I received no answer from the company as to whether it was truly a giveaway or just another free trial. Methings I will uninstall and run a thorough cleanup afterward. These folks are in Russia and that gives me some concern. Bad enough that the NSA is snooping into my life, I don't need the KGB there too. There's apparently lots of free alternatives to this program. I think I'll go to GSmartControl. It works for both Linux and Windows.

at #1
Ashraf, I respect your work here but please DO NOT RECOMMEND HDD Expert anymore. It installed spyware in my PC without letting me to stop it! There was no option to do that during installation process. Then the ugly spyware installed hijacked my all browsers home pages and search engines.

Because of the serious privacy concerns raised by #38, I'm uninstalling it.

For those keeping it, note that closing it still leaves HDDSvc.exe running and that could be the spyware described by #38. Whatever it is, I don't like programmes that leave things running when I close them. A filename like that made me think it was legit and I let ZoneAlarm allow it. Now I have serious doubts.

Be aware, too, that the default is to add it to your Startup folder. It doesn't ask for permission to do that when you install it, nor does it ask if you want it adding shortcuts to the Quick Launch menu or to the desktop. It does all of that without giving you a choice until after it's installed, meaning you have to go back and tidy up its mess manually.

It's unfortunate, because it seems to work well in what it's supposed to do, but spyware worries me and impolite installation processes annoy me.

#2-what do you think... shouldn't it be Mr GioFreeanni? :) Thank you

Thanks to GOTD... this software is really Handy and Useful.I've used the earlier version and works well.
Where can i find the Hard Disk "BAD SECTOR" detector and Remover software for free Offline?
Please anyone Share the Link.


uninvited.downloader@yahoo.com

It downloaded and installed OK under WinXP but it won't activate. Yes, I followed the instructions and no, nothing happens.

I've tried running activate.exe with HDI running and the window opened, with HDI running and the window minimized, and with HDI not running. It won't activate.

It takes me to a webpage where it will cheerfully accept my payment, but the GAOTD activation isn't working.

It is reporting properly about my hard drive, however, so at least I'll know for the next 14 days that it's in good shape.

So...this giveaway does not apply to the laptop version? As nice as this offer looks, I don't know if it's worth installing since I don't have a desktop....

I downloaded Hard Drive Inspector from GOTD and installed it. It
would not register when I used the activate.exe. The software still is unregistered and shows trial.

Like many of these GotD offers, this is not a "giveaway." It's a trial version which is quite limited. Running the Activate.exe file merely gets one a message that Hard Drive Inspector Professional is activated and registered - yet it is no such thing. It still wants a registration number, and it is of no value in its present shape.

RECOMMEND: Do NOT download; do NOT install.

reported my 2 SSD as
ATA Corsair GS in critical condition (god save me...)
ATA Gorsair GT in critical condition (..)

and also reported these 2 models
SATA oCsria roFcr eSG
SATA oCsria roFcr eTG

no idea where it got Corsair name wrong...but i also dont have 4 SSDs...

I get message that it does not recognize all my drives and cant perform on them send a note.. LOL they are 2t and 3t drives barracuda. ???.

And yes, I did follow the instructions in the Readme text file.

I just downloaded and installed Hard Drive Inspector with about 10 plus hours to go on the Giveaway but the activation screen states something to the effect of "Trial version only, 14 days to go" I clicked on the "register" button and that took me to their site where I would have to pay $29.95 to register for a license. Is this truly a permanent "no strings" free program to use as long as I wish or just another trial version? I somehow thought programs offered on GOTD were something better than just a limited trial. You can find them almost anywhere.

I checked on the software website HDReg.com and if I read it correctly, it said that it is unavailable and has been unavailable for a while!

So it's telling me that SATA Drive 1 has 94% reliability, 100% performance and 100% error resistance and SATA Drive 2 has 71%, 71% and 71%. This seems strange to me because there is only one HDD installed on this PC.

