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Daniel's Disk Tester

Daniel's Disk Tester is a self-hosted test bench for old hard drives and SSDs, for example from a NAS. It detects connected drives automatically (hotplug), shows the SMART values, starts self-tests and surface scans, evaluates the result and sends alert mails when something is wrong. The web interface runs on port 3000.

The tool uses lsblk, smartctl, badblocks (plus hdparm and nvme-cli for secure erasing) and needs root privileges for that. It runs natively on Debian as the systemd service disk-tester.

Features​

  • Hotplug detection: New drives show up on the dashboard immediately, including USB adapters. Each drive is recognized by model and serial number; its history is kept.
  • SMART evaluation: Traffic light "ok", "warning", "bad" with a reason per finding. Counters that cannot be reset in the firmware (e.g. UDMA-CRC) can be accepted as a baseline.
  • Self-tests: SMART short and long tests with a progress display.
  • Test plans: Several tests in sequence as a reusable plan, with built-in plans (e.g. burn-in) and your own.
  • Auto mode: Optionally a plan starts automatically after a drive is plugged in (with a countdown).
  • Archive: Every drive ever seen with search, filters and job history; retention is configurable.
  • Language and updates: The interface can be switched between German and English; a notice about new versions with an update and rollback script.
  • Surface scan: badblocks in read mode or as a destructive write test, plus burn-in (short test, write test, long test).
  • Before/after comparison: The critical SMART counters are compared before and after each job; a deterioration is reported as a finding.
  • Erase: Quick (signatures and partition table) or secure with zeros, random data, ATA Secure Erase, NVMe Format/Sanitize or TRIM, optionally with verification.
  • Email alerts: Notification for new drives, finished tests, failures, SMART problems or excessive temperature.
  • History per drive: All jobs, SMART snapshots, label and notes, matched by serial number (the manufacturer is derived from the model).
  • Mock mode: Simulated drives for development without real hardware.

Where to go next​

  1. Installation on a Debian machine.
  2. Usage: dashboard, drive view, findings and baselines.
  3. Archive: all drives, search and retention.
  4. Tests: test plans and how to check an old NAS drive.
  5. Auto mode: start plans automatically after plugging in.
  6. Erasing: methods and notes for HDDs and SSDs.
  7. Notifications: SMTP and alert mails.
  8. Updates: update notice, update.sh and rollback.
  9. Troubleshooting: USB adapters, missing drives, service logs.

Developers will find the Development section with the architecture and the update contract.