Here is a list of Diagnostic Tools for hard drives by manufacturer.
http://majorgeeks.co...rmax_d1386.html http://www.seagate.c...nloads/seatools http://support.wdc.c...id=30〈=en Link Removed - Invalid URL http://www.fujitsu.c.../utilities.html Link Removed - Invalid URL Toshiba - N/A
There are no tools available for Toshiba, but you may be able to use IBM or Maxtor's drive tools as well as other third party programs.
IBM is supported by Hitachi.
Most of these utilities require installation on a floppy disk or CD, then ask you to boot off that medium. Of these companies, Western Digital's Windows-capable Data Lifeguard Diagnostics is the only program which will willingly scan the drives of other manufacturers. In fact, this program is also extremely easy to use and performs error checking, surface scans and SMART diagnostics. Let's take a look at how to use it: First, install and run the program. The main screen shows all available physical and logical drives. Double click the physical drive you wish to test. From here, 'quick test' will do the basic file and folder integrity check, 'extended test' will perform a surface scan of the drive, and 'write zeros' will fully or quickly erase all the data on the disk. Click the 'SMART status' column of the drive you wish to test to see a full SMART diagnostic list.