Toshiba drive not detected by Speedfan's "S.M.A.R.T. utility, why?. Good freeware alternatives to Speedfan?

[Moribund]

I usually always test the drives I purchase right in the store by connecting them to my laptop. Speedfan's S.M.A.R.T. is usually quite useful in that it can do a quick test of fitness and performance. But some drives are not detectable giving me no way of quick testing them. For example - the Toshiba drive I recently bought doesn't even show up in the utility. Actually with this drive - even the Toshiba software for testing Toshiba drives doesn't see it. Like it doesn't exist. This drive could be utter garbage and maybe I should get it exchanged but there is no way for me to know this. Why is it not being detected when Windows and BIOS can see it just fine? What settings do I have to enable or disable so it becomes visible for testing against manufacturer's parameters?

And- are there any good freeware tools for this purpose? Please suggest a few. Thanks in advance.

 

[RealBeast]

The SeaTools for Windows that I linked in your post for testing your Seagate external will work on it and is free. If it doesn't see that drive either, probably a bad drive although you should test the power and data cables just in case.

Does the drive show up if you open a command prompt window and type diskpart, and then list disk? It should show up under diskpart even if it uses a format that is Windows incompatible or corrupted.

 

[Moribund]

The SeaTools for Windows that I linked in your post for testing your Seagate external will work on it and is free. If it doesn't see that drive either, probably a bad drive although you should test the power and data cables just in case.

Does the drive show up if you open a command prompt window and type diskpart, and then list disk? It should show up under diskpart even if it uses a format that is Windows incompatible or corrupted.

I don\t think you understood me correctly. I quote myself earlier: "Why is it not being detected when Windows and BIOS can see it just fine?" Yes. The Windows DOES see it. It says healthy partition. It came from sealed bag un-formatted and I formatted it in MBR. CMD sees it (I already tested that one). My cables are fine, I already thought of that, and tried another SATA to USB connector. (I have a couple, I fix PCs for a living).

My problem is just that Speedfan does not detect it. It doesn't with some drives, I have no idea why. The Toshiba utility is like that too - in the past it failed to detect a number of perfectly good Toshiba drives which I later installed on my customers' laptops and had nothing but good reports from them over the years). But the strategy of just buying and installing it could easily backfire. This is why - in both my questions I asked, it is imperative that I find a good freeware generic program besides Speedfan to test the S.M.A.R.T. characteristics for all drives, not just Seagate or WD or Hitachi or Toshiba. Something similar to Speedfan quick S.M.A.R.T. test that detects all or most drives without the need for WIFI. I really need this figured out because I desperately need a quick method for testing drives I buy IN THE STORE the way Speedfan does it. Returning items to the store every time is very costly when your time begins at $35/hr, you lose clients by not being able to respond quickly enough.

If you know of any such program - I would appreciate a suggestion.

2. It is entirely possible that I would have to connect the drive through SATA directly to my board to test it with Toshiba utility. Haven't done so yet. Trouble is - it's hard to do this every time because I go through a bunch of drives, and with my motherboard I need to restart the PC every single time I connect a drive through SATA directly. Refreshing in Device Manager doesn't work. This stuff is tedious. So another question I have is:

Could it be the way I formatted this drive prevents it from being detected by Speedfan/Toshiba Utility? Would it perhaps need some kind of altered formatting? What do you think? Please bear with me, I really need to get to the bottom of this. Normally - I very rarely get my inquiries solved here. Maybe it's because they have no solution, after all - I usually can solve 95% of problems on my own - ones I can't probably either have no solution or are very counterintuitive which may need more people to look at them to maybe have that "aha" moment. I could really appreciate if other members could brainstorm this too. Any at all suggestion is welcome. Thanks.

 

[Moribund]

Update: OK I tried it with SATA to motherboard directly by restarting my PC when "scan for hardware changes" in Device manager failed to bring Toshiba drive up. It is now visible in Speedfan. Quick test shows 100% both fitness and performance. Extended web test shows 90% fitness however (unfortunately). So, again, it's one of those issues with Speedfan not detecting some drives when connected with SATA to USB. Still - the issue remains: I desperately need a similar generic program to Speedfan for quick testing in the store. Maybe even a couple of freeware ones should Speedfan fail to detect SATA to USB drive connection. I cannot plug a drive directly to SATA in the store - I don't have a capable laptop with a SATA port or space for a second drive.

Please suggest some - (to be able to do a quick test without the need for WIFI_ and I will mark both of my questions solved

 

[Peter Martin]

Well then it’s not such a great utility is it

 

[Moribund]

Well then it’s not such a great utility is it

Speedfan (I used it for years) can examine 85% of drives I plug in via SATA USB adaptor without the need for WIFI (online tools). I have found it to be highly accurate in predicting which drives are good and which will soon fail. It hasn't been wrong about that once!

Whether it's great or not depends on whether you are a perfectionist or not. I am not a perfectionist.

For the remaining 15% - I need a couple of other similar reliable programs. I believe I asked for a suggestion, rather than a rhetorical question. If you have been using something better that can do the same (no WIFI quick fitness, performance test)- I welcome your suggestion.

The reason I ask here rather than Googling is because I assumed (perhaps wrongly) that there are many other people like me who either fix and build computers for a living, or have a lot of experience with testing drives and could give an answer based on years of experience with drives. It's not a very difficult question. I suppose I would rather be at Linustech. Maybe Tom's hardware isn't such a great tool is it?

 

[fzabkar]

CrystalDiskInfo (Windows) and smartmontools (Linux) can retrieve the SMART data from HDDs in most USB enclosures. There are some older USB-SATA bridge chips which require vendor specific commands that SpeedFan may not understand. Some older bridges have no SMART support of any kind.

Smartmontools USB Device Support:
https://www.smartmontools.org/wiki/Supported_USB-Devices

 

[Moribund]

CrystalDiskInfo (Windows) and smartmontools (Linux) can retrieve the SMART data from HDDs in most USB enclosures. There are some older USB-SATA bridge chips which require vendor specific commands that SpeedFan may not understand. Some older bridges have no SMART support of any kind.

Smartmontools USB Device Support:
https://www.smartmontools.org/wiki/Supported_USB-Devices

So what you're basically saying is that it's an issue with both of my USB to SATA bridges that might be fixed by by purchasing a newer USB-to-SATA bridge adaptor, instead of looking for software which will recognize these commands? That sounds like a worthy suggestion. I will definitely try it out, USB-to-SATA being inexpensive.