What program to check the hard drive for errors. Checking the hard drive for health

A computer or laptop is associated precisely with errors and malfunctions in the hard drive. In this article, we will figure out how to check the health hard drive using Windows tools and programs specially designed for this.

Check for errors by standard means

This method is equally effective for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10. You must:

If a notification appears "Windows cannot check the drive that is currently in use", You should click "Check Schedule".

So, now we are doing a reboot, and when the system boots, the health test through the BIOS and the media error corrections will start. Its duration can be from 2-3 minutes to an hour, depending on the characteristics of the hard drive and its capacity.

Check hard drive for errors via command line

To start the scan, you must perform the following steps: go to "Start / All Programs / Accessories / Command line". Right-click and click "Run as administrator". There are also .

In the window that appears, execute the command "chkdsk disk_partition: check_parameters". It should be taken into account that this way works exclusively with drives that have been formatted in FAT32, NTFS or RAW (this format).

An example command would be "chkdsk C: /F /R". Its essence is as follows:

• Section C will be checked for errors;
• Found problems will be automatically fixed (parameter F is responsible for this);
• Bad sectors will be checked and information restored (parameter R);

If you want to diagnose the drive used by the system in this moment, you will see a special notification. You will be prompted to run the scan the next time you boot your computer. To agree with this, press Y, to refuse - N. Based on the results of the check, information about the verified data, the number of bad sectors and the errors found will become available to you.

To obtain full list options, run chkdsk with a question mark as an option. But if you need a simple check for errors and sectors, then the above information will be enough for you.

It happens that the errors found during the scan are not always immediately correctable, it is likely that this is due to the program running at that time. In this situation, an offline scan of the drive is required: it is disconnected from operation, diagnostics are carried out, and then it is connected back. To do this, you need to enter “chkdsk C: / f / offlinescanandfix” at the command line (C: is the disk partition). If it is not possible to disable it, then the check will be performed at the next reboot.

If necessary, after the check, you have the opportunity to examine the check log. For this you need:

1. Go to Windows Logs / Applications;
2. Right-click on Application / Search;
3. Search for the word Chkdsk;

Program check

Of course, the above method is not always effective. Therefore, we will consider a number of programs such as Victoria. They will allow for the most thorough analysis. hard state disk on a computer or laptop.

Victoria

A utility for diagnosing and testing a hard drive. It will help you not only to detect problems in its operation, but also to eliminate them.
The program has a number of advantages and useful functions:

• Reads the hard drive passport and provides detailed information;
• 5 diagnostic modes;
• Eliminates crashes;
• Displays unstable areas;
• Hides defects;
• Estimates media performance.

Victoria is one of the best to date. It is able to solve problems with bad sectors and quickly bring any type of hard drive into operational state. However, it was dedicated to her, with which I certainly recommend that you familiarize yourself.

HDD Regenerator

One of the most effective programs for assessing the status and troubleshooting drives. It makes it possible to obtain information on the account of the current SMART status of the selected device and full control above him.
Among the main possibilities are:

• Simple and clear interface;
• Complete security;
• Support for NTFS and FAT;
• Pre-scan mode;

Real-time HDD monitoring;
That is, with the help of the regenerator, you can test the hard drive as efficiently as possible.

Test Disk

Designed to determine the status and test drives. In addition to simple diagnostics, it also detects bad sectors and fixes any errors found. Its main features include:

• Perform an analysis of the current state of the hard drive;
• Search bad sectors;
• Recovery of deleted partitions;
• MFT fix;

Checking external hard drives;
In addition, the utility has a number of other functions that are associated with the recovery of deleted files.

Hitachi Drive Fitness Test

An excellent program designed to find and fix problems on drives. It is universal, since any drive can be diagnosed. With its help, you can very quickly find out the current position of the hard drive, as well as get information about it. Additional information.
Includes:

• A quick but thorough check;
• Support for all components;
• Monitoring;
• data statistics;

This utility is suitable for all devices and can be used even on a netbook.

Seagate Seatools for Windows

Used to check and test the status of the hard drive. She finds any problems and failures.

• The utility is able to fix:
• Hardware incompatibility;
• Violations of the HDD file system;
• Mistakes installed drivers;
• that infect file system;

In addition, it provides complete information about the media and all related indicators. According to the developers, this utility is incredibly effective when self fix minor problems, SSD and HDD errors, and is able to fully restore their performance.

There are other very effective utilities, for example, . The main advantage of which is the work from under DDOS, which completely eliminates the possible inaccuracy of the data during testing.

So, now you have complete information on how to determine if the HDD, and how to independently solve the problems associated with it. Choose the most suitable or the option you like and act!

Video: we make a complete diagnosis of the HDD

In a modern computer, the hard drive is the most unreliable device. Since the number of failures this component is very large, and the whole danger is that you cannot predict the time when it will break, but you can periodically check the hard drive for serviceability. Due to untimely diagnostics and prevention, many users lose important information. Therefore, I recommend that you always pay attention to how your computer works.