Down-loaded, installed and then activated as per instructions. I then ran the program and it reported the health of one of my external drives while noting that the status of my internal drive and a second external drive were "unknown" due to a "limitation of the trial version."

#1 Ashraf

...in the past, while you've recommended 1000s of excellent programs, I would be ashamed to PROMOTE the HDDExpert program as found here > http://kcsoftwares.com/?hdde

!!! WARNING !!!

Why? Referring to the following image and or link...

[IMG]http://i42.tinypic.com/e87tjc.jpg[/IMG]

http://i42.tinypic.com/e87tjc.jpg

...the author's software installation includes MONITORING & COLLECTION SPYWARE.

!!! ONE HUGE THUMBS DOWN FOR Ashraf's Free Alternatives recommendation of HDDExpert !!!

Martin

This software giveaway is pretty much useless for those who have only notebooks/laptops in the home, unless you pay for the notebook version, even if it's 50% off!

Still no comments as to whether this software is any use for solid state drives ?

#6 TK: At Green Village Computer Help we see plenty of laptops with crashed hard drives; it's a common problem.

It only takes one head crash to teach you the importance of backing up your data.

The best time to back up your disk is just before it crashes. Since you never know when it will do that, it's best to back up early and back up often. Best strategy: weekly full backup plus daily incremental backup, AND take the backup copy off-site, perhaps to a safe deposit box. That will keep your backup safe, in case of fire.

If you can afford RAID 1, that's a good, automatic copy in case a drive fails, but it should not be considered a backup, since the copy is in the same place as the original and a fire would take out both. But RAID 1 has other problems as well; for example, if you lose power while writing to the disk, both disks in the RAID setup will be corrupted. A UPS will keep that from happening, but UPSs fail from time to time as well, and their batteries go bad regularly too.

#13, #19:
Something like "chkdsk /f /r /x /b" has limitations, and can take forever (read hours or even days) to finish.

You have to distinguish between hard and soft bad sectors. Hard bad sectors are sector physically damaged. There's nothing to do but to mark them as unusable. Soft bad sectors can be reset with a low level format. Try HDD Low Level Format Tool and Repartition Bad Drive.

In another era, bad sectors problems were easily solved with Norton Disk Editor (I still have it, lol). I did programming with Turbo-Pascal 4.0 and a MS-DOS/8086 interrupt guide to develop low level tools.

Also, a visit to the disk manufacturer's web site may pay off. For example, Western Digital and Seagate have software to help keep their HDD in health.

Seems to work ok 'though on first run Spybot Search & Destroy reported "Encountered and terminated PBHotbar.SearchAssistant in C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\wmic.exe!" so it appears to carry a dodgy toolbar payload (didn't see any pre-checked boxes, just the usual 'check to accept license terms' box)...

I installed it happily, thinking about it's rave reviews, but I have to say that this has nothing to offer compared to Hard Disk Sentinel (HDS), an older GOTD offer. This new program will not pick up my SMART data like HDS does. No temp, no data, no anticipated life span- nothing! I selected ADVANCED and set everything to SMART data and still nothing! This is a clear dud compared to HDS and I'm uninstalling it.

While no program is 100% infallible, I think this one gives you a great idea of what is going on...I think that the data as well as the temperature are all good to be able to learn..and it doesn't seem to grab much system resource...sort of like an oil pressure and water temperature gauge on your car!! And, like any GOTD program..Ya just can't beat the price!! Thank you GOTD for another usable program!!

I downloaded Hard Drive Inspector from GOTD and tried to install it. It
would not register when I used the activate.exe. I uninstalled and then
installed it in safe mode and activated it in safe mode as administrator. The software still is unregistered and shows trial.

Looks like a good piece of software, but would not, did not register, after multiple attempts. And so it's gone.

No problem; I have WD Diagnostics and several other HDD monitors, but this does look like a good piece of software that I'd love to try.

