Hard Disk Sentinel PRO - Mini-Review

[IainB]

Originally posted:	2012-02-02
Last updated:	2015-01-17

Basic Info

App Name	Hard Disk Sentinel PRO
Thumbs-Up Rating
App URL	http://www.hdsentinel.com/
App Version Reviewed	Started with freeware Trial version in Dec. 2010, then later installed paid PRO Version. Free upgrades have taken this to v4.60 (7377) as at 2015-01-17.
Test System Specs	Comparison table of features between different versions (Trial, Standard, Professional, Enterprise) is here. Detailed features are listed here.
Supported OSes	Windows XP/2003/Vista/7/2008/8 and 8.1 (32/64-bit) I have used it on XP, Vista (all 32-bit) and 7, 8, 8.1, and 8.1 PRO (all 64-bit) with nary a hitch.
Support Methods	FAQ Complete Help Hardware Compatibility (index, details) Knowledge Base Discussion Board Driver Zone (index, details) Primarily concerned with hard drives, HDS seems to be able to cover not only all sorts of physical/logical disk interfaces and hardware - e.g., including IDE, S-ATA, SCSI, RAID controllers, disk enclosures, USB and other external devices - but also Ramdrives and SSDs.
Upgrade Policy	Automatic free upgrades for free Trial and for paid PRO versions.
Trial Version Available?	Yes. Features are detailed here.
Pricing Scheme	I started to use the free Trial version in December 2010. I purchased the paid PRO version in March 2011. At time of purchase, HDS PRO had a 20% discount coupon (2011-03-18) applicable to purchases of trial downloads. (The Trial is just a hobbled version of the PRO, and the full functionality is enabled on entry of the registration key.) - Full price: US$35.00 - Purchased at 20% discount: US$28 (I did not obtain the price for the Enterprise version as I was not interested in it at the time.)

SCREENSHOTS OF APP INTERFACE:
This is the Overview tab:                   This is the Temperature tab:
[attachthumb=#]                                            [attachthumb=#]

Saving the Temperature graph:
[attach]

[IainB]

(Cross-posted for relevant information.)

Just FYI.
I have been trialling Hard Disk Sentinel Pro for a couple of months and decided it was very good and that I would buy it.
I have not written a review here, because the experience will probably vary from user to user depending on their needs and their hardware.
However, I will state that one of the many features that I especially like about HDS Pro is that it can perform a SMART test on my USB-connected 500GB hard disk drives (I use them for backup). This will give me time to prepare to migrate to other backup devices as soon as the SMART tests show a degradation of a particular drive.

HDS Pro has a 20% discount coupon currently (2011-03-18) applicable to purchases of trial downloads.
- Full price: USD35.00
- Purchased at 20% discount: US$28

[IainB]

(Cross-posted for relevant information.)

It looks like HDS is starting to prove its worth.
On 2011-10-11 HDS started ringing alarm bells as it gave early warning and reported that:

There are 21 bad sectors on the disk surface. The contents of these sectors were moved to the spare area.
Based on the number of remapping operations, the health of the disk was decreased in different steps.
At this point, warranty replacement of the disk is not yet possible, only if the health drops further.
It is recommended to examine the log of the disk regularly. All new problems found will be logged there.

It is recommended to continuously monitor the hard disk status.

(see attachment in previous post)
This isn't actually very serious as things stand.
Disk performance was rated still as 100%, but disk health was reduced from 100% to 69%.
The Log showed two problem events:

• 2011-10-11  17:26:15 #196 Reallocation Event Count 0 -> 21
• 2011-10-11  17:26:15     #5 Reallocated Sectors Count 0 -> 21

Real time performance monitoring is not supported on this disk, so it will not be possible to continuously monitor the hard disk status. Therefore I shall need to periodically manually trigger a check.

As soon as I got the alerts, I read the log and then, with some urgency:

• I kicked off a disk image backup  (a standard Windows 7 64-bit feature).
• I kicked off a recovery disk written to CD-ROM (a standard Windows 7 64-bit feature).
• I ran the standard Widows defrag analysis. It showed 3% fragmentation of files, so no action required.
• I initiated CHKDSK with the /F option ("Fix errors") from the command prompt, rebooted the PC, and watched whilst CHKDSK did its thing before Windows started up. CHKDSK reported that it had fixed several minor errors - so nothing major.

I am now running a fresh incremental backup of all main data directories. This was something I used to do on a daily basis, but I have been a bit slack these last few weeks. It'll be back to paranoia for a while now.

I'm not sure whether to wait and see if the disk health deteriorates further before I request a new hard drive under warranty from HP. I have only had this HP ENVY 14 laptop for about 10 months.

[IainB]

(Cross-posted for relevant information.)

...i don't use any realtime drive monitoring tools.. i should.

