Are there any non-hardware based solutions that will produce a report detailing the condition of a hard drive, specifically the mechanics, i.e. heads, etc?

There are software tools that produce a SMART report but I'm guesing that testing individual heads requires a hardware solution?

By doing what?

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

drc - not sure what you mean?

The hardware is only part of the solution. You need to know what to do with the hardware. Also important is good understanding and specific knowledge of HDD because between vendors the solutions are different. for example to test heads on a WD will be totally different process to checking heads on Seagate.

If you are looking for an all in one single click solution then you will be looking for a long time.

Data recovery is not as simple as being dependent on hardware/software solutions to find all the answers.

If you do find one I would love to hear of it

I'm asking how you would like the software to test the condition of the drive hardware. With that knowledge we can then answer if there is/could be any software that can do that.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

I NEVER heard of such App. that does that
mean while even PRO. tools sometimes gives FALSE/WRONG HEAD REPORT (not always based on hdd condition )

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Kuwait Data Recovery - UNIX GTC
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once. By: Albert Einstein

Thanks hddguy, based on my understanding that's what I suspected - just wanted confirmation.

Nor I am aware of any "software only" solutions for this.

It is true that this kind of functionality most often is found in hardware based FW tools or imagers. I reckon that the "Automated Disk Diagnosis" of the Atola Bandura is close to what the OP is looking for: http://atola.com/products/bandura/disk-diagnostics.html.

Apart from less/no control of reset and power lines, and the missing benefit of running in a predefined hardware environment, there are no reasons why the same functionality couldn't be implemented in a software program running under DOS or Linux. But because of the mentioned issues, such a solution would be less stable than any hardware based ones.