Testing HDDs for reliability/functionality and anticipating/preventing failures?

[Deviouz]

I got 3 new WD HDD's - 2x 1TB Black HDD's + 600GB V.Rator - All SATA HDD's
Anyone know what the best apps or methods are to test my new HDD's to see if they will be reliable & functional for a while..??

what kinda tests can/should I perform on them to make sure everything is working ok and that there are no bad sectors or impending failures..??

 

[JMMD]

Western Digital has a utility that can scan the drive for defects but outside of that and maybe checking the SMART logs, I don't think there's much you can do to foresee future failures. I prefer to keep my drives actively cooled and so far it seems to have kept them all working over the years.

 

[DelJo63]

get a copy of Everest Home; it has the S.M.A.R.T. reporting facility

 

[LookinAround]

Re: SMART reporting and disk health

Checkout CrystalDiskInfo for IMO one of the simplest, easiest and user-friendly SMART and general disk health "at a glance" reporting tools

 

[SNGX1275]

You could get Seatools too, and periodically do the long Drive Self Test. Takes quite a while.

But like JMMD said, there isn't much you can do, they just die sometimes. Best to have important data continually backed up rather than hoping for early detection.