If, then you need to check the hard drive for serviceability. How to do this, I will tell you in this article.

Let's first look at how a hard drive works and what it consists of.

HDD consists of glass and aluminum plates, which are covered with a special layer of ferromagnetic material. If you say in simple words, then the hard drive is a magnetic recording device.

For clarity, I attach an image of the insides of the HDD.

In the production of hard drives, at the final stage, low-level formatting is carried out, which forms a “disk map”, marking it into tracks and sectors. Special marks are also applied so that the head falls into the desired sector. A sector is a unit of measure for a hard disk and is equal to 512 bytes.

To check the hard drive for serviceability, we will use special programs.

HDD Temperature Check

It is important to monitor the temperature of the hard drive, as overheating can lead to its failure. To check the temperature of the hard drive, you can use utilities such as AIDA or HDD Life.

You can download these programs on the official websites, for this, enter in the names of the programs.

After installing the HDDLife program, run it, and you will clearly see the status of your hard drive, as well as its temperature.

You can also test the disk if you wish.

AT AIDA program you can also see the parameters of the disk temperature.

To do this, run the program, open the item "Computer" - "Sensors"

All information at a glance. If you see that the temperature of the hard drives is high enough, you need to install active cooling. Special cooling systems for hard drives are sold in stores.

We check the status of the hard drive with CrystalDiskInfo.

You can download the CrystalDiskInfo program from the official website, it is distributed free of charge, but it has quite rich functionality and can provide all the necessary information to the user about the state of the disk. If the program after diagnostics determines that the disk is fully functional, it will give a status assessment as “Good”. If there are any problems, the program will give an "Alarm" or "Bad" rating if the drive is in a dying state.

You can also see S.M.A.R.T information in CrystalDiskInfo - this is the initial data by which the program evaluates the state of the disk.

We check the status of the hard drive with the Victoria program.

In order to prevent problems with the hard drive in advance, I recommend using the Victoria program under Windows. With it, you can get a large number of important information about the disk, as well as check the disk for bad sectors and preventive measures. The program has a free and paid version, to determine the state of the disk, it will be enough for us to use demon paid version. The program is suitable even for beginners, as it has an intuitive interface, and when scanning the HDD, the user clearly sees the state of the sectors.

Since we are only interested in the state of the disk, we will not delve into the process of deep checking and restoring problem sectors, if any, but for a complete understanding, I will describe the main functions. To begin with, we download the program, it is quite light and weighs less than 1 mb, so after downloading, we launch the application - an icon with a green cross. In the main window of the program you will see horizontal menu with switching tabs. Let's consider the most important ones.

During the test, the program will scan the disk for readability of sectors, as you can see, the quality of the sectors is highlighted different colors. Let's see what each color means.

• Gray sectors are the fastest sectors, we have no questions about them.
• Green - sectors that work slower, they are also in good condition.
• Orange - slow sectors, if the disk has a lot of such sectors, then you need to think about its health, because because of them, the disk starts to work more slowly, and as a rule, such sectors will fail in the future.
• Red - sectors are damaged and cannot be read. If the program detects them, you need to think about a new disk.
• Blue sectors with a cross are those that caused a failure when reading. Information from them cannot be recovered, but you can make the replacement of this sector a working one, and perhaps the disk will work a little more, but it’s better not to delay the replacement.

If you pay attention, then there are four buttons on the test tab panel: Ignore, Erase, Remap, Restore, they will also be useful to us, consider their purpose.

• Ignore - a function in which only a surface test is performed and no actions are applied to bad sectors.
• Erase - when this function is enabled, bad sectors will be overwritten.
• Remap - if given function is enabled, the program will try to replace bad sectors with working ones. That is, when scanning, the program finds a bad sector, marks it as not working and replaces it with a good, working sector.
• Restore - this feature is available only in the paid version of the program. When enabled, the program will try to restore the non-working sector.

I have described the main functions of the program, you just have to select the one you need and run the scan. It may be quite long, depending on the capacity of the hard disk, as well as on its condition. Therefore, be patient. If many problem sectors are found on your disk, then do not hesitate to purchase a new one, and make sure that you transfer all important information to another as soon as possible and not regret losing it in the future.

That's all for me, now you know how to check the hard drive for serviceability, and you can take steps to replace it in advance.

Today we will learn how to check the hard drive of a computer or laptop for serviceability, what methods exist and what programs with utilities are best used to diagnose the condition of a component.

HOW TO CHECK THE HARD DISK OF A COMPUTER OR LAPTOP FOR SERVICE. FEATURES, METHODS, PROGRAMS AND UTILITIES

Good afternoon, today we will learn how to verify HDD personal computer or a laptop running operating systems Windows 7 , 8 and 10 on the serviceability, as well as which third-party programs better use for condition analysis component. Besides, step by step with help screenshots for clarity, we will demonstrate procedure by careful diagnostics hard drive through various ways and utilities. In conclusion, we will describe what tasks running on a computer or laptop HDD computer and why from time to time you need check Winchester on the damage, which may occur in sectors.

