How to check the hard drive for serviceability? Methods for diagnosing the technical condition of a hard drive. Checking HDD for bad sectors and correcting errors. Checking HDD speed. HDD checking program
The hard drive is an extremely important hardware component of a PC. Therefore, the user may need to solve problems related to testing the hard drive for errors, as well as correcting them. What tools can be used for this? What are the most common errors in hard drive operation?
What problems can arise with the hard drive?
Before looking at how to test a hard drive, let's look at what might be a reason to carry out an appropriate check. What problems might arise in his work?
To use the utility in question, you need to go to the “Computer” section, then right-click on the hard drive icon. There may be several of them, in which case it makes sense to check each one in turn. After right-clicking on the hard drive icon in the menu that opens, select the “Properties” option. In the window that appears, go to the “Service” tab. Then click on the “Run check” button and follow the instructions.
In some versions of Windows, the utility in question is not configured to test logical drives on which OS system files are located. But in this case, the Disk Check program provides an option: initiating testing of the hard drive upon subsequent loading of the operating system. You can select it and immediately restart Windows: during the startup process, the system itself should ask the user for permission to scan the disk on which the system files are located.
So now we know how to test your hard drive using the popular built-in Windows tool, Chkdsk. This solution allows you to quite effectively correct file system errors. But what if the supposed malfunction of the hard drive is associated with the appearance of bad sectors on it? How to test the hard drive of a laptop or desktop for relevant damage?
A wide range of solutions can be used for these purposes. The most popular of them include programs such as:
- Data Lifeguard Diagnostic.
- HDD Scan.
- Ashampoo HDD Control.
- Victoria HDD.
- AIDA64 (formerly Everest).
- MHDD.
Let's study their features.
Hard drive testing: Data Lifequard Diagnostic
This program was developed by the Western Digital brand, which is one of the world's most famous hard drive manufacturers. How to test a hard drive for errors using this software?
The corresponding program operates in several modes. The most informative mode from the point of view of reflecting information about errors on the disk is the extended testing mode - Extended Test. In particular, it can be used to find damaged sectors on the surface of the hard drive platters. If they are detected, the program will prompt the user to use an algorithm through which bad sectors will be excluded from those used by the hard drive to write and read files.
Hard drive testing: HDD Scan
Another popular solution for checking disks is the HDD Scan program. How to test the hard drive of a laptop or desktop computer using it?
The application in question also contains several tests. Among those that may be useful for us is the Surface Tests test. It, like the previous solution, allows you to analyze the surface of the disk platters for damaged sectors. It is noteworthy that the program in question allows you to detect not only bad sectors, but also those that have problems with reading and writing. Thus, HDD Scan can identify areas on the surface of the hard drive platters where the reading speed can be tens of times lower than normal values. In practice, this may mean, as in the case of bad sectors, it is desirable to exclude the corresponding sections from those used by the hard drive for writing files.
Disc testing: Ashampoo
Another popular program is Ashampoo HDD Control. How can I test my hard drive for errors with it?
It is worth noting that the application in question contains a fairly large number of tools for checking the hard drive, as well as working with detected disk problems. Of these, you can use, for example, the option for testing the surface of the device plates - Test Surface.
Based on the results of the corresponding test, it shows sectors that have high reading rates, as well as bad sectors.
Victoria HDD
The next popular solution for checking hard drives is Victoria HDD. It can be noted that this program allows you to both test the hard drive on Windows 7 (8 or any other) and check the hard drive through the DOS command line.
This feature increases the versatility of the solution under consideration. In addition, the corresponding software has very good functionality.
Thus, the program allows you to test your hard drive for bad sectors, reassign their use, and classify areas of the hard drive surface into different categories depending on the speed of reading files from them.
If you are using the English graphical version of the program in question, you need to launch it, then go to the Tests tab. It contains tests of the surface of the hard drive platters. If necessary, you can configure the program's actions when bad sectors are detected:
- ignoring the problem (with its subsequent reflection in the test results);
- reassignment of sectors;
- deleting sectors;
- restoration of damaged disk areas.
If necessary, you can use each of the specified program operating modes in turn.
Hard drive testing: AIDA64 program
Many users are interested in the question of how to test a hard drive. Now old versions of the corresponding software are available on various portals on the Internet. The fact is that in the newest modifications the program is called differently, its name sounds like AIDA64.
It is worth noting that this type of software is one of the most functional solutions for testing equipment performance. For example, using the program in question, you can test the speed of your hard drive, and not only that. Using it, you can also measure the performance of RAM, processor, and flash drives.
The functionality of the program includes various stress tests, which involve testing in maximum load mode. The corresponding type of tests can also be carried out for the computer’s hard drive.
