There are numerous utilities out there for Windows users to check the health of their hard drives (just do a Google search or look through some of the older tips I have written), but for Linux users a tool for you is GSmartControl.
The description of the product is what you would expect:
GSmartControl is a graphical user interface for smartctl (from Smartmontools package), which is a tool for querying and controlling SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) data on modern hard disk drives. It allows you to inspect the drive’s SMART data to determine its health, as well as run various tests on it.
You can read the full description of the program here and Linux.com has a nice review on the program as well.
I would recommend everyone have a program on their OS which is capable of running SMART checks on your hard drive (and use them periodically) as it significantly more convenient than having to boot to a CD to run utilities. So Linux users, if you don’t have something already, go get GSmartControl.
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