Better disk checking software

Troncoso

Troncoso

VIP Member
I'm almost certain one or both of my raid 0 hdd's (most likely just one) is going bad. I'd love to test for it and go ahead and make preparations to move files and what not as to avoid losing anything in a sudden crash.

Now, I have all seagate drives, so logic tells me to download the seagate check disk software. well, when installed in windows, it is very limited as to what it can check (it doesn't even register the 2 drives in RAID as 2 separate drives) and when I try the bootable version it always locks up resulting in a reset. So does anyone have any advice as to some good software I can use to check my hard drives?
 
Why are you suspecting that they are about to go out?

What is the model of the drives?

Did you get the hard drive boot disk program from the manufacturer's web site? And does the boot check program go to blue screen or does it stop and freeze in the middle of the test, or what?

I've used hd-tune to check my drive and others. It takes a bit to go over the data it collects but it may help you with determining if the problem lies with one or both of the hard drive(s).

Are the drives under warranty from the seller or manufacturer? You might want to check with the manufacturer and see if they have any recalls or other pertinent info relating to your model hard drives related to this issue.

(edit) And if you already aren't doing a backup of important data to an external, now sounds like the perfect time to get the equipment and do the backup. For a backup program, I like Acronis and others like Norton Ghost, and there are some others you can use.

And I strongly suggest not using a flash drive for your backup storage device.
 
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It's the only thing I can imagine that would affect so many of my programs in odd ways. I've had run like 5 different recovery utilities to get them running partially like they are suppose to. Also, boot up has become slower than when I was using a pata drive, and I'm in RAID 0 now.
I have 2 barricudas 7200.11 which, yeah, has a very high failure rate, so that's another reason I wouldn't put it past the hard drive. They've deactivated on newegg but, I do have a 180 day limited warranty, so I still have a good 3 months to get it replaced.
 
If you want the older and simpler, but free, version of HD Tune here is a link at Cnet. The drive manufacturers have their own diagnostics too. I find WD Diagnostics a pain because you have to sign the EULA every use. Don't know about Seagate.
 
Troncoso said:
I do have a 180 day limited warranty, so I still have a good 3 months to get it replaced.
Click to expand...

If you're certain its the HDD,dont mess around, use that warranty and send 'em back to the manufacturer. And if those were so awful, then demand that they send you replacements of a make/model that you deem as more reliable.
 
gamblingman said:
If you're certain its the HDD,dont mess around, use that warranty and send 'em back to the manufacturer. And if those were so awful, then demand that they send you replacements of a make/model that you deem as more reliable.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I figured that would be the best option. but, I need to find out which (if not both hard drives) are bad. Without them I don't have a computer, and I can't deal with that. haha.
 
Interesting. Ive never used raid before. I would find it hard to think you have lost both Seagates at the same time. Ive always had them with all Barracudas.

Correct me if im wrong but doesn't Raid 0 duplicate everything in real time to the other drive? I was just wondering and asking if a problem was created on one drive or and had a virus it's also duplicated to the other drive. Ive always been happy say with first time in installing the operating system, getting the updates. installing just favorite programs then backing up that for a initial new installation if needed. i do have a partition i use called backup. Pictures, notes or documents that gets backed up about every 30 days.
 
No I believe you are thinking of raid 1. or a different raid. raid 0 doesn't have redundancy, so if one drive goes, there goes your operating system.

UPDATE: okay, so the 2 drives are the exact same model, and after running tests I have found that one has bad sectors. so... without taking the drives out of raid how can I tell which drive it is? the software showed different serial numbers so I have the serial of the one that is failing but, how can I find which matches that serial?
 
Ahh. so it is. Well, hopefully I can get this drive replaced and have my system back up to conventional raid 0 speeds. thanks for the help.
 
Have you copied your important data off the drives yet? It's not as simple as taking the drive out and adding a new one and it recreates the data for you. Copy your important data first and then worry about what drive is bad. When you get the new drive, you will have to reinstall windows. Raid 0 isn't as easy as raid 1 which is what tremmor was talking about.
 
yeah, what I'm going to do is reinstall my OS on the good drive, hopefully get the bad replaced and then just do another re-installation. My data is safe on my storage drive.
 
I think Disk Defregmenter in system tools is the most wonderful utility for checking the hard drives for bad sector to the disk and may repair the problem . the procedure to select the option is as below

click on start menu
select all programs option
Then select Accessories option
Then select system Tools option
and lastly select Disk Defregmenter
 
WELDON said:
I think Disk Defregmenter in system tools is the most wonderful utility for checking the hard drives for bad sector to the disk and may repair the problem . the procedure to select the option is as below

click on start menu
select all programs option
Then select Accessories option
Then select system Tools option
and lastly select Disk Defregmenter
Click to expand...

Disk Defragment does NOT check the hard drive for bad sectors. You are thinking of the check-disk operation which is run through the Error Checking option on the tools tab in hard drive properties.
 
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