Checking out newly installed HDD

A number of sources recommend that a newly installed HDD should be checked out by running a Scandisk thorough surface scan *in addition* to the HDD manufacturers diagnostic tests.

When I added a 100GB HDD to my seven-year-old Dell Dimension 4100 (733 Mhz) I ran a Scandisk thorough surface scan from safe-mode. It took 14.7 hours!

I'm planning to build a PC which will have two HDDs, each at least 300GB. How should I check out those HDDs?

Related question: Is there a Linux equivalent of Scandisk thorough surface scan? It is frequently stated that the Linux equivalent of Scandisk is "fsck" (File system check). The manpage for fsck does not list an option for thorough surface scan.
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