HD Tune v2.55 Review

HD Tune is a hard drive testing program for Windows that can check the general health of a hard drive, run a scan for errors, and perform a benchmark read test.

The program is easy to use, supports internal and external storage devices, and lets you copy out all the information it finds.

More About HD Tune

HD Tune is a Windows-based hard driver tester — it works for Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and 2000, officially, but we had no trouble using it in Windows 10 and Windows 8.

HD Tune works with any internal or external hard drive, SSD, or memory card. You can change the device you're using from the drop-down menu at the top of the screen.

The four tabs of the program are Benchmark, Info, Health, and Error Scan. While the benchmark test is run in the first tab, the Info page is just for displaying the drive's supported features, serial number, capacity, and other basic information.

Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) attributes are shown in the Health tab while the error scan is performed in the last tab.

Benchmark settings can be modified from the Options page to change the speed of the test and the block size used to read data from the drive. When a test is launched, you can see the minimum, maximum, and average transfer rate as well as the access time, burst rate, and CPU usage used during the benchmark.

HD Tune also displays the temperature of the drive in question, both at the top of the screen and in the notification area of the Windows taskbar. You can define a specific number for a "critical temperature" from the Options so the temperature will display in a different color to easily understand when the drive is overheating.

Our Thoughts on HD Tune

We like HD Tune because it not only lets you run an error scan but also a benchmark read test, which many other hard drive testers don't permit. HD Tune also includes SMART details, which is always a plus.

Many other hard drive testers let you export SMART information to a file, but HD Tune only lets you copy it to the clipboard. This is obviously not a huge concern but may be annoying if you plan on running the program on several computers and would like an easy way to save all the information.