Checks to do on a new mechanical drive

Golf1.6 · 21 Jan 2018 at 22:37

Hi

Is there any software I could use on my new seagate barracuda to check if it's got good integrity? Any scan software or anything like that?

The drive has good reviews but on a few 1/5 star reviews (of there are very few) they mention catastraphic failures shortly after initial use.

On Holiday · 21 Jan 2018 at 23:18

Don't store anything irreplaceable on it.

You can use SeaTools for Windows to perform a long test - will take several hours depending on drive size and I'd recommend CrystalDiskInfo to keep an eye on the error/re-allocated sector count.

PiKe · 21 Jan 2018 at 23:30

Active@ Killdisk, it will write a pattern (or zeroes) to a HDD and verify it, this checks if each sector is storing data reliably, you can run multiple passes if you want.

mattyfez · 22 Jan 2018 at 23:08

I wouldn't worry about it.
Use your new drive with the abandon of a new born puppy.

At the risk of sounding like your mother, ensure you have a copy of anything important on another drive, or backed up elsewhere.

Because drives sometimes fail.

I've never had a drive fail, I had one that started sounding a bit dodgy once. So it was backed up and the drive was 'retired'.

hornetstinger · 22 Jan 2018 at 23:28

Enter manually 1's and 0's then get a piece of paper writing out on pen each one then check by eye matching up data onscreen to your piece of paper.

Do this on a 12tb hard disk.

Doogles · 24 Jan 2018 at 22:23

Just got myself a 3TB Barracuda, going to use Seatools with the long test on it like Plenty O'Toole suggested, I've had a 1TB from the MM for the last year or two and it's making funny noises and has 5 reallocated sectors but still works with movies on it but I guess it's time for it to be retired.

With any HDD you'll always get a failure, it just depends when it happens which is why we make sure to have it backed up once or twice for the most important stuff.