I've just purchased a couple of drives from eBay to store files and was wondering what do people use to test them?
I've heard of Crystal Disk Info and a few others but never used them, what is the consensus for best way to test used drives?
Best Free Software to Test Used Hard Drives?
figarow on 19/11/2024 - 17:39
Last edited 19/11/2024 - 18:06 by 1 other user
Last edited 19/11/2024 - 18:06 by 1 other user
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If you do a long format, the drive’s internal error correction will do its thing and chances are that will fix any issues. Then copy a bunch of files over and use winmerge to do a binary file compare. I have tools I paid for but if I was going to cheap out, that’s what I’d do.
As duk242 suggested, HDD Sentinel works pretty well.
If you want to try an alternative tool, you can consider gsmartcontrol, which is the smartctl tool commonly found in linux for hard drive checking/testing but in GUI format and also works in Windows. It shows the same SMART information as Crystal Disk Info but also allows you to do various tests, including Short Self-test (quick test), Extended Self-test (comprehensive drive test) and Conveyance Self-test (for checking damage during hdd transport).
Be warned, the extended test can take a long time (e.g. 28 hours for 14tb drive).
I normally use HDD Sentinel, Read + Write + Read test. Reads the drive, writes to the drive then reads it back to confirm it's all correct.
Note: It will delete everything on the drive!