@#19 Bob Holley
Bob, this type of software checks the hardware. The problem you have seems to be the result of a faulty file system which is a software issue and is checked by CHKDSK and comparable tools. Common causes of file system issues are short outages of the power supply, switching the system off without using shutdown etc. To recover I suggest you do a partition backup first and then try to correct the errors using Linux tools.
Good luck.

I have a 2TB external Hard Drive (My Book Elite) that keeps indexing and slows access to files and eventually my PC reports that the disk cannot be recognized. I have an open inquiry at a free tech forum on this. Windows 7 and 8 scan disk does not find anything wrong, Western Digital's diagnostic tool, WinDlg.exe couldn't find anything wrong with it BUT THIS DID!!
It claimed to know the temperature of the drive and how long it had been running which I doubt. The program also loads 1 or 2 files at boot that are not necessary but considering it found what Windows and Western Digital couldn't, I recommend getting this. I had two other drives it tested also with good results. It took several attempts to launch the program and I eventually ran it in admin mode.
Hard Drive Inspector's report seemed to be in English and some other language but it recommended I back up the data right away but I can't. Raw Data Failure. I can see the folders and even get to the sub folders but I can't run anything from it or copy it. If ANYONE knows of a good app that will help me copy these files over to another drive, please advise.

It doesn't recognize my two RAID 1 HDDs!

This software seems to do what it says. I'll keep it in my toolbox. Hey Bob Holley, your problem sounds like 1 of 2 things. Either the 5% that is bad happens to be only on the Windows 7 portion of your disk, or your hardware is fine but you have software problems on your Win7 partition.

Anyone with a failing hard drive or a suspiciously -s-l-o-w- system:

1 - blow out all dust, r&r remove and reinstall all electronic connectors to insure they are clean

2 - install supplemental fans to keep everything at room temperature, especially during data recovery

3 - get and run Spinrite.com (it boots without your operating system)

Backup your data ASAP.

I often backup before and after Spinrite, but the fans help cool things down, so do that first. Software wise, I like

-- XCopy (free in the OS),

-- XXCopy.com (smarter, free download),

-- RoboCopy (smartest, free in the OS or downloadable from Microsoft.com),

-- RoadKil.net Unstoppable Copier (free), and

-- z-a-recovery.com (not free, dumps a mess, but an excellent last-ditch effort tool)

Regarding system watching tools, I like free almico.com/speedfan.php for the tweakable reasons mentioned above.

Good luck, all if us who suffer now or eventually, with magnetic surface data loss -- it can't be avoided, but we can have copies somewhere else.

Does not run on Win XP Pro - waste of time downloading it.

David Woodroof asked: "... does anyone know of a program that allows the definition of bad sectors etc and to quarantine so that you can keep the old disc ..."

Free: [ chkdsk c: /r ] at each reboot, slow, brutal, but effective

Money: Spinrite.com -- great at saving data, or HDReg.com -- faster but less accurate at saving what's in "potholes" ... or just buy a new disk: 2 TB under $100 can't be beat.

==========

A note to all: S.M.A.R.T. just slows a system down by keeping records, but an error-free drive can fail any time (I have a stack of new, surprise carcases), and yet an error-full drive can last, last, last (I'm using one now that took 2 weeks to "resurface", it still has "nervous" boundary sectors, but has kept on ticking for a year now).

Google servers turn off S.M.A.R.T. for Google's hard drives. Intel turns off S.M.A.R.T. with modern ACHI Advanced Host Controller Interface chip that transfer data much faster than can be done with S.M.A.R.T. turned on. I notice that a failing drive will overheat with S.M.A.R.T. turned on during data recovery because the drive is recording every single repair attempt, yet, with S.M.A.R.T. turned off -- I know, I know, counterintuitive -- the drive recovers faster and cooler, and more accurately.

More? For $10,000, buy http://www.deepspar.com/products-pc-3000-data.html and open a shop to make your money back!

