HDD scanning/diagnostic tools?

[byak]

I've got a couple old HDDs that are rather old and have not been used in years. I would like to determine if they are usable (in dinky sub-P2) boxes or if they'd be better off having their natural magnets harvested

What is the optimal tool to scan/test/whatever a HDD to determine if it is worth using or not? I used spinrite many years ago and it was DOS only. Ideally, I'd like to be able to run a scanner tool through Windows so I can do something else while it works for hours and hours.

Thanks

 

[EeyoreX]

Really, I think your best option, is to use the tools available on the manufacturers websites. These are boot time utilities and shouldn't take too long on a smaller drive (my 200GB took a couple hours to check for errors).

\Dan