This may be a dumb question or FAQ, but I'm not finding it easily by searching HardOCP, and there's no sticky here. Assuming that other possible issues have been ruled out, what is the generally approved way to check whether a hard drive is failing or corrupting data? Is there an equivalent to MemTest86+ for hard drives? I have no specific problems to report; this is just for future reference.
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How to test hard drive integrity?
- Thread starter evilsofa
- Start date
The manufacturer's diagnostic utility is about the most reliable and capable tool you're going to find. There are hundreds of apps out there from all sorts of places that do basic checking but, the tool created by the actual manufacturer of the actual drive is the best one you're going to get.
Most manufacturers today offer such a diagnostic tool for their own drives, and if you happen to have a brand of drive that doesn't offer such a tool, you can safely use the Hitachi Drive Fitness Test which isn't "tied" to any specific brand, especially Hitachi/IBM hardware.
So go get the diagnostic software from whoever makes your drive, or use the Hitachi DFT if they don't make or provide one. The tools usually come in the form of an .exe file that needs to be run from DOS (off a bootable CD or USB stick), or they may offer it in the form of a very tiny CD ISO you burn to CD/CD-RW for booting purposes. Could also have an .exe that creates the ISO for you, or a bootable floppy.
But there is no better software for testing out drives than the tools from the actual maker of the drives themselves. Best advice is to run the Short/Standard/Quick test (each tool uses a different name) and regardless of the results - even if they're positive and everything is OK and the drive checks out - go ahead and run the Long/Advanced/Thorough test (again, they all name the process differently).
The short tests usually take less than 5 minutes on almost all drives; the long ones can take a very long time depending on drive capacity.
After those tests are done (both of them) if the results say the drive is ok, that's as good as you're going to get.
Last tip: DO NOT RELY ON S.M.A.R.T. STATUS ALONE because it can and is inaccurate more often than not. It's just a technology that can detect potential issues on a drive, meaning it's looking for patterns of inconsistencies that traditionally have shown that a failure is imminent at some future time. It does not mean anything is actually wrong at any given moment, it's supposed to like an "early warning system" for drive problems.
Regardless, S.M.A.R.T. status is not the end-all-be-all status of how a hard drive is functioning and if it's actually doing ok within the parameters of it being considered "OK." That status is only determined by the diagnostic tools I mentioned above from each manufacturer.
Most manufacturers today offer such a diagnostic tool for their own drives, and if you happen to have a brand of drive that doesn't offer such a tool, you can safely use the Hitachi Drive Fitness Test which isn't "tied" to any specific brand, especially Hitachi/IBM hardware.
So go get the diagnostic software from whoever makes your drive, or use the Hitachi DFT if they don't make or provide one. The tools usually come in the form of an .exe file that needs to be run from DOS (off a bootable CD or USB stick), or they may offer it in the form of a very tiny CD ISO you burn to CD/CD-RW for booting purposes. Could also have an .exe that creates the ISO for you, or a bootable floppy.
But there is no better software for testing out drives than the tools from the actual maker of the drives themselves. Best advice is to run the Short/Standard/Quick test (each tool uses a different name) and regardless of the results - even if they're positive and everything is OK and the drive checks out - go ahead and run the Long/Advanced/Thorough test (again, they all name the process differently).
The short tests usually take less than 5 minutes on almost all drives; the long ones can take a very long time depending on drive capacity.
After those tests are done (both of them) if the results say the drive is ok, that's as good as you're going to get.
Last tip: DO NOT RELY ON S.M.A.R.T. STATUS ALONE because it can and is inaccurate more often than not. It's just a technology that can detect potential issues on a drive, meaning it's looking for patterns of inconsistencies that traditionally have shown that a failure is imminent at some future time. It does not mean anything is actually wrong at any given moment, it's supposed to like an "early warning system" for drive problems.
Regardless, S.M.A.R.T. status is not the end-all-be-all status of how a hard drive is functioning and if it's actually doing ok within the parameters of it being considered "OK." That status is only determined by the diagnostic tools I mentioned above from each manufacturer.
Check the raw value of these SMART values:
- Reallocated Sector Count (fixed sectors that no longer causes problems)
- Current Pending Sector (bad sectors that are not fixed and cause alot of trouble!)
- UDMA CRC error count (indicates cabling errors)
If the current pending sector count is not zero, you need to perform recovery or zero-write the affected area. The preferred choice would be to run Spinrite on the HDD to repair the damage, then reboot into windows and do a disk check. Performing a disk check on a drive with active bad sectors can be dangerous and generally should be avoided.
- Reallocated Sector Count (fixed sectors that no longer causes problems)
- Current Pending Sector (bad sectors that are not fixed and cause alot of trouble!)
- UDMA CRC error count (indicates cabling errors)
If the current pending sector count is not zero, you need to perform recovery or zero-write the affected area. The preferred choice would be to run Spinrite on the HDD to repair the damage, then reboot into windows and do a disk check. Performing a disk check on a drive with active bad sectors can be dangerous and generally should be avoided.