/write test on the current dataset. (preferably to another drive/system)
2. do a government grade sector wipe on unused sectors.

probably would keep your drive remap free and not expose your system to damage if the drive freaks out on a bad sector.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Shargrath
I dont remember where, but somewhere I was told that there is some sort of program that you can run on a new hard drive that will rigorously test it and they say that it usually will "break" the drive if it's already bound to break in the near future.

Basically, I want a program that I can use to burn in a new hard disk so I can return it if its bound to break in a month or something...I am not sure if I am clear enough but I remember someone telling me about a utility like this. Thanks.

not A program... programs.
process is called burn in, many programs do that. si-soft sandra is one off the top of my head (i do it manually though)

 

[Rubycon]

Iometer will work but can be a pain to set up.

For PSU the OCCT PSU tester alongside with Prime95 small FFT gets things going. (Prime alongside seems to get the draw higher when more than 4 threads are required.)

 

[Nothinman]

A full format, instead of a quick format should be done. Anything above that, is extra, since there really is no way to detect when a HD is about to go belly up

A full format is pretty worthless, it just makes sure all of the blocks are readable. Lots of people feel that if a drive survives a day or so of constance stress-testing that it'll run for a long time. I'm not sure if that sort of testing really does weed out the "weaker" drives, but I feel more comfortable with my data on a drive that's survived a day or two of bonnie++.

 

[Blain]

Fresh drive - Quick format
Used drive - Full format

 

[Nothinman]

Fresh drive - Quick format
Used drive - Full format

Because drives right off the assembly line never have problems?

 

[Shargrath]

Thanks for the suggestions guys and yes, I always do a Full Format only...

I found Bonnie++ on google but I dont get how to run it, theres no .exe.

Hmph...

 

[Modelworks]

Full format does not do what people think it does. Full format erases the file table for where the files begin and end, then tries to read each sector. It does not erase the data. Remember that when you share flash drives or hard drives with friends.

The best test I can think of is to download the drive tools from the manufacturer and run their long test or surface scan.

 

[Shargrath]

Strange, I remember someone telling me that there was some sort of program that would really run your hard drive at full load overnight I believe and that if it survives that, it should probably not break in a "few months" as some drives like to do.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: Shargrath
Strange, I remember someone telling me that there was some sort of program that would really run your hard drive at full load overnight I believe and that if it survives that, it should probably not break in a "few months" as some drives like to do.

I guess there are two ways of looking at it. If you run a program that stresses a hard drive in a way that it would not normally be stressed you could cause wear that would shorten the drives life. Or it could cause a fault to appear that would have taken longer to show up.

When they test hard drive MTBF they don't do it by continuous head activity 24/7, but by simulating what a normal use for the drive would be. I could see how running a drive with constant activity might cause failures that otherwise would not occur.

Sort of like running your car at 75mph for 24 hours without a break to prove the engine is good. It might show that it was in good shape, but it also might pass the test but shorten the engines life.

 

[Shargrath]

Well, if it's going to fail, I want it to fail in the timeframe that I can RMA it, rather than in a year or so. I have everything backed up, but its still a pain to lose a drive. I just want to "protect" myself the best that I can...

And there is only a week or so period to RMA too...so if it goes out in 2 weeks, I'm out of $70.

 

[tcsenter]

One of the HDD manufacturer utilities has a 'disk exerciser' test, but I ferget which.

I ran across this, which seems to be an active project with recent updates:

http://www.arrowtwins.com/bdata/

 

[Griswold]

Originally posted by: Shargrath
Well, if it's going to fail, I want it to fail in the timeframe that I can RMA it, rather than in a year or so. I have everything backed up, but its still a pain to lose a drive. I just want to "protect" myself the best that I can...

And there is only a week or so period to RMA too...so if it goes out in 2 weeks, I'm out of $70.

Flawed logic. Your data is what you need to be concerned about. You make backups, so you're on the safe side. If you stress your drive to the point it may fail (if thats even possible with such "tools", which I doubt for a brand new drive) you are effectively reducing its lifespan even if it does not fail on you right away and thus increase the odds of failure later on.

Make a full format, keep your data backuped and spend your time with something that makes more sense.

 

[Shargrath]

Originally posted by: Griswold

Originally posted by: Shargrath
Well, if it's going to fail, I want it to fail in the timeframe that I can RMA it, rather than in a year or so. I have everything backed up, but its still a pain to lose a drive. I just want to "protect" myself the best that I can...

And there is only a week or so period to RMA too...so if it goes out in 2 weeks, I'm out of $70.

Flawed logic. Your data is what you need to be concerned about. You make backups, so you're on the safe side. If you stress your drive to the point it may fail (if thats even possible with such "tools", which I doubt for a brand new drive) you are effectively reducing its lifespan even if it does not fail on you right away and thus increase the odds of failure later on.

Make a full format, keep your data backuped and spend your time with something that makes more sense.

My "data" is all backed up and most of it has zero value.

I am more concerned with buying a hard drive that will break in a month or two.

There seems to be no reliable drive makers anymore, so I went with the drive model that had the longest warranty and had the least amount of terrible reviews. I cant wait til SSD's fall in price so I can get one of those since they seem to be better in terms of reliability.