What to Do for Fixing The Error of Short DST Warning?

I. What is DST?

DST (Drive Self-Test) refers to a test used to assess the physical integrity of a computer hard drive. Many computer manufacturers integrate the DST short self-test into their systems, which can run synchronously when the computer is started, and its existence will not affect the normal use of the computer. Because the DST short self-test only tests the main components, such as read/write head, ROM, platter, control board and motor, etc., it ensures that these main components are operating within acceptable parameters, when any of them appears When it fails, it generates an error code that helps you understand how the drive is performing and what the problem is.

When you receive the error message “hard disk drive DST short self-test failed”, it means that your computer hard disk has some faults and cannot be used normally. A hard drive failure can also lead to slow computer processes; constant restarts of the computer; hard drive not booting, just a blank screen, etc.

If your computer is still within the warranty period, you can contact the official computer after-sales organization for consultation and repair. If it is no longer within the warranty period, you can take the computer to a professional repair organization for processing. If you want to try to solve it yourself, you can also refer to the following method.

II. How to solve the problem that the hard drive DST short self-test fails?

1. Update the hard disk driver

When the problem of DST short self-test failure of the hard disk drive occurs, if you can enter the system normally after restarting the computer, you can perform the operation of updating the driver in the device manager to try to solve the problem. The specific operation steps are as follows:

Step 1: Run the Windows computer, and then press the keys Windows and R on the keyboard at the same time to open the running window. After entering the command devmgmt.msc, click the OK button to enter the Device Manager.

Step 2: Next, in the Disk Drives, right-click to select the target hard disk, and select the option Update Driver.

Step 3: Next, select the option Search automatically for updated driver software, and then follow the instructions to complete the update of the hard disk driver. After the driver update is complete, restart the device to see if the problem is resolved.

2. Try chkdsk check

If the computer cannot start normally and enter the system, you can first enter the Windows recovery environment, and then use the chkdsk command to try to solve the problem that the hard disk drive DST short self-test failed. The full name of chkdsk is Microsoft Check Disk, which is an instruction program for disk checking. Its basic function is to scan the integrity of the file system on the disk and repair the errors of the file system; in addition, it also supports scanning sectors on the disk, and Attempt to repair bad sectors. Here’s how to do it in detail.

Step 1: Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds to turn off your computer device. Press the power button again to turn on the device. Immediately after you see Windows start up (for example, some devices display the manufacturer’s logo as they start up), press and hold the power button for 10 seconds to shut down your device.

Step 2: Press the power button again to turn on the device. When you see Windows start up, press and hold the power button for 10 seconds to shut down the device.

Step 3: Press the power button again to turn on the device. This time, allow the computer to fully boot. Select (Advanced Options) in the “Automatic Repair” interface. You will then enter the Windows recovery environment.

Step 4: After entering the recovery environment, select Troubleshooting > Advanced Options > Command Prompt.

Step 5: In the command prompt, enter the command chkdsk c: /f /r (C: refers to the failed hard drive letter, you can change the drive letter according to the actual situation; /f can repair the errors found on the disk; /r is to find bad sectors and restore readable information), and press the key Enter. If it prompts that chkdsk cannot run because the target volume is being used by other programs, and asks whether to run the chkdsk check on the next reboot, please enter Y to agree to the request. The command to scan and fix hard disk errors will then be executed on reboot.

3. Restore the system to the previous restore point

When the hard drive SDT short self-test fails, it may cause you to be unable to enter the system normally. At this time, you can try to restore the system to the state when the restore point was created earlier, so that Windows can run normally. The specific operation steps are as follows:

Step 1: Turn on the computer, when the computer brand logo appears, press and hold the power button to force shutdown, repeat more than 3 times, then allow the computer to fully start, select Advanced options in the Automatic Repair interface, the computer will enter the Windows recovery environment middle.

Step 2: When the screen displays to select an option, please click Troubleshooting – Advanced Options – System Restore in sequence.

Step 3: Then, select a recent restore point before the error occurred to restore, click Next and wait for the restore process to complete.

Above, are the common methods to fix hard drive DST short self-test failure. If none of the above methods work, you can try to remove the hard disk and install it in another computer to see if there is any problem. If the hard disk is still faulty, you may need to replace it with a new hard disk. Please note that if you are not familiar with hard disk removal and installation operations, please seek help from the official after-sales department or a professional maintenance organization, so as to avoid other hardware failures of the computer due to misoperation.

If your computer hard disk saves very important files, but you cannot boot into the system to transfer the files, you can try to use Renee PassNow to transfer or restore important files in the computer without entering the Windows system. The following are the detailed operation steps.

III. Use Renee PassNow to transfer or recover important data

1. What is Renee PassNow?

Renee PassNow is a professional system rescue software, which can help Windows users clear Windows account passwords, create new administrator accounts; restore disk/memory card data, recover data after hard disk formatting; transfer disk files; erase or scan Disk files, etc. In addition, this software also supports repairing Windows system problems, such as: repairing MBR boot records, DBR error parameters, 0xc00000e, Windows system startup failure, and some problems that cause black screen or blue screen, etc. As a system rescue tool with various functions, it is perfectly compatible with multiple systems including Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista, and can meet the system rescue needs of different users.

2. How to use Renee PassNow to transfer or recover data?

Since the computer cannot be started and used normally, you can create a startup disk through Renee PassNow, then start the computer through the startup disk, and then use the software function to transfer or restore data. The specific steps are as follows:

Step 1: Download and install Renee PassNow on other computers that can log in and run normally, then connect the U disk to the PC, run Renee PassNow, and then check in “Step 1: Select creation method” (Create a Live USB) option. (Note: Before performing this operation, please make sure that the important files in the U disk have been saved in other locations, because the operation process will delete all the data in the U disk.)

Step 2: Next, select (x64) or (x86) according to the system type, click the (Download Now) button to download the ISO file, click the (Create a Live USB) button after the file is downloaded, and click the (Eject USB) button.

Step 3: Connect the created boot device to the computer that needs to transfer data, turn on the computer, and then the shortcut key to enter the BIOS will be displayed on the computer screen (the display time of this interface is very short, maybe only one or two seconds), click continuously BIOS shortcut key to enter the BIOS setting interface, and then set the boot U disk as the first in the boot sequence in Boot Priority, then save the settings and restart the computer.

Step 4: Wait for a while, after Renee PassNow is loaded, select (Data Transfer). If you need to transfer the data of the entire hard disk, you can select the (Data Backup) option.

Step 5: You can click on each disk drive letter (C/D/E/F, etc.) to check whether important files are lost. If not, it is recommended that you transfer them to an external disk. The operation of transferring data is very simple. For example, if you want to transfer the data in the C drive to the G drive, you can first select the C drive on the upper left, select the G drive on the upper right, and then select the files in the C drive, and click the Copy function button in the middle. Disk data can be easily transferred. If there is a file you want to delete, you can also click the (Delete) button in the middle after selecting the file, but the deletion operation cannot be undone, please operate with caution.

Step 6: If you find that there is data loss, please select the (Undeleter) option on the main interface of the function, and click the (Run) button.

Step 7: Select (Fast Partition Scan) to scan the target hard disk.

Step 8: After the scan is complete, select the file to be recovered, click the (Recover) button to execute the data recovery command, please save the file in another external disk, eject the U disk after the recovery is complete, and then perform other operations on the computer, such as maintenance , replace the hard disk or reinstall the system, etc.