

PassMark DiskCheckup ™
Versions:
V3.1 (Build 1001)
Latest release date:
15 Sep 2011
Price:
Free for personal use. Company license is
US$15.00 per license.
Platforms:
Windows XP, 2003 Server, 2008 Server, Vista and Windows 7.
Requirements:
16 MB RAM, 2 MB of disk space.
Related software
SysInfo DLL SDK
PassMark DiskCheckup™ allows the user to monitor the SMART attributes of a particular hard disk drive. SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) is a feature on a computer's hard disk for providing various monitoring indicators of disk reliability. If SMART is enabled on a hard disk, the system administrator can receive analytical information from the hard drive to determine a possible future failure of the hard drive.
SMART monitors elements of possible long term drive failure, such as 'Spin Up Time', the number of start/stops, the number of hours powered on and the hard disk temperature.
DiskCheckup displays the current values of the SMART attributes, along with the Threshold value for that attribute. If an attribute drops below its threshold, the drive cannot guarantee that it will be able to meet its specifications in the future.
Note that SMART attributes change slowly over time and are helpful attempts to diagnose the life span of a particular drive. DiskCheckup monitors these changes over a long period and predict the date (if available) of the Threshold Exceed Condition (TEC), which is displayed on the main window.
DiskCheckup can also execute built-in Disk Self Test (DST) routines implemented by the vendor to detect drive failures. There are two main self test routines: Short Test and Extended Test. The results of these tests are displayed in DiskCheckup.
DiskCheckup also displays device information, such as the drive geometry, serial number, model number, media rotation rate, and supported features.
E-mail notification when Threshold Exceed Condition detected
DiskCheckup can be configured to perform e-mail notification when a SMART attribute has been detected to be less than the allowable threshold value. Such threshold values are determined by the hard disk manufacturer. For a drive to be considered "good", all the SMART attributes must be above these values. Different SMART attributes have different threshold values. For more configuration options, refer to the screen shot below.
System requirements
A hard drive that supports SMART, plus compatible drivers. Most recent hard drives (SATA/USB/FireWire) are OK but drives connected via SCSI or hardware RAID are not supported. Drives configured as software RAID (dynamic disks) via Windows Disk Management will also work.
Screenshots


Price & Company License
DiskCheckup is free for personal use. Company licenses can be purchased for $15 USD per license. Discounts apply for multiple licenses.
For a quote on multiple licenses or more information , please contact
Customizing DiskCheckup
DiskCheckup is built with PassMark's
SysInfo DLL SDK. If you would like to use this technology in your
application, please check out the SysInfo DLL
SDK or contact us at
Download software
Follow the download button above to download DiskCheckup
Installation
Double click on the DiskCheckup.exe installer file to run the DiskCheckup installer. Additional information is provided in the included HTML help files. You can view them from DiskCheckup's help button/menu or open the start page "index.html" in the "HELP" folder.
Known issues
- Hardware RAID and SCSI are not supported. But dynamic disks (software RAID) are supported.
- The Silicon Image SIL0680 Ultra-133 ATA RAID Controller has a bug which can cause a system lockup when the SMART data is accessed.. This bug exists in the current driver version, 1.0.1.7 and presumably in previous versions.
- TEC predictions about future failure dates should be taken as a guide only and should not be considered accurate.
- The majority of newer drives connected via USB and Firewire are supported. However, older drives may not be supported due to the protocol bridge on the hard disk not supporting SMART commands)
Specific Disclaimer on Failure Predictions
The SmartDisk DLL SDK and DiskCheckup utilizes statistical analysis to predict possible failure dates of hard disk drives. Because there are no 'certainties' in statistical analysis, PassMark® Software Pty Ltd disclaims all liability for any and all costs incurred by either:
1) The hard disk drive failing before the predicted failure date estimated
by the application, or
2) The hard disk drive continuing to function beyond the predicted failure
date estimated by the application.
In either situation, PassMark® disclaims liability for any losses due to loss or damage to data. PassMark® further disclaims any liability for costs incurred in anticipation of a disk drive failure that does not eventuate (e.g. replacement hard disk drives, transfer time, downtime, etc).
This disclaimer is in addition to the Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitation
of Liability mentioned elsewhere in the EULA and on this website.