In this article, we will consider tools to check disks for errors and diagnose their condition... Let's dwell on the diagnostic function built into Windows. There are a large number of diagnostic utilities that will help you determine, if necessary, the problem with hard disk... Tools such as Check Disk for Errors and Microsoft's chkdsk command are already standard on Windows. And some others are provided by manufacturers hard drives and other third party developers.

In some cases, testing hard disk must be carried out by connecting it as a second one to another computer.

There are also many paid hard drive diagnostics software available. But in this article we are interested in free programs or those that have a partially free version.

Seagate SeaTools

Seagate SeaTools Is a free hard drive diagnostic utility from Seagate that comes in two types:

SeaTools for DOS- Supports Seagate or Maxtor drives, and runs independently of the operating system from a disc or USB drive, making it highly reliable. It is more powerful than the Windows utility, but more complex for the user.

SeaTools for Windows Is a program that is installed on Windows and supports all its modern versions. It can be used to do basic or advanced testing of any hard drive, external or internal, from any manufacturer. It has simpler functionality than the DOS program, but much easier to use.

These programs can test the health of any type of hard drive: SCSI, PATA or SATA, as well as external hard drives. To do this, just start the program, select the disk that you want to test, the type of testing and run it.

Seagate SeaTools software is used by professional computer services to test hard drives, but is simple enough for anyone to use. If, for example, you are worried about the sounds emitted by the hard drive, you can safely test it using programs from Seagate.

Windows Drive Fitness Test (WinDFT) is another free diagnostic utility for hard drives of any type and manufacturer provided by hard drive manufacturer Western Digital (formerly owned by Hitachi). But testing with it is not limited to WD or Hitachi drives.

The program includes not only several disk scanning functions, but also the ability to view SMART attributes and clean up the hard disk.

Although WinDFT is designed to run on Windows, it does not scan or test the drive on which the operating system is installed. The utility supports external hard drives and other USB storage devices. It displays in its list only supported hard drives and shows information about them: serial number, firmware version, capacity, status.

By double clicking on the disk, you will see its SMART status. It is also possible to choose Quick Test or Ext Test. You can test one or several disks at the same time.

The Utilities button is an extended menu that is displayed in a separate window from the main one. From it you can select one of the additional functions of the program: clearing the partition table, clearing the disk, short test, long test, etc.

Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic (DLGDIAG) is another free program for diagnostics and testing of hard drives from Western Digital. Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic comes in both a PC version and a portable version.

There are also Windows and DOS versions of the program. Version for Windows is easier in use than the DOS version, but has more modest functionality. The DOS version of the program requires the primary (primary) disk to be WD. Both versions have the ability to wipe the hard drive.

The Fujitsu Diagnostic Tool is a hard drive test program that only works with Fujitsu hard drives.

The program has two forms: one runs from Windows, the other runs from a Floppy disk. The Windows version supports all of its versions. The DOS version works independently of the operating system.

Both versions perform two tests: “Quick Test” - which will take no more than three minutes, and “Comprehensive Test” - in addition to the read / write test, it also checks the disk surface. The duration of the second test depends on the size of the media being scanned.

A number of errors can be detected and corrected using the built-in Windows Disk Checker tool, starting with errors file system before physical errors like broken sectors.

The Error Check Disk Tool is a graphical version of a command line tool called "chkdsk", one of the most well-known commands of all Windows versions. It is present in all modern Windows versions, and has only minor differences.

Checking a disk takes from several minutes to several hours - it all depends on the size and speed of the storage medium, as well as the number of errors found.

Windows 10 and Windows 8 already check disks for errors automatically, but you can also run the check manually.

In order to run the tool, open the folder "This computer" and click right click mouse on the disk that you want to check. Select Properties from the pop-up menu and go to the Tools tab. To run the program, click the Check button.

The "chkdsk" command is also simultaneously available on the computer, but has broader functionality. You can start it with Command line and it has two functions:

chkdsk / f - Detects and fixes system errors.

chkdsk / r - detects and, if possible, fixes bad disk sectors.

To do this, type the indicated commands in the Command line field and press Enter. If errors are found, the tool will notify you and offer to restart your computer.

