Brad McAfee
asked on
How To Check Reliability Of External Media
What is the best Windows program/methodology to check the "reliability" of flash drives and external hard drives (HDD, not SSD--also using USB interface and not removing them)?
We have several that we use of both and just wanted to make sure they are in good shape since they get beat up quite a bit.
(I know there is no perfect method or guarantee I was just looking for something that could give a "diagnostic opinion" on them.)
We have several that we use of both and just wanted to make sure they are in good shape since they get beat up quite a bit.
(I know there is no perfect method or guarantee I was just looking for something that could give a "diagnostic opinion" on them.)
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http://knowledge.seagate.c
Likely other manufacturers have similar suggestions. Refer to your disk unit manufacture docs, for device specific suggestions.
Likely other manufacturers have similar suggestions. Refer to your disk unit manufacture docs, for device specific suggestions.
We treat USB flash drives the same way we treated floppies: As a temporary storage medium. They are not reliable enough to be permanent especially in places where folks wear wool and polyester in the winter!
We have a lot of USB drives that are rotated for backups. We handle them so care is taken, but as a rule they get refreshed every three years.
We have a lot of USB drives that are rotated for backups. We handle them so care is taken, but as a rule they get refreshed every three years.
try HDDscan it supports usb http://hddscan.com/
you can also use the manufacturer software like seatools for seagat, or WDLifeguard for WD
jere some more : https://www.lifewire.com/free-hard-drive-testing-programs-2626183
for flash drives, i usualmly copy them to my harddisk, then format them, and copy back
you can also use the manufacturer software like seatools for seagat, or WDLifeguard for WD
jere some more : https://www.lifewire.com/free-hard-drive-testing-programs-2626183
for flash drives, i usualmly copy them to my harddisk, then format them, and copy back
did you even try HDDSCAN ?
Is it in the list here? https://www.smartmontools.org/wiki/Supported_USB-Devices