Ariolic Disk Scanner vs Macrorit Disk Scanner

Ariolic Disk Scanner is a free Windows utility for checking disks for read errors that may indicate drive degradation. It scans every sector on supported media in read-only mode, shows bad clusters as an image, and lists files located on unreadable sectors. The program supports all FAT variants and NTFS. It can scan internal and external disks visible in Windows, including USB sticks, Micro SD cards, CDs, and DVDs. No installation is required, so it can run from a flash drive or another disk. Ariolic says the checks do not alter data. The utility is intended as an early warning for drives showing failure signs, rather than a repair tool. Its knowledge base says scanning does not guarantee that an underlying issue will be fixed. The product page links to a free CNET download.

Macrorit Disk Scanner performs surface tests to find bad sectors on storage devices. It can scan a whole disk, a partition, free space or a selected area. Healthy sectors appear green and errors red, and results can be saved to a chosen location as a readable log. The Free Edition scans one disk on Windows. Pro + Edition costs $18.95, paid once for one computer and adds simultaneous multiple-disk scanning and a report when scanning finishes. Unlimited Edition costs $99.95, paid once, covers an unlimited company license, supports Windows Server and includes multiple-disk scanning. A portable edition can run from a USB drive to scan offline disks. Listed supported storage includes HDDs, SSDs, hardware RAID, USB and external drives, flash drives, memory cards and other devices. Requirements include Windows, an x86-compatible 500 MHz CPU, 512 MB RAM and 100 MB disk space. Macrorit says it was founded at the end of 2012 and identifies itself as part of Bada Technology Co., Ltd.