How To Disc Check a SATA Toshiba

I'm trying to do a disc check on a SATA 2.5 (laptop) Toshiba hard drive. Toshiba hard drives are always a pain, but this is the first SATA Toshiba drive I've had to check and I'm having a lot of trouble finding a utility to scan it. So far I've tried the following:

1. IBM drive Fitness Test - Does find the HDD, does scan it, reports errors, but won't fix bad clusters
2. Toshiba's DOS Diagnostic Tool Ver. 7.0 - Doesn't find the drive (way to go Toshiba!)
3. Maxtor's PowerMax - I don't believe this one found the hard drive
4. WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows - Reads the drive, finds errors, no option to repair bad clusters.
5. And several others that wouldn't find the drive

Each utility that has been able to find the hard drive and has scanned it has passed the drive on quick tests and only show errors toward the very end of an extended test. To me that means that the faults are a distance from the MBR and a repair could for once be successful. chkdsk consistantly shows just 350KB of bad clusters.

Yes I know any errors means it's a smart idea to replace the drive, but the owner doesn't have a Windows CD, and the laptop is healthy enough to warrant further investment.

Does anyone know of any other utilities to try?

 

You might want to check into the "Ultimate Boot CD" that is listed in software at Major Geeks . . . I've been given to understand it contains several diagnostic programs that may be of use to you:

http://majorgeeks.com/Ultimate_Boot_CD_UBCD_d4981.html

Or Hirens boot CD which also contains some freeware diagnostic programs, among other things. At one time their CD contained some stuff that was not freeware, but since then it seem they are now legit. Here is a link to a thread last year talking about it, with a link to their site:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=193595

 

Thanks for your post man. I've exhausted the UBCD, and tried several from Hirrens but there're dozens there!

 

Are you trying to do a test with USB adapter. There is only one utility I know of that will let you do that. HDDTune. Be sure to read the documentation.

 

Sorry, I said HDDTune, It is actually MHDD BY HDDGURU.

 

Boy, I got up too early today, total brain-fart. :confused Please disregard the post about this utility being able to use a USB adapter. And, I do wish you could delete and at least edit posts after 10 minutes. I am going back to bed.

 

One quick thought: When you find a program that works (Seagate's SeaTools will work on some - but not all - other brands of HDDs), do a full/deep/long (or whatever the program calls it) test. If you have any data on the drive, copy or back it up before running a full test. If the drive is on its last legs any deep test may corrupt or destroy data on the drive.

The deep test will sometimes catch issues that S.M.A.R.T., chkdsk or quick drive tests will miss. I've had this happen twice in the past year.

Good luck on getting the drive tested. up and running.

 

Yeah that 10 minute edit thing is very irritating! I spent about 20 minutes writing an edit to a post last night, then tried to switch to advanced view and not only got the 10 min warning message, but it ate my post!

I had been running all the tests via SATA connected normally, inside the laptop. However I do have a USB to SATA/IDE adapter, so I felt it was worth a try. Afterall, the WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows had found the drive via USB cable earlier, but wouldn't try to repair bad clusters.

Anyways yes, that MHDD does indeed claim to test over USB, but after failing to do so (and failing to follow your warning...) I read the documentation and found that it would only read from a USB drive IF I find and install a USB to SCSI driver...! I put the HDD back inside the laptop but MHDD didn't find it via SATA either.

I must have originally forgotten Seagate Tools, so I loaded it up but it didn't find the drive either. This one really bothered me because that's probably my favorite of the utilities. It was the straw that broke the camels back and I took the HDD out and have it in a different laptop right now. So far both MHDD and Seagate Tools have now detected the drive...! Grr!

I can only think the HDD controller on the laptop's mobo is causing this. In any case, thanks for all the suggestions guys, and basically all your suggestions work!