Checking the disk for errors: MHDD program
According to IT experts, the MHDD program is one of the most functional solutions for checking hard drives for errors. When considering which program to test a hard drive, specialists can choose the MHDD solution because:
- it includes a qualitative test of the surface of hard drive platters;
- it can be launched in a bootable format - for example, from a flash drive, which allows you to test the hard drive before installing any operating system on it;
- the program includes a large number of useful tests, as well as disk repair tools;
- the corresponding software is free.
Of course, the solution in question can also work from the operating system. The specific way to use it depends on the nature of the problem with the disks, on the hardware configuration on a particular PC, and on the specifics of the operating system used, if it is pre-installed on the computer.
MHDD program: testing the disk
Let's consider a number of practical nuances of using the corresponding popular program. Let's agree that the user needs to use the boot version of this software. To do this, you need to make a device with which the program will be launched, for example a flash drive or CD.
After the device is ready, you need to configure booting from it in the BIOS. By the way, many users also ask the question of how to test a hard drive through BIOS. Computer manufacturers may well implement the necessary options in the appropriate software interfaces to check the performance of hard drives.
When working with the MHDD program, you should take into account a nuance: the solution in question does not work with hard drives that are connected to the computer in Slave mode. If this is the case, the drives need to be reconnected, and only then should they be tested.
After launching the program installed on a bootable USB flash drive or CD, you must select the specific drive that will be tested. Then enter the SCAN command on the command line, which initiates a media scan. If you do not need to set any additional scanning parameters, you need to press F4 to launch the corresponding test.
But you may still need to specify additional parameters. For example, if we talk about the Start LBA option, it is used to indicate specific blocks on the hard drive from which the program should check the disk. In turn, the End LBA option is intended to indicate those blocks that are checked at the end of disk testing. However, by default the program checks the entire surface of the hard drive platters.
How to test a hard drive for errors and then reassign bad sectors using the MHDD program interfaces? It’s very simple: the Remap option is used for this. If you select the Erase Delays option, the program will ignore bad sectors, which will speed up scanning the disk if there are a lot of bad sectors on its surface.
The MHDD disk scanning program works quite informatively: the scanned sectors are displayed on the user's screen in real time. In a separate section of the interface of the corresponding software, the number of different blocks is counted.
Summary
You can check the status of your hard drive either using built-in Windows tools or using special programs. At the same time, tools of the first type are designed mainly to correct errors in the file system, while the second are designed to identify and correct bad sectors using accessible methods.
Specialized ones can be supplied in both graphical and console versions. Some of the corresponding solutions can be used in a boot modification: its use is possible even if the operating system is not installed on the computer.
It can be noted that how to test an external hard drive is practically no different from the procedure for testing a built-in hard drive. For this, the same solutions can be applied, the main thing is to connect them to the PC correctly. But this is only possible if the computer supports the communication interfaces through which the external hard drive is supposed to be connected.
Regardless of your operating system (Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8), go to Computer (My Computer, This Computer), right-click on the drive you want to check, select " Properties".
In the properties window, go to the " tab Service" and click the " button Run check".
Check both boxes
Automatically fix system errors.
Scan and repair system sectors.
and press " Launch".
If you check the system volume (the disk on which the operating system is installed, usually drive C), you will see the message " Windows cannot verify the hard drive that is currently in use", click " Disk check schedule".
Then restart your computer/laptop; during boot, the process of checking and correcting errors on the disk will begin. It will last from several minutes to an hour (depending on the size of the partition and the physical characteristics of the hard drive). When finished, the operating system will boot.
Checking the hard drive using the chkdsk utility.
CHKDSK (short for check disk) is a standard application in the DOS and Microsoft Windows operating systems that checks a hard drive or floppy disk for file system errors (for example, the same sector is marked as belonging to two different files). CHKDSK can also fix file system errors it finds. (from Wikipedia)
In order to run the chkdsk utility, you need to run a command prompt with administrator rights, to do this:
IN Windows XP click - "Command line"
IN Windows 7 click "Start" - "All Programs" - "Accessories" "Command line" and select "Run as administrator".
IN Windows 8.1 right click on "Start" - "Command Prompt (Administrator)".
As a result, a command line console will open.
First of all, let's find out the syntax of the chkdsk utility:
CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]] ]
Volume Specifies the mount point, volume name, or drive letter of the drive being checked, followed by a colon.
file name Files checked for fragmentation (FAT/FAT32 only).
/F Correcting disk errors.
/V For FAT/FAT32: output the full path and name of each file on the disk. For NTFS: display cleanup messages (if any).
/R Search for bad sectors and restore surviving contents (requires /F).
/L:size For NTFS only: Set the log file size (in KB). If a size is not specified, the current size value is displayed.
