HDDScan 3.1 is a Diagnostic Software product from hddscan.com, get 5 Stars SoftSea Rating, HDDScan is a freeware utility for storage devices diagnostics (HDD, RAID, Flash) The software can scan storage device for Bad-blocks, show S.M.A.R.T. attributes and change some HDD parameters such as AAM, APM, etc.
HDDScan is a freeware software for low-level HDD diagnostics, it supports IDE/SATA/SCSI hard disk drives, RAID arrays, external USB/Firewire hard disks, flash cards.
The software can scan the surface, view SMART attributes, adjust AAM, APM (Power Management), etc.
Capabilities and requirements:
Supported storage devises:
* ATA/SATA HDD.
* SCSI HDD.
* USB HDD (see Appendix A).
* FireWire or IEEE 1394 HDD (see Appendix A).
* RAID volumes made of ATA/SATA/SCSI HDDs (surface tests only).
* USB Flash (surface tests only).
Storage device tests:
* Verification in linear mode.
* Reading in linear mode.
* Erasing in linear mode.
* Reading in Butterfly mode (synthetic random read).
S.M.A.R.T.:
* Reading and analyzing S.M.A.R.T. parameters from ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire HDD.
* Reading and analyzing Log Pages from SCSI HDD.
* S.M.A.R.T. tests running on ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire HDD.
* Temperature monitor on ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire/SCSI HDD (NEW).
Additional features:
* Reading and analyzing identity information from ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire/SCSI HDD (NEW).
* Changing AAM, APM, PM parameters on ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire HDD.
* Reporting defect information on SCSI HDD.
* Spindle start/stop function on ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire/SCSI HDD.
* Reports can be saved in MHT format (NEW).
* Reports can be printed (NEW).
Requirements:
* PC with CPU 1.5 and RAM 256 .
* OS Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 (with restrictions).
* The software shouldn't be started from read-only device.
Control elements:
* Select Drive drop box - contains list of supported storage devices in a system. List contains models and serial numbers of devices. Icon defines possible device.
* S.M.A.R.T. button - generates S.M.A.R.T. attributes report.
* Tasks button - shows pop-up menu with tasks
* Surface Tests element - opens Test selection windows
* S.M.A.R.T. element - same as S.M.A.R.T.
* S.M.A.R.T. Offline Tests - activates submenu with Short, Extended and Conveyance S.M.A.R.T. tests.
* Temperature Monitor element - starts temperature monitoring task.
* Features element - activates Features submenus.
* Identity Info element - generates Identity information report.
Control elements:
* Start LBA field - determines first logical sector number for testing.
* End LBA field - determines last logical sector number for testing.
* Block Size field - determines block size for testing (in logical sectors).
* Test radio buttons - select type of the test.
* Add Test button - adds test into a tests' queue.
* Tests abilities and limitations:
* Can be started only one test at a time. Author wasn't able to get stable test results with two or more simultaneous tests.
* Verify test may have restriction on Block Size with 256, 16384 or 65536 sectors because of Windows limitations.
* Verify test may work in improper way on USB/Flash devices.
* In Verify mode device reads block of data into internal buffer only and checks for consistency, there is no data transferring through interface connector. The software measures operation time for each block. The software tests blocks one by one from minimum to maximum.
* In Read mode device reads block of data and transfers it thorough interface. The software reads block of data into temporary buffer and measures time of operation for each block. The software tests blocks one by one from minimum to maximum.
* In Erase mode the software prepares block of data field with special pattern and number of logical sector. The software sends the block of data to drive and drive writes the block (All data in the block on drive will be overwritten and gone forever!) The software measures operation time for each block. The software tests blocks one by one from minimum to maximum.
* Butterfly Read mode is similar to Read mode difference only in blocks' order. Blocks are tested by pairs. The first block in the first pair will be Block 0, the second block in the first pair will be Block N (where N is number of last block for testing). Next pair will be Block 1 and Block N-1. Test ends in the middle of testing area. The software measures operation time.
Additional features:
* The software allows changing some parameters for ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire HDD:
* AAM - this function changes drive's acoustic. If this function is enabled drive's noise may be decreased by smoothing HSA's seek operations. HDD could lose some performance.
* APM - this function allows power savings by temporary decreasing spindle's rotation speed (including complete stop) when drive is in idle.
* PM - this function allows setting spin-down timer. If drive is in idle spindle will be stopped after the time set in the timer. If any software requests HDD access timer will be reset and spindle will spin up.
* The software can also start or stop spindle immediately. If any software requests HDD access drive's spindle will spin up. The license of this windows utility software is Freeware, you can free download and free use this Windows Utility software.