Question test hdd

gamerfan

Member
Nov 24, 2017
128
4
81
What is the best free software for Windows 10 to perform a complete scan on the HDD and show whether the health of the platters, mechanics, and electronics is good or not? i have hdd 2.5" + aluminum unclose case usb 3.0
 
Last edited:

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
18,981
12,103
136
I would use chkdsk driveletter: /f /v /r which comes with Windows to do a full file system check, and use CrystalDiskInfo to retrieve SMART stats for the drive. If you aren't sure how to interpret the stats, post them here.
 

gamerfan

Member
Nov 24, 2017
128
4
81
My HDD is new external and has no Windows or files, but I want to test it 100% to find out its true health.
many software hdtune, hard disksentinel seatools what the best?
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
18,981
12,103
136
My HDD is new external and has no Windows or files, but I want to test it 100% to find out its true health.
many software hdtune, hard disksentinel seatools what the best?
So partition it, quick format it and run chkdsk
 

gamerfan

Member
Nov 24, 2017
128
4
81
It is formatted ntfs without files but I thought the chkdsk was incomplete and had no health logs
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
18,981
12,103
136
NTFS doesn't have any "health logs". A full chkdsk will check free space and data; since there's no data it will be checking free space.

You could do a full format instead, it would take ages but it would involve writing to the entire drive. Back in the era when I full-formatted drives, I sent a drive straight back to the supplier when it failed to complete a full format.
 

Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
11,940
2,730
136
Basically, all you can do is scan for bad sectors or do the full format as Mikeymikec says.
The long time for a full format will be considerable, it can take over a day.

Some drives are just built like garbage, especially without cooling. I know Seagate made a few 2.5" drives that simply expire quickly about 10 years ago. I have went Western Digital only since then because of that and another dead Toshiba, and prefer buying heavier duty drives like full enterprise grade Golds or NAS safe Reds.
 

gamerfan

Member
Nov 24, 2017
128
4
81
My 500GB Seagate HDDs are for archiving
Is Hard Disk Sentinel good or bad? What is the best HDD scan to perform with this software?
 

gamerfan

Member
Nov 24, 2017
128
4
81
Hard Disk Sentinel is paid to perform tests
What is the recommended free software for testing HDD disks? Surface, mechanical and electronic tests
 

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,616
385
126
From your other thread, do NOT run anything else that tries to access the drive or poll SMART data while running Seatools (or most any other manufacturer disk utilities). This includes Crystal Mark Info, HD Sentinel, etc. ANY other utility that accesses and reports data about the drive. If they are running in the background, kill those processes.

Also when launching Seatools, right click and select Run As Administrator.

If you have access to another PC that you can forego access to for several hours, download the bootable version of Seatools and make a bootable USB flash drive (or burn to CD). Plug the external HDD drive into the PC, boot into Seatools on USB flash drive and run from there.
 
Last edited:

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
7,817
2,782
146
I wouldn't buy 2.5" HDDs. I often find they are poorly built, and don't age well. Not to mention slow. For archiving, get a reliable 3.5" HDD, something like a NAS safe WD Red would be good. Or just buy/build a NAS, or do both.
 
Reactions: Ken g6

gamerfan

Member
Nov 24, 2017
128
4
81
I have a 2.5" HDD + aluminum enclosure case USB 3.0 and I want to test the HDD with Victoria but I'm confused

What is the best and most complete test (disks, mechanics, electronics) for Victoria in Windows 10?
 
Jul 27, 2020
20,902
14,489
146
What is the best and most complete test (disks, mechanics, electronics) for Victoria in Windows 10?
What exactly is Victoria? URL?

You can use Speedfan. It has an option to compare your HDDs SMART values with those in an online database and it will tell you if any of the HDDs SMART values are in the red zone.

You can post a screenshot of the HDD test here if you want us to take a look at it.

Your enclosure needs to support UASP for Speedfan to read its SMART values. If your enclosure doesn't support that, connect the HDD to a SATA port on your mobo and check its health through Speedfan.
 

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,616
385
126
What the heck is Victoria?

Have you tried running Seatools with NO other disk utility running, or the bootable version of Seatools?
 
Last edited:
Reactions: boondocks

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,616
385
126
Why don't you use, the Victoria program to perform the diagnostic? Have you read the FAQ? Here is an overview tutorial:


Anandtech is not the developer's site and it appears his website is inexplicably sparse on helpful documentation. Perhaps it comes with the application help files when you install it.
 
Jul 27, 2020
20,902
14,489
146
That looks like a pretty low level kind of software. If you like that, one more is HDD Regenerator and Spinrite 6.0 (it's not updated so proceed with caution using this one on HDDs with data you care about).
 
Jul 27, 2020
20,902
14,489
146
what test choose ful scan hdd (discs mechanical, electronics ppart) in the software?
The SMART tab has everything you need to know.

