Been researching HD Tune and similar applications (free versions) in order to scan a few HDD's for bad sectors/blocks. Macrorit Disk Scanner is supposed to be faster than Chkdsk /r or /f. As I understand it, ANY application that finds bad sectors will "mark" them (add those to the bad list), such that if there are enough spares left the problem is solved. (As long as SMART stats are OK. Please don't start getting off track re: Are your numbers high? Replace the drive, etc.)
So CrystalDisk, HD Tune and MHDD32 will 'mark' bad sectors. WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS will as well, but I've read some versions do not report raw SMART data correctly. I believe EaseUS Partition Master Home's Disk Surface test will also scan, and 'mark' any bad sectors found.
A few related questions if I may: I've read that Chkdsk only will list up to 98 max bad sectors. So you must run it multiple times. It may also halt/quit when scanning a large drive. So these 3rd party tools may be better even if I choose not to try "repair". Thanks but I've read incessantly about 'repair really means this'.
I simply need to park some data for a day and test Macrium Reflect. No need to get excited, my data has multiple redundancies.
Lastly, I don't want to open a can of worms but if I've already run DBAN autonuke on a drive, as I understand it, the write attempts will 'mark' any bad sectors, add new ones to the 'list' and I need not run any scan to 'mark' possible new bad sectors. I've read posts pro & con as to whether writing zeros is harsh on the HDD.
Just want to be sure what I DO write does not land on bad sectors/blocks. I figure testing an Image or a clone is useless if bad sectors are going to corrupt data.
Appreciate any input.
Thank you,
Mac
So CrystalDisk, HD Tune and MHDD32 will 'mark' bad sectors. WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS will as well, but I've read some versions do not report raw SMART data correctly. I believe EaseUS Partition Master Home's Disk Surface test will also scan, and 'mark' any bad sectors found.
A few related questions if I may: I've read that Chkdsk only will list up to 98 max bad sectors. So you must run it multiple times. It may also halt/quit when scanning a large drive. So these 3rd party tools may be better even if I choose not to try "repair". Thanks but I've read incessantly about 'repair really means this'.
I simply need to park some data for a day and test Macrium Reflect. No need to get excited, my data has multiple redundancies.
Lastly, I don't want to open a can of worms but if I've already run DBAN autonuke on a drive, as I understand it, the write attempts will 'mark' any bad sectors, add new ones to the 'list' and I need not run any scan to 'mark' possible new bad sectors. I've read posts pro & con as to whether writing zeros is harsh on the HDD.
Just want to be sure what I DO write does not land on bad sectors/blocks. I figure testing an Image or a clone is useless if bad sectors are going to corrupt data.
Appreciate any input.
Thank you,
Mac