I'm surprised, in the review, that they didn't include, as a free alternative, CrystalDiskInfo 6.0.1 Regardless, I use Hard Drive Inspector and like it. It's not as robust as CrystalDiskInfo and other free programs, but it gives one a simple, understandable GUI.

Another, free, alternative:

"PassMark DiskCheckup"
http://www.passmark.com/products/diskcheckup.htm

This software didn't help with a problem that developed last week with my computer. I know that I have bad sectors on my hard drive that are affecting the operation of Windows 7. Chkdsk hangs after finding a certain number of bad sectors. The same is true for several diagnostic programs that hang after investigating around 4-6% of the hard drive. Hard Drive Inspector told me that everything was OK with a 95% score. Everything is NOT ok since Windows now crashes regularly and boot up times are extremely long. Fortunately, my Linux partition still works just fine.

Why wood I need this to inpect the hard dive? Make sence to replace then pay for this to inspect it all the time. Thank

The only item that down loaded was the set up exe. At 9:212 and I can not get it to be anything other than a trial version . The file down load does not include the activation file. I tried down loading it 2 times and it is as I said no activation file and with out that all we get is the trial version for I think it said 14 days.

#14: "Ok, so I downloaded and ran it and it gave me a VERY bad report on one of my disks... I am backing it up. It’s a 1Tb drive and I have about 2hours to go.
Am I over-reacting, or is this really a problem."
.
Some drives can act on S.M.A.R.T. data, so when you get a really nasty report it's always best to do a full disk/partition backup.

I don't know what's causing it to take 2 hours, whether there's just that much data or if you're using USB 2 or whatever, but IMHO, & as possible, you should try to avoid that situation -- if you have to do an emergency backup you may not have 20 minutes or 1/2 an hour before a drive quits completely [& that's after letting it sit off to reach room temp].

As far as the drive itself, see if the manufacturer has software available to diagnose & possibly even fix the drive -- you'll often have to run that stuff to check on warranties or make a warranty claim anyway, IF that matters to you. Your own circumstances will dictate whether you can order in a replacement drive or have to make a run to the nearest retailer that'll sell you one -- if you can't do without the system up & running, you may want to run that software I just mentioned after the fact, after you've got the replacement installed & the system restored.

If you can't replace a failing hard drive yourself, or want/need to wait till later to fool with the existing drive, an eSATA external drive will work almost identically to an internal drive.

DO Be Cautious about running disk check &/or repair apps in Windows -- if for example you run Windows Check Disk with "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" checked, you might be in for a real PITA later on, since NTFS file tables can store bad sector data permanently... that means cloned to a new drive/partition, Windows will still think those errors exist, so what you can do with or to that drive/partition will be limited.

Thank you very much, installed and ran fine on XP-PRO-SP3. Am using an SSD HD, so I guess not much of the information is important or relevant (am I correct?), but will keep it in case I add regular HDs that I will want to have information or warnings about.

#6: "... living with paranioa and fear costs money and power."

Not disagreeing -- I just find the extremes on both sides, and any debate between the two interesting. :)

Whatever the topic or endeavor there are best practices. There's also often an industry tailored towards making money off helping people & companies follow best practices, and of course it's in their best interests to, um, sell the notion that you not only have to meet but exceed the expected norm. The push-back is in the direction of disregarding best practices almost completely. Thus you have the 2 extremes, with most everyone in the middle muddling through just fine, using a dash of common sense combined with a pinch or three of practicality. :)

With Hard Drive Inspector, to me anyway, that means running the software from time to time, enough to spot any negative trends, so that I can be better prepared to replace a likely aging drive. Hard drives are a commodity -- prices fluctuate with supply & demand -- so having that info means the difference between having money tied up with a drive or drives on the shelf, warranties passing by, or buying at best price when I know the new drive will most likely be needed, if not now, fairly soon. If a drive's going to fail, it's going to fail, & there's little I can do about it -- such is life -- and in that case I'll pay the higher price, confident I've already saved 2x or more the extra cost by not having $ tied up in unused parts. In a nutshell Hard Drive Inspector simply lets me treat the hard drives the same way we do stuff like the vacuum cleaner -- that can fail all of a sudden too, but generally we have plenty of warning.