Not sure why you want to do an extremely low level test of the HDD unless you are trying to be an HDD technician or something. But a better way to do that is to get a job, even at a shady HDD relabeller. They will teach you all sorts of low level tricks about HDDs.

HDDs feel so useless and a waste of time these days that I have stopped caring about them. It's just not worth it. Keep two HDDs, one for data and other for backup. Usually works fine, especially if you are doing backups weekly or monthly. If you want daily backup, don't trust an HDD for that. That would be too much wear and tear on the backup HDD.
 

gamerfan

Member
Nov 24, 2017
128
4
81
the SMART test is reliable or can SMART show everything OK and the surface test or another test show errors?
 
Jul 27, 2020
20,902
14,489
146
the SMART test is reliable or can SMART show everything OK and the surface test or another test show errors?
It's mostly reliable. All my HDDs that ever showed some pausing issues, showed up with abnormal SMART values in the Speedfan "online database"-based report.

The HDD controller knows better than anyone about the health of the HDD. The problem is that Windows is too lazy to report developing issues from reading SMART values until they get really serious (I think Windows 10 introduced this capability?).
 

Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
11,940
2,730
136
SMART is better for HDDs than SSDs. SSDs can fail before writes are used up or SMART reports errors(thus the emphasis on write durability in reviews is partly a red herring and irrelevant); bad chips or bad soldering are simply improbabilities that will eventually manifest with certainty to someone. It's like check engine lights on cars. Something is going on, but the nitty gritty requires a deeper dive to determine the actual thing that failed.

It can't change how much tender love and care goes into building the hard drive before it gets put together. SMART can't say the metal is worse built than those in an enterprise drive, or that the tolerances are sloppier, because it just can't do that.

I once bought an SSD strictly for pagefile use. Used Toshiba 128GB off Ebay in the MLC era. Needless say, instability was introduced, with simple browsing sessions resulting in unexpected systems crashes or shutdowns. Never happened before with the RAM I used or the HDD pagefile. Removing the used SSD removed the crashes. The only thing noticeable was the number of hours and amount of data written, but nothing reported as problematic in SMART.

I have taken chances with used hard drives and they weren't dead on arrival, although I don't treat them as something that will last. I'm more afraid of used SSDs than used HDDs because of the "bathtub curve" concept. That being, if something has ran for a long while, it'll be stable until it's "expected death scenario". HDDs have that. My experience with SSDs is that if it's used, it's probably already good as dead. They are more volatile and self-obsolescent. Heavy use or lack of use results in the same: useless SSD even if they power on.
 
sale-70-410-exam    | Exam-200-125-pdf    | we-sale-70-410-exam    | hot-sale-70-410-exam    | Latest-exam-700-603-Dumps    | Dumps-98-363-exams-date    | Certs-200-125-date    | Dumps-300-075-exams-date    | hot-sale-book-C8010-726-book    | Hot-Sale-200-310-Exam    | Exam-Description-200-310-dumps?    | hot-sale-book-200-125-book    | Latest-Updated-300-209-Exam    | Dumps-210-260-exams-date    | Download-200-125-Exam-PDF    | Exam-Description-300-101-dumps    | Certs-300-101-date    | Hot-Sale-300-075-Exam    | Latest-exam-200-125-Dumps    | Exam-Description-200-125-dumps    | Latest-Updated-300-075-Exam    | hot-sale-book-210-260-book    | Dumps-200-901-exams-date    | Certs-200-901-date    | Latest-exam-1Z0-062-Dumps    | Hot-Sale-1Z0-062-Exam    | Certs-CSSLP-date    | 100%-Pass-70-383-Exams    | Latest-JN0-360-real-exam-questions    | 100%-Pass-4A0-100-Real-Exam-Questions    | Dumps-300-135-exams-date    | Passed-200-105-Tech-Exams    | Latest-Updated-200-310-Exam    | Download-300-070-Exam-PDF    | Hot-Sale-JN0-360-Exam    | 100%-Pass-JN0-360-Exams    | 100%-Pass-JN0-360-Real-Exam-Questions    | Dumps-JN0-360-exams-date    | Exam-Description-1Z0-876-dumps    | Latest-exam-1Z0-876-Dumps    | Dumps-HPE0-Y53-exams-date    | 2017-Latest-HPE0-Y53-Exam    | 100%-Pass-HPE0-Y53-Real-Exam-Questions    | Pass-4A0-100-Exam    | Latest-4A0-100-Questions    | Dumps-98-365-exams-date    | 2017-Latest-98-365-Exam    | 100%-Pass-VCS-254-Exams    | 2017-Latest-VCS-273-Exam    | Dumps-200-355-exams-date    | 2017-Latest-300-320-Exam    | Pass-300-101-Exam    | 100%-Pass-300-115-Exams    |
http://www.portvapes.co.uk/    | http://www.portvapes.co.uk/    |