Hard Drive Diagnotic Tools

A hard drive diagnostic tool is something that is used to diagnose the problems with a hard drive. It can be used to assess the current condition of your hard drive and can tell you that a hard drive is going to fail soon. The tool runs several different and varying tests on your hard drive to determine its condition.

Hard drive diagnostic tools are very useful as they help you to consider if it is time to buy a new hard drive and move your data over before it fails. They utilize SMART technology in modern hard drives. SMART warns users of impending hard drive failure, while there is still time to backup your data. There are many factors that come into play when SMART determines a hard drive"s current health status. Software utilizing SMART lists the individual details and whether they are passing or not.

There are many manufacturers of hard drive diagnostic software, usually hard drive manufacturers. Some of these companies are Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, and Samsung. All of their software have different features and interface, but all use SMART for the hard drive tests.

Seagate"s hard drive diagnostic tool is called SeaTools. SeaTools is a simple and easy to use utility that helps you to determine the status of your hard drive quickly. This software works on all hard drives that use a USB, SATA, Firewire, SCSI, or IDE connection to the computer. It is virtually compatible with almost all hard drives currently, making it a very useful tool for all hard drive owners.

Western Digital also makes a hard drive diagnostic program, which is called Data Lifeguard. It is currently only compatible with Western Digital manufactured hard drives. Data Lifeguard can be used on Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista. There are four options in the program to choose from, simplifying things. You just need to press on the test you want to perform and click start, Data Lifeguard will inform you if your hard drive passed or failed.

Hitachi"s Drive Fitness Test also reliably tests SATA, IDE, and SCSI hard drives. You must boot this software from from your CD/DVD drive after burning the disk image to a CD. Because of this, Drive Fitness Test is also compatible with Linux operating systems in addition to support of Windows operating systems. Added features include logging of hard drive issues, three modes of operation, and identification of your hard drive temperature. These additional make Drive Fitness Tool an extremely good all-in-one utility for your hard drive.