External hard drive fell to the floor...diagnostics?

[bobogs]

My external Seagate 300gb (fw/usb) drive fell about 3 feet to the floor and bounced a few times during a write operation. It continued writing, with no visible signs of problems (no errors in XP Pro and finished the write and several other reads/writes before I finally shut it down).

This is my data backup drive, and now I'm concerned that it might be damaged. If so, I'd like to just move everything off it and onto another drive.

What are some good drive diagnostic apps and/or methods out there? I have SiSoft Sandra 2007, but I'd like to try a few apps to get a good feel for the drive's health.

Thanks!
Gary

[BJ_M]

for your drive - seagate DiscWizard Suite http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/drivers/discwiz.html

[BJ_M]

or seagates other tools http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/ but the basic tool also does diagnostics

[bobogs]

Thanks for the replies. I ran the Seagate online tests, since the bootable cd tests didn't seem to recognize the external firewire drive (didn't try it using its USB connection). The online tests reported no errors (the one full scan took a looooooooong time, but after all, it is a 300gb drive).

I'm going to run SANDRA soon to see if it finds any problems.

Thanks again!
Gary

[BJ_M]

to use seagates tests proper like -- you have to be connected via scsi or ide or sata --- just remove the drive from the case and temp. mount it in your case ......

sandra will not do as good a test as a manufact. own tools - in fact not even close..