Hard drive tests

If you experience problems with your Seagate external storage, you can run diagnostic tests on its hard drive. Windows and Mac offer utilities to test and repair hard drives and Seagate provides utlities for Windows.

Seagate diagnostic tool (Windows only)

Download Seatools for Windows and follow the steps below to help determine the health of your device. Make certain to back up data on your storage device before running the test.

1. Close all open applications before running the hard drive diagnostic tests.
2. Before starting the test, make certain that the computer is powered on. The computer must be plugged into its power supply and the power supply should receive power from a wall socket.
3. Power management controls must be suspended during the tests. To adjust power management settings:
   • Click Start or the Windows icon on the bottom left corner of your Windows desktop.
   • Go to Control Panel.
   • Choose Power Options.
   • Choose Change plan settings.
   • Choose Change advanced power settings
   • Expand the Hard Disks in the window.
   • Confirm that the setting Turn off hard disk after is set to Never.
4. Confirm that you have the correct storage device connected to your computer. Seatools for Windows can be used with Seagate, Samsung, LaCie and Maxtor storage devices. Safely remove all other hard drives.
5. If you have not done so, back up data on your storage device before running the test.
6. Launch Seatools and choose the tests to run from the menu:
   • Fix all
   • S.M.A.R.T. check
   • Short Drive Self Test
   • Short Generic
   • Long Generic (progresses at 1% increments and can take several hours to complete)

Following the test, a log for each drive is saved to the program installation folder. To read the log, click Help>View Log File. You can also view a log in Help by clicking Pass Info or Fail Info, depending on your results.

Windows diagnostic tool

Windows includes a utility called Check Disk (ChkDsk) that can be used to repair bad sectors on the hard drive. Always back up your data before running Check Disk scans on your hard drive. If a bad sector is found, data that had been available can be inaccessible once the bad sector is reallocated.

Follow the steps below to run Check Disk:

1. Launch Command Prompt. Go to the start menu or start screen to type cmd and then click Command Prompt.
2. Type chkdsk X: /f. “X“ is the letter for your hard drive

The length of time for the test to complete can vary and is usually longer for higher capacity storage devices.

Mac diagnostic tool

Mac OS includes Disk Utility, a tool for formatting, testing and repairing hard drives. Disk Utility’s test and repair option is called First Aid.

Always back up your data before running First Aid scans on your hard drive. If a bad sector is found, data that had been available can be inaccessible once the bad sector is reallocated.

Follow the steps below to run First Aid:

1. From the Finder, click Go > Utilities > Disk Utility.
2. Hard drives are listed on the left of the Disk Utility window. Find your Seagate device and click it. Information about the drive is available, including the file system. Additionally, partitions are visible in the left column as a second indented row under the storage device. There may be cases in which a partition is mounted on the desktop but does not appear in Disk Utility. You can still run the test on the hard drive.
3. Click a partition to select it.
4. Click the First Aid tab/button.
5. To check the volume:
• Mac OS 10.10 and earlier: click Verify Disk. If Disk Utility reports that the disk needs to be repaired, click Repair Disk.
• Mac OS 10.11 and later: click Run to begin the test. 
6. If you have additional partitions, repeat the test on each one.