HDAT2 vs MemTest86+

HDAT2 is a drive-testing and diagnostic program for ATA, ATAPI, SATA, NVMe, SSD, and SCSI/USB devices. Its device-level tools test drives and can repair bad sectors on detected devices. File-system testing covers MBR/GPT, boot data, and directories on FAT12/16/32, exFAT, and NTFS. SMART functions are available for ATA/SATA, SCSI, and NVMe drives. Capacity controls include SET MAX and Device Configuration Overlay, with options to restore full capacity; supported SATA and NVMe devices can also be switched between 512e logical sectors and 4Kn. HDAT2 detects devices on AHCI and some RAID controllers, and USB devices through USB ASPI or BIOS when supported. The main program requires a real DOS system booted from USB, floppy disk, or CD/DVD. A Windows 32/64-bit demo is available, but it operates only at drive level, omits file-level functions, and aborts almost all commands while simulating conflicts. The freeware plan is free, for one or more machines, with redistribution without profit; it is provided as-is without warranty.

MemTest86+ is a free, open-source stand-alone memory tester for x86, x86-64, ARM AArch64, and LoongArch64 computers. It uses algorithms including moving inversions and Modulo-20 to detect memory failures and investigate crashes, freezes, or system instability. The tester can access almost all computer memory without operating-system memory or UEFI library restrictions. It can run from legacy or UEFI BIOS, through Linux boot protocols, or from a FAT32 USB flash drive, CD-ROM, or PXE network boot. For PXE, the project documents different binaries for BIOS and UEFI boot as iPXE or PXELINUX payloads. Testing continues indefinitely, with the pass counter advancing after all selected tests finish. The software is licensed under GNU GPL version 2, with no additional restrictions on private or commercial use. Stable and nightly binaries are available, though nightly builds are generated automatically and are untested and unsupported. Secure Boot must be temporarily disabled because the binary is not signed by Microsoft. USB drivers remain in progress, and not all USB devices are supported.