does Windows 10 have an integrated utility which checks the physical integrity of an internal hard drive?
Hello and Good Evening Everyone,
Within the last few days, I have noticed that my Acer laptop running Windows 10 does a check of the internal hard drive and scans and repairs problems with it each time it is booted. That said, I am wondering if my hard drive on my Acer laptop perhaps might be failing. Does Windows 10 have an integrated utility which checks the physical integrity of an internal hard drive?
Thank you
George
Within the last few days, I have noticed that my Acer laptop running Windows 10 does a check of the internal hard drive and scans and repairs problems with it each time it is booted. That said, I am wondering if my hard drive on my Acer laptop perhaps might be failing. Does Windows 10 have an integrated utility which checks the physical integrity of an internal hard drive?
Thank you
George
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David Johnson, CD
The file system NTFS does do integrity checking and will set/clear a dirty flag. On reboot the system runs autocheck which checks the drives dirty status and will prompt to run chkdsk (there is a timer and you can abort the chkdsk) on boot.
As noted above, the file system will run CHKSDK if needed and that is what is happening. So, per the advice above, back up your drive promptly. That is Windows Software.
Get the ACER hardware test application and after you have backed up, run the hardware test to see what is happening..
Get the ACER hardware test application and after you have backed up, run the hardware test to see what is happening..
ASKER
According to the information displayed about the properties of the hard drive within Windows 10, the hard drive is identified as a Hitachi hard drive. I have a model number too if needed. That said, is there a free diagnostic utility which can be downloaded to test the health of this drive?
George
George
Run CHKDSK from an Admin Command prompt. Use first without /F (Fix) and see what it says.
Did you check the ACER site for a hardware test application ?
Did you check the ACER site for a hardware test application ?
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Yes. There is a free diagnostic utility from HGST (which has been acquired by Western Digital).
Thr tool is called Drive Fitness Test and you can download it from the link below.
https://www.westerndigital.com/content/dam/western-digital/en-us/assets/support/CheckDriveFitness/WinDFT095.zip
Thr tool is called Drive Fitness Test and you can download it from the link below.
https://www.westerndigital.com/content/dam/western-digital/en-us/assets/support/CheckDriveFitness/WinDFT095.zip
ASKER
Hi Everyone,
I am glad that I have options of checking out the physical integrity of the hard drive. With respect to John's suggestion to check out the Acer website for an application which can check for imperfections or defects of the drive, can someone provide a link to explore this option?
Thank you
George
I am glad that I have options of checking out the physical integrity of the hard drive. With respect to John's suggestion to check out the Acer website for an application which can check for imperfections or defects of the drive, can someone provide a link to explore this option?
Thank you
George
ASKER
Jackie,
Thank you for your link. I did go to it and downloaded the Drive Fitness Test for Windows. While the installation did go well, this utility did not list my HDD which is too bad because the interface of this program looks very straightforward and self-explanatory.
George
Thank you for your link. I did go to it and downloaded the Drive Fitness Test for Windows. While the installation did go well, this utility did not list my HDD which is too bad because the interface of this program looks very straightforward and self-explanatory.
George
Try this one http://hddscan.com/ Try the S.M.A.R.T. tests. These aren't necessarily accurate. If they do show faults then YES, you do replace the drive.
The Drive Fitness test util as linked above doesn't scan the drive it is installed on.
The Drive Fitness test util as linked above doesn't scan the drive it is installed on.
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I ran the S.M.A.R.T test from the hddscan utility. I would attach a file of the results, but, I am not sure what format to save it in for uploading. The information contained is highly technical. As such, I am not entirely sure what conclusions to personally draw from it. There are two entries which have a yellow triangle beside them which might be areas for concern..
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The most important suggestion remains: backup your data now no matter what tests return.
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ASKER
Thank you everyone for your excellent suggestions and resourceful links. It appears that my laptop has some installed Acer utilities on it which naturally explains how my laptop carries out a self-diagnostic of the hard drive at each boot. While the hard drive has not died yet, I did go ahead as a precautionary measure and backed up all of my end user files such as pictures, videos, music, etc.
George
George
You can download free AOMEI backuper software do Disk image to file, then replace disk and restore it.
You'll have your system back on new HDD (or SSD) your choice.
You'll have your system back on new HDD (or SSD) your choice.