"BTW unless you expose your computer to ignited thermite “Since the hard drive has constantly rotating mechanical parts it suffers from wear and tear. And it can break down any moment without prior notice leaving you with ashes, naked.” IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

The true mitigation for catastrophic hard drive failur is use of RAID 1 or better systems plus a comprehensive backup regime. Weiting for a current pending SMART variable to increment is too late, as the data in that sector will have already been lost!"

Data Value = cost to replace + consequence of loss. Data Protection Costs should of course be < Data Value.

So... unless you're running a server or whatever where downtime itself costs money, the cost of not having a current Windows backup = the time it takes to update Windows from the last backup you do have -- if you don't have a Windows backup that cost = installation + updates. Your installed software usually works the same way. The value of the stuff you create can vary by a huge amount, whether it's a 1st draft of an e-mail or a picture of Aunt Milly or a critical biz doc etc., but that's also the stuff that's easiest to protect via redundancy, having it stored in more than one place. You might have all photos uploaded to a service near immediately, as soon as they're taken, where all data's stored on duplicate drives so little chance of loss, & then put a backup on DVD/BD when you have the chance just in case. The 1st draft of the e-mail you might not even save. You might OTOH have the biz doc saved to NAS with drive mirroring & frequently have it synced encrypted with a secure on-line storage service. Drive failure then is almost irrelevant, or should be irrelevant as far as your data safety is concerned. It's just one of life's *Stuff Happens* things, with perhaps less odds of wreaking havoc than a network outage or malware infection.

Lots of people spend too much time & effort on backing up or otherwise protecting their data -- lots of people do too little. Both are human nature depending on your personality & such, so you'll always see extremes recommended & sold, & maybe a bit of debate about who's right, who's wrong. For personal stuff where no one else is effected I just recommend going as far towards the center as you can be comfortable with -- for biz folks check with your lawyer(s) on your liabilities, since you may be sued for any failures.

Ok, so I downloaded and ran it and it gave me a VERY bad report on one of my disks. Tells me I have an

'end-to-end error - Current state: 1%; Value: 1; Flags: life critical; online collection;event count;self preserving',

and says I shouldn't use it any longer, back it up immediately, etc.
Not wanting to take any chances I am backing it up. It's a 1Tb drive and I have about 2hours to go.
Am I over-reacting, or is this really a problem. If it is, then this prog arrived just in time....

What I'd like to ask is does anyone know of a program that allows the definition of bad sectors etc and to quarantine so that you can keep the old disc ?

Seems a shame to throw a disk away based on "likely" errors but still replace it and keep it just in case

SpinRite by Gibson Research is the grandfather of hd analysis. I feel that SpinRite is the gold standard of hd defect detection and recovery. SpinRite works on ALL drives, with and without SMART.

https://www.grc.com/sr/whatitdoes.htm

Anything else is just assisting us to see and understand the SMART info, which is better than nothing.

Sure, SpinRite isn't free. But it works.

disclaimer - I do not work for or have material interest in Gibson Research... just passing along the facts.

Not accurate at all. I have an ssd drive connected to 600mbs sata 3 connection, at its telling me the opposite.

Does it even work on SSD?