As we know HDD or Winchester is one of the key components personal computer or laptop, which is the main memory block, that is, the part responsible for storage , distribution and moving information. Winchester on a par with physical carrier has its own life time and over time it has a property called sector damage(bad sectors), which is extremely unacceptable in cases where it stored very important or useful information. In this way, examination hard drive on the serviceability or performance- is one of the most important procedures for diagnostics states details that should be able to do any user who owns a personal computer or laptop.

HOW TO DISABLE SLEEP MODE ON A WINDOWS COMPUTER

So, how and with what starts checking the status of the hard drive ? Initially on a computer or laptop is done backup most important files another physical medium, for example on USB flash drive , Flash card , third party HDD (SSD) Winchester or compact disc . We also note that in the event that our diagnosed HDD format SDD or HDD publishes while working extraneous sounds as clicks or there are certain claims to performance component, then before carrying the part immediately into repair, initially, so to speak at home, it is worth using various methods for his checks with the help of third parties programs. Today, there are many different utilities and applications for detailed diagnostics of hard disk segments on the bad sectors, which compatible with any operating system and accessories computer. About such programs, which help we will talk to users in our article in order to install which one is the best check and restore fragments winchester .

1. WAYS CHECKING THE HARD DISK FOR PERFORMANCE. BUILT-IN UTILITIES FOR ANALYSIS

Development company " Microsoft ” has a wide range opportunities to work with different components operating room systems. One of the most common basic or built-in programs operating system Windows considered application CHKDSK , which serves to checks and fixes bad sectors hard drive . Program CHKDSK helps produce verification winchester without installation third party applications. In case if file system hard drive has one or the other mistakes, then basic application help as well eliminate some or all Problems, depending on their difficulties.

Functions of the built-in CHKDSK program :

– Search and correction of found errors in the NTFS/FAT hard disk file system;

- Identification of physically damaged bad sectors;

– Checking third-party media, for example, SSD / HDD drives, USB Flash, SD cards for faults.

How to use the CHKDSK program? Initially the user starts file system scan, which is produced using launch standard window " Run “ located in the user menu “ Start ” working panel operating complex tools Windows XP, 7 ,8 or 10 . If we don't not found on the menu " Start "command line" Run “, then we use the function “ Conductor “.

The procedure for checking the system using the “Explorer” menu :

- First of all, we find in the explorer a section called “My Computer”;

- Then we right-click on the hard drive or its separate media (volume) that needs to be checked;

– On the “Service” tab, you must click on the “Perform check” button. For reference, we note that the check is performed only if the user has administrator rights;

- After all the above steps, the computer's operating system is restarted. In the process of restarting the computer, the Windows disk / s are checked in automatic mode for problems. In addition, when finding problems on the disk, the program fixes them;

– If the program does not find any problems during the verification process, then the procedure ends without correction. In addition, it is worth saying that if there are errors on the disk, their correction can take quite a long time ( reference: up to several hours);

– At the final stage of the scan, the program scans third-party physical media of the system, without restarting the computer.

To How to analyze a disk using the built-in command line? Initially, the user must runcommand line. This can be done with several ways : firstly , run the command " Run “, then we type in the line the condition “ cmd “; Secondly , can be done launch through the menu Start “, then go to the tab “ All programs ", Further " Standard ” and find the utility “ Command line “.

After launch line command, write a condition in the window, for example: “ chkdsk C: /f “, which means verify one or the other disk systems. To produce full check hard drive, after the standard steps, it is necessary reload computer, then you need to wait until the system will be checked on the bad sectors. For reference, we note that in order to get background information on possible parameters checks winchester, in the command window enter the condition “ chkdsk /? “.

As we can see with the help of simple action can be fast enough determine serviceability, as well as health of hard disk volumes and systems generally. For reference, we note that HDD costs check when we just bought new computer or laptop. Besides, examination needed when it happened mistakes at installation applications or moving a large amount of information in the form files. In the event that we rarely use with your computer, then recommended from time to time it turn on, to disperse physical medium, since each Winchester has a certain record resource(overwriting) information and data recording method on the bulk carrier does not provide static.

Embedded programs on identification and troubleshooting, which default go to one or the other operating system Windows perform only superficial inspection for the presence bad sectors disk. Embedded utilitiesnot allocated high precision in discovery malfunctions on the carriers. As recommended by most specialists in the area of computer technology , to spend detailed examination with in-depth analysis hard drive is better take advantage(download and install) third party programs and utilities that are online Internet in free access.

