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Best HDD Diagnostic / Testing Utility?

I have a new 2TB drive in the mail and I would like to be able to test it for errors when it gets here. I want something that will be able to run some simple tests to ensure there are no bad sectors or read/write errors, as well as check the SMART status. What software is popular for this today? Its been a long time since Ive had to run any HDD tests. Also, whatever software you recommend make sure its free because I'm kinda broke right now :D
9 answers Last reply Best Answer
More about best diagnostic testing utility
  1. SpinRite is what I have always used tho I don't think I have needed to use it since 2006 or so....but it's not free.

    http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

    Other than that, the manufacturers own free diagnostic tools (available on their web sites) should suffice.

    http://www.seagate.com/www/http://support.wdc.com/product

    http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?level1=6&lang=en

    http://www.hitachigst.com/support/downloads/
  2. Best answer
    A couple of free ones:

    1) Crystaldiskinfo - http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html
    2) HD Tune - http://www.hdtune.com/
  3. Best answer selected by dopey117.
  4. thanks to both of you, HD tune was what i have used in the past I just couldnt remember what it was called
  5. Thank you!
  6. Thank you for information, HD Tune is a good option. Cheers!:D
  7. JackNaylorPE said:
    SpinRite is what I have always used tho I don't think I have needed to use it since 2006 or so....but it's not free.

    http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

    Other than that, the manufacturers own free diagnostic tools (available on their web sites) should suffice.

    http://www.seagate.com/www/www.wdc.com/support

    http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?level1=6&lang=en

    http://www.hitachigst.com/support/downloads/


    Hi,

    Can you fix the seagate.com link with this one,

    http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/

    Thanks
  8. What those diagnostic HDD testing tools overlook is the cable and connections in the USB port. I just replaced a USB 3 cable and the transfer speed is now stable around 70mb/s the faulty cable was causing speed drop put every 20 or so seconds down to 0kb/s and attempts to check disk for errors would have found nothing.
  9. The best is MHDD because it not only indicates 100% failed sectors but also sectors that require many retries to read successfully.
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