Need software to test a HD's integrity

Caporegime
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
75,995
Location
Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
Any recommendations?

Drobo threw a fit and basically think a HD died so I took it out, now put in an Icy Box, have formatted it so I want to test it.

What is good and preferably free software out there for OSX?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Open terminal:

diskutil list

Find the identifier for the drive you want to check (right hand most column) and then type:

diskutil info <identifier>

e.g. to check the internal drive in my MBP I would type:

diskutil info disk0

If the SMART status is verified then the drive should be good (at least that has worked for me).
 
You could fsck it. My software of choice is Drive Genius 3. Not free but very very good especially at recovery of fudged drives.

Diskdrill also offer a free version but I've never thought much of it compared to Drive Genius or Disk Warrior.
 
Open terminal:

diskutil list

Find the identifier for the drive you want to check (right hand most column) and then type:

diskutil info <identifier>

e.g. to check the internal drive in my MBP I would type:

diskutil info disk0

If the SMART status is verified then the drive should be good (at least that has worked for me).

mpLeV.png
 
You could fsck it. My software of choice is Drive Genius 3. Not free but very very good especially at recovery of fudged drives.

Diskdrill also offer a free version but I've never thought much of it compared to Drive Genius or Disk Warrior.

I am not trying to recover any data, I just want to check the sectors on the drive to make sure it is all working. :)
 
It can't read the smart status so you'll need another tool to confirm. I don't have any recommendations as it's not something I've needed.
 
I've just had a quick check against my firewire enclosure it can't read the SMART status of that either. However, that's a RAID array so that might be a reason why it doesn't report correctly.

I don't have any other portable drives with me at the moment as I'm not at home.
 
Never found a piece of software on OS X that does what you want.

Run windows and use HD Tune Pro to write data to the entire disk.

That is how I test for dead sectors.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom