If you are installing a new Hard Drive the following Tools and Utilities will facilitate Partioning and Formatting in preparation for installing an Operating System.

If you feel you are having problems with your Hard Drive some manufacturers have Diagnostic Software. Running these programs can quickly identify an issue or eliminate the Hard Drive as the source of a problem.

Is your Hard Drive making strange noises? Listen to Hitachi's Noises that indicate a defective drive

Identifying your Hard Drive Make and Model Number

If you are unsure or unaware of the Make and Model Number of your Hard Drive(s) use one of the following utilities to provide that information in order to make effective use of this guide.

Belarc Advisor

Belarc Advisor is a small tool that will adequetely identify a Hard Drive for the purposes of this guide. It provides a detailed report of installed Hardware and Software presented in a web page format. Belarc Advisor will fit on a floppy disk and is handy for computers not connected to the internet or otherwise disabled. You need Windows and Internet Explorer to view the report.

Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit

EVEREST Home Edition

[quote]EVEREST Home Edition is a freeware hardware diagnostics and memory benchmarking solution for home PC users, based on the award-winning EVEREST Technology. It offers the world's most accurate hardware information and diagnostics capabilities, including online features, memory benchmarks, hardware monitoring, and low-level hardware information.[/quote]

EVEREST Home Edition



The following is a brief description of the various tools and links to the respective manufacturers organized alphabeticaly.

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Fujitsu

Fujitsu offers some useful tools and some that should only be used with expert advice. The utilities listed below can be used safely by the average user. Other tools available on the linked page can be harmful and should only be used to correct a specific issue with full knowledge of the consequences.

Diagnostic Tool Ver. 6.3 (For IDE/ATA Hard Disk Drives)

[quote]This diagnostic tool is available for use by customers who feel their Fujitsu hard drive may not be operating normally. It is only designed for use with Fujitsu ATA/IDE hard drives.

There are 2 diagnostic modes:

Quick Test - About 1 minute, does random seek/read tests.
Comprehensive Test - About 6 minutes, also performs surface scan.
* Runs only under DOS from a bootdisk.[/quote]

Diagnostic Tool Ver. 6.3 (For SCSI Hard Disk Drives)

[quote]This diagnostic tool is available for use by customers who feel their Fujitsu SCSI hard drive may not be operating normally. It is only designed for use with Fujitsu SCSI hard drives.

There are 3 test modes:

Quick Test - 1 to 3 minutes, a basic operational test.
Standard Test - 20 to 25 minutes, also performs Read/Write test.
Extended Test - 30 to 70 minutes, also verify and surface test.
*Supports Windows NT/98/2000/2003/XP
*Requires Adaptec's ASPI32 driver.[/quote]

Fujitsu Erase Utility

[quote]Note: This program works only with any FUJITSU IDE/ATA hard disk drives

This procedure performs a pseudo-formatting to the drive. It erases all of your previous data and reinitializes it to "00" pattern. By performing this task, you will be able to erase the whole user area including your Master Boot Record, Partition Table, FAT (File Allocation Table), and all the files and data it refers to. Use this program if you want to be sure your drive is clean.

Warning:
All the previous data will be lost when performing the 'Erase' task.
Please backup all your important files and data before running this program.[/quote]


All the above utilities are available from Fujitsu Support and Downloads




Hitachi

Hitachi has taken over the IBM DeskStar/TravelStar line.

Drive Fitness Test

[quote]This download creates a self-booting DOS diskette to run the DFT utility. The Drive Fitness Test (DFT) provides a quick, reliable method to test SCSI and IDE hard disk drives, including Serial-ATA IDE drives. The Drive Fitness Test analyze function performs read tests without overwriting data. However, Drive Fitness Test is bundled with some restoration utilities that will overwrite data.[/quote]

Choose from a bootable floppy, a binary bootable floppy for non-Windows systems or a bootable CD image.

OGT Diagnostic Tool

[quote]The OGT diagnostic tool is a failure analysis tool for Ultrastar 10K300, Ultrastar 15K73, and DK32XX products.

Use this tool instead of DFT for Ultrastar 10K300, Ultrastar 15K73, and DK32XX drives only.
Performs diagnostic testing and failure analysis.
Windows version only.
The OGT will perform necessary tests to the drives and can perform failure analysis automatically[/quote]

All Hitachi Downloads



Maxtor

PowerMax

This utility has three seperate tests and will format the drive.

[quote]The PowerMax utility is designed to perform diagnostic read/write verifications on Maxtor and Quantum hard drives. These tests will determine hard drive integrity. Maxtor recommends the use of this utility for troubleshooting potential hard drive problems.[/quote]

Using Maxtor’s Power Diagnostic Utilities (PowerMax v 4.21) - Guide to diagnosing hard disk problems on Maxtor/Quantum hard drives utilizing POWERMAX

Download PowerMax - Bootable Floppy

Download PowerMax 4.21 Bootable CD .ISO image file


MaxBlast 4 For Windows

This utility runs from within Windows to prepare a second drive. It works with any type of Hard Drive.

