New Hard Disk Testing

[codec_spurt]

I just bought a load of new hard disks, from 2.5" to 3.5". Some I'm looking to just have as backups for archiving, others for actual system drives. Others for transfer between the two. And sometimes the twain shall meet.

Got a weird one though in one of the 2.5" disks. It's a pretty trusty Toshiba MQ01ABD100M - it's nothing fancy - just a very basic but reliable drive. They are standard drives in some Macs.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-tos ... -8mb-cache

Anyway, this drive has passed most tests. I've been using

Western Digital diagnostics - Data Lifeguard.
Seatools for windows.

It's passed everything with WD including a long 8 hours test.

But it failed the long generic in Seatools. And it also failed SMART there as well.

I've also tested it in about another 8 or 9 HD testing programs and all pass it with SMART. It's just the Seatools it has a problem with.

I'm running a test with Chkdsk in DOS that is yet to complete (takes a couple of hours). Some say you shouldn't do that with a failing drive, but it's new and I don't know if it's failing.

It's been a while and I've been out of the game with all this HD testing stuff for some time. Any tips or pointers you can give? Any good programs you would think worth using to check?

I'm getting a constant 120MB/s back from Crystal Mark for this disk, which is a pretty good result for such a 'mediocre' 5400rpm drive. It passes on everything but Seatools so far. I'll look in to it more. It's supposed to be one of the most reliable drives available which is why I bought it (35 quid on ebay new).

Another drive I just bought and was quite impressed with was the Toshiba HDWL110UZSVA - it's only £37.50 and also a 5400rpm drive.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-tos ... hard-drive

I got very good results from it - approaching WD Black sort of speeds - 150MB/s transfers in Crystal Disk Mark. It's got a 128MB buffer and is 7mm size. That's very very good for that price. I also stress tested it overnight with about 8 hours in Data Lifeguard. I bought a couple of them up just in case.

It's hard to get feedback on these drives. So much BS and you can't rely on Amazon scores that chuck in all Toshiba 2.5" drives. You have to go enterprise and then they don't do these drives. It's suck it and see.

The thing is. This drive is consistently a fiver cheaper than its older brethren that you can't get anymore. Why is that? I've seen the benchmarks for it and it's consistently 30MB/s slower. Is it because it is more reliable with higher MTBF counts? Who knows, the data isn't out there yet.

Welcome to the arcane and esoteric world of Hard Disks.

Toshiba has a pretty good rep though with reliability and 2.5" disks (their forte). Grab that sucker for 37 quid. 150MB/s transfer across the board! It's a blazer. 2 year cover as well iirc. Get 'em from Scan or Amazon for that price.

Nothing beats Hitachi for reliability of course. Owned now by Western Digital - they make the best 2.5" disks going. Got a few of them too. But Toshibas are comparable and cheaper. Forget Seagate.

I'm just retiring a WD Black 750GB 2.5" disk that has done me proud and is still fighting fit. But it's time. I'd trust a WD Black over anything else. 5 year cover. Longer than Hitachi.

No one would touch Hitachi because of the notorious 'Deathstar' but they have made their way back to being no.1. But damage done. I'm going to buy a few more before prices go up.

Still, any ideas what I should do with that super-reliable Toshiba that is passing all the tests that I can throw at it except for Seatools?

What do you use to stress test a new HD before you trust it with Data and put it in to service? I've tried about everything I can get my hands on. But I'm open to suggestions...

[codec_spurt]

If you doubt my Crystal Disk Mark?

3 mins 48 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2avVCbO3-KM

4 mins 01 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYci6Dptfk

These drives must be seriously bad and unrleliable for them to go so cheap. The nearest drive to that performance is a WD Black which is literally TWICE the price!

Expect these drives to go up in price. Grab 'em while you can. Mabye they are very unreliable. But they are so new no one knows yet.

Over a 160MB/s write in one of those tests if it can be believed. For 37 quid!

I'm going to buy another one just in case...

Actually, I can't. Amazon won't let me. Blocking me like paypal for using a VPN.

