best app to test/break-in a disk

[alyarb]

Just ordered a 2TB Black. A black because I felt there were no other reasonable alternatives between Barracudas, Constellations, Deskstars, etc in terms of long-term reliability now that the HD204UI are out of print. The blacks are only $20 more expensive for a 5 year warranty, etc.

Before I start expanding my library onto this drive I'd like to get every assurance it isn't going to take a dump on me any time soon. Are there any utilities that will quickly put a disk through the break in period and maybe give me some diagnostic pointers about how it's doing?

 

[Railgun]

There is no break in period. Just do a full format and expand away.

 

[alyarb]

Bad choice of words then. My point is that many disks these days ship to the end user in a state of imminent failure. I want an application that will not only do a full diagnostic format of the disk, but keep it under load for such a time that it will fail sooner, if it must.

 

[kleinkinstein]

I think you're a bit paranoid. Just format and fill your new space. The more testing, especially rigorous, the higher probability for an unplanned failure. If you're so concerned, just be diligent with your back-ups.

Yet, if you must then just fire up a download of Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic which is free hard drive testing software designed for your new Black hdd. The software is available in a bootable, ISO format and allows for a number of hard drive tests. See the installation instructions from Western Digital in the link below for details. Do note that it will also run diagnostics on hard drives from other manufacturers but the primary drive in the computer must be a Western Digital drive.

 

[richaron]

I like the idea of running a long SMART self-test. I just got a couple of WD reds & was considering this before transferring everything.

It takes a long time. & the drive tests... itself..

 

[imagoon]

I just run a full scan using the WD Lifeguard tool on any disk before I use it. I figure if it can survive a full scan it should at least have a decent chance of running normally.

 

[Nothinman]

I try to let bonnie++ run for 24hrs or so before using a drive at home, but I don't always have the time.

 

[Zap]

If you're so concerned, just be diligent with your back-ups.

This. You can thoroughly test the drive and determine that it is good... only to have it fail later.

 

[alyarb]

and what is a backup? just a slightly more resilient array of equally fail-prone disks!


if i have 2tb of non-critical data, i am not investing in a RAID 61 to keep it safe. i just want to know the drive i purchased isn't 2 weeks or 2 months away from mechanical failure as so many these days are.

 

[kleinkinstein]

Ohhh brotha! Paranoia has set in. It's only data. Drives fail, you can't predict when or where, move on!

 

[alyarb]

i'm trying to protect the disk, not the data, which really is not critical. i don't need education on backup... i work for a backup provider... i was just asking for a simple utility to load test the drive and spit out some diagnostic BS and I think that much has been answered.

 

[cantholdanymore]

deleted

 

[alyarb]

either the drive is defective, and will fail in a short time (days to months), or it is not defective, and I can plan for its timely decommission in 5 years....

 

[jhansman]

My point is that many disks these days ship to the end user in a state of imminent failure.

Who told you this? Buy junk, get junk. You need something to work your drive? It's called an OS. Add a 10,000 record database if you must, and query the [love] out of it.

No profanity in the tech forums please.

Moderator jvroig

 

[alyarb]

*removed by mod*


close the thread please, I think i found enough good suggestions for *synthetic load tests* that I can try. now we are just getting bad comments so someone searching the forums could be misled in the future.

No profanity in the tech forums, please.

Closing thread per OP request.

Moderator jvroig

 

[thelastjuju]

Just a FULL format should do it.

 

[tweakboy]

After you done installing all your stuff and copying all stuff. Then dl free smart defrag

and do a fully defrag and optimize and that will defrag all the stuff you put in the drive and install.. and you should be good then. Defrag once every 2 weeks or once a month.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I always do a zero-all-data on a new HDD. I've had that repeatedly hang on dying drives even when SMART status and an OS install didn't, so it's basically my go-to test procedure.

If you're worried about disk failure, just get to drives and sync 'em.

 

[Nothinman]

Just a FULL format should do it.

A full format is just a basic bad block check, it's not a real stress test.

and do a fully defrag and optimize and that will defrag all the stuff you put in the drive and install.. and you should be good then. Defrag once every 2 weeks or once a month.

Defrag shouldn't even be a consideration these days. Outside of benchmarks and made up statistics it doesn't serve any real purpose. I personally think even the Windows built-in, scheduled defrag is pointless, but it's there so why not let it go?