2. PROGRAMS FOR DIAGNOSING THE STATE OF THE HARD DISK

So, as we said earlier, apart from basic or built-in programs for diagnostics states hard drive that go along default in a particular version of the operating system Windows , still big today popularity users deserve third party utilities. third party programs or utilities capable of not only detailed diagnose volumes hard drive but also efficient fix bad sectors and mistakes if available.

Popular third party programs for diagnosing and correcting hard drive errors :

HDDLife : this is the one third party utility, which must be installed each user of a personal computer or laptop. Program controls the health of physical carriers and protects those who do not want suddenly lose important information on the device. Main virtues utility is active indicator states hard drive. HDDLife produces performance measurement computer and determines wear components in online mode.

All indicators displayed as colorful stripes. For example, a stripe Green colour means that with components devices all in okay. Strip yellow color means that, HDD worked part term his services and it follows more closer pay attention in the process exploitation. red stripe programs mean what is needed immediate action relatively hard drive or others system components up to their repair or substitutions, since there is a high probability losses important information.

Also, the program, which in translation from English means “ Life or hard drive life “, displays physical media temperature information. Temperature maybe displayed as scales or digital indicator . As we know too high operating temperature of disks quickly leads them to worthlessness, so it is very important to constantly to control. Utility HDDLife proposed in free access, as with trial(free) version, and paid, in which significantly expanded functionality.

Seagate Seatools : is also at least popular utility, which is very useful for any user modern computer. However, in difference from HDDLife , Seatools - this is narrow on profile program, that is universal and is only compatible with hard drives trademark Seagate (reference: 70% market share of hard drives today), and as for the others physical media models, then their analysis may pass fragmentarily or with mistakes. To to begin enjoy program its just enough install, run and choose necessary points for diagnostics. Utility works completely in automatic mode. On the first stage going on error testing and then them elimination, in the presence of. In case if examination ends successfully, then at the end of the procedure dialog box a sign appears PASS ” – no errors found, and if available problems, the inscription “ FAIL “, that is, found mistakes.

What problems are identified by the program Seagate Seatools :

– Search for bad sectors and errors in the file system of a hard disk in HDD or SDD format;

– Problems in the disk loader of the Windows operating system;

– Incompatibility of hardware and drivers of the Windows operating system;

- Elimination of bad sectors of the hard disk;

– Search for viruses of various complexity and other applications that disrupt the functioning of the hard drive.

Often the program Seagate Tools find and fix mistakes and malfunctions systems on one's own, however, sometimes there are cases when it is required participation user in the procedure. From myself, we note that the first time you use utilities with the aim of checks and bug fixes systems worth stocking up patience, since this process is very painstaking. For reference, we note that duration process can increase proportionately volume and occupied place information on hard drive .

In conclusion, we note that even if the verifiable HDD is in full technical correctness, as recommended specialists, still worth it always saveimportant information, which stored on the hard drive. Backups important files best done on third party carrier. For reference, we note that today there are a large number of programs who are capable restore lost or corrupted files, as well as fragments hard drive. However, we must understand that Not allutilities fully capable recover lost files, especially if they erased With physically damaged carrier. That's why backup is the only and correct way saving important information, which stored on the hard drive.

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Today, there are many free programs for checking hard drives on the Internet. They will help you determine if there is a problem with your drive or if you can still use it safely.

You can use the standard verification tool Windows errors(aka chkdsk), but it won't give you all the information about the status of your HDD. The Windows Check Disk scans and fixes errors in the Windows file system, but does not work with its hardware.

Below we will consider a selection of 14 programs designed to work with both the software and hardware of the hard drive, as well as its.

All of them are suitable for diagnosing and troubleshooting the HDD of your computer or laptop.

TOP 14 computer programs that will help test the hard drive.

1.Seagate SeaTools.

SeaTools program interface

SeaTools is software for testing and analyzing hard drives at the hardware level. Can perform quick or full read/write tests, show SMART scores and firmware information.

The software was created by Seagate in response to the fact that more than a third of all hard drives sent for repair were in fact free of defects.

Seagate SeaTools is a free hard drive testing software that comes in two versions, dos and Windows.

One of the main advantages of this version of SeaTools for DOS is the ability to work independently of your operating system on a CD or USB drive.

SeaTools for Windows is a program installed on Windows OS. Using it, you can perform basic and advanced testing, both internal and external hard disk. It works on hard drives from all manufacturers.

Key features of the SeaTools program:

1. Is completely free;
2. Works not only in the operating room Windows system, but also with removable media USB type;
3. There is an opportunity to know serial number hard drive (useful for tracking HDD year and warranty)

We have highlighted the main advantages of the program, we will write in more detail in the review a little later.

HddScan program interface

Is free program, designed to test hard drives of absolutely all manufacturers. Thanks to this program, you can test your device and identify read / write errors, bad sectors and much more.

HDDScan has some very useful tools.

