Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of APD Toronto
APD TorontoFlag for Canada

asked on

Windows 7 disc

Hello Experts,

I am suspecting that my hard drive is going bad and I am wondering what diagnostic tools can I use to check?

I think defrag and disc cleanup are not it? I was thinking more of a chkdsk?and I was hoping to write the results to a file.

Thank you
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Jeffery Hayes
Jeffery Hayes
Flag of United States of America image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Avatar of rindi
rindi
Flag of Switzerland image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of APD Toronto

ASKER

Under event viewer, there is no chkdsk as source.

Also if I go under tools >error checking it can only do it at boot! but how can I get a report of that?
Don't run chkdsk before running the manufacturer's diagnostic. If you do, and the disk is bad, you can worsen things.
The only way how I remembered about chk was because it ran automatically when my system crashed.
Below are 4 pictures that I took. the first 3 are from when chkdsk ran by itself and the 4 is when I scheduled it oft the next boot as advised above.

It looks like the first time chkdsk fixed the issues, but I am skeptic. What do you think?
image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg
Looks like it's all good. Did you look into the event viewer to see what the Chkdsk fixed.
Chkdsk really only checks for file system issues and, if /r is specified, bad sectors.  There could be other issues with the disk that, if enabled, SMART can tell you.  Otherwise, the manufacturer diagnostics are the next best thing to use.  Lastly, you could try the disk diagnostics available on the Ultimate Boot CD (www.ultimatebootcd.com).  

Of course, I didn't catch if anyone asked - WHY do you think your hard drive is going bad... what are your symptoms?
Well, when I was working, suddenly it froze, and chkdsk came on automatically as the pix above
How do I use SMART to check?

Recently it kept freezing, so I did a factory reformat, and the chk came up when I was installing my printer
Just run the manufacturer's diagnostic on it as I told you earlier. It also checks the SMART state of the disk, but besides SMART it does also does better tests.
How do I use SMART to check?

I posted earlier - use a program that can read SMART data like HD Tune.  When you run HDTune it should be pretty obvious.

If this is a Dell, SMART is TYPICALLY not enabled so you have to go into BIOS and enable it.  Not sure about HP or other brands.

And it's true, manufacturer diagnostic disks will look at SMART too... but HDTune is a tiny program that installs in and can be run from Windows - IF the drive is failing a SMART test (I believe SMART = Self Monitoring and Reporting Tests) that's the quickest way to know rather than to download an ISO, burn the image and boot to it.  Just my preference.

Given what you describe, I would say your concern is warranted - it MAY be fine, but the symptoms after a reload would be concerning... (COULD also be bad RAM).

While testing is an option, another is to simply replace the drive.  a 1 TB drive is about $60 and considering the amount of time you put into this, $60 may be a bargain.
Also, which ultimateCD Version do I get?

For the time-being, I'd like to run it off of a USB, if easily possible?
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
I downloaded HD Tune Pro, but which test do I run?
Under Health, both drives show Airflow Temperature failed, and my C drive shows failure End to End error detection.