Re: HDDScan

Allan Higdon <[email protected]> wrote:

> "HDDScan is a feature-rich disk diagnostics tool with a variety of low-level tools. It supports IDE/SATA/SCSI hard disk drives, RAID arrays, SSD drives, external USB/Firewire hard disks, flash cards and can scan the surface, view SMART attributes, adjust AAM, APM (Power Management), monitor temperature etc.
> 
> Note the program shouldn’t be run from a read-only device/media."
> 
> https://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=1105
> 
> Updated to Version 4.1 on 8/31/2019
> 
> Home Page
> https://hddscan.com/
> 
> What's New
> Features:
> Automatic Settings Preservation: Should help some drives "to remember" AAM/APM/PM setting after power cycle
> SMART Window will show "Drive State" at the top for easier "health" check
> Bugfixes:
> Command line "Administrator Permission" bugfix

Don't know if the program suggests DigiLab for drive recovery services,
but the web site does.  It is Artem Rubstov's web site, and he is the
co-founder with the privately held DigiLabs.

https://rocketreach.co/digilab-inc-il-profile_b55d1e1bf6884fb4

Their web site claims 15 years of experience, but they were founded in
2015, so 9 years of existence.  Maybe they're totalling the work
experience of individual employees, not since when the company started.
At their web site, "A team of data recovery professionals with 75 years
of combined experience".  Yep, they're aggregating the experience years
of each employee which means overlapped years, not how long the company
has existed.  Their web site (https://thedigilab.com/about-us.html)
mentions 3 employees, and company info sites mention 3 employees.

https://www.google.com/maps?q=4811%20Emerson%20Ave%20Ste%20210%2C%20Palatine%2C%20Illinois%2060067%2C%20US

Use the street view to see where they are.  It is a commercial building
housing multiple companies.  DigiLab (suite 210) is one of several at
that location.  Looks like it is a business park of 3 buildings.  They
may be small, but they would need to have sufficient business to afford
the commercial rental property.

https://www.cookcountypropertyinfo.com/default.aspx
Search on PIN "02-27-408-156-0000" for property tax info.

Unlike other county property search sites, this one doesn't list the
property owner.  So, I cannot tell to who Digilab pays the rent nor how
long Digilab has been in suite 210 at that location.  They do mention
another data recovery service (https://www.securedatarecovery.com/)
which I didn't bother to investigate.  Since Artem mentions Digilab at
his hddscan.com site, and since the tool is likely the property of
DigiLab, seems odd Artem doesn't mention DigiLab at hddscan.com.
"DigiLab Data Recovery Services is recommended and approved by the
developers of the HDDScan utility."  Gee, I wonder why.

None of this is necessarily evil, but it seems HDDscan is likely a tool
developed by DigiLab to promote their services should the tool find a
problem with your drive.  Could be a good tool provided it doesn't
mislead you into believing you have a failing drive.

I've seen similar tools using SMART to suddenly report your drive is
failing because there was a sudden jump in consumption of reserved
blocks on the drive to mask bad blocks.  Alas, drive manufacturers do
not publish how large is the reserve area, so you don't know if a jump
of, say, 200 sectors is a big or tiny jump, but the tool only sees the
jump and assumes it must be an indicator of probable failure.  I've used
such "bad" drives for many years after reported as failing by these
tools, because SMART really isn't that smart.  For a sudden jump to be
significant means the consumption of reserve space must be ongoing, not
a one-time jump of unknown percentage of reserve space.  Unless the tool
maintains a record of the maskings over time, the jump is meaningless
and likely misleading information.  A jump of 200 bad sector all at once
is tiny if 10,000 are in the reserve space, and the jump happens only
once over the use of the drive.

SMART is an indicator of possible failure.  It is not a guarantee, and
often interpretation of its results (even if history is added to the
tool) is wrong, especially since manufacturer data is missing to know
just how bad was a change in a SMART value.

While SSDs have reallocation to compensate for wear leveling, SMART will
not tell you how long before the SSD drive catastrophically fails.  SSDs
are write destructive storage devices hence the need for wear leveling
which means they degrade over time, and will suddenly fail.  The
manufacturers hope that consumer-grade SSDs used by consumers will last
longer than the consumers employ the drives.  Over provisioning is added
at the factory which can be enlarged by the consumer to extend the
lifespan, but few consumers know about over provisioning to know how to
add more.  

The diagnostic tools are handy, but the users don't have the expertise
to understand how to use them, or the limitations of SMART upon which
the tools gauge their good/bad health status of a drive.  You could end
up replacing a perfectly operating drive, because a tool said is was
failing when it really doesn't know.  Only weathermen are less accurate
than SMART tools.

These type of tools should only be used that understand the drive
technology, and the limitations of SMART, and decide on their own
diagnosis, and not solely upon what the tool reports.  It is similar to
how boobs should NOT be using registry cleaners which are to facilitate
what the user should already know how to do.