• Smart test (SMART-test) of the surface for broken sectors.
• Ability to support RAID arrays, USB flash drives and SSD drives.
• In addition, you will be able to see and analyze the SMART attributes of the hard drive.
• Useful for regularly checking the performance of the hard drive and predicting the time of a possible breakdown.

Features of HDDScan:

Easy to use. Can be transferred to USB. Updated regularly.

Supported OS: Windows XP/ 7/ 8.1/ 10.

3.Disk Checkup.

DiskCheckup program interface

DiskCheckup is a free program for testing most hard drives.

By installing it, you can see the read error rate, temperature, and many other parameters of interest. In addition, using this utility, you can conduct a quick and extended disk test.

It has the ability to configure sending to email notifications when a manufacturer's threshold is exceeded. This helps to remotely quickly find out about the occurrence of hard drive problems.

PassMark DiskCheckup™ allows the user to track SMART attributes.

Peculiarities:

hard drives with SCSI interface or a hardware RAID connection are not supported and cannot be detected by DiskCheckup™.

Supported OS: Windows XP/ 7/ 8.1/ 10. Windows Server 2008/2003.

4.G smart control.

Gsmart program interface

This program can perform various tests of the hard drive, providing detailed results and giving an overall assessment of the health of the drive.

The utility has a nice graphical user interface (GUI) with an open source code. Works with SMART HDD data.

It is a valuable tool that allows the user to predict and prevent hard drive failures before they occur.

Peculiarities:

1. Can work on Apple products
2. Installed on *nix family of systems

Supported OS: Windows XP/ 7/ 8.1/ 10.

5. Test drive for Windows Drive (WinDFT).

WinDFT program interface

Test Drive for Windows Drive is a free software designed to diagnose Hard Drives. It is suitable for almost all hard drives available today.

WinDFT (or the full name in English Hitachi Drive Fitness Test) has a wide range of applications. Tests both internal and external HDD as well as USB sticks.

Supported OS: Windows XP/ 7/ 8.1/ 10.

6.Samsung Hutil.

samsung util program interface

Samsung HUTIL (ES-Tool) is a utility designed to test hard drives.

It is available as ISO image to burn to a CD or flash drive. Thereby this program is one of the most convenient. It can be run even from a regular floppy disk.

It's a bit more difficult to use than other programs because it doesn't have the usual graphical interface.

Peculiarities.

The downside of using it is that it can only be used on Samsung hard drives.

Supported OS: Windows XP/ 7/ 8.1/ 10.

7.Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic (c).

Data Lifeguard program interface

This utility is a free software designed to test hard drives manufactured by Western Digital.

It is available both for installation through the installer and through boot file ISO.

Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows is a simple free tool. When extracting and clicking on executable file, the program opens and scans the system, displaying physical drives and logical drives.

The program is extremely easy to use and understandable even for a beginner.

8.EASIS Drive.

EASIS Drive Check program interface

Two main features of EASIS Drive:

1. Sector check test;
2. Work with SMART hard drive.

With the help of the "second opportunity", you can see more than 40 values ​​of the current HDD.

By using the sector test, you can check the surface of the media and see the errors.
At the end of the verification procedure, a special report is generated in which you can see everything you need.

9.HD Tune.

HdTune program interface

This program is simple and convenient and is designed to test HDDs. It is designed for use on Windows operating systems. With it, you can check the general condition of the hard drive, run a check for errors, and perform various tests.

The program is easy to use, supports internal and external devices storage and allows you to copy all the information found.

10.Macrorit Disk Scanner.

Macrorit program interface

It is a surprisingly simple and easy to use program. Installation and operation with it will not be difficult. With it, you can check for bad sectors on your hard drive.

It is extremely understandable, and a clear advantage against the background of competitors' programs can be called the absence of the need for installation. On the screen, you can see the progress of the scan and inspect problem areas.

Also, during the scanning process, you can observe the time until it is completed. After scanning, you can turn off the computer in automatic mode.

Supported OS: Windows XP/ 7/ 8.1/ 10.

11.Fujitsu Windows Diagnostic Tool (For IDE/ATA/SATA Hard Drives).

Fujitsu Diagnostic program interface

Fujitsu Diagnostic Tool is a program available in only two formats, one runs on Windows OS, the other runs from a flash drive or from an optical disc.

You can use the latter regardless of which OS is installed on the HDD.

It is an excellent hard drive diagnostic tool that you can download, install and use for free. A feature is the ability to work only with Fujitsu hard drives.

Using it, you can run two tests to troubleshoot your hard drive: a quick test and a full test. They have different check times.

You can use this tool in all Windows versions, starting in 2000 and ending in 10.

12.Microsoft Windows built-in error checking.

Using it is quite convenient to check for errors on the Windows operating system. Most often this check is called scandisk. It is especially convenient to use it if your system has stopped booting. With its help, you can eliminate operating system errors and, if possible, transfer information from a broken area.

