HD Tune

HD Tune is a free hard disk utility from EFD Software. It can be used to scan the surface for errors, measure the drive's read performance, check the health status (by using S.M.A.R.T.), show detailed drive information and more; secure erasing and write tests are reserved for the paid HD Tune Pro. The official site lists Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 as supported systems. The four tabs of the program are Benchmark, Info, Health and Error Scan.

Features:

• Is a hard disk/SSD utility with a low-level read benchmark (transfer rate, access time, burst rate, CPU usage)
• Shows detailed information: partitions, supported features, firmware and serial number
• Supports internal and external hard disks, SSDs, USB sticks and memory card readers
• Displays the drive temperature and the S.M.A.R.T. attributes with a health status
• Can copy any information to the clipboard as text or as an image
• Error scan shows damaged blocks on a map, with an optional quick scan
• Free for personal use

HD Tune checks drive health, speed and surface errors from four simple tabs in one small free program.

In conclusion, HD Tune is very user-friendly and gives a quick overview of the condition and speed of a drive. The program is useful because it combines an error scan, a health check and a benchmark read test in one small download. Version 2.55 dates from 2008 and is no longer updated; newer functions are available only in the paid HD Tune Pro.