How to "prep" hard drives?

[enewmen]

Hi all.

I just got some drives.
But first, I need to check if the drives are ready for real work.
What tools can I do besides the normal chkdsk /f /r /x /b d: ?
How to do extended SMART testing ?
Anything else I should do to the drives before using them?

thanks!

 

[plasmastorm]

Unless your reallreally worried aobut a new drive being faulty, which is quite unlikely. Just fit it, install it and use it.
Can always download some test software for free from the manufacturers website.

 

[enewmen]

Since these drives will be going in a 24/7 NAS box, I thought there may be something else to check..

 

[price_th]

If there used drives goto the Mfg web site and DL their diagnostic tools to check them.

 

[enewmen]

OK.
It seems there isn't anything special I need to do then..

 

[ahnilated]

What type of drives are these? SATA, SAS, IDE, SSD, SCSI? Some of the drives have had a higher failure ratio than others lately. I know from personal experience that SATA's have a horrible failure ratio. I lost 5/8 of my SATA drives within the first 6 months (WD).

 

[price_th]

Not a shock with WD. I've been in the business 15+ years using all brands of drives. Drive I've replaced the most WD. That's not to say others haven't had issues, they all do. Oops, I just started a big debate.

 

[enewmen]

The drives are WD RED SATA going in a 8 bay RAID5 NAS.
From what I read, The Reds should do "well" in this environment. Not getting ultra enterprise SCSI rack mounted stuff anytime soon.
So, the point is I'm not looking for a drive suggestion. Just looking for any ways to check if a drive is OK for 24/7 duty before it becomes a statistic. (I have uses for drives less than pefect)

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

WD RED SATA < That's a new line of sata from WD so there won't be much feedback out there yet.