Hard Disk Monitoring

I ran a "Short Self Test", "Extended Self Test" and then a Surface Scan on a Seagate Barracuda Green 1.5TB SATA drive. Why? Because I know I pulled this drive from a PC a while back, and had a post-it-note on it with the word "BAD?" on it.

HD Sentinel (Portable) reported passing all tests. SeaTools reported passing the drive too.

So I was getting ready to replace two, smaller drives with this one in my HTPC. I did a quick-format and started copying files to the disk. Only a few GB into the file copy, it sounded like the disk was "beeping" -- and I Googled that without finding anything conclusive, but I tend to agree that I have yet to see a disk with an internal speaker, so I'm guessing this was something failing mechanically. Anyway, the copy stopped, and the drive became inaccessible.

I'm writing here to see what I missed. IIRC, HD Sentinel reported this disk near-perfect -- it was in the 90% range somewhere. Should I be only using this info as a first-step? Is there a more thorough test util that I should use as well?

Thanks,
AJ

Yes, there are numerous tests available which can be used to reveal and fix possible problems.

The 90% health indicates that the hard disk is not perfect. Usually with this health, the hard disk can be used without problems - but extensive testing may be required to make sure that the hard disk is *really* stable and working correctly.
Also it is important to test the hard disk carefully in the actual system where it is used. Otherwise it is possible that the operating environment (cables, connections, power supply, etc...) may cause problems which are not really related to the hard disk (for example communication errors, problems when the hard disk temporary disconnected from the system, causing the weird noises and so).

Please check:
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#tests
and
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq_repair_ha ... _drive.php
as these pages also recommend the use of Disk -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface test option as this verifies not only the accessibility of the sectors (which is verified by the read test) but how the sectors can be written and verify if the contents of these sectors not damaged.

Also if the 90% health is reported by (for example) communication problems, you may consider reading the appropriate section at www.hdsentinel.com -> Support -> Knowledge Base -> Hard Disk Cases ( http://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_cases.php ).

Yöu may use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option any time, as then it's possible to check the actual situation and advise.

OK, thank you for the quick reply. I will try that next time.

-AJ