How do you guys test hardrives and ram? Do you have a computer that is set up to test these items? I guess that's the only way I can figure out to do it.
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How do you guys test hardrives and ram? Do you have a computer that is set up to test these items? I guess that's the only way I can figure out to do it.
I'd shoot you a picture of my office if I were there.
I'll try to explain my setup as best as I can, though:
I purchase DDR2 and DDR3 RAM (Desktop), and still deal with DDR occasionally (Though not too often). I keep desktops to test each type of RAM. They're just run-of-the-mill Dells.
For hard drives, I keep two computers: An eMachines for SATA, and two Compaqs for IDE (One has a laptop IDE to Desktop IDE adapter in it). I boot Parted Magic in them all, and run "Gsmartcontrol" for testing. Gsmartcontrol is just a Linux package, so you can just install it on any hard drive that has Xubuntu on it.
There are dedicated RAM testers, but there's no way that I'm spending $2500 on one for something that can be solved with a free Linux program. It's not the easiest or best way to do it, but for me, the few desktops work well.
If you're cramped for space, look into a KVM switch. It'll let you use one monitor, keyboard, and mouse on multiple computers.
That's about what I do - plug em into a computer and if they work they work, if not - into the pile they go.
i use a simular idea. i got a usb connected wall wart powered hard drive adapter and it can handle all types of hard drives. i do use towers for ram though.
i preffer live linux distros for my testing so nothing nasty can spread and most very tiny distros can handle that job easily such as dsl or puppy that a light enough to run on early 90s computers.
for testing cards i use *buntu based live disks as it has better support for them than most linux and most of all community members are willing to custom modify drivers to work if you cant get them.
I guess I got some googling to do. I know what Linux and ubuntu is. But the rest is a different language to me.
my computer buyer got a external hd took the hd out and just leaves the lid off plugs the hd in he is testing but not sure what program he uses.
A live distribution just runs from RAM (Nothing is installed on a hard drive).
Any Linux distribution can do the trick, but there are tons of packages (Programs) available for the *Buntu distros. Xubuntu is lighter on resources, so it works on my obsolete hardware. ;)
Get yourself a copy of the ultimate boot cd. You can download it for free and burn it to disk for booting. It has RAMtest for testing RAM. It has parted magic as well, that was mentioned in an above post.
Be careful when downloading though. There are so many sites that offer it, and many will mess up your computer with spamware.
You can get a copy on E-bay sent to you already on disk. It should just be $5 or so. It is free software, but you are paying for someone's time and material and postage to make a copy.
I have several machines all setup for testing. The obvious DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 machines for standard RAM. I went further when I ended up with a whole bunch of server RAM. I now have a few machines for testing that as well. You can get some servers fairly cheap because they usually do not have hard drives in them used. All you want is to be able to boot to CD for your diagnostic disk. I currently have one machine for ECC DDR and 2 machines for ECC DDR2. There is a second type of DDR2 server RAM called FB or Fully Buffered. It is a different size and shape.
I have a couple of different hard drive docking stations that I bought on E-bay for testing hard drives. They are cheap.
To truly test gear, it can take up some serious space once you have everything you need. Especially if you don't want to constantly rearrange systems that you are using for testing because you only have enough space for one system on your bench at a time.
My standard setup is 2 machines that always stay in place. A DDR2 and a DDR3 machine that work well and these 2 stations will test RAM and are both set up with the docking stations for hard drives. I have plenty of other work station space that is constantly changing, but those 2 stations are always the same as they get used the most.
One last thought. Don't forget laptops! You will need 3 machines for testing 3 types of RAM. You can probably do away with one for DDR, but will for sure need 2 for ddr2 and ddr3. They take up very little space though.
This is very good advise. I have had to do a lot of clean up on my computer in the past because I thought I was on an official site when I down loaded programs. MikeQuote:
Originally Posted by parrothead
I have the room to set up test stations. So that's a non issue. Now I just need to get the machines and do some more reading. You guys have definitely pointed me in the right direction! Thank you for that.