No worries, get them from ebuyer: https://www.ebuyer.com/857202-toshiba-2 ... wl110uzsva

if you want to.

I just bought another two! Thanks Amazon.

(I'm not affiliated blah blah blah)

Maybe these drives are dogs. But they look like fast dogs.

I'm going to benchmark them when I get them and I'll post up my own Crystal Disk Mark scores for you to see.

[codec_spurt]

These are the programs I would recommend for disk checking/benchmarking.

HD Tune:
This program is free but it's old now (up to date new version costs money):
http://www.hdtune.com/download.html

You can check for errors but it's not so good for that. But you can get a good idea of the speed of your drive in general terms.


DiskCheckup:
https://www.passmark.com/products/diskcheckup.htm

If you are lucky you might get a well predicted TEC date (when the drive is going to fail).

https://www.passmark.com/products/diskcheckup.htm


GSmartControl:
https://gsmartcontrol.sourceforge.io/ho ... /Downloads

Provides short and long tests. S.M.A.R.T. feedback too.


Data Lifeguard Diagnostics:
https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=3&lang=en

This is kind of an industry standard test. Free.

SeaTools:
Another industry standard. Free. Get it in your country of origin.


For Disk benchmarking you can try:
http://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskmark/

https://www.atto.com/disk-benchmark/

And to finish off a nice general tool is:
http://hddscan.com/


I probably could have formatted and formulated that better, but there ya go.

If nothing else there is always chckdsk in winX

https://neosmart.net/wiki/chkdsk/

Make sure you run it from the command prompt:

https://neosmart.net/wiki/chkdsk/#From_Command_Prompt-5

It won't work otherwise. It will take some time to complete.

Make sure to swap out "C:" for "D:" or wtf your new drive is called. It's not difficult.

[Kaine]

I'm quite surprised that Tosh don't have their own testing tool, must be the only one that doesn't. HDD DFT was always our goto test for generic drives, although I'm guessing that's a bit ln the tooth now.

[codec_spurt]

I'm quite surprised that Tosh don't have their own testing tool, must be the only one that doesn't. HDD DFT was always our goto test for generic drives, although I'm guessing that's a bit ln the tooth now.

Never thought about that. But yeah, seeing as they are one of the 3 big hard disk manufacturers on the planet, good point!

A lot of the best disk testing tools have not been ported to winX. In fact, even Chkdsk is just a charade under winX but run it in a DOS window (even under winX) and it works properly. This is 64bit winX, and DOS is? er 16bit? j/k

I'm going to dive in to this a bit more. 2 of the 3 major manufacturers have just closed down their major facilities. In the last year or two iirc. Production is shutting down as it shifts to SSD and NAND. Some say that these are the good times and the price of good old fashioned rust on glass is going to go right back up as RAM did.

These are the good days. HD's won't come down in price lower than 30 quid. We've hit rock bottom. It goes up from here baby. I've been buying buying buying. Not to speculate, but just to make sure I got what I need in the future and I won't have to get burned buying a bloody hard disk.

Just bought 6 WD Blue for 180 quid in a job lot. Sealed. Fastest hard drives going. Comparable to WD Blacks. I've got a few of them too but they are twice the price.

Probably shouldn't post this, but...
https://hdd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/W ... 1779vs3908

WD Black come with 5 year cover. Blue with 24 months iirc. I'll take my chances. It's a blazing fast system drive. Big enough as well to operate as a good Samples/Audio drive if you have more than 512MB of samples. Sweet spot for SSD is not 1Gig. Gonna need two of those babies for that. Easier to buy rust on glass.

I know that WD have high failure rates compared to Hitachi (also owned by WD), but for these drives, you pay a premium and more than likely get a premium product. If you are lucky. Like everything else in life.

That Toshiba drive has thrown up a lot of interesting questions. I'm going to go deeper down the testing route. It's ok. It's not a particularly fast drive but gives a very respectable 120MB/s. Why does it fail SMART on Seatools but not on anything else?

I just bought another couple of those little blazers though - https://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-tos ... hard-drive

150MB/s read and write.