Call the file system checker and Microsoft errors Windows can be done using the command line. Using the key combination WIN + R, the "Run" window is called up and cmd command or right-click on Start and call "Command Prompt (Admin)". In the window that opens, select the logical drive and enter the chkdsk / f command. Enter

13. Test Bart (Barts stuff test).

This utility is a free hard drive stress test. It will serve as a worthy addition to the general arsenal of utilities designed for testing the hard drive.

In general, it is considered that it is used only for testing in operating systems. Windows families, from 95 to XP. But, as experience shows, it is quite possible to use it for testing in Windows 8 and 10.

14. Ariolic Disk Scanner.

Ariolic Disk program interface

With this program, you can check your hard drive for read / write errors and find bad sectors. This program providesa minimal interface with only one button, so this program is extremely convenient and understandable. It is portable, so it does not require installation. The only thing to say about it is that it displays files with reading errors. Therefore, if there are none, extract more useful information about your disk you won't succeed.

Compatible with Windows 10 and XP, but also works with some other versions of Windows.

In order to avoid loss of information from the hard disk, treat it with care - do not drop it, do not accelerate it during operation (do not sharply understand and do not lower it). Enjoy the best free software for testing and diagnosing HDD.

Letter. Difficult question for the site administrator site and please answer plain language in order to be understandable to the average user.

How to check the hard drive for health, and most importantly, is it possible to remove bad sectors from the hard disk or, as they are called, bad blocks, which, as it turned out, are of several types:
- physical (crumbling magnetic layer of working plates, chips, etc.),
- logical (sector logic errors), logical bad blocks, can also be attributed software bads, that is, soft-bads (file system errors).
Before writing to you, I have been investigating this issue for quite some time and I realized that ordinary user superficial and inaccurate information is known, namely: many people think that all bad sectors or bad blocks are removed by regular formatting, but this is not so. It turns out that it is impossible to remove physical bads at all, but logical ones can only be removed with the help of special programs and only software bad blocks or soft bads (file system errors) can be removed with ordinary Windows tools, for example using or regular formatting. Why am I all this.

Recently, I had to go to a service center about the strange behavior of my computer. Firstly, periodic freezes were observed, lasting for several seconds, and sometimes for good, I had to restart the computer with the Reset button. Occasionally, strange clicks and creaks were heard from the hard drive. Strange folders without names were found in the system. The simple process of copying a file from one hard drive partition to another took an awfully long time. Also, the operating system often checked the hard disk for errors when the computer was turned on, and the last time it issued BOOTMGR is missing on a black screen, given error restored with installation disk seven, but a day later, when booting up, the computer gave out just a black screen, I thought enough was enough and contacted the service center.

AT service center Technical Specialist scanned my hard drive with the free HDDScan program.

Unfortunately, the master did not explain anything when checking, he showed me only after checking the presence of 12 bad blocks (English bad sector, bad block, bad sectors-damaged) marked in blue by the program. Another 90 sectors were marked in red, they were not bad blocks yet, but their response time was not good, more than 500 ms.

The wizard also showed me the S.M.A.R.T of my hard drive and recognized it as not very good, since the most important parameter is Reallocated Sector Count, which indicates the number of remapped sectors (when the disk detects a read / write error, the sector is marked “remapped”, and data from the damaged sector or in other words, the physical bad block is transferred to the spare area) is almost critical, it is responsible for the physical defects of the hard disk, which can no longer be corrected.

Another parameter, Current Pending Errors Count, which is responsible for the number of sectors that are difficult to read and is very different from reading a normal sector, was also marked in yellow, which indicated its poor condition. The expert’s advice was this: Transfer all important data from the hard drive and “treat” it in this HDDScan program, but since there are a lot of bad blocks, most likely, it will not be possible to fix all of them and it will no longer be possible to install the operating system on it, in Subsequently, you need to use this hard drive as a file storage or, as they say, a file trash can, only in this way, it will live for some more time.

I listened to the master and left the hard drive in the service for "treatment" until the evening, and in the evening the result was shown to me.

Not a single bad sector (bad block), but there were 12. The number of sectors with a response time of more than 500 ms has become less (it was 90, but it became 23),

one of the critical S.M.A.R.T indicators - 197 Current Pending Errors Count-responsible, as I said, for the number of sectors, the reading of which is difficult, has become normal, the parameter 198 Uncorrectable Errors Count- the number of uncorrected errors when accessing the sector also became within the normal range, but the most important Reallocated Sector Count indicator, according to him, did not change and remained unsatisfactory, so the conclusion is this: the operating system cannot be installed on this hard disk.

