A hard drive is one of the important components of a computer because it functions as a data storage medium. However, not all hard drives sold in the market are new hard drives. There are also used hard drives that are sold at a cheaper price but have a higher risk of damage or data loss. Therefore, before buying a hard drive, you need to know whether the hard drive is new or used.
There are several ways you can do to find out a new or used hard drive, either by using software or without software. In this article, we will explain these methods in full and detail, and provide the latest information about hard drives that you need to know. Check out the following review!
How to Find Out a New or Used Hard Drive with Software
One of the easiest and most accurate ways to find a new or used hard drive is to use special software that can read information about the hard drive, such as make, model, capacity, speed, health, age, and so on. There is many software that you can use, but we will give examples of two popular and free software, namely Hard Disk Sentinel and HDTune.
Hard Disk Sentinel
Hard Disk Sentinel is software that can monitor and analyze your hard drive. This software can display various information about the hard drive, such as performance, health, temperature, number of bad sectors ( bad sector ), number of times turned on ( power on count ), number of operating hours ( power on time ), and others. This software can also provide an estimate of the remaining life of your hard drive.
Here are the steps to use Hard Disk Sentinel to find out a new or used hard drive:
- Download and install Hard Disk Sentinel on your computer. You can download this software for free on its official website.
- Open the Hard Disk Sentinel software. You will see the main interface of this software, which displays a list of hard drives connected to your computer. Select the hard drive you want to check by clicking on it on the left panel.
- Note the information displayed on the right pane. You can see the performance status and health of your hard drive in the Overview section. You can also find more detailed information on the Information tab, S.M.A.R.T., Disk Performance, and Temperature.
- To find out a new or used hard drive, you can look at the following parameters:
- Power on time: shows the number of hours the hard drive has spent operating since it was first used. The greater this number, it means that the hard drive is getting older and used more often. You can view these parameters on the Information tab or S.M.A.R.T. with the attribute code 09.
- Power on count: shows the number of times the hard drive was turned on and off since it was first used. The greater this number, means that the hard drive is turned on and off more often, which can adversely affect its health. You can view this parameter on the S.M.A.R.T. tab with the 0C attribute code.
- Bad sector: shows the number of damaged or unreadable sectors on the hard drive. The more bad sectors, the more damaged the hard drive is and the risk of data loss. You can view these parameters on the S.M.A.R.T. tab with the 05 or C5 attribute code.
- Estimated remaining lifetime: shows the estimated remaining life of your hard drive based on its health condition. The smaller this percentage is, the closer the hard drive is to the end of its useful life. You can see these parameters at the bottom of the right pane.
By looking at the parameters above, you can find out whether the hard drive you are using or what you want to buy is a new or used hard drive. In general, new hard drives have low power on time, power on count, and bad sectors, as well as a high estimated remaining lifetime. Conversely, used hard drives have high power on time, power on count, and bad sectors, as well as low estimated remaining lifetime.