HD Tune is a Hard Disk utility which can be used to measure the performance or to get important information from the hard disk such as the temperature, SMART parameters, firmware version, buffer size, etc.
2. System Requirements
- Windows 2000 or XP (must be logged on as an administrator)
- 10 MB of free disk space
- a SCSI or IDE hard disk
3. Usage
Using HD Tune is very easy.
First select the hard disk, then choose a function.
Measuring the performance
After the Start button is pressed HD Tune will perform several tests to measure the performance of the hard disk.
Transfer Rate
The read speed is measured in megabytes per second (MB/sec). The minimum, maximum and average speed are displayed on the right. The blue line on the graph shows the read performance across the disk.
*note*: One megabyte equals to 1048576 bytes (=1024 kilobytes). Some benchmarks define one megabyte as 1000000 bytes which results in higher scores.
Access Time
The average access time is measured and displayed in milli-seconds (ms). The measured access times are shown on the graph as the yellow dots.
Burst Rate
The burst rate is the highest speed (in megabytes per second) at which data can be transferred from the drive interface (IDE or SCSI for example) to the operating system.
CPU Usage
The CPU usage shows how much CPU time (in %) the system needs to read data from the hard disk.
Hard disk information
Basic information
Basic information is shown on the main screen below the graph and includes the following:
- Firmware version
- Serial number
- Capacity (The capacity between braces shows the capacity as it is marketed by the manufacturer; defining 1 KB as 1000 bytes)
- Buffer size
- SMART support
- Interface standard
- Maximum transfer mode and active transfer mode
Temperature
The temperature is shown on the main screen in Celcius and is also available in the HD Health screen in both Celcius and Fahrenheit.
For good operation the temperature should stay below 50 ░C. The temperature should never exceed 60 ░C.
*note*: not all drives can report the temperature.
Hard disk health
The hard disk health (HD Health) function can be accessed by pressing the red cross icon next to the start button.
HD Health uses S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) to get information about the health of the hard disk.
HD Health shows a table with the following parameters:
- ID: parameter which is being measured
- Current: current value
- Worst: the worst value which has been recorded since the hard disk was first used
- Treshold: the value of any of the parameters should never get below the treshold.
- Data: shows the usable data which belongs to the ID.
Power on time
The power on time is usually indicated in hours, but some manufacturers show this time in minutes or even seconds.
4. Saving the results
You can save the results by either copying the test results to the clipboard or by copying a screenshot to the clipboard.
By using the past function of a text editor (copy test results) or picture editor (copy screenshot) you can save the results to a file or print them.
The copy functions can be accessed by the icons on the main screen or the icons on the HD Health screen.
5. Additional information
Please visit the official HD Tune website at http://www.hdtune.com for more information, test results and contact information.