Hard drive torture test?

[The Brick]

I have a 320gb SATA2 drive that I suspect of failing. I'm looking for a sure way to pinpoint the cause; It could be the SATA/IDE controller, the SATA port, the SATA cable or the drive itself. I think I've ruled out the cable by running the Windows 7 error check tool (hard drive properties > Tools tab) before and after replacing the SATA cable, and it seemed to find a lot less extra bad sectors after changing the cable, but still some. But I don't really trust this testing method. It just seems to run the CHKDSK command, which also takes a long time.

I need a better tool for testing a hard drive for errors. Preferably some torture tool similar to memtest86 for RAM or prime95 for CPU. I've done a half-assed search for something of the sorts, but didn't find anything. Maybe someone here knows what I need?

 

[joule]

Would either of these help?

CrystalDiskInfo
HD Tune

 

[VirusType2]

HD Tune is free and works well in Win7. It's a benchmark tool; not sure what else it can do as I don't feel like launching it.

 

[The Brick]

Thanks, on the CrystalDiskInfo website, it doesn't say at all what the software is or does, but it turns out it only reads out status information. It reports a bunch of bad sectors. HD Tune seems to come close to what I really need. It does do benchmark tests, but no reliability torture test. I guess I'll just run a whole bunch of benchmarks and do another error scan (HD Tune visualizes the chkdsk functionality nicely). If the sectors change position I know it's a port or controller problem. I'll report back.

 

[VirusType2]

Have you tried the HDD manufacturer's website for utilities? Don't forget, for example, WD has the data lifeguard tools. Other manufacturers might have something.

 

[The Brick]

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that. But the lifeguard application seems to have an unsolved problem, in that it returns false positives on cable errors, so I can't use it. It's not uncommon.

Having done the benchmarks a whole bunch of times, and copying lots of random crap to the drive, the bad sectors don't seem to move, and I haven't seen any being created yet. I think the drive itself is dying.

 

[VirusType2]

I was under the impression that even a brand new HDD may have some bad sectors. The drive should operate normally, simply ignoring the bad sectors and not putting anything there. Not sure, just things I remember reading somewhere.

 

[huntingbear]

i've seen brand new out of the static-free bag HDD's with bad sectors....VERY rare but it's happened

 

[Rico]

How is your drive failing? If it's just getting bad sectors, I wouldn't worry about it too much. That can be caused by normal wear an tear on the drive. However, if these bad sectors are increasing at an alarming rate, then you have something to worry about.

But like others said, bad sectors will just be ignored/unused by your HD. The only bad thing is when you have data in those sectors that gets corrupted when the sector goes bad, so if you're really worried about that sort of thing happening, putting your drive through some sort of torture test will actually be coutner-productive, as it may put any data you already have at risk.

I'd recommend just backing up your data if you're worried about the drive, get a new drive, and use the old drive for storage of non-essential files.

 

[The Brick]

It's an empty drive. I put it offline when it spouted its first errors, so I'm basically just playing with it. The bad sectors are increasing and windows regularly runs a CHKDSK at startup if I used it for a bit, which is annoying. I'll leave it in case I need some extra storage some day, but it's not reliable so I won't be using it for anything valuable.

Thanks for the help.

 

[VirusType2]

I'd use it for a redundant backup drive.

 

[The Brick]

it ded

It keeps getting worse, without ever touching or using the drive. It's just sitting there, formatted and unused, yet still puking out errors from time to time. It's dead to me.

 

[Asus]

Most of the time when a drive starts getting bad sectors it will happen quicker and quicker (get out while you still have your data). It probably depends on why it is happening. But more likely than not it will get more and more bad sectors once it starts.
You can get your HDD to ignore bad sectors by running chkdsk or maybe another utility but it won't do it automatically without you doing something. That's why you repeatedly see errors from bad sectors instead of it being solved before you notice. Most people junk their drive at this point.

And yeah, usage will often make it happen quicker as well. Stress test would have just made sure it was dead or prove you wrong (if the controller was the issue).

 

[PvtRyan]

A granite floor + 9.81 m/s^2.