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Forum Discussion
Disk Drive Test Utility Tool links
Here are some links to disk drive diagnostic tools offered by different drive manufactures. Some of the links are for a specific line of drives but will give you the general idea of what test are available.
These tools are helpful in clearing out all info on a drive and fixing minor problems with drives. Some of the manufactures recommend that you run there test utility before they will issue an RMA. The tools are easy to use but can take up to a couple of hours to complete depending on the test you select.
Most of these tools are windows based but I think I saw some that support Linux. They can also run off a boot disk or some will run on your desktop.
Hitachi Drive Fitness Test
Maxtor PowerMax
Seagate Sea tools
WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows
These tools are helpful in clearing out all info on a drive and fixing minor problems with drives. Some of the manufactures recommend that you run there test utility before they will issue an RMA. The tools are easy to use but can take up to a couple of hours to complete depending on the test you select.
Most of these tools are windows based but I think I saw some that support Linux. They can also run off a boot disk or some will run on your desktop.
Hitachi Drive Fitness Test
Maxtor PowerMax
Seagate Sea tools
WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows
21 Replies
b-a-t-m-a-n wrote: Thanks, I'll give it a shot. Another question: Is your Diagnostic USB Key usable only on computers with USB ports that are only on an OS / SP Level that you specified in your configuration of the USB Key?
If the computer supports booting from USB, it doesn't matter what OS was installed on the hard drive.
-brendan- I think I know the answer to this, but I just want to make sure. In order to use one of these tools to test the drives, one has to physically pull the drive from the unit and test directly in a PC. Is that correct, or is it possible to test directly in the ReadyNAS Duo? The reason I ask is that when I put the 2nd 500GB drive in the Duo, I heard some clicking noises when the drive was being accessed. I don't see anything on its status in Frontview that would indicate cause for concern. But I would feel better if I could test the drives. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
bte4 wrote: I think I know the answer to this, but I just want to make sure. In order to use one of these tools to test the drives, one has to physically pull the drive from the unit and test directly in a PC. Is that correct, or is it possible to test directly in the ReadyNAS Duo? The reason I ask is that when I put the 2nd 500GB drive in the Duo, I heard some clicking noises when the drive was being accessed. I don't see anything on its status in Frontview that would indicate cause for concern. But I would feel better if I could test the drives. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
Yes you are right, you will need to pull the drives from the unit and then install them in a PC. When doing this take your time and make sure you have everything connected up correctly.Han Solo wrote: bte4 wrote: I think I know the answer to this, but I just want to make sure. In order to use one of these tools to test the drives, one has to physically pull the drive from the unit and test directly in a PC. Is that correct, or is it possible to test directly in the ReadyNAS Duo? The reason I ask is that when I put the 2nd 500GB drive in the Duo, I heard some clicking noises when the drive was being accessed. I don't see anything on its status in Frontview that would indicate cause for concern. But I would feel better if I could test the drives. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
Yes you are right, you will need to pull the drives from the unit and then install them in a PC. When doing this take your time and make sure you have everything connected up correctly.
Thanks for the reply. I'm a little puzzled by your comment on making sure everything is connected correctly. All of these discs boot into a dos type system, identify the drive and then test it right? So, other than the SATA connection and the power connection, is there something else I need to be concerned with? Thanks again. I really appreciate it!bte4 wrote: Han Solo wrote: bte4 wrote: I think I know the answer to this, but I just want to make sure. In order to use one of these tools to test the drives, one has to physically pull the drive from the unit and test directly in a PC. Is that correct, or is it possible to test directly in the ReadyNAS Duo? The reason I ask is that when I put the 2nd 500GB drive in the Duo, I heard some clicking noises when the drive was being accessed. I don't see anything on its status in Frontview that would indicate cause for concern. But I would feel better if I could test the drives. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
Yes you are right, you will need to pull the drives from the unit and then install them in a PC. When doing this take your time and make sure you have everything connected up correctly.
Thanks for the reply. I'm a little puzzled by your comment on making sure everything is connected correctly. All of these discs boot into a dos type system, identify the drive and then test it right? So, other than the SATA connection and the power connection, is there something else I need to be concerned with? Thanks again. I really appreciate it!
I was talking more about the actual connection to the sata connector on the drive. I have seen some cases where the connector was not all the way secured on the drive thus causing incorrect test results.- After confirming which hard drive, either Fujitsu or Seagate, your embedded controller is carrying follow the steps in the links below to create a bootable USB diagnostic disk.
http://www.virtualizationteam.com/virtu ... sx-40.html - Hi all,
My last post has all the details of my issue. Can you help? Will these tools fix this?http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=29315
DownloaderUK bhoar wrote: One of the neat things is that you can use the tool to get your SMART stats...
Re: SMART data.
In a recent exchange I had with Seagate regarding the SMART numbers reported by their 1.5TiB drives Seagate effectively stated that the numbers they report via SMART are garbage, so you should take anything you get from at least their drives with a hefty grain of salt.
= Mike- DrZ
Does that apply to their reallocated sector count and ATA errors ?
I'm not going to buy Seagate 1.5TB etc drives until I see solid experience w/o errors.
If the data says they really are OK then Seagate are shooting themselves in their feet.
I bought 8x Samsung drives instead (but also had problems with them !) - Most simple way to hook it up & see if it works. If it doesn't spin at all, or just kind of wiggles, it's probably completely dead. If it spins then there's hope. Either way if it's not working it could be the drive itself or just the circuit board on the drive, and getting another circuit board from an identical drive could fix the problem.
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