For 37 quid!

They won't last long when this gets out. They are WD Black fast!

Who knows, in the arcane world of HD manufacture, maybe there is a dark secret we do not know. I don't have shares...

I don't like to put all my eggs in one basket.

Having said that, looking forward to putting my new WD 6TB external drive through its paces.

In the hard drive world there is only one holy mantra:

The three 'R's -

REDUNDANCY
REDUNDANCY
REDUNDANCY

What I want to know is why is an older and slower HD over 10 quid more expensive?

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-tos ... -8mb-cache

I'll spend a bit more time on this one. I won't use it for mission critical stuff, but I may keep it for comparison/reference.

Check out GSmartControl: https://www.lifewire.com/gsmartcontrol-review-2624560

Then there's all those lovely tools in Linux, but that should be enough for now.

[risome]

No moving parts get SSD's .....forget that cheap old tech of rpm

[codec_spurt]

No moving parts get SSD's .....forget that cheap old tech of rpm

Nah! Not interested. At least with rust you get a bit of warning.

I lived before without SSD and I'll live again.

Just like XP is my main system. Then win7. Then holding out agains the cancer that is winX, but (william shatner voice) can.. not... resist....

I didn't really want this to be a thread about the virtues of SSD vs. Rust, but there ya go, KVR for the win. Not one of you can give me a clue as to what HDD testing programs you use. Oh well.

I'll find my way, like I usually do with these problems. It's not a biggie. I just thought that a few like-minded souls that make music could help a brother out.

The debate between SSD and Rust has been played out ad nauseum. This was not the question.

I've just taken hold of my last consignment of drives. 6 x WD Blue. I've also got about another 20TB of drives in 2.5" format and big FO 6TB format. I've got enough tools to test. I'll probably hook them up to an old winXP machine to test and then benchmark. I'm not overly concerned with speed, more with if a drive is going to suffer 'infant mortality' - bathtub curve of failure and all that.

I just thought someone could give me a pointer to a modern HDD testing solution. Seems there isn't one and it's all pretty old tech. I'll research a bit more. Found a really great forum just dedicated to HDD. Feeling my way there. They are pretty friendly. Also the builders and overclockers forums.

I just want to know if a drive is going to die sooner rather than later. If it makes it to 'middle age' then it's probably good. Doesn't matter then, I'll have it backed up in triplicate or more.

Next step is NAS and RAID. I'm confident with that too, when I get the cash.

SSD comes down in price this year and Rust goes up. Prices have bottomed out for Rust but keep coming down for SSD even though it's fluctuating.

I've got what I need. I'll chuck in some SSD's for my OS drive and my Samples drive later. When I got them backed up, it's all good. £19 for a 120GB Gigabyte SSD. That's pretty good, but it will go lower by end of year. By that point, you won't be able to buy a 1TB disk for what you pay for it today. It won't be double the price, but it may be approaching %50 more. Just like RAM went through the roof. But I might be really wrong about that. It's just what I (probably mistakenly) believe.

I'll still be buying some WD Blacks though to stick in as my most important drive.

I think I will hold on to this Toshiba disk just to see how it will fail, if it does in fact fail. I'm going to go to the professionals and see what they recommend for HDD testing.

None of this really matters when you have your shit backed up 5 times.

If I find a good program for testing that works across all modern platforms, I'll let you know.

[sprnva]

I use smartctl to test my disks here. It's a linux tool that's been ported to just about everything. On Windows I use GSmartControl.

Generally when I get a brand new disk the first thing I do is run is a Conveyance test. If that passes, it's generally good. I might also run a short self-test. The extended test takes longer of course.

[codec_spurt]

I use smartctl to test my disks here. It's a linux tool that's been ported to just about everything. A good Windows option is GSmartControl.

Generally when I get a brand new disk the first thing I do is run is a Conveyance test. If that passes, it's generally good. I might also run a short self-test. The extended test takes longer of course.

As these are all smart tests they run on the drive so the speed of the data connection is irrelevant.

Thanks. I'll have a look at that.

