Pros
Much more than just a S.M.A.R.T. values viewer. You can surface test the drive for bad blocks, get the detailed technical info from the hard drive's controller, do a HDD Conveyance test, and get visual results (nice graphs). Plus it's free and runs as a portable application.
Cons
If you are using the 3.3 version in Windows 7x64, you'll need to change the compatibility mode of the program's executable.
Summary
I use this program to test brand new drives in addition to diagnosing suspect drives. So let me explain how I became aware of this software. We've always had one or two brand new hard drives on the shelf ready to use for additional storage, or disk/array replacement, and the past I have had experience with a couple of drives that failed right after installation, one of which sat brand new unopened on my shelf far from its warranty period. So I needed a way to vet the drive prior to use or shelf while I still had the time to get a replacement. The S.M.A.R.T. info doesn't really provide much info for a brand new fresh out of the box HDDs and used drive's S.M.A.R.T. info doesn't really give me a visual of where these erring and bad sectors are. Are they spread out or concentrated? Was it this bad a week ago or was this there when first installed? That's where this software has become very useful to me. The Surface Verify and Read Tests are useful to see the ratio of good blocks, so-so blocks and bad ones. Those tests and the S.M.A.R.T. Conveyance Test are what I use to scan brand new drives and it allows me to print for the vendors the report when I ask for a replacement in the event a bad one is sent. I have been saved a few times already.
There is no malware. Check my Cons above for a note. It's a zip folder that, when you unpack it, can run off a USB stick. Nothing installs, it runs. Download directly from the developer if you wish or try downloading a previous version.
For those who are not seeing anything it may or may not be doing: Ensure the S.M.A.R.T. data and/or Disk Info can be displayed. After you choose your desired test it will display as a line item on the Test Manager window. Double-click on the text entry of the test executing and another window will pop up with the graph. Within this window, in the Map tab you'll see on the left portion the blocks and on the right portion you'll see a running total of the type of blocks found. If you want to see a cascading-block effect then un-click the Disable Map Dynamic Update box. If all you see are light gray boxes the whole time, relax, that's a good sign you have a healthy drive. Be weary if you see a lot of red or orange blocks, freak out if you have a lot of blue blocks.
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Pros
None found
Cons
Does nothing
Summary
The idea of a compact disk tester which does not require installation was very appealing as it mean I could put this on a memory stick and take it with me in my work as IT Technician. Only hickup is that it doesn't actually work on any computers I've tried it on. The computer keeps working but gets very busy with a process called consent.exe. No messages or splash screen is shown. You can't close the process because "access is denied". The only way I could get rid of it was to restart the PC. Every time during shutdown there would be an error message from HDDScan saying that there are too many 16bit applications running and that I should close some or change the FILES value. What is this? MS-DOS stuff? Sorry but this is a waste of time. All things considered I think I will run a malware scan on my computers too.
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Pros
This software is not for the inexperienced; it's not a pretty, fluffy, GUI-Loaded program with lots of fun things to play around with; however, if you're serious about testing the surface of your HDD this is the software you want to do it! I've been using this software for years and have NEVER had a problem with it - I don't know what the other reviewers are talking about; but chances are, they did not give the software a chance!
There is NO ADWARE associated with this software! There's no pop-ups that tell you to buy this, or get that. It's a straight forward disk scanning and test program for professionals to use. If they decided to start charging for the software, I'd surely purchase the 'business package' for my computer repair company to use.
The resulting graph is accurate and conveys any drive issues visually. The SMART scan reader is a nice addition to the HDD scans.
Cons
While running a test - its best to leave your computer alone and do not use it during a scan. Doing so will skew results.
A normal 320Gb surface test takes about 4 hours with a regular "Intel Core DUO2 Processor"
Summary
I don't often write reviews for any product (especially freeware) but I couldn't let the current reviews stand on their own (they're pretty bad reviews). There's nothing too negative about this software (slowness and inability to use your PC during a scan) - I believe this is an easy trade-off for having a solid (and free) HDD testing program available for everyone to use.
FYI: My PC Repair business, nor I, are in any way affiliated with the company that makes HDDSCAN. This is a legit review!!!
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Pros
I wanted to do a simple disc scan. The computer froze once I started using the program. On restart, it ended up sending my computer into a continuous booting loop. I could not start in safe mode. Ended up needing to reinstall the OS.
Cons
INSTALLS ADWARE
Summary
don't download
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Pros
There aren't any.
Cons
I wanted a way to surface scan an externally attached (USB) HDD; from the description, this looked like exactly what I needed. But to begin with, it installs clumsily, requiring that you go through the list of files to find the application and double click it. After that, you can spend a day trying to figure what the program is doing. I tried "Surface Scan" any number of ways but it never reports out. The data light on my external drive rig shows that data is being sent but no results ever appear. The description says that graphs are presented and it shows screen shots which are never seen in use. I reinstalled repeatedly but got the same results every time. This would seem to be pure junkware. If anyone can tell me how to "make this dog hunt", I'd appreciate it.
Summary
Phooey. Look elsewhere.
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