Thanks for answering my Q.
I asked because I do use such a tool, but (being paranoid), though it gets a very good write-up and has a great spec., I don't know whether it will work for sure in warning me in advance of an imminent disk failure. I therefore wanted to learn vicariously from any relevant experience you might have had. It's HDS PRO (Hard Disk Sentinel PRO) - i.e., not the freeware version - and it notified me in October 2011 that on the disk in my 11-month old laptop:

- it had logged
2011-10-11 17:26:15    #196 Reallocation Event Count 0 -> 21
2011-10-11 17:26:15    #5 Reallocated Sectors Count 0 -> 21

- that:
    Performance = 100%
    Health = 69% (downgraded from 100% due to the above logged events)
(This is still the current status of the disk at time of writing this post.)

And it gave me the recommendation:

There are 21 bad sectors on the disk surface. The contents of these sectors were moved to the spare area.
Based on the number of remapping operations, the health of the disk was decreased in different steps.
At this point, warranty replacement of the disk is not yet possible, only if the health drops further.
It is recommended to examine the log of the disk regularly. All new problems found will be logged there.

It is recommended to continuously monitor the hard disk status.

So, "belts-and-braces", I then ran a full system CHKDSK on the disk, and then tried to enable HDS PRO real time performance monitoring.
However, though HDS PRO can continuously monitor a disk if you tell it to, the disk has to be able to support that feature, and in my case HDS PRO said:

Real time performance monitoring is not supported on this disk.

- so I have to periodically trigger HDS PRO to recheck the disk, just in case. (So far, so good.)
Not having it automated doesn't alleviate my paranoia though!

Lesson learned:

Try to ensure that any disks bought in the future do support RT performance monitoring
- i.e., for increased peace-of-mind.

[4wd]

I think I win

[Ath]

I think I win
(see attachment in previous post)

That only depends on what you want to win

[IainB]

I think I win

That's interesting. Could you post the log of that disk? I'd like to see how it progressed from when the deterioration set in up to that 9% point.

[4wd]

That's interesting. Could you post the log of that disk? I'd like to see how it progressed from when the deterioration set in up to that 9% point.

There is no log, well not AFAIK, the HDD, (a Samsung HD753LJ SpinPoint F1), is over 2 years old and is currently used as transient storage.  Although, the features of the drive says Error Logging is supported, GSmartControl shows that no errors have been logged.

TBH, I'm not that concerned about the remap figure reported mainly for the reason you've picked up, there is no time reference.

I don't know whether the remaps occurred:
a) evenly spaced at 1 every 11 hours or so;
b) all at once within the first month;
c) all at Christmas because I was inebriated and did something stupid;
d) they just appeared through the magic of quantum physics because I observed them.

Putting it into perspective, it's ~819kB out of 750GB.  Naturally, Murphy's Law will dictate that it only happens to a significant area of the HDD.

I'd be more concerned if it had reported it that the HDD was unable to remap the sectors.

Interestingly, the Reallocation Event Count shows zero events, it should show the number of successful and unsuccessful sector remaps.




BTW, I'm running WD (640GB & 750GB), Seagate (1.5TB) and Samsung (2x1TB & 750GB) HDDs in my machine, of them all the WD HDDs have the best statistics.....they're also the oldest HDDs in the machine.

[IainB]

No, sorry, I meant the Hard Disk Sentinel log for that drive. That will be displayed for that drive on the Log tab - the fifth one in from the left in your screenshot.

[4wd]

No, sorry, I meant the Hard Disk Sentinel log for that drive. That will be displayed for that drive on the Log tab - the fifth one in from the left in your screenshot.

There is no log, the first time I ran HDS is after you wrote about it

[IainB]

There is no log, the first time I ran HDS is after you wrote about it

OIC, sorry, I did not realise that.
A pity. I would have liked to read a real case HDS log for a drive, starting with the initial performance deterioration event(s) and ending with something like your disk's 9% health status. Nothing like learning from a case study when contemplating risk avoidance.
I have contacted hdsentinel.com and asked them for this.

[Josh]

Just bought the standard version. Thanks for the review Iain!

[berry]

I find it to be a very useful app. I also use it to test drives when I install a new one.

BTJ has the "Family license" at 30% off right now. I'm almost sure I got mine during a nomal BTJ promo some time back for around 50% off. At that price it's quite a value.

[4wd]

OIC, sorry, I did not realise that.

My fault, should have made it clearer.

I still find it interesting that there is no correlation between Reallocation Event Count and Reallocated Sector Count, the former should be equal to or greater than the latter.

[IainB]

Just bought the standard version. Thanks for the review Iain!

