Usb H2Testw

H2testw -- by Harald Bögeholz / c't Magazin für ComputertechnikData integrity test for USB sticks and other mediaVersion 1.4, Copyright (C) 2008 Heise Zeitschriften Verlag GmbH & Co. KG========================================================================H2testw was developed to test USB sticks for various kinds of errors.It can also be used for any other storage media like memory cards,internal and external hard drives and even network volumes.The executable file H2testw.exe needs no installation and can bedirectly run. It was developed for Windows XP and Vista. It shouldalso work under Windows 2000 but was only tested on XP and Vista.Windows 9x/ME is not supported. You can use the older command lineprogram H2test under these operating systems.The function of H2testw is quite simple: It fills the chosen targetdirectory with test data and then reads it back and verifies it.H2testw does not overwrite or erase any existing data. It doesn'tdo any low-level tricks so administrator privileges are not required.If your hardware is working properly H2testw will not harm anyexisting data.BUT: _If_ the hardware is defective then H2testw is designed to findthat defect and might as a side effect damage existing files.Therefore: IF YOU SUSPECT A USB STICK OR OTHER STORAGE MEDIA TO BEDEFECTIVE, EMPTY IT AND TEST IT COMPLETELY WITH H2TESTW. Only emptymedia can be fully tested with H2testw. In order to be able toreproduce the results we recommend to format the media (quick formatwill do) and then test it.H2testw writes files of up to 1 GByte to the chosen destination andnames them 1.h2w, 2.h2w, 3.h2w and so on. If the target directoryalread contains such a set of files H2testw will offer to verify them.If there are any other files named *.h2w it will refuse to work. Inthat case please erase all files *.h2w and hit the Refresh button.After it is done the software leaves its test files on the medium.You can erase them if you like or verify them again -- if it's a USBstick for