Thank you

A nice peice of software. Thanks GAOTD.
#2:the freeware you suggested for, among other things, monitoring and controlling fan speed is very dangerous especiaaly if used inappropriately and on Dell laptops. It can even damage the CPU.
As for HDDs:
@General life expectancy is about 5 years of active use but with constantly lower prices of HDDs this can drop to only 3 years.
Very good drives can live up to 9 years of active use.
@It is difficult to get the exact true life expectancy of a drive but it is propably about 1% per year failure not counted on disks older than 5 years.
@Laptops run a little high risk because they can be moved (but only when the disk is spinning).
However most laptops now-a-days have come a long way so that the read/write head never comes in contact with the splatter(s).
Finally, buy a good (expensive) drive and you shouldn't worry too much.

The analogy that comes to mind is getting a flat tire... if you keep an eye on your tires, checking wear periodically, assuming you replace tires before they're badly worn, your odds of having a flat tire [or worse, a blowout] go down. Does it prevent a flat? No. It just shifts the odds a little more in your favor.

Checking hard drive S.M.A.R.T. data works the same way -- it [hopefully] lets you know your hard drive is wearing out in time to replace it before it gets worse or fails. Modern hard drives are more forgiving than in the past [they can usually do some self-healing], and PCs/laptops are faster, so you don't always know when a drive has to repeat reading or writing data because the 1st time(s) it could not. This is the type of info that S.M.A.R.T. data can provide. It's also something that your PC &/or laptop might well already be monitoring...

Lots of people never turn off their PCs, whether they leave them constantly running or maybe have their laptop go to sleep or into hibernation. And when you start a PC or laptop that's been shut off, usually the manufacturer has it set to display some sort of logo screen. Behind that logo is data that's displayed as the system boots, & it usually can check your drive(s) S.M.A.R.T. data, warning you if anything is amiss.

The main caveat with recorded S.M.A.R.T. data is that data from say Western Digital & Seagate drives will be different -- they don't all record the same things, & the results they do record don't always mean the same thing. Hard Drive Inspector will hopefully save you from having to Google for info to translate results for your particular drive(s).

Now should you run Hard Drive Inspector constantly, or start it with Windows? That's entirely up to you. People should check their tires pretty regularly -- it can save not just your life but the lives of anyone riding in your car or truck, as well as the lives of other drivers etc. Many [most?] people don't want to bother, so they came up with a recommendation to check them weekly, or at the least monthly, hoping that way more people will actually check. I don't wish to offend anyone, but some folks will only use something like Hard Drive Inspector if they make it part of a weekly or monthly routine the same way, say just before a backup &/or whatever other maintenance. Since you're looking more for signs of wear & tear, that's usually fine.

[A quickest note: since we're concerned about hard drive health today, mechanical hard drives (rather than SSDs) generate a lot of heat -- they usually benefit from some sort of cooling. In a PC case or laptop housing that's usually done by airflow over the drives -- in an external drive housing adequate cooling is much less common. If you use the drive to read/write data is shorter bursts, storing a few files now & then that's not so much a problem -- if that reading/writing is sustained, say copying a backup, external drives can get hot enough to increase wear &/or promote early failure. Myself, I use external housings that have fans & use desktop USB fans with docks. HWMonitor does read their temps over eSATA.]

Thanks to AltrixSoft & GOTD.
Downloaded,installed and activated.
Tested it.

Result: Very Good.
• you can choose whether to run it at Windows start up
• you can choose whether to display disk's death time estimation

It will run minimised. You can right click and choose to [Open Hard Drive Inspector] to see the main window.

The software displays the hard disk's health under 3 main areas:
• Reliability [e.g. "Good"]
• Performance [e.g. "Good"]
• Error resistance [e.g. "Good"]

It shows the temperature of your various hard disks.
You can choose to display in Fahrenheit or Celsius.

It will also display the temperatures in small font in the system tray area.

It displays data about the hard disks:
• capacity
• total free space
• the accumulated total power-on time (since it was first used)

Well thought through software product and good programming.
Excellent user interface.

This is on par with the other very good software named Hard Disk Sentinel.

Off Topic...
#4 XP-Man

You got the Orico HDD switch quick, unless you found a local supplier. Here in Tenerife anything like that has to be bought via the internet.