2 ways to check the condition of hard disk

One of the causes  "computer not responding" is because the hard drive have become abnormal, so there is a part that can not be accessed (bad sectors). Typically this can happen if the computer is often turned off without proper shutdown or the power often to die suddenly (without UPS). In addition, there is also a possibility because of the age of the hard drive that was already old.

If any part of the hard drive affected by bad sectors, it will impact on the performance of the computer, whether the computer will be slower, often to have a hang when running certain programs. In addition, the data [ever] saved will be more susceptible to damage. If so, how to check the condition of the hard drive on a computer?

There are various ways to check the condition of the hard drive, if you use the default program on Windows then you can use the scandisk, but starting from Windows XP to the latest Windows version, to do this scandisk we need to restart the computer first. It is much easier to do this using free software. besides easier, the interface is also better and informative. Two examples of this software are the HD Tune and HDDScan

Another advantage of this 2 softwre is that it is portable, so that we can carry it everywhere using flasdisk and do not need to install to run it.

1. HDD Tune, Hard Disk Utility

In this application there are four major facilities (in 4 tabs), i.e. Benchmark, Info, Health and Error Scan. Benchmark is use to determine how fast the write and read access time required for disk access. Info will provide information on the type of drive and the facilities that are supported by the hard drive, as well as detailed information about the Hard Drive Firmware.

Health will give the information on condition or status of the "health" of the hard drive. Error Scan able to check for damage to the hard disk. This Error scan facility can be use to check the condition of the hard drive. So that the result is accurate then please do not check using the Quick Scan, remove the check mark in the Quick Scan menu.

If there is a red block, there are parts of the hard drive that is damaged/error, and it's called bad sectors. If the part is accessed it will cause the computer to hang. In addition to this information, HD Tune also provides information on the temperature of the Hard Drive.

HD Tune can be download at http://www.hdtune.com/

2. HDDScan

The second application is more specialized to check the condition of the hard drive (low-level HDD Scan), so the information is more detailed, by showing access time of each block (section) on the hard drive. Information literacy is also included. HDDScan support these type of hard drive: IDE / SATA / SCSI, RAID arrays, external USB / Firewire hard disks and flash cards. Here's an example of the display scan with HDDScan (version 2.8).

If the hard drive is still good the green block should be very little or none at all, as well as the orange or red block. If there is a red block, then in the future it could be a bad sector (dark blue). While the blocks colored dark blue (bad blocks) showed bad sectors (inaccessible), so that should not exist on the hard drive if it is still good.

Actually the latest version of HDDScan is 3.1, but with an extra skin just makes it a little slow, and the operation is still easier on version 2.8. Although in the latest version there is an additional facility for temperature sensors and other bug fixes.

HDDScan can be download at :http://hddscan.com/

So that is how to check the condition of the hard drive by using additional software, and one thing to be remember is: make sure that when doing scans on the hard drive, do not run any other applications.

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