And I have a question for you, explain in detail, how to check hard drive on professional suitability on my own, how to determine how many bad sectors I have and what are they? How to use programs like HDDScan, and most importantly, how to get rid of bad blocks with it. What exactly does the program do with the hard drive, ridding it of bad blocks, and for how long will such hard drive treatment help? Is it still possible to install an operating system on this hard drive or not? And the last question, the unrecoverable parameter S.M.A.R.T - Reallocated Sector Count can still be fixed and whether physical bads are actually unrecoverable at all, on many forums on the Internet they say that there is proprietary utilities manufacturers hard drives, capable of performing low-level formatting at home. Alexander Anatolievich. Tomsk.

How to check hard drive

Friends, they say brevity - sister of talent, one of my friends, after reading this question, answered it like this:- “You can’t fix a scratch with anything, but a soft bad is treated with zero.”

The topic is not simple, but relevant, the article is long, but I tried to make it understandable to a simple user. To make it easier to understand everything, I suggest step by step checking the MAXTOR STM3250310AS hard drive installed in the computer, which was brought to our service for repair, with the free HDDScan program. The operating system installed on the hard drive freezes from time to time, refuses to boot, giving various errors or just a black screen. The hard drive creaks and clicks, (I will explain why below). Reinstalling Windows did not help the case and the owners of the computer do not know what to do.

So how to check hard drive status? This can be done by various tests in the HDDScan program, first we will check the S.M.A.R.T indicators of this hard drive, then we will test the surface of the hard drive, we will find no less than 63 bad sectors and our program will fix them all, another question for how long (read below).

• But before very short information about how a hard drive is built, if you don’t make this digression, you simply won’t understand the principle of operation of the HDDScan program and other similar programs, all the more you won’t understand what S.M.A.R.T is, as well as bad sectors (bad blocks) and why some of them cannot be fixed.

The hard disk is made of aluminum or glass plates coated with a layer of ferromagnetic material. A hard disk is primarily a device that works on the principle of magnetic recording. Magnetic heads that read, write or erase information from a hard disk hover above its surface at a height of 10-12 nm and never touch the surface of a magnetic disk, which is easily damaged.

• At the final stage of hard drive production, low-level formatting, that is, tracks are applied to the working plates of the hard disk, each track is divided into sectors. Also, special magnetic servo marks are applied to the magnetic surface of the hard disk, they are needed to accurately hit the magnetic head of the hard drive on the tracks of the hard disk. The smallest unit of information on a hard disk is a sector. available to the user is 512 bytes of data. Low-level formatting in the life of a hard disk occurs only once, friends, and only on special and very expensive factory equipment - called Servowriter. Information written using this formatting will never be overwritten. In any service, friends, such formatting cannot be done. Therefore, my answer to the question of whether it is possible to carry out low-level formatting using the means of the operating system will be the answer - no, it is not possible. Low-level formatting can only be done at the factory, it even destroys tracks, sectors and magnetic servos. For example, in the program, Victoria overwrites all information on the hard disk by filling all sectors with zeros, this cannot be called low-level formatting, but it cannot be called formatting either, it is something in between. After the Write mode, all sectors of the hard disk are filled with zeros and do not contain any errors, and it can be formatted into the file system using Windows tools.
• At the factory, only service information is written to the sectors ( servo-information servo-service, for example, the physical address of the sector and the address marker that determines the beginning of the sector), this information can be called markup, it is needed for the normal operation of the hard disk, this is information about the numbers of tracks and sectors, which is necessary for the heads to correctly hit these tracks and sectors when reading information recorded in them.
  After purchasing the hard drive, user data will also be written to this area later (for example, the first sector of the hard drive will contain the main boot record MBR), but user data can be written and erased, in contrast to service information, which has a much higher magnetization, which is why the read-write heads of the drive can't rub it.

All service information about track and sector numbers will be stored in a special table located in a closed and inaccessible to OS and BIOS tools service area, which is a mini-operating system, together with Firmware, they control the operation of the hard disk. Sometimes they ask the question - Do I sometimes need to update the firmware of the hard drive, the answer is no, modern hard drives do not need to be updated. This SA will also store the disk passport, SMART attribute values, as well as a defect table with information about unrecoverable or reassigned bad sectors (bad blocks).
So we got with you to the physical, logical and software bad sectors.

The fact is friends, if the operating system has problems reading data from any sector, then the hard drive controller makes several additional attempts to read the data, if they are also unsuccessful, this sector is recognized as a failure, then information is written to the normal sector , located on the backup track, and the problem sector is recognized as a failure and removed from circulation, this is called ( Remapping , in the common people remap).

• Friends, whether to remap or not is decided only by the hard disk controller during operation, and not by any programs for working with the hard drive (Victoria, MHDD). These programs can only hint with their tests (for example, Advanced REMAP in the Victoria program - an improved algorithm for hiding bad blocks) to the hard drive controller that a REMAP needs to be done.

The fact that a sector is recognized as bad is entered in the defect table with information about unrecoverable or reassigned bad sectors located in the service area.