[quote]MaxBlast 4 is a one-step, ATA/IDE hard drive installation utility. MaxBlast 4 makes hard drive installations and upgrades hassle-free for novices and professionals alike by automatically identifying, partitioning, and formatting any IDE hard drive, making it data-ready in about one minute. This version of MaxBlast is used on systems with already existing Windows installations to copy all your data to the new hard drive in order to use it as a boot drive, or additional storage drive.[/quote]


Download MaxBlast 4 For Windows



OnTrack Data Advisor

Note: Support for FAT formatted partitions only

This utility includes a Ram testing function as an added bonus.

[quote]Quick Functional Test.
Performs random reads and seeks on the hard disk to check for catastrophic physical problems.
SMART Status Check.
Informs you of any warnings or alerts that have been set by the hard drive. SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) is a technology embedded by manufacturers into many hard drives to offer an early warning of failures.
Complete Surface Scan.
Verifies the physical integrity of the hard disk platters by reading every sector on the hard disk.
File Structure Test.
Reads and verifies the integrity of the File Allocation Tables (FAT) on DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, 98, Me, NT*, 2000* and XP*. Checks critical boot sectors, reads the Master Boot Record and cross-checks partition tables and CMOS.
System Memory Test.
Exercises and verifies the integrity of the memory in the computer system and detects defects and errors[/quote]

Data Advisor

Note: Support for FAT formatted partitions only

This utility works with any Hard Drive.

[quote]Data Advisor® is a simple, yet powerful computer diagnostic tool for assessing the condition of your computer system. Data Advisor quickly assesses the health of your hard disk drive, file structures, and computer memory by identifying problems that could cause data loss. Don't worry if you can't boot your system to Windows; DataAdvisor is self-booting, so it runs even when your system won't. This comprehensive computer diagnostic tool can be used to both diagnose current problems and/or as part of a regular maintenance program to identify potential problems that could lead to data loss.[/quote]

Data Advisor



Samsung

Samsung has has organized their utilities in product specific categories. To see if they have a diagnostic or installation tool for your Hard Drive go to the Samsung Download Center and enter the Model Number of your Hard Drive and follow through the selection process to see what is offered.

Samsung Download Center



Seagate

DiscWizard Starter Edition

This utility allows you to partition and format a new Hard Drive in preparation for installing an operating system. Download this to create a bootable floppy or CD.

DiscWizard Starter Edition

DiscWizard 2003

This utility has three functions. You can install a drive for additional storage, as the boot drive keeping the old drive in the system or as the boot drive removing the old drive from the system, all from within any Windows operating system.

DiscWizard 2003

DiscWizard Online

This is a web based version of DiscWizard 2003 and allows you to perform the same functions as above but online.

DiscWizard Online

SeaTools Online Edition

[quote]The SeaTools Online diagnostic engine uses "plug-ins" for your Internet Explorer or Netscape browser.

Data safe Drive Self Test (DST)
Checks SMART status
Tests most ATA and SCSI drives
Compatible with an Intel-based CPU
Creates a log of results
Examines file structure analysis[/quote]

SeaTools Online Edition

SeaTools Desktop Edition

[quote]This utility runs in Windows and creates a bootable diagnostic floppy diskette. You only run the program in Windows once.

Data safe tests
Tests most ATA and SCSI drives
Compatible with an Intel-based CPU
Creates a log of results
Prints Return Merchandise Authorization instructions and form
Error code explanations available on Seagate Web site
Creates self-booting diskette
Examines file structure analysis[/quote]

SeaTools Desktop Edition


Western Digital

Western Digital has a variety of tools. All the following Tools are available from Western Digital Service and Support

Data Lifeguard Tools 11 for Windows

[quote]If your computer system already has a hard drive installed with an operating system of Windows 98SE or greater, you should use the Windows version of Data Lifeguard for best results.[/quote]


Data Lifeguard Tools 11 for DOS

[quote]The DOS version is required if installing a hard drive in a new system without existing operating system support. [/quote]


[quote]VIEW INSTALLATION TUTORIAL - Instructions on how to connect your new hard drive to the computer.

SETUP YOUR HARD DRIVE - Setup a hard drive already connected to your computer.

DRIVE-TO-DRIVE COPY - Copy all the files or a specific folder from one drive to another.

HARD DRIVE INFORMATION - Jumper Settings and other technical information about your hard drive.[/quote]

Use this if you are installing a Slave Drive, are having drive size recognition problems or to copy a drive.

How to use the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD to partition and format a drive larger than 137GB (128GB binary) in Windows 2000/XP.

How to use Data Lifeguard Tools 11 to install, partition, and format EIDE hard drives larger than 137GB (128GB binary) in Windows 98SE/ME.

Data Lifeguard Diagnostic

[quote]The Data Lifeguard Diagnostic Tools are used primarily for determining the physical condition of your hard drive. If you are having computer problems which you suspect are hard drive related, you can test your drive with this tool.[/quote]

Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows

This diagnostic can be run from within Windows. How to test a drive for problems using Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostics.

Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (Floppy)

This download makes a bootable floppy. OPTION 2: Creating a diagnostic disk from downloading the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS.

Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (CD)

This download makes a bootable CD. How to create a Data Lifeguard diagnostics bootable CD.

These Maxtor links no longer seem to be current now that Seagate has acquired them. They all drop you out to: http://www.seagate.com/maxtor/

It seems that the diagnostic to use is now this one: http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools/