Surface test tools for new HDDs

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
A

Arilus

Prominent
Feb 25, 2017
3
0
510
I am building a new system with two brand new Western Digital Black HDDs. Specifically a 2 TB WD2003FZEX for my primary drive and a 6 TB WD6001FZWX as a secondary drive. I will probably end up installing a Linux partition at some point on the primary drive but will initially be installing Windows 10 Home 64-Bit.

First, I want to do as complete and thorough a surface test as possible for both of these HDDs. If I select a full format when installing Windows will this read and write every sector?

Second, I want to occasionally run a surface test on the drives for maintenance purposes. So far I've been using a copy of SpinRite my dad had laying around but I'd be amazed if there aren't newer and better tools for the vastly larger modern drives. I understand that WD has its own Data Lifeguard Diagnostics which seems like it would fit the bill. My main concern is reading something about it installing its own BIOS utility. I do not want anything to interfere with my ability to use the native BIOS under any circumstances. Is this no longer a "feature"?

As an aside, should I install Windows with only the 2 TB connected instead of both HDDs? I don't want Windows to decide to put any OS files on the 6 TB drive in case I elect to remove it at some point.
 
Solution
P
I suspect your fear of the WD Data Lifeguard is based on a misunderstanding.

There are two slightly different versions of this utility you can download to use. The "simpler" one is a Windows application that you run under Windows to diagnose your HDD's, and that might be just what you want. It certainly does not change your BIOS.

The other version is ideal if you are faced with a machine that has no working HDD so you can't run a Windows app. This version is called the "for DOS" version. It is actually downloaded to your HDD as an .iso file, which is a complete image of a bootable CD. When you have it, you then must use a CD burning utility capable of dealing with .iso files (like NERO) and burn it to a blank CD-R. This disk is now a...
Sort by date Sort by votes
P

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Oct 19, 2006
11,298
1,044
69,340
I suspect your fear of the WD Data Lifeguard is based on a misunderstanding.

There are two slightly different versions of this utility you can download to use. The "simpler" one is a Windows application that you run under Windows to diagnose your HDD's, and that might be just what you want. It certainly does not change your BIOS.

The other version is ideal if you are faced with a machine that has no working HDD so you can't run a Windows app. This version is called the "for DOS" version. It is actually downloaded to your HDD as an .iso file, which is a complete image of a bootable CD. When you have it, you then must use a CD burning utility capable of dealing with .iso files (like NERO) and burn it to a blank CD-R. This disk is now a bootable CD with the Data Lifeguard utility on it. You place it in your machine's optical drive, set your BIOS Boot Priority to boot from that optical drive as first choice, and boot up. The machine will boot from that diagnostic CD (needs NO HDD or SSD). It will install a mini-DOS Operating System in RAM, load the utility and run it. The opening screen contains a number of menu choices you can use to run tests on your disks. This utility system also does NOT make any change to your mobo BIOS. The confusion may be that it does temporarily install its own OS to do its work, but that is only installed in RAM, NOT on your hard drives or in your BIOS. When you finish with it and shut down, that temporary OS disappears.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
A

Arilus

Prominent
Feb 25, 2017
3
0
510


No problem, your answer was quite thorough. It wasn't actually the source of my confusion but your answer got me thinking and led me to discover where I got tripped up. There was an old fix that involved installing an EZ-BIOS overlay in the master boot record which could be difficult to remove if so desired.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom