How do you test a new hard drive?

[clownshoes]

I'm just curious what everybody does when they get a new hard drive. Do you benchmark it and test it for bad sectors? What software do you use? I've never really given much thought to hard drive performance in the past so I'm hoping to get some ideas.

 

[hdfreedom]

Good question. The first thing I do is a complete erase. My reason is this; I've read to many times of people buying a new drive, installing it only to find they now have a new virus/trojan/etc.. Next, I check it with Crystaldiskinfo to see what's going on.

When installing, make sure cables are plugged in tight. Listen for clicks/ weird noises. Monitor to see if it's overheating.

I'm not one that's big on stress testing drives first. Never saw the sense of it. Checking the Smart info with Crystaldiskinfo will tell me what's going on.

 

[Negative Decibel]

Good question. The first thing I do is a complete erase. My reason is this; I've read to many times of people buying a new drive, installing it only to find they now have a new virus/trojan/etc.. Next, I check it with Crystaldiskinfo to see what's going on.

When installing, make sure cables are plugged in tight. Listen for clicks/ weird noises. Monitor to see if it's overheating.

I'm not one that's big on stress testing drives first. Never saw the sense of it. Checking the Smart info with Crystaldiskinfo will tell me what's going on.

pretty much this is what I do as well.

 

[Sarian]

Don't forget to throw CrystalDiskMark in there! CrystalDiskInfo gives you monitoring. CrystalDiskMark gives you benchmarking.

 

[clownshoes]

Thanks for the responses. I looked into crystaldiskinfo and crystaldiskmark and this is exactly what I was looking for.