By the way, there are two defect tables, one initial P-list (Primary-list) is created after the final factory tests, any friends hard drive already has several reassigned bad blocks when it leaves the factory. Well, the growing G-list (Grown-list) table of defects is filled in as we use the hard disk.

What are bad sectors and how to fix them?

• Physical bad sectors are mechanical defects in the magnetic coating of the hard disk surface (crumbling magnetic layer of working plates, chips, etc.). That is, the sector structure itself is physically faulty, such a bad block is undoubtedly subject to reassignment as a normal sector from the backup track. Very often this happens due to an impact caused, for example, by dropping a hard drive on the floor, mechanical damage magnetic coating of the hard disk, damage to the magnetic heads, the same can happen due to overheating. Vibration of the hard drive is also dangerous if it is not securely fixed. A dusty room, smoking, despite the filter installed in the hard drive, also play a huge role in the formation of bad blocks, tobacco tar and dust stick to the surface of the hard drive and interfere with reading information.
• Physical bad blocks impossible fix it with no formatting, you can only reassign spare sectors from backup tracks, naturally, because of this, performance will drop somewhat, since the magnetic head of the hard drive will have to make many additional movements, looking for information on the reassigned sectors from backup tracks.

Why does the hard drive creak and clicks sometimes when working

When the operating system encounters a bad sector, the hard disk controller makes several attempts to read information from it, while clicks and creaks can be emitted by the hard drive head positioner.

The following reason may also be the cause of clicks and creaking of the hard drive. When reassigning a bad sector to a normal one from a backup track (which is not always nearby), the magnetic head naturally has to change direction, as many people say, jump from side to side.

The third reason - as I said above, in the manufacture of a hard drive, a special marking of the magnetic surface of hard drives is made with special servo marks, these servo marks serve for precise positioning of the magnetic head on the tracks of the hard drive, it is with the help of servo marks that the magnetic head of the hard drive moves correctly. Sometimes servo tags are destroyed for the same reasons that physical bad blocks are formed and the magnetic head cannot take and hold the position it needs, while clicks and creaks are heard from the hard drive.

• Logic bad blocks(sector logic errors), in turn divided into correctable and incorrigible. In which case logical bad block cannot be fixed? As I said above, each sector, in addition to user information, also contains service information (servo information, for example, the physical address of the sector and the address marker that determines the beginning of the sector), in simple words, the markup with which the magnetic head of the hard drive gets to the desired tracks of the sectors, such a markup applied by low-level formatting at the factory during the manufacture of the hard drive. This information it is almost impossible to remove it because it is highly magnetized, but under certain circumstances, similar to the causes of the appearance of physical bad blocks (shock, vibration, bearing play, and so on), this information is violated and it can be restored only in the factory. Yes, there are special proprietary utilities that overwrite service information, but due to the complexity of their application, this issue is difficult even for narrow specialists and we will not consider it.
• Logic bad blocksthat can be corrected. When writing to the user information sector, a portion of service information is additionally recorded, the so-called ECC sector checksum (Error Correction Code), given code allows you to recover data if they were read with an error. But sometimes this code is not written, and accordingly the sum of user data in the sector does not match the ECC checksum. One of simple examples why this happens, you can cause a sudden shutdown of the computer due to power failures, because of this, information was written to the hard disk sector, but there was no checksum. The next time the operating system will access this sector and try to read data from it, but they will not match the ECC checksum, an attempt will be made to read the data again and again unsuccessfully (here you get freezes and a bad bad block).
• Software bad blocks(file system errors - for example, an incorrectly marked sector belonging to two files) can be removed by means of the operating system -, more reliably, by regular formatting.

You will say that all this is good and understandable, but how to get rid of bad blocks, can you transfer data from the hard drive and format it in the operating system installer?

When formatting by all means available to the operating system, the same attempt will be made to read information from the bad sector, then compare them with the ECC checksum, but it does not match, which means that incorrect information will not be overwritten and the bad sector will remain bad even after formatting. So it turns out what is needed special program, such as MHDD or HDDScan, which will not read anything, but simply overwrite it forcibly, will usually fill the bad sector with zeros, but then it will read what was written and compare the checksum, after which the sector will return to work.

For example, the HDDScan program has the Erase function - Test in linear recording mode (sector-by-sector erasing of data), carefully all your data will be deleted. Unfortunately, nothing will work without deleting the data, therefore, before this test, they must be transferred to another storage medium.

And the best thing is to completely remove your hard drive and connect it to another computer that has the HDDScan program, then run the Erase test and check your entire hard drive. You can not shoot anything, write down boot disks with MHDD or Victoria programs, boot from them and run these programs with the Advanced remap function, but we will do this in other articles.

Now friends go directly to work with the HDDScan program, with the help of this program, we will see the full picture of what is happening with our hard drive, namely, we will find out the S.M.A.R.T of our hard drive and decrypt it, we will also set the number of bad sectors and of course we will try to fix them.
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