SOT: Hard Drive Health monitor software?

VMP wrote on 10/4/2014, 11:15 PM

After the many topics here about Seagate being 'bad' I am looking into a (free) utility that can monitor my drives, or do occasional scan and give a drive health report . I have 2 Seagate drives.
ST2000DM001 Drive
http://www.seagate.com/internal-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/desktop-hdd/?sku=ST2000DM001
and
ST3000DM001
http://www.seagate.com/internal-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/desktop-hdd/?sku=ST3000DM001

As soon as I read these threads about Seagate I have asked my PC store if they had any complaints about the drives, or if it had more errors compared to the Western Digital drives they had.
According to them WD and Seagate were equal in comparison, Seagate weren't any worse.
(The guy who I spoke to also repairs and maintain PC's)

As suggested here I do occasionally make backups.
But still I am looking for a utility like the Samsung Magician software which scans the disc quickly.

I have just downloaded a drive health software from Seagate, but after running it the HD activity indicator LED lights constantly and the whole PC freezes up. Mouse and Keyboard doesn't do anything anymore.
According to some forums for some users it took several hours for the 'SeaToolsforWindowsSetup.exe' software to complete the scan.

Is there any faster alternative to do this?
I just want to occasionally check the drive health.

Thanks in advance,
VMP

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Comments

VMP wrote on 10/26/2014, 7:31 PM

@ John Cline.

It is not clear for me how they test these drives.

Are they tested intensively like a server drive 24/7 for one whole year?
And what is that which is 'failing' the drive reading arm? Are data being wiped out on the disc surface?
Would putting the disc into another HD unit enclosure make the disc readable again?

The 3TB drive ST3000DM001 is in my system and is also in their list.
It usually runs idle, 1-2 hours a day I go through the drive for sorting files etc.
I have it now for around 6 months, according to HD Guardian there are sector errors etc.

Should I run out today and replace the drive with a HGST to feel safe..?

I have bought an external HD from Hitachi last year, on two PC's it is not reading well. The drive icon keeps disappearing and reappearing. It could be the USB part of the drive that is the fault. But that is my first experience with Hitachi.

I have good experience with Western Digital, never lost a drive until now.
So If were to switch to another replacement drive then I would go for WD.

Is a larger capacity drive more reliable? According to the graph that seems to be the case for Seagate.

I do make occasional backup of all my drives to my WD external drive.

If it is the 'data read/write' that is the causing the failures, and they are using it as a server does, then I could say that mine would last much longer. (5+ years?)

But if it is the run-time that causes the failure (like say 1 year), without mattering if it is intensively used or not, then one should really start to worry.

VMP

PeterDuke wrote on 10/26/2014, 7:34 PM

If there have been any sector reallocations I would regard the disk as "keep a close watch on" and make sure I backup soon after generating new data. However, a disk with only a few reallocations may last for years. If the "few" suddenly becomes "a few more", then I would replace it.