I'm already familiar with GSmartControl. I've already come across one or two forks of it in my travels as well. I use it a lot. It's a great program.

These all pass my Toshiba drive.

Again, it's only Seatools that fails it, but doesn't say why. The log file is very vague.

I'm going to take a flyer on this drive and not return it. I'm going to test that mofo to death. I've got enough of them.

I've got drives that hardly boot, but on a good day, do. They pass all the right tests in some programs, but obviously fail them in others. They are still going. Sometimes I think all they need is a good solid whack against my hard wood table.

[codec_spurt]

I use smartctl to test my disks here. It's a linux tool that's been ported to just about everything. On Windows I use GSmartControl.

Generally when I get a brand new disk the first thing I do is run is a Conveyance test. If that passes, it's generally good. I might also run a short self-test. The extended test takes longer of course.

Btw, I use linux too. Many tools and distros.

But I'm just looking at a windows solution here. Just general testing. Nothing fancy.

What is a 'Conveyance test' if I might ask? I must admit to not hearing of that before.

[sprnva]

It's one of the smart self-tests. You'll find it in the self-tests tab on GSmartControl. It's used to test a drive to see if it took any knocks during shipping.

On the linux front, Parted Magic is my swiss army knife. I use it for testing, secure erasing, cloning, partition management etc here. It replaced countless Windows utilities and boot disks.

[dbender]

Anybody know anything about Mac hard drives?

I’ve been having the following strange behavior lately. The diagnostic and maintenance program drive genius is reporting bad blocks on a drive that tech tool pro says is OK and does not have bad blocks.

I’m wondering if I am getting false positives from the drive genius surface scan. I just replaced that drive and again, as with the drive it replaced, Drive Genius is reporting some bad blocks but tech tool pro is not and says no bad blocks.

Anyone with any experience with Mac hard drives getting different surface scan results like this?? especially with these two diagnostic and maintenance programs (drive genius and tech tool pro), I’d very much appreciate hearing your experience and whether it was false positives in drive genius. I’m hoping that’s the case, of course, I’d rather believe tech tool pro that keeps saying no bad blocks.

Thanks!

[sprnva]

First thing would be to read the smart data out of that drive and look for any errors. Like reallocated sector counts or UDMA errors.

You can use the demo version of SMARTReporter to do this (the link is at the bottom of the page). The demo limitations won't affect what we want to do here. We just want a GUI to avoid having to use smartctl from the terminal.

Click on the "Disk Checks" menu button and in the middle of the SMART page click on Advanced Tools. Here you can click "show attributes" to read out the smart data for the drive. This will show if there's any known faults on the disk. The "run self-test" button will let you run a short or full test. The latter will do a full surface scan, but at the hardware level rather than the filesystem level which you've been doing with TTP and Drive Genius. The progress percentage will update slowly with a full test. Just leave it alone until it gets to 100%.

If any bad sectors were detected they'll be listed in the test output. If it reports that it completed without error then there's no problem with the drive.

[dbender]

Thank you.

This is an external drive, and Disk Utility says that smart status is not supported for the drive. Does that make a difference? Can I still do the test you describe in smart reporter?

If I can, will the scan you recommend doing with smart reporter take as long as the surface scans I did with tech tool and drive genius, which each took about 22 hours (it’s a 5 TB drive)?

[sprnva]

SMARTReporter might be able to read it. It's usually down to whether the USB chipset in the drive supports SMART. I'd imagine most do at this stage. You'll know if it shows up. If it doesn't you might be able to make it appear by updating the drive database that smartctl uses. Close SMARTReporter and browse the apps contents. In the resources folder replace drivedb.h with this updated version. Then run the app again.

Disk Utility's implementation of SMART is pretty basic. I wouldn't pay any attention to it.

The scans should be quicker as the test will be ran internally on the drive (so the usb connection won't influence the speed). However, you need to make sure the USB drive doesn't go to sleep during the process or the test may fail to complete. I'm not entrely sure how to do this on a Mac as I tend to do most of my disk testing on my PC.