Allows you to perform fine diagnostics of the hard drive and more. RAID array servers, SSD and USB drives are supported. Can test for errors (Bad blocks and bad sectors), show SMART attributes and even change some parameters.
This article will tell you how to use HDDScan 4.1. It is not necessary to stick to one version. The main sections include viewing SMART attributes and testing. Using the HDDScan program, I checked the hard drive for bad sectors, what should I do…
Check the hard disk surface
Actually, to start the check, select the drive and click TESTS. Here you can choose the most suitable one. Optimal disk error check – test READ and press ADD TEST (right arrow) The test will be added to your TEST MANAGER (arrow below)…
| #Read and Write Tests |
|
| VERIFY (Read Data Without Transfer) |
Reading data without transmission. The internal buffer of the drive is used. |
| READ (Read Data To the Host) |
Reading data to the host. Transferring and checking data, measuring the operation time. |
| BUTTERFLY (Read Data To the Host With Seeks) |
Pairwise read-pass check. The first block is the last; the second is the second-to-last… |
| ERASE (Write Special Pattern Destructive!) |
Overwrites data blocks, measuring the operation time. Data will be lost. |
Diagnostic results. Let’s try to figure it out using the example of a 10-year-old Samsung HD105SI 1TB HDD drive. The speed is consistently decreasing on the test graph. There are no sharp drops or unevenness. Such speeds will not lead to slow loading.
What about the multi-colored blocks? The presence of gray, green and even orange indicates normal disk operation. Red blocks (500 ms) can be scary, but if these delays are up to 1.0 s, it is generally bearable. But BADs blocks should make you think about replacing the hard drive.
HDDScan SMART Report Section
Experienced users will be able to determine the status of the drive using SMART attributes. The program allows you to view and even save them. If you are interested, then watch the short transcript. But direct testing is a more reliable result…
| Number | Name | Transcript |
| 001 | Raw Read Error Rate | The attribute displays the frequency of read errors. |
| 002 | Throughput performance | Overall Hard Drive Performance |
| 003 | Spin Up Time | Time to reach operating speed |
| 004 | Start/Stop Count | Number of disk on/off cycles |
| 005 | Reallocation Sector Count | Displays the number of reassigned sectors. |
| 007 | Seek Error Rate | Magnetic Head Block Movement Error Rate |
| 008 | Seek time Perfomance | Average performance of the positioning system |
| 009 | Power-On Hours Count | Indicates the operating time of the drive |
| 010 | Spin Retry Count | Shows the number of spindle restarts |
| 011 | Recalibration Retries | Number of recalibration request repetitions |
| 012 | Device Power Cycle Count | Full drive power on/off cycles |
| 191 | G-sense Rate/Servo tracking | Errors caused by shocks or impacts |
| 192 | Emergency Retract Count | Number of sudden disk power on/offs |
| 194 | HDA Temperature | Shows the operating temperature of the disk |
| 195 | Hardware ECC Recovered | Hardware error correction number of the disk |
| 196 | Reallocation Event Count | Displays the number of sector remapping operations. |
| 197 | Current Pending Errors Count | Sectors that differ in reading from stable sectors |
| 198 | Uncorrectable Errors Count | Number of unrecoverable errors when accessing a sector |
| 199 | UltraDMA CRC Errors | Errors that occur during data transfer through the external interface |
| 200 | Write Error Rate | Total number of write errors |
| 223 | Load Retry Count | Unloading/loading magnetic head unit after unsuccessful attempt |
| 225 | Load Cycle Count | Cycles of moving the block to the parking area |
Conclusion
Actually, HDDScan allows you to check your hard drive for bad sectors. Similar to the more well-known Victoria HDD/SSD program. This is probably the most important function for most. The average user does not need to bother with deciphering SMART attributes
Last section TOOLS has some more controls. For example, DRIVE ID — reading identification data of the selected disk. Subsection FEATURES – Setting up the drive and controls. And SMART TESTS – This is a performance test.
