Brand New HDDs & Testing Orientation (Horizontal or Vertical)

[the_physio]

Hi Team,

A couple of questions.

1. What is the recommended SpinRite Level to test a brand-new HDD to check for any issues before I start using it?

2. Does the orientation of the HDD make any difference when using SpinRite – Horizontal or Vertical? For instance, if the HDD is to be housed in a Horizontal orientation, then should it be tested in this orientation or does it not matter if it’s tested in the Vertical orientation?

Cheers.

 

[ColbyBouma]

1. What is the recommended SpinRite Level to test a brand-new HDD to check for any issues before I start using it?

I recommend Level 5.

2. Does the orientation of the HDD make any difference when using SpinRite – Horizontal or Vertical?

It's not supposed to make any difference, but I would probably test them in the same orientation they're going to be deployed in.

 

[himemsys]

Hi Team,

A couple of questions.

1. What is the recommended SpinRite Level to test a brand-new HDD to check for any issues before I start using it?

2. Does the orientation of the HDD make any difference when using SpinRite – Horizontal or Vertical? For instance, if the HDD is to be housed in a Horizontal orientation, then should it be tested in this orientation or does it not matter if it’s tested in the Vertical orientation?

Cheers.

I agree with @ColbyBouma on Level 5 *except* if the drive is extremely large (several terabytes). In that case, it may take longer than you want to wait. I believe my 8TB spinner took 14 hours to run on level 2. What you can do is start a scan, wait 5 minutes, and see what that estimated completion time is. If it's longer than you want to wait, drop it down a level and try again, til you get to a completion time you can live with.