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Hard drive testing

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10 replies

by byteside

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I have come across several laptops that appear to have a failing hard drive and want to test the hard drive with the MFG's diagnostic tool. The problem is most laptops don't have a floppy drive and the diagnostic tools are on a bootable floppy. Does anyone know a differant way to perform these tests or where to find a diagnostic tool that does not require a floppy drive.

10 replies

by 3xp3rt

I think the laptop have an optical drive (CD or DVD) if there is no floppy drive. So make a bootable cd from your floppy and boot the laptop from this CD.

by 3xp3rt

Open your burning software, go to Creat a Boot CD, and the image source select floppy. That's all.

by wcp

1. Some (WD, Seagate, Hitachi or IBM, and Maxtor) offer HD diagnostic utility in ISO format which you can burn it (Burn image to disk in Nero, for example) to a CD. Then boot from the CD to diagnose the HD.

2. If your HD is Toshiba, use Seatools from Seagate. As a matter of fact, Seatools can be used for any brand of HD.

3. You can use online diagnostic test from Seagate (Seatools Online).

4. WD offers HD diagnose in Windows (DLG for Windows).

by wcp

I use Nero (V6).
Point the cursor to a two-CD symbol (Copy and Backup). Choose Burn Image to Disc and point the file you downloaded.
The burned CD is bootable.

by russellrl2

If this will be a continuing issue, you might what to invest in an external floppy drive with a USB connection.

by mjd420nova

I do have the hard drive diags for most types,
WD, Seagate,maxtor, hitachi etc. But you need to
open the case to confirm the manufacturer and
model if possible. Yes, you will need to make a
bootable CD to run it from.

by byteside

excellent!! Thanks for all the replys. I will try burning an ISO bootable cd with the diag. tool. I was not aware seatools could be used on any brand of hard drive. Also is there any special instructions on burning an ISO file??

by swlchris

Maxtor has one as well that I have used a lot with all successful results. Look for MaxBlast or email me and I will try to copy the files into something email will take.
It fits on a floppy disk and would make a good addition to that cdrom you need to burn.
If you are comfortable with opening the laptop case, you might also look into loose connections to the hdd that will sometimes make intermittent contact and that will also give indications of a failing drive.

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