Recommendations for testing a SSD for issues/damage?

[Cyber Akuma]

So, my desktop has two SSDs in RAID0. Back in 2015 I was getting BSOD issues which I never had before. It seemed to happen whenever I was trying to mount a virtual CD-ROM so I assumed it was a driver issue... but then it would randomly BSOD while booting Windows.... but work fine if it manages to finish booting. 
 
Since the whole free Windows 10 update thing was around this time, I took a spare 5400RPM HDD I had at the time, imaged the RAID to it, and updated that from Win7 to Win10.... I have been meaning to go back but always kept getting sidetracked.... plus I was always planning to just test out Win10 but go back to 7 since I didn't like it... but that's not going to be much of a viable option soon so I am going to just have to stick to 10. 
 
Anyway, I am planning to finally image this HDD back to the RAID0 of SSDs... but I still want to test them first. I didn't want to test them while in RAID because that would just be testing the virtual drive itself and not the physical drives as individuals, so I got a OpticalDrive-to-HDD adapter for my laptop so I can plug in the SSDs in place of the optical drive as a second HDD and run testing software on them, as well as firmware updates. (I don't want to use my desktop for it because it would recognize them as part of the RAID instead of individual drives, also Samsung's software is unable to detect the drives or update their firmware in a RAID). 
 
The only issue is... I have no idea what would be good testing software. I don't mind if it's destructive to the data, I have backup images and am currently running off of a HDD that I will image back to the SSDs anyway (Plus since I would only be able to test one drive out of a raid at a time, they would just appear as unformatted to the system anyway unless I format them), I just wanted to know any recommendations for good (and preferably free to use for home use) software I can use to test my SSDs to make sure they are still working fine.

[Circaflex]

Check with the manufacturer of the drive, they often provide tools for their SSDs.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Yea, what CircaFlex said. Checking a SSD really isn't complicated or destructive ... no such thing as surface scans or similar testing procedures that HDDs would undergo. Software as simple as those provided by the manufacturer ... or alternatives like SSD Life, CrystalDisk Info is all that is needed.

 

Though, would SSD in RAID be worth the risk?

[neufuse Veteran]

I'd secure erase the drives first before doing any tests... sometimes doing an ATA secure erase command on SSDs fixes odd issues

 

and if done correctly on a SSD it should take only a minute to do... 

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

One thing to keep in mind is that in order to update the firmware you will need to break the RAID array, as Samsung's Magician software does not allow you to update the firmware of drives while they are in the array.  So, that, coupled with @neufuse's suggestion means that you will be starting with a blank slate, so to speak, when it comes to the SSD RAID array.

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[Cyber Akuma]

1 hour ago, goretsky said:

Hello,

One thing to keep in mind is that in order to update the firmware you will need to break the RAID array, as Samsung's Magician software does not allow you to update the firmware of drives while they are in the array.  So, that, coupled with @neufuse's suggestion means that you will be starting with a blank slate, so to speak, when it comes to the SSD RAID array.

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Yes I realize this, as I said, right now the SSD was cloned to a HDD long ago, so I will need to break the array anyway as  will be testing them in another system, then if they are good image that HDD back to the SSDs.