whos using HDDsentinel ? (best hdd tool / app of all)

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

james23

Active Member
Nov 18, 2014
441
122
43
52
Hey I'm curious if anyone here is using HDD sentinel the Windows smart/hdd monitoring + testing app?


and if so how do you use it, in your use-case? (just curious, i ask as i rarely see it mentioned on the forums here, but it's an amazing tool IMO)


I've been using it for about 2 years now and simply put it's by far the best disk testing tool as well as disk monitoring and statistics extraction (smart info logging tool ). I'm pretty experienced in this regard, as I'm very often testing hdds (On average i'm testing ~1-4x HDDs a month + i have a home server with ~90 HDDs running 24/7 so hdd sent has been VERY helpful in monitoring those drives.)


I'm pretty active around here and i very rarely see this tool mentioned. I actually randomly came across it about 2 or 3 years ago and it first dismissed it as I thought no windows-based disk tool could be better or more detailed than the Lenox tools I had been using. ( including writing my own scripts for my disk stress testing, for example I wrote various linux bash scripts that would copy large amounts of data on and off of a disk while verifying (and logging) the sha1 checksums in both directions ). As well as some other rought scripts i made for stress testing things like running FIO while also running Seeker, both in loops, while at the same time logging througput/times + logging drive smart data ( to look for things like small blips on read error rate or smart sector error values - obviously a rough and not very accurate way of testing, but it would help me ID bad or failing drives).


I finally came across hddSentl and was quickly impressed with all of its functionality: specifically it's disk testing functionalities. I keep a 4u supermicro server x8 based server strictly for drive stress-testing and "certification" (i foten buy used Enterprise drives for clients, and I like to stress test them for 2 or 3 weeks before putting them into any kind of production. I often find if the drive makes it out of my stress test it usually goes on to last last several years without any issues, if not can easily return it to wherever I purchased it within the 1st month ).


I have no affiliation with HDDsent except buying three or four licenses over the years. it's an excellent tool whether you are just monitoring the drives on your personal computer / server, or if you use it like I do for rigorous Drive testing. Anyway I was surprised I hadn't heard much about it on this forum, so if those are types of tools you need definitely check out HDD sent, like I said my use case is extensive and I'm constantly surprised that everything I need is in this tool, with many features I was not able to script or duplicate on linux


Currently the way I stress test drives (with this tool) is:


1st- log All drives initial smart data (they have a great option to save an HTML formatted file for just about every smart / Drive info data possible)


2nd- I will then run the disk surface test In butterfly/random/sequential , using random data, for a few Cycles

( assuming successful / 0 errors on those 1st runs ) I will then re-run them again and this time add random seek test simultaneously ( idea is to really get the heads moving to random locations for a long period of time to "force out" any mechanical errors if they exist )


I will also later in the testing add on the smart extended self test, so 3 test running simultaneously on the desk,

When any tasks are complete I save screenshots using the save button (app takes jpg of results), as well as saving additional HTML formatted smart reports.

---


Tool also will graph EACH smart data point - ( for example on my main computer, I've been battling MAJOR wear endurance issues on my boot drive- an Intel pcie 750 nvme drives, I've had to RMA replace it 3 times as the wear- endurance would slowly track down from 100 to 0 (almost 0) at a rate of 1 per day or two. I eventually bought a pcie nvme p 3700 for my boot, which now clicks down at a rate of about 1 per 2/3 weeks. Cleary something is not right but the p3700 does buy me more time than the consumer 750 nvme. ( btw, the amount of data written, as reported by smart, is around 1 to 2 terabyte total! (ie maybe 1-10 gb a day!, so there is clearly some kind of issue and I've been in touch with Intel support to no avail) However my point here is that the smart graphing functions of HDDsent have been helpful in looking at trends of each Smart variable, for this specific issue i've been fighting for about 1.5 yr now ).


Anyway the developer is super receptive and helpful if you email him , and he constantly updates the tool/app, so you should definitely take a look at it if you haven't already.


I can help with any questions as I use the tool a lot.

Hard Disk Sentinel - HDD health and temperature monitoring

(and the price is very reasonable, i think it's ~ $20-30 for pro.)


Below are example SS of usage - from drives i'm testing now.

csdfeCapture.JPG eewrCapture.JPG errCapture.JPG nvmeCapture.JPG reportC2apture.JPG reportCapture.JPG exFAILCapture.JPG HDDsentCapture.JPG
 

DouglasteR

Active Member
Dec 19, 2015
119
27
28
I used it too.

Depending of the HDD you can also set acoustic and other energy settings that would require firmware editing, so its very usefull.

I also like the taskbar icons showing the hdds temperature.
 
  • Like
Reactions: james23

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
7,625
2,043
113
MOst everyone I talk to on these forums uses it at some point or another, I think it's rather popular tool ;) I too have license, debating getting family pack :) well see.
 
  • Like
Reactions: james23