How To Do Hard Drive Diagnostics

In this article we will be explaining the process used to do hard drive diagnostics. Please note that this diagnostic tool will NOT work with SSD drives. Common reasons for running diagnostic is the computer is freezing, restarting or gets a blue screen from the operating system. Data corruption such as copying and retrieving files may also be a reason to run hard drive diagnostics. In some cases if an error is found Seatools can also isolate and correct the issue. The first thing that is needed is a USB bootable flash drive, which instructions can be found HERE. Now download the Seatools.zip file attached to this knowledge base article. Then extract and copy the seatools.exe file to the root of the bootable flash drive you just made. Now reboot the computer and hit F11 to access the boot menu. Choose the flash drive as the boot device and at the command prompt run seatools.exe.
You will now get a window asking you to agree to terms. Hit Y for yes or N for no. After hitting Y to accept the terms you will now be presented with some basic information about the hard drive you are testing. At this point you may see SMART tripped, meaning the drive is going bad and data should be pulled from the drive if possible. You can also see Current and Worst Temp which can tell you if the hard drive is overheating. If no errors are initially found then you are ready to run the diagnostics. First hit S for the short test. If errors come back follow the options listed, if any, from Seatools. If no errors are found then hit L from the long test. The long test will take some time depending on hard drive size. If both tests come back as passed then the issue is unlikely to be a defective hard drive. Below is a picture of an error free test and a test that shows errors. GOOD HARD DRIVE - NO ERRORS

BAD HARD DRIVE - HAS ERRORS