HDD testing: Replacement for DFT?

Does anyone know of a good replacement for Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test (DFT)? DFT, while very convienient for being bootable, often doesn't detect drives unless the SATA config is set to compatability/IDE, and we seem to be getting more false positives lately via DFT. We like Western Digital's Data Lifeguard (and SeaTools for Seagate drives), but IIRC it doesn't have a bootable version. Are there any more modern HDD testing tools that are bootable, don't have issues with AHCI, and, now that we're getting more Windows 8 machines into the shop, works with UEFI? Thanks!

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TechGuy215

I've used PC Doctor for years. Usually pretty decent if used correctly. PC-Doctor Service Center Diagnostic Repair Tool Kit for PC Technicians & System Builders

Asif Dasl

You can check hard drive SMART information and do a short & long self-test with PassMark DiskCheckup. If you want to test the drive OS independent then you could try SpinRite (there is no trial however & not sure about UEFI support). But the ol' Windows "ChkDsk

/f /r" does the trick most of the time for me on a Windows drive along with the SMART information checker.

WafflesAndRootbeer

Most people don't know this, but pretty much and all manufactured PCs ship with on-board diagnostics like PC DOCTOR loaded into the system ROM. It's always easier and quicker to use those than it is to use software from Seagate/Hitachi/WD/Whatever for simple HDD diagnostics and they will test other parts of the system at the same time if you want to.

NewITGuy

TechGuy215 wrote: »

I've used PC Doctor for years. Usually pretty decent if used correctly. PC-Doctor Service Center Diagnostic Repair Tool Kit for PC Technicians & System Builders

Thanks! We'll definitely look into that. I think we would prefer something free, but if there's not anything free that fits what we're looking for, we'll probably go for that.

Asif Dasl wrote: »

You can check hard drive SMART information and do a short & long self-test with PassMark DiskCheckup. If you want to test the drive OS independent then you could try SpinRite (there is no trial however & not sure about UEFI support). But the ol' Windows "ChkDsk /f /r" does the trick most of the time for me on a Windows drive along with the SMART information checker.

It's possible that I missed it when checking your links, but do they have bootable versions?

WafflesAndRootbeer wrote: »

Most people don't know this, but pretty much and all manufactured PCs ship with on-board diagnostics like PC DOCTOR loaded into the system ROM. It's always easier and quicker to use those than it is to use software from Seagate/Hitachi/WD/Whatever for simple HDD diagnostics and they will test other parts of the system at the same time if you want to.

We still get a lot of old XP machines (we're talking Pentium 4's here...), and a lot of machines we see either don't have onboard diagnostics, or the diagnostics are of questionable quality. One onboard diagnostic was just a SMART test, for example. We love the machines that do have onboard diagnostics, but, in addition to running a second test from another source, it's good to have something separate from the machine, that'll work on (almost) every machine.

Asif Dasl

SpinRite is bootable, but you could run PassMark DiskCheckup from Windows PE or BartPE