Of course, this is not a complete list of tools for diagnosing hard drives and perhaps not even their main representatives. In this article, we just stopped at a few free utilities from hard drive manufacturers that were available to us on this moment... If necessary, we can also suggest that you pay attention to such free diagnostic tools for hard drives as: HDDScan, DiskCheckup, GSmart Control, Samsung HUTIL, Bart's Stuff Test, HD Tune, EASIS Drive Check, Macrorit Disk Scanner, Ariolic Disk Scanner, etc. ...

A program for testing hard drives from different manufacturers, which allows you to find out the state of the drive using the S.M.A.R.T.-analysis method and fix bad sector errors.

What You Need to Know About Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic

This is an official utility from a well-known manufacturer of storage media that successfully works with devices from various vendors. The application conducts express diagnostics of information containers using the S.M.A.R.T. method, compares the obtained figures with acceptable values, performs a quick or deep analysis of the carrier surface. During low-level testing, the application detects the presence of so-called bad sectors and prohibits access to them during the subsequent recording of objects. Thus, the error of access to files is corrected and preventive measures are taken to prevent data loss during further operation.

The program displays information about local volumes as well as displays detailed information about installed devices(amount of space, firmware version and serial number of the component). A feature of Western Digital Data Life Guard Diagnostic is the presence of the function of writing zero sectors, when executed, the disk is deeply formatted without the possibility of recovering deleted objects. This is why we recommend that you perform tasks carefully or pay attention to simpler utilities like Seagate SeaTools.

Briefly and clearly:

• express test of drives;
• formation of S.M.A.R.T.-report;
• deep diagnostics of the device surface;
• fixing the problem of broken partitions;
• information formatting.

Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostics is a program that will collect technical information about your hard drive, diagnose it and be able to fix some problems. However, the last two features are available exclusively for Western Digital HDDs.

Disk testing can be performed in fast and advanced modes. Both involve SMART data acquisition and structure analysis file structure... Upon completion of the tests, Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostics will provide information about the "health" of the drive and indicate any identified problems. In addition, basic information will be collected, including the hard drive model, capacity and serial number. In addition to testing the entire disk, it is possible to test individual partitions.

Another important purpose of the program is complete removal information available on the disk without the possibility of its subsequent recovery. Moreover, this function also has fast and advanced modes. We strongly recommend using the second, during which all data values ​​are replaced with zeros. At the moment, this is the most reliable way permanently delete this or that information.

In general, the only serious drawback of Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostics is its general "sluggishness". Individual tests of large media can take up to several hours. Many programs for servicing hard drives "sin" like that. Fortunately, the solution from Western Digital does not overload the computer, allowing you to use the computer in parallel with the testing process.

Key features and functions

• collection technical information and diagnostics of the hard disk;
• display of SMART data;
• automatic correction of some problems (only for HDD from Western Digital);
• fast and advanced testing modes;
• identification of "broken" sectors;
• general information about the "health" of the hard disk;
• the ability to work with separate sections;
• complete deletion of data without the possibility of their further recovery.

Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics

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A utility for checking the status of disks from Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics with an IDE interface. The program does a good job, allowing you to return the disk to a state where defects did not exist yet. Immediately after launch executable file and our acceptance of the license terms, we are greeted by a window with disks installed in the system, including flash drives (see photo above). Click on the selected disk and see the window for selecting the desired tests.

The program will ask you to close all other active windows to avoid data loss. And I'm talking about all the buttons in order:

Quick test- Rapid testing (aka Express method). It speaks for itself and allows you to get information with a fairly high level of trust and disk health in a short time. for a more detailed analysis, go to the next item.

Extended Test- Extended testing more accurately determines the condition of the disk, so large disks will take a long time to pass it. If there are defects, the program may freeze to continue working again after a while. The test does not destroy the sample (hard drive), that is, it does not affect the surface of the disk until the user selects the function of restoring (repairing) damaged sectors.

Write zeros- Writing zeros. The function can be used to clean operating systems or whole packages of files. The QUICK ERASE subfunction writes zeros in the first and last of a million sectors, the FULL ERASE subfunction writes zeros in all sectors of the disk, so you have to wait.