/X Pre-dismount the volume (if necessary). All open handles to this volume will be invalidated (requires /F).
/I NTFS only: Less strict checking of index entries.
/C NTFS only: skip checking for loops within folder structures.
/B NTFS only: Re-evaluate bad clusters on disk (requires /R)
The /I or /C options reduce Chkdsk execution time by skipping some volume checks.
Of all the command attributes, the two most often used to check a disk for errors are /f and /r. The final command looks like this:
chkdsk C:/F/R
With this command we will check partition C, correct errors on the disk and restore information from damaged sectors (if any).
After entering this command, you will be prompted to check the volume the next time the system reboots, click Y and a key Enter.
Now you need to reboot the system, when loading you will see a window prompting a check, do not click anything, just wait 10 seconds.
Checking for hard drive errors using Victoria.
The Victoria program is designed to check for errors on hard drives with IDE and Serial ATA interfaces. The program is a completely ready-made solution for a comprehensive, in-depth, and at the same time, the fastest possible assessment of the real technical condition of the HDD.
First of all, download the ISO image of the program from official website . Unzip the downloaded archive and burn it to a CD/DVD, as described in the article How to burn to CD/DVD . After this, boot from the burned disk, how to do this is described step by step in the article How to boot from a CD/DVD disk or USB flash drive .
After booting from the disk within 10 seconds, select the program for your device (Victoria for the computer will load by default).
The program interface will launch. Press the F2 key so that the program itself finds the disk; if this does not happen, you must do it manually. To do this, press the "P" key. The same will have to be done if the system has several hard drives and you need to select one of them. If you have hard drives with a SATA interface, then in the Select HDD port menu that appears, select - " Ext. PCI ATA/SATA". Move using the cursor keys "up", "down", and select using the "Enter" key.
Next, to check the disk surface, press the F4 key. In the HDD scan menu window: select the necessary scan parameters. By default, it is proposed to scan the entire disk from the beginning of "Start LBA: 0" to the end of "End LBA: 20971520". I recommend leaving these default values. The next menu item – I recommend leaving “Linear reading”, since it is intended for the fastest and most accurate diagnosis of the surface condition. In the fourth point, I recommend choosing the mode BB = Advanced REMAP since this mode checks the disk most efficiently and corrects errors on it without deleting information.
After this, a check for hard disk errors will start and bad areas will be corrected. This procedure can take from several tens of minutes to several hours. Depends on the volume and spindle speed.
When finished, remove the disc from the drive and restart the computer.
Video of checking a hard drive using the Victoria utility. Error elimination - DRSC+DRDY is missing or the screw does not remove BUSY
Now you will learn about a small but very useful program HDD Scan. As the name suggests, this program is designed to scan the hard drive on a computer.
But, in addition, the program is capable of carrying out a COMPLETE diagnosis of the hard drive, assessing the condition of any data drive (it supports IDE / SATA / SCSI hard drives, RAID arrays, external USB/Firewire drives and even flash cards)!
HDDScan will allow you to find out the number and even the firmware version of the hard drive installed on your computer and find damaged sectors of any scanned hard drive.
The program will show how exhausted the hard drive's resource is, what problems the hard drive being tested has, and more! This utility will allow you to fix hard drive surface errors.
It has a very nice modern interface design
Here: you can download the program for checking hard drives (gcontent) download HDDScan (/gcontent)
And below on the page you will see a video tutorial on working with this hdd (hard drive) scanning and recovery program.
Checking hard drive sectors
This is no longer a problem even for beginners. In general, HDDScan is an almost irreplaceable program! In terms of quality of work and functionality, at the moment there are almost no analogues to it.
Since the good old and time-tested programs for checking hard drives, such as MHDD and Victoria (read more in the article: How to fix bad sectors on a disk in Windows) are no longer able to recognize modern hard drives, much less perform their comprehensive diagnostics...
After you download this program to your computer, unzip it.... enter the folder with the program and run the executable file, which is mentioned at the beginning of the video lesson.
You don't have to install the program (that's another plus!), and it takes up negligible space on your hard drive. But despite this, it is so functional that one can only wonder how we managed without it before :-)))
How to check your computer's hard drive for functionality
The interface of the HDD Scan program is made in English. However, the program is so easy to use and will be understandable even for novice users.
Well, after watching this video tutorial on working with this utility to check hard drives that are currently connected to the computer, there will be no questions left :-)))
Turn on the speakers and press play....
Checking hard disk sectors for errors
Quite often, many computer users experience deterioration in the performance of hard drives during use.
Even in the best scenario, this leads to a decrease in performance and the appearance of faulty areas on the surface of hard drives, but this can also cause the loss of all information located on the hard drive!
Specialized programs and utilities for diagnosing and recovering data on hard drives, like the free HDDScan program