Software to verify a disk

[btwyx]

I think I'm having some problems with one of the disks in the TiVos. I'd like to verify the disks to see if that's the problem. A simple surface scan would do, but I don't have any software which will do that anymore. What's a good program to do that? Preferable for Mac OS X, but something for Windows will do if necessary.

[Seattle]

Normally the Drive Manufacturer will have that software on their website.

[btwyx]

Normally the Drive Manufacturer will have that software on their website.I didn't think of that, but in this case its Hitachi http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT

They insist on running it from a bootable drive, and it doesn't support USB attached storage. The drive is e-SATA currently attached with a USB-eSATA adapter.

[Seattle]

Would Seagate SeaTools work for you?

"It includes several tests that will examine the physical media on your Seagate or Maxtor disc drive and any other non-Seagate disc drive."

[btwyx]

I tried to install Seagate SeaTools, it wanted .Net 2.0. I'm reluctant to install .Net so I never got to try it.

In the end I bought "Drive Genius 2 (http://prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php)" from Prosoft, for the Mac. That's currently 42% of the way through one disk.

[Richard R1]

For Windows environments, I have long used Spinrite from Gibson Research. The current version is 6.0, and works with any hard drive, even those from a TIVO. I have used the program for many years for computer hard drives, and once last year for one of my TIVO hard drives.

You can choose a simple scan, or one which is very in-depth. It does have to boot into the program, which can be done by floppy or CD-ROM, but it does recognize USB attached drives.

The URL is http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

[DPF]

If you can run it, SpinRite is the bees knees.

[btwyx]

Another option I didn't think of was the built in diagnostics. If you do a Kickstart 54 you get a bunch of diagnostics, including a disk scan. It took about 2 days to fully scan both drives.

(For reference, as I had trouble finding this. You get into kickstart by booting while holding down the pause key. Once your S3 gets to the secondary boot screen and the front panel is just showing 1 orange light you're there. Then hit 54.)

[ggieseke]

SpinRite is indeed amazing. One of my SVR-2000s was displaying all of the classic problems of imminent drive failure, and it failed all of the SMART tests and the manufacturer's diags. Maxtor strikes again.

With nothing to lose I ran SpinRite at its maximum setting, which completely rewrites every sector of the disk. The drive has been working smoothly for about 6 months now and it even restored shows that had been unwatchable.