Recommended way to test new HDDs and SSDs

[lafrance242]

Hi !

I got your software (Extreme Ed.) from recommendation earlier this week.

Context:

-I have this PC/box that has been running for 2+ years (win xp pro),

- 3 new disks were added to the system last week (2 SSDs and 1 HDD).

- The system already had a RAID-1 (set of 2 disks) and 2 other drives, which run well and don't need testing.

Task:

- I need to insure the new disks are reliable / stable enough to use them (as i have limited time to return them to the shop).

solution Ideas :

a) running System stability testing : option Stress Local Disks (only)

From what i understand, using this test will stress all drives on the system, but i need to test only 3 drives out of 7.

Is there a way to select which drives will be stressed ?

running disk benchmark on each drive for 12-24 hours in loop mode (except for the Buffered Write test which you do not recommended for SSDs)

Apparently this should not be used for SSDs at all, so I have to revert to a) .

Also, running Write tests in loop mode (on the HDD) waits for "Drive Erase" confirmation on every loop, so I've renamed it "manual looping", unless there is a way to disable this confirmation ?

c) this would be your suggestion :-)

Thanks !

[Fiery]

1) System Stability Test stresses all local disks simulatenously, but only as long as they contain a partition table and they have files on them. This is because that test is a file system test, so it relies on the existence of files on the tested drive(s).

2) It's not recommended to use the write tests on SSD drives, due to them wearing out SSD flash memory cells. You can however use the new Linear Write + Verify test (of AIDA64 Disk Benchmark) once on each new drive to see if it has proper data integrity. That will only consume 1 write cycle for each cell, so it's not excessive in terms of wearing the memory cells out.

3) Another alternative is using the read tests of AIDA64 Disk Benchmark in a loop to drive them all night long. The only limitation is that you can only stress a single drive at once, so you need 3 nights to test 3 drives.

I'm afraid AIDA64 has no more advanced features than the ones above. No offense, but your application scenario is quite unique It's not everyday an AIDA64 user buys 3 new drives that he/she wants to burn-test simultaneously and quickly.

Regards,

Fiery

[lafrance242]

Hi Fiery,

Thanks for the clarifications and tips.

One more thing, as I was hesitating between the Extreme and te Business edition of your softw. I read that the business Ed. has scripting feature. Would I be able to perform what is intended here with scripting ?

ps: for the record, i've been doing this at least twice a year for the last 10+ yrs (i don't know how many hdds i have anymore)... was using unix tools such as bonnie++, orion, etc... only now I have to familiarize myself with Windoze alternatives, such as your softw.

Cheers !

[lafrance242]

me again...

ps: I'm currently running and a) on the HDD simultaneously... since last night....what do you think of this scenario (for HDDS) ?

[Fiery]

Scripting in AIDA64 Business Edition is available only for reporting and network audit purposes. The Disk Benchmark and System Stability Test modules are not automatized in either editions.

With HDDs you can use any tests in AIDA64, they will not shorten the lifespan of the drives. Solution a) is a good one to stress multiple HDDs, but it can also be used to stress all local disk drives in parallel, incl. any SSD+HDD combinations.

[lafrance242]

Thanks for your answers !