Thankyou. You're most welcome. I'm pleased if it's been of use/help. I have got a lot of education/benefit from reading the various informative software reviews/discussions in this forum, so I am just returning the favour.
Though initially too impatient to use the Mini-Review template (it's a bit tedious to use with all the BBS code), I became more accepting of it after my first tooth-grinding attempt at using it.
As a template though, it seems quite comprehensive.

I'm not sure, but I think I might have first read about HDS in a DCF member's signature somewhere. I have been unable to find out which one now though. Anyway, I thought that if someone felt that HDS was worth putting in their signature, then it might be worth looking at the product. It was!    

[iphigenie]

It gives a lot better overview than the generic SMART monitors out there.
Nice to know that my 8 months old disk is stil at 100% everywhere. Must check other machines

[rjbull]

Though initially too impatient to use the Mini-Review template (it's a bit tedious to use with all the BBS code) [...] As a template though, it seems quite comprehensive.

I've never tried it, but, if you used the full template, I think it's incomplete.  It may give the software name, but it doesn't seem to give a brief explanation of what the software does.  The name on is own isn't always a clear enough indication of function.

[IainB]

I've never tried it, but, if you used the full template, I think it's incomplete.  It may give the software name, but it doesn't seem to give a brief explanation of what the software does.  The name on is own isn't always a clear enough indication of function.

If you go to the Mini-Reviews by Members section, and click on New Topic, it opens up a draft post/message box already filled with the template (complete with table), for you to enter the review details. You just need to fill in the details where indicated.

The result of all that will probably be similar to the (my) opening post in this review thread. The template saves trouble (work) and provides useful reminders as to what details you could include in the review - so it's really quite handy. The BBS code is all the special commands in the template - and that is what I find a bit slow and tedious, working amongst all that. I would prefer a WYSIWYG template, that's all. Faster/simpler.

[IainB]

I have been using HDS PRO v3.70, and on the Disk Performance tab it said that "Disk performance monitoring for this drive is disabled", and the tab was otherwise blank.
However, there is a fix that enables disk performance monitoring.
I only found out about it after getting HDS PRO to update itself today - from v3.70 to v4.0.
When HDS PRO restarted after the update, the Disk Performance tab it said that "Disk performance monitoring for this drive is disabled" but also gave a link for further information: http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#perf

The contents of that link are copied in the spoiler below:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Source: http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#perf

No Performance information displayed. What is wrong?
The performance information is based on the Performance Counter objects of Windows (2000/XP/2003/Vista) systems. Hard Disk Sentinel reads these counters and displays performance information based on them. Hard Disk Sentinel has no control on these counters, how they work because they are controlled by Windows itself.

The operating system assigns performance counters to hard disks while booting. So if the disk is an external one and connected later (after Windows completed the booting sequence), the performance monitoring may not be possible.

If the performance information is missing for ALL disks, then disk performance monitoring is globally disabled. Please click Start -> Run -> CMD.EXE (to open a console window) and type diskperf -y (ENTER). You may need to restart the computer to let Windows create the performance counter objects on startup.

If the above command does not help, please try the following:

   Click Start -> Run -> Regedit

   navigate to the following subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Perfdisk\Performance

   If there is a value called Disable Performance Counters listed there, and it has a numerical value of one (1), just change it to zero (0), and reboot.

The full procedure is available at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998009.aspx

Fix performance counters under Win7 (thanks to Neolisk): Click Start, type cmd right click cmd.exe, and select Run as administrator.
At the prompt, type lodctr /r and press ENTER. This will repair the pointers (those are stored in the registry).
If it says (Disabled) next to a provider, you can enable it with lodctr /e:(provider name). Use for (provider name) the string between the [ ] at the beginning of the entry (more information at this page).

If the above does not work, you can manually try to verify if the operating system detects the performance values. To do this, please start the performance monitoring tool from Microsoft:
Click Start -> Run and type "Perfmon".
On the bottom right side of the window (under the graphs) you can see a list of currently displayed performance counters. Please click on them and press "DEL" button to remove all.
Then above this space (on the empty graph) please right click and select "Add Counters"
Under "Performance Objects" please select "PhysicalDisk"
Under "Select counters from list" please select "% Disk Time" (or "Disk Bytes/Sec" - these two counters are displayed in Hard Disk Sentinel).
Under "Select instances from list" please select instances for your drives (eg. "0 C:") or select all.
Click on "Add" and then "Close".

Now you should see how the values are changing for the selected hard disks. Please copy or move some files to see how the graphs are changing, reflecting the actual disk usage or the transfer rate. You can compare the values displayed here and in Hard Disk Sentinel. These should be nearly the same (some differences is possible because of the different sampling times).

Here are more details about re-building performance counter objects of Windows. In case of a trouble (no performance information displayed), please check the following pages:

How to manually rebuild Performance Counter Library values
   http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;300956&Product=winsvr2003

PerfMon Problems (Win7)
   http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7performance/thread/e90f231d-0014-457d-8b1f-5f342971597a

I followed the instructions there (more or less):

On my installation, the performance information was missing for only the main disk, but I ensured that disk performance monitoring was globally enabled anyway:

• Click Start -> Run -> CMD.EXE (to open a console window) and type diskperf -y (ENTER).
• Restarted the computer to let Windows create the performance counter objects on startup.

However, on the HDS PRO Disk Performance tab it still said that "Disk performance monitoring for this drive is disabled".
So I:

• Click Start -> Run -> Regedit
• navigated to the subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Perfdisk\Performance
• selected the value called Disable Performance Counters listed there; it had a numerical value of one (1), so I changed it to zero (0), and rebooted.

It worked a charm.
After the reboot, HDS PRO showed real-time Disk performance monitoring on my laptop's main drive.

EDIT 2012-02-16:
I spoke too soon. It worked a charm, but it didn't "stick", and the HDS panel for that drive reverted to the message:

"Disk performance monitoring for this drive is disabled"

So I followed the instructions in the spoiler above where it says:

"If the above does not work, you can manually..."

- and that worked a charm too, but again it did not "stick".
I am currently at a loss as to how to make it stick.

EDIT 2012-06-02:
I have been having two episodic issues with HDS PRO:

• 1. It doesn't always start up with Windows like it should, and I have not yet figured out why.
• 2. The Registry settings to enable real-time disk performance settings do not "stick", so I have now automated the workaround changes to the registry in a .reg file, contents as follows:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[BLANK]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Perfdisk\Performance]
"Disable Performance Counters"="0"
[BLANK]

The [BLANK] lines must be just that - blank lines.

The steps are:

• shut down HDS PRO (if it is running).
• in Windows Explorer, double-click on the .reg file (I call mine Enable disk perf counters.reg).
• restart HDS PRO.

That's all. The real-time disk performance monitoring should now be working in HDS PRO.
You don't need to reboot or anything.
Please note, this is in Win7-64 Home Premium. The appropriate .reg commands and even rebooting may well be different for other versions of Windows.

[stg]

One quick comment... I have been using HDS Pro for a while. I had used Speedfan and others in the past, but nothing worked properly in my current computer (i.e.: unable to get any information from SMART).

HDS works just fine.

[IainB]

@stq: There's quite a bit of information/discussion on the Speedfan site about the criteria necessary for Speedfan and S.M.A.R.T to work on some PCs/hard drives.

Also: Please note my edit to my last post above re getting disk Performance Monitoring to work. It doesn't seem to "stick" and has to be re-set.

[IainB]

The developer (Janos) at Hard Disk Sentinel sent me a link to some cases of problems discovered using HDS.

They are under under Support -> Knowledge base -> Hard disk cases, here: http://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_cases.php
I had asked him to send me some details and he has just now put up these cases on the Support pages of their website.

I think I shall send him my contribution.

[rjbull]

06 March Bits du Jour e-mail:

Hard Disk Sentinel Professional Family License for PC - Coming Soon

  Links:
    1. http://bitsdujour.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8caa7fb6c1132715dabbfb1ce&id=6d51b9c3b0&e=b07d947299

            [2]Hard Disk Sentinel Professional Family License
52% Off
$29.99  $62.50

[sujay85]

06 March Bits du Jour e-mail:

Hard Disk Sentinel Professional Family License for PC - Coming Soon

 Links:
   1. http://bitsdujour.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8caa7fb6c1132715dabbfb1ce&id=6d51b9c3b0&e=b07d947299

           [2]Hard Disk Sentinel Professional Family License
52% Off
$29.99   $62.50

Still there is a 30% off promotion and in case you are interested in a free license feel free to participate in the contest in my site.  

I hope I am not spamming.  

[IainB]

This might save some time:
I have added this EDIT to my post above, thus:

EDIT 2012-06-02:
I have been having two episodic issues with HDS PRO:

• 1. It doesn't always start up with Windows like it should, and I have not yet figured out why.
• 2. The Registry settings to enable real-time disk performance settings do not "stick", so I have now automated the workaround changes to the registry in a .reg file, contents as follows:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[BLANK]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Perfdisk\Performance]
"Disable Performance Counters"="0"
[BLANK]

The [BLANK] lines must be just that - blank lines.

The steps are:

• shut down HDS PRO (if it is running).
• in Windows Explorer, double-click on the .reg file (I call mine Enable disk perf counters.reg).
• restart HDS PRO.

That's all. The real-time disk performance monitoring should now be working in HDS PRO.
You don't need to reboot or anything.
Please note, this is in Win7-64 Home Premium. The appropriate .reg commands and even rebooting may well be different for other versions of Windows.