Test HDD before use

[Swiftz]

I have bought a 4TB Blue drive from OcUK and was wondering what software should I use to test the drive (health and bad sectors etc) before using so it?

 

[Swiftz]

Or scan it with the manufacturer's diagnostic.

I have checked and they have the Data Lifeguard Diagnostics tool, which test should I do?

Quick test - Performs SMART drive quick self-test to gather and verify the Data Lifeguard information contained on the drive.

Extended test- Performs a Full Media Scan to detect bad sectors; and attempt to repair them, or mark the damaged sector for not to be written to. This test may take several hours to complete depending on the size of the drive. The average test time takes about 1 hour per Terabyte.

Erase - Erase will low-level format the drive with options of Full Erase and Quick Erase. File system and partition table will be permanently erased.

 

[Swiftz]

Quick test first. If it passes that run the extended. The extended test will take hours to complete.

Thanks, I will run the tests tomorrow and report back with the results.

Also, should I do a full erase which writes zeros to the drive or is that not necessary?

 

[Swiftz]

Quick test first. If it passes that run the extended. The extended test will take hours to complete.

I have ran the quick and extended test yesterday and this is the result. So I assume the drive is healthy with no bad sectors/blocks?

A full format should do what you want.

Is the full format the same as the extended test I did?

Extended test- Performs a Full Media Scan to detect bad sectors; and attempt to repair them, or mark the damaged sector for not to be written to.