Disk Scanners
Hard drives develop errors, both physical (on the surface
of the disk) and logical (in the data itself). A good disk scanner should
catch and correct problems of both sorts before they become serious. Ideally,
you should perform a quick scan every day to check logical integrity, and
a thorough scan every couple of weeks to check for scratches.
No major
software company markets a stand-alone disk scanner, but Windows 95, Norton
Utilities, and Nuts & Bolts all include scanners of their own. To pick
the best, we created three common logical problems on a 2GB hard drive: a
corrupted file allocation table (or FAT, which tors available disk clusters
and tracks the clusters that contain each file's data); lost or orphaned clusters
(available clusters the FAT thinks are in use); and cross-linked files (two
files the FAT thinks end in the same sequence of clusters). To test each package's
ability to detect physical damage, we pricked a floppy disk with a pin and
let the scanners try to salvage the data.
| SUMMARY |  |
|
Disk Doctor (Norton
Utilities)
PRO: Fast, includes undo
feature.
CON: Couldn't save file in pinprick test.
Symantec
800/441-7234
www.symantec.com
|
|
Disk Doctor (part of Norton
Utilities) did a good job with major problems, but other programs were better
at surface scanning. On the plus side, it's easy to use (though it has goofy
animation), fast (a quick scan took 16 seconds and a thorough scan under 6
minutes), and offers a reassuring undo feature. It found and fixed all our
logical problems, but in our floppy pinprick test it didn't repair the damaged
file and wouldn't let us copy it to the hard drive. It's a good tool, just
not the best.
| SUMMARY | |
|
Disk Minder (Nuts &
Bolts)
PRO: Best damaged-file repair,
fastest.
CON: Insufficient reports.
Network Associates
408/988-3832
www.nai.com
|
|
Nuts & Bolts' Disk
Minder is the best utility we found for scanning a hard drive. For one thing,
it's the fastest: On the quick scan, Disk Minder took just over 7 seconds--9
faster than Norton's Disk Doctor, and 22 seconds ahead of Windows 95's ScanDisk.
And like Disk Doctor, it offers an easy interface and an undo feature. Even
better, it's the only disk scanner that passed our pinprick test, letting
us copy a damaged file to our hard drive. Our only complaint: Though Disk
Minder gives you a detailed error report, it's the only disk scanner that
doesn't tell you which file is damaged. Otherwise, it's our fave.
| SUMMARY | |
|
ScanDisk (Windows 95)
PRO:
The price is right.
CON: Very slow, no undo feature.
Microsoft Corp.
800/426-9400
www.microsoft.com
|
|
ScanDisk--the
disk scanner included as part of Windows 3.x, Windows 95, and NT--is as slow
as an eighteen-wheeler in rush-hour traffic. In our tests, a quick scan took
just under 30 seconds, but a thorough scan took more than half an hour. You
might as well head out for a bite to eat. Once ScanDisk is finished, however,
its results are as good as Norton Disk Doctor's. And as with most disk scanners,
this one is easy to use. It found every error and fixed them all (except for
the pinpricked floppy, that is). Unfortunately, ScanDisk lacks the undo feature
that other scanners include. If you're willing to spend a little money, you
can do better.
