[SOLVED] How to test new HDD to make sure it's a good drive?

[shadybk]

Just bought a new HDD as a backup for some files so it's not going to be used often, probably copying files to it every few months. So I might not know if there's is something wrong with it right away because I won't be using it everyday. Is there a way to check a new HDD to make sure that it is a good working drive?

 

[kanewolf]

Just because it is a working drive today, that is no predictor of tomorrow.
Any critical files you should have three copies. One of which is off-site for fire/flood/theft protection.

 

[Vabe]

Just bought a new HDD as a backup for some files so it's not going to be used often, probably copying files to it every few months. So I might not know if there's is something wrong with it right away because I won't be using it everyday. Is there a way to check a new HDD to make sure that it is a good working drive?

First of all, buying a backup HDD is a great step in the right direction!

If you'd really like to "fireproof" your data, you should consider using the cloud as well. There are a number of options out there (like Google drive and Dropbox), but you might want to check out Backblaze for an even easier backup process.
Also, there's a good video that explains these things a bit more (Backblaze is also talked about in it)

To answer your question, you can plug it in and see if you can detect it and then try moving files back and forth.
If that works, it'll probably work!
Alternatively, you could also use some "hard drive testing tools".

 

[atljsf]

to know if the hard disk is good now, you can run both cristaldiskmark and cristaldiskinfo

one test the performance and the other will tell you about the hard disk health

if your hard disk is westenr digital, toshiba or seagate, each manufacturer offers tools to test the health f the hard disk, but often are as good as cristaldiskinfo

no one can tell you how long it will work without issues, but a good hard disk often last 10+ years, way more time than what you plan to keep it in service i think

of course there are brands, or even models that give bad surprises, so remember to have backups of your important files outside that hard disk, a external usb thumbdrive, a external hard disk, or a cloud service, all depends on what you need and how much files you want to backup

btw, did you bought seagate?

 

[shadybk]

to know if the hard disk is good now, you can run both cristaldiskmark and cristaldiskinfo

one test the performance and the other will tell you about the hard disk health

if your hard disk is westenr digital, toshiba or seagate, each manufacturer offers tools to test the health f the hard disk, but often are as good as cristaldiskinfo

no one can tell you how long it will work without issues, but a good hard disk often last 10+ years, way more time than what you plan to keep it in service i think

of course there are brands, or even models that give bad surprises, so remember to have backups of your important files outside that hard disk, a external usb thumbdrive, a external hard disk, or a cloud service, all depends on what you need and how much files you want to backup

btw, did you bought seagate?

I bought a western digital