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Hard drive testing program wanted - write files to disk then read/verify them

C

commando

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 12, 2004
Messages
103
I'm after a program that will write a known pattern or patterns to a hard drive then read them back, reporting on failures, to check if the drive is working as it should. Does such software exist?
 
MrAgmoore said:
I'd check if the manufacturer has such a piece of software, prior to finding 3rd party. For example, Western Digital has their own software:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/Western-Digital-Data-Lifeguard-Diagnostics.shtml

My Samsung Pro 840 has its own SSD diagnostic software.
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Thanks, I need to test a range of disks.

toast0 said:
Badblocks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badblocks
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Sounds like it could destroy data. I'd prefer a user application level windows app. I may have to write one myself. Strange that no-one has written one before.
 
commando said:
Sounds like it could destroy data. I'd prefer a user application level windows app. I may have to write one myself. Strange that no-one has written one before.
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If you don't write to the entire disk how would you verify that the entire disk is good. If you write to every block, you're going to overwrite the data that is there. The diagnostic tools from WD, Seagate, etc. Have tests that will test every sector on the drive without harming the data.
 
Yeah I know what I'm proposing isn't a 100% test. I'd like to give it a shot to get indicative results before I go to the trouble of backing up, formatting, destroying the data, restoring, etc.
 
All you need to do is copy over as many files as you wish to fill the space you desire, MD5 or SHA them and then checksum the files at your leisure against the generated numbers. You could write a relatively simple batch or shell script to automate it.
 
HammerSandwich said:
If you're okay with not 100%, put a crapload of data on the drive(s) & defrag.
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That doesn't check data integrity.

mwroobel said:
All you need to do is copy over as many files as you wish to fill the space you desire, MD5 or SHA them and then checksum the files at your leisure against the generated numbers. You could write a relatively simple batch or shell script to automate it.
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That checks data integrity but is fairly manual. I've done it before, gotten MD5 errors, which is why I now have two 4TB HGST drives running ReFS in a mirror storage space - which is having similar problems. It may be the best option though.

I'm not sure if I have something like a faulty motherboard that's isolated to just the IO section, but Prime95 and every other testing program I've used comes back clean.
 
commando said:
Sounds like it could destroy data. I'd prefer a user application level windows app. I may have to write one myself. Strange that no-one has written one before.
Click to expand...

badblocks has a non destructive test as well but I would say it is not as thorough as the 4 pattern read write test.
 
drescherjm said:
badblocks has a non destructive test as well but I would say it is not as thorough as the 4 pattern read write test.
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Great to know, thanks, I may give that a shot then. I may have to find another computer to test on too, in case it's this PC.

Thing is I don't think it's bad blocks - I've had errors on all drives, including two SSDs. I suspect it's more likely a localised fault on the motherboard or something. My other thread here talks about it more.
 
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non destructive, windows app, h2testw http://www.heise.de/download/h2testw.html (sorry page is in german, but tool was authored by germans, has an english mode) This was designed to test dodgy flash drives, but should work for any type of partition you can write to from windows. (it'll fill it up, then verify the files have the right patterns, then you can delete the files)
 
I've got some new information, which I've posted on this thread to avoid cross posting - only updating this thread because you guys have been really helpful. Any additional help would be much appreciated.
 
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