Media Analysis

This test identifies the bad tracks on the hard disk by analyzing the surface of the disk to find them. The program uses three different bit patterns; formatting the disk, marking the bad tracks, and displaying the bad track list.

Caution

The Media analysis test destroys any data on your hard disk.

Performance Test

This test checks the performance of your hard disk by determining the data transfer rate and track-to-track seek time based on the transfer size, the seek count, and the amount of data transferred. The program measures the data transfer rate in kilobytes per second. It reads 64KB of data 15 times and counts the number of timer ticks using this formula:

Transfer rate = (64KB x 15 x 18.2) / # timer ticks

The program measures track-to-track seek time in milliseconds using this formula:

Seek time = (# timer ticks x 1000) / 18.2 x 200

The number of seeks in this example is 200. A higher data transfer rate and a lower seek time indicate better disk performance.

Seek Test

This test checks the seek capability of the hard disk on the specified range of cylinders and heads. The program performs a series of sequential seeks followed by random seeks and reports any errors.

B-18 Performing System Diagnostics