3 replies to this topic

[Camsie]

I'm looking for some kind of tool (i.e. software) that can tell you what information the computer is getting from whatever is plugged in to it's USB ports. Obviously working USB devices must broadcast some kind of basic "header" information to the computer when they are plugged in - otherwise the computer wouldn't recognize devices that are plugged in to it and know what kind of drivers it needs to load for them. I need a program that can give me a look at what information the devices are outputting.

I'm *NOT* interested in a program that just echoes to me what the OS thinks is plugged in to the computer. e.g. If I have an iPod plugged in, but I've mistakenly assigned iPhone drivers to it, I want a program that will tell me "the thing in USB port 4 says it's an iPod", not "the thing in USB port 4 has been assigned the identity 'iPhone'". I want a tool that specifically focuses on the information coming from the USB port itself, not the driver registry. Ideally, it should be a program that will notify me if the information coming out of the USB device is corrupt, or invalid.

 

It needs to be a program that can interrogate all manner of USB devices - not just with external drives/flash drives (programs for interrogating drives are easy to find, programs that interrogate USB devices in general, less so). I'm not interested in a tool geared towards testing the computer's own USB circuitry, as I don't believe my problem is with the computer itself.

 

I'd also be interested if anyone can recommend any software designed to check USB connections for broken wires/bad pin connections. i.e. to check that all the electrical lines between the PC and the circuitry of the device are intact.

 

 

Thanks. :)

Edited by Camsie, 14 February 2017 - 01:40 AM.

[Jeruselem]

https://www.hhdsoftw...tor/screenshots

Does this help?

[Camsie]

https://www.hhdsoftw...tor/screenshots

Does this help?

Seems like the right kind of tool, but it's a bit pricey. I know, shareware, but still, I don't like to waste my one and only use of a product if I can help it. I think I've got my problem sorted for now, so unless my solution goes kaput, I probably won't use this tool ATM, but I shall keep a note of it for future reference.

Thanks for the suggestion! :D

[EthanStark]

1. Check Flash

Check Flash (ChkFlsh) is a very simple flash drive testing and maintaining tool. I have used this tool several times to run a burn in read and write test on USB drives. If the device is able to survive after a few cycles, the USB flash drive should be OK. There are 3 access types and 6 action types for you to select. To access the actions of “Read stability test”, “Save image”, “Load image” and “Full erase” you have to change the Access type from temporary file to a logical or physical drive.

 

2. RMPrepUSB

RMPrepUSB is a tool which is actually a USB formatting, partitioning and bootloader creation utility as opposed to a USB testing tool. While it’s not meant to be useful for doing a complete read and write scan, it does have a little function that can test your drive to see if there are missing or bad parts and what the actual usable size is. This is ideal to check if the drive is the capacity you believe it to be and is infinitely quicker than scanning the whole drive if that’s all you want to do.

 

3. H2testw

H2testw is able to test USB flash drives, memory cards and also internal, external and even network hard drives for errors. It simply works by filling the device with 1GB chunks of test data and then verifies it by reading the data back again. Usage is very simple. Select the English language because it defaults to German, select the target device, and then choose whether you want to test all available space or a specified amount of Megabytes.

 

 

Ethan Stark

Software Developer

http://cloudappsportal.com/

Edited by EthanStark, 02 June 2017 - 09:53 PM.