I've used many different programs that report on the health of hard disks and SSDs and in my opinion, Hard Disk Sentinel is much better than the alternatives. What makes it stand out, is that rather than just indicating if there is a problem with a drive, it actually gives a fairly detailed explanation of the condition of the drive as well as an estimated life span. This is very useful, as it can tell you if any problems with a drive are minor and not worth worrying about, until the health decreases further, or if there are serious issues, which mean you really need to replace the failing drive, as soon as possible.

I like Hard Disk Sentinel so much, that I actually purchased a license. Whenever I'm working on a customer's computer, I install a trial version, so I can see if there are issues with the hard drive. If the drive is failing, I clone the drive to a new one (you can't do this with Hard Disk Sentinel itself), so that the customer does not lose any of their precious data.

If you miss out on today's giveaway, CrytalDiskInfo is free alternative. However, it does not give a description of the condition of the drive.

Roger  –  5 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+47)

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All of the info presented to you from HD Sentinel comes from S.M.A.R.T., there is no need for this software to run 24/7 in the background. Once in a while read the info for yourself using any OS installed on your computer. Furthermore, why you would like to know the irrelevant info like average access time or seek time or number of boot times in the last month.
My experience tells me, when a drive fails it fails for good without prior warning, therefore, always have a back up or two handy to replaced the failed drive.

Berry  –  5 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+11)

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Berry,

"My experience tells me, when a drive fails it fails for good without prior warning..."

Sometimes yes, sometimes no -- I've had it happen both ways... one HDD I just swapped out was just getting slower & slower, while I've had them fail near completely or completely both with & without notice in the past. If you look at the S.M.A.R.T. data every so often it *might* tip you off to pending failure -- if you never look at the S.M.A.R.T. data, you lose that chance that you might be forewarned, no matter how small it might be. ;)

Berry, <i>"My experience tells me, when a drive fails it fails for good without prior warning..."</i> Sometimes yes, sometimes no -- I've had it happen both ways... one HDD I just swapped out was just getting slower & slower, while I've had them fail near completely or completely both with & without notice in the past. If you look at the S.M.A.R.T. data every so often it *might* tip you off to pending failure -- if you never look at the S.M.A.R.T. data, you lose that chance that you might be forewarned, no matter how small it might be. ;)
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mike  –  5 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+24)

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A very old version 5.01 being given away considering they are up to version 5.20.

Nigel  –  5 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+2)

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Nigel: but this is not "a very old version".

Hungarian developer HDS's approach to build numbers has always been idiosyncratic, something those juvenile uptickers of your criticism would've realised if they'd bothered to check first before parading their ignorance. Current version 5.20 (2018) was preceded by 5.01 (2017), 4.71 (2016), 4.60 (2015) 4.50 (2014) and 4.40 (2013).

I'm all for calling out developers who deserve it, but the kind of comment you've posted is unfair as well as misleading.

As to today's giveaway of 5.01, it may well be the previous version but that doesn't mean it's not worth downloading and trying out by those who don't already have HDD monitoring on their computers. It's not as though this is an unproven debut product; I first used Hard Disk Sentinel ten or so years ago and it's been tried, tested and appreciated by many thousands worldwide since then.

That's not to say every computer user will see the need for a commercial product when plenty of HDD monitoring freeware is already out there, including "CrystalDiskInfo" from a well-regarded Japanese Open Source developer.

Nigel: but this is <b><i>not </b></i>"a very old version". Hungarian developer HDS's approach to build numbers has always been idiosyncratic, something those juvenile uptickers of your criticism would've realised if they'd bothered to check first before parading their ignorance. Current version 5.20 (2018) was preceded by 5.01 (2017), 4.71 (2016), 4.60 (2015) 4.50 (2014) and 4.40 (2013). I'm all for calling out developers who deserve it, but the kind of comment you've posted is unfair as well as misleading. As to today's giveaway of 5.01, it may well be the previous version but that doesn't mean it's not worth downloading and trying out by those who don't already have HDD monitoring on their computers. It's not as though this is an unproven debut product; I first used Hard Disk Sentinel ten or so years ago and it's been tried, tested and appreciated by many thousands worldwide since then. That's not to say every computer user will see the need for a commercial product when plenty of HDD monitoring freeware is already out there, including "CrystalDiskInfo" from a well-regarded Japanese Open Source developer.
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MikeR  –  5 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+20)

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I've used Hard Disk Sentinel for several years now. I't a nice piece of software. And I've never had a problem with it. You can have it start with windows to keep a constant check on your drive. Or you can just run it manually every once in a while to check that the temps and read/writes/errors are okay. Two thumbs up from me.

Injeun  –  5 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+19)

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"1) disable the anti-virus suite and restart the computer. You need to disable all the anti-virus systems if you have more than one installed. Make sure it won't start automatically with the computer."
OUCH! Maybe I am in a majority of one here but instructions like this get me seriously concerned.

David  –  5 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (-6)

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JingleBob, it's nothing to do with Hard Disk Sentinel. It's the software that Giveaway of the Day use to protect their giveaways, so that you can't install them, after the giveaway ends.

JingleBob, it's nothing to do with Hard Disk Sentinel. It's the software that Giveaway of the Day use to protect their giveaways, so that you can't install them, after the giveaway ends.
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Roger  –  5 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+14)

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