Hard Drive Diagnostics

Below are links to hard drive diagnostics from the manufacturers. Links are given for the diskette version and the CD iso image.

IDE hard drives

SATA hard drives

Third party diagnostics

Defrag utilities - a fragmented hard drive will slow down your processing

Data recovery from a crashed or failing hard drive

Permanently delete a hard drive's data

Dell computers either have quick diagnostics built-into the image or on a CD they provide with the computer.

The following IDE information added 7/2005

Western Digital - EIDE drives	Hitachi fitness test - EIDE drives	Maxtor - EIDE drives
diskette	diskette	diskette
CD iso	CD iso	CD iso

WDC downloads	Hitachi downloads	Maxtor downloads
Jumper settings	Jumper settings	Jumper settings
Error codes	Error codes	Error codes

warranty check	warranty check	warranty check
RMA (product replacement)	RMA (product replacement)	RMA (product replacement)
WDC storage devices	Hitachi storage devices	Maxtor storage devices

Toshiba - EIDE drives	Seagate - EIDE drives	Other EIDE HD drive manufacturers
Diskette - not available Use Hitachi utility - see here.	Diskette
CD iso - not available	CD iso	Fujitsu 2.5" new and Discontinued Hard Drives Other site
jumper settings	jumper settings	Samsung
error codes	error codes
troubleshooting	troubleshooting
		Quantum / Conner
Toshiba Service and support site	Seagate Hard Drive support site	Google search results
Hard Drive recovery Utility

The following SATA information added 7/2007

Western Digital - SATA drives	Hitachi fitness test - SATA drives	Maxtor - SATA drives (MAXTOR IS NOW OWNED BY SEAGATE AND USES SAME UTILITY)
diskette	diskette	diskette
CD iso	CD iso	CD iso
Windows version	Windows Version	Windows Version
WED Support	Hitachi Support	Maxtor Support
		Hard Drive Troubleshooter.

Seagate - SATA drives
diskette
CD iso
Windows Version
Seagate Support
Hard Drive Troubleshooter.

Third party diagnostics or utilities for testing hard dives.

Hard Drive tune -

HD Tune is a Hard Disk utility which has the following functions:

HD Tune is a hard disk benchmarking and information tool. You can use it to measures the raw performance of your drive(s), including transfer rate, burst rate, access time and more. In addition, it provides detailed information about supported hard drive features, as well as current temperature, S.M.A.R.T. Information (if available) and an error scanner. Checks for bad sectors on the hard drive. http://www.hdtune.com/

HD Tune can be run while in Windows or from a CD ( Ultimate boot CD is a great example)

Pass-Mark Burn-in Test - Computer stability and reliability testing software for Windows & Linux. BurnInTest is a software tool that heavily loads all the major subsystems of a computer with the aim of thoroughly exercising the hardware in a PC in a short period of time.
available at www.download.com

Particle Fury 1.45 - is a fresh new benchmark program for Windows systems that tests your system's memory performance. Available at http://www.majorgeeks.com/

SpeedFan - Tests the computer's hardware temperatures. http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

I8kfanGUI - tests the fan in Dell Latitude / Inspiron / Precision notebooks. http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/

>Defrag utilities - a badly fragmented hard drive will slow down processing time. Windows XP and VISTA have built in defragment utilities but there are third-party utilities that work great!

* In XP, there are several methods to start a defrag (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848) :

Start -> Programs ->Accessories->System tools->Disk Defragmenter
Start\Run\dfrg.msc
Open My Computer, Right click on the on the local volume, select properties, On the Tools tab select defrayment now.

* In VISTA:

To find Disk Defragmenter, go to Start Menu -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools.

* Free Defraggers / Defragmenters / Defragmentation Tools

Wincontig - http://wincontig.mdtzone.it/en/index.htm
Ultra Defragmenter - http://ultradefrag.sourceforge.net/
JkDefrag - http://www.kessels.com/Jkdefrag/

Data recovery from a crashed or failing hard drive

I have been using Final Data 2.0 for several years. IT HAS A HIGH SUCCESS RATE.
Disk Investigator is fairly new to me but appears to do a fairly good job. (both free at www.download.com )
A new utility as of 2006, Spin Rite, has not been tested too often by me yet but is advertised as a good utility. See here http://www.grc.com/default.htm for information. Other utilities are out there!!

Permanently delete hard drive data.

Hard drive zeroing procedures on Windows-based computers

Hard drive zeroing procedures on Macintosh computers

Windows XP System Information (start, programs, accessories, system tools, system information) utility as well as Belarc Advisor, provide information on your hard drives that may not be available in Device Manager or My Computer

Dell computers either have quick diagnostics built-into the image or on a CD they provide with the computer.

To access the Dell quick diagnostics:

Press F12 during the prompt to do so in POST
On newer Dell laptops, hold down the 'Fn' key then press POWER
On newer Dell desktops, during POST, hold down the CRTL,ALT, D keys to access the 90/90 hard drive diagnostics.

Boot off the diagnostics CD that shipped with the Dell. If you lost the CD, some diagnostic ISO files are available for download through the Drivers Download page http://support.dell.com/

See this Dell Technical notice for reference: How to Run the Hard Drive Disk Self Test( DST) on a Dell Computer .

Article ID:	298970
Date Published:	2/15/2008
Last Revised:	3/12/2008

Request a set of original CDs, which include the operating system, Drivers/diagnostics CD. The original CDs that shipped with your computer can be requested from Dell. As of 7/10/2008 the link is here. This link seems to change therefore if the offered link is broken, go to www.support.dell.com and search for "how to request backup CDs"