Free HDD test utility (not from bootable CD)?

[Quattro Pete]

I want to test one of my notebook HDDs for possible problems. Are there any free testing utilities that you can recommend (not Windows Chkdsk - already tried that)? The problem is, it cannot be one of those that require you to boot from a CD since I have that suspect HDD in a CD slot/tray, so the CD drive will not be available to boot from.

It's a Hitachi drive, so I wanted to use the Hitachi Fitness Test utility, alas that requires you to boot from floppy or CD.

Or can I take the floppy image and make a bootable USB thumb drive out of it?

Thanks.

 

[Quattro Pete]

I'm using Win XP Prof on this machine, BTW.

 

[calvin1]

Any reason you couldn't swap the main HD with the testee so you can leave the CDROM drive plugged in? Also, is there enough play in the CDROM's data cable to just hang the HD on the side of the box while you are testing it?

 

[Quattro Pete]

To access the main HDD, I would have to open up the notebook which I don't want to do for warranty purposes.

The CD-ROM does not have a cable - it's a hot-plug slim CD/DVD drive that just slides in an out, and in place of it I slide a case with a HDD in it.

Looks like this:

 

[calvin1]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
To access the main HDD, I would have to open up the notebook which I don't want to do for warranty purposes.

The CD-ROM does not have a cable - it's a hot-plug slim CD/DVD drive that just slides in an out, and in place of it I slide a case with a HDD in it.



Duh, sorry, lost track that it was a laptop. Your only hope may be to build a FreeDOS bootable USB stick with the Hitachi utils in a directory. See if UNetbootin can do the trick. I was hoping to try it myself before I suggested it but it looks like I left my thumb drive at home.

 

[PandaBear]

1) Take your original HD out, it should be on a slider tray
2) Put the test target HD in the slider tray, slide it back in the laptop
3) Put the utility CDROM from your HD manufacture (download and burn it yourself)
4) Boot from the CDROM
5) Run the test

 

[uc50ic4more]

If you run into any kind of trouble with the above recommendations, there are lots of Linux-based distros that can be run live from a USB stick, too.

 

[StevieC]

Go to Hitachi's website and download their HDD test utility... Works great.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
Go to Hitachi's website and download their HDD test utility... Works great.

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
It's a Hitachi drive, so I wanted to use the Hitachi Fitness Test utility, alas that requires you to boot from floppy or CD.


Anyway, I figured it out.

 

[StevieC]

Sorry missed that part of your post...