Hard drive health

[Mufasa804]

Hey guys, I'm looking for an application to run a test on two of my hard drives which I just purchased. Basically I just want to make sure they're in good condition. My friend has something like that for PC but I need it for Mac (obviously since I'm on a Mac forum). Any suggestions?

 

[devburke]

Did you buy an AppleCare warrantee? It comes with TechTool Deluxe (if you don’t have the disc, you can download it for free from Apple.com/support as long as you have AppleCare). I’ve never used it, but I believe it’ll do what you’re looking for.

 

[Mufasa804]

I did. I just tried using it and it doesn't allow me to pick another volume for hard drive check. It only allows me to pick the "Macintosh HDD".

 

[Makosuke]

I haven't used the Apple-supplied TTD for a while, but it's possible that it will only check formatted drives, so if you haven't even formatted the new drives yet that might explain why they're not showing up.

Also might only work on the boot drive. In which case one option is TechToolPro (the full version of the program Apple licenses), which is pretty good; not sure which other test apps include a surface scan.

An alternative option if they're bare internal drives (as opposed to pre-built externals) is to check the drive manufacturer's website--most of them have a low-level tool to check the disk out thoroughly somewhere in their troubleshooting section. Most assume you're using Windows, but I've successfully gotten disks checked out with them before, and if nothing else you can be pretty sure they're thorough.

 

[JustGretchen]

Every newer hard disk supports S.M.A.R.T. monitoring. However, if the disk is connected via an external connection, it's S.M.A.R.T. status isn't going to be available. if it's an internal disk, i'd suggest SMARTctl. it runs in your menu bar and gives you complete information about your disks. You really want to look at the lines that has to do with Pending Sectors.

http://sixtyfive.xmghosting.com/

 

[Mufasa804]

No it's not an internal disk, it's an external one.