2022-10-22
WinDFT (Hitachi Drive Fitness Test) is a convenient way to test the performance of hard drives and usb flash drives. The tests are file system friendly and secure.
This article explains how to install WinDFT and use its tools properly.
Installing WinDFT
The WinDFT installer is available from HGST.com official website in Downloads. Please do not download from other sites: there is a possibility to find an outdated or not safe to install version of the distribution.
- After you have downloaded the /files, please unzip them and run setup.exe.
- Just follow the instructions. You need to accept the license conditions and select a destination folder in which to copy program /files.
- After installation WinDFT, please run the application (shortcut on the desktop)
From this point you learn how to test your hard disk with WinDFT please read below.
Windows WinDFT
Testing your Hard Disk Drive in WinDFT
- The application shall search your PC for all Hard Disks. Please note that the program does not support all harddisks. If a device is not compatible with WinDFT, you will be notified accordingly.
- If necessary, you may rescan (for example if you have a HGST device connected to your PC but it is not displayed in the list). There are two test types available:
- Quick Test - operability test takes comparatively less time - about several minutes,
- Ext Test - more detailed test, takes quite a long time (depending on the capacity of the disc).
- In the test results the status may have one of the marks - Pass / Fail (Passed or Failed respectively). Under Log View more detailed information is available for each of the tests. This makes it possible to detect read/write errors on the HDD.
- If you wish to obtain detailed SMART information about a HDD, double click on the corresponding HDD in the main window
Note . Apart from working with HDD, WinDFT supports testing of USB sticks. If you insert a USB-Stick while the program is running, it is indicated in the device list as a secondary device.
WinDFT Utilities: Erase HDD data irretrievably
In addition to the basic functionality, pay attention to the WinDFT Utilities. The Utilities section is available from the main menu.
In particular, Utilities are used for irreversible file deletion (without the possibility to restore) or for quick wiping of the hard disk.
There are two options:
- Erase MBR - deleting a hard disk partition
- Erase Disk - overwrite the disk with zeros (operation takes longer)
Use WinDFT Utilities with extreme caution - be sure to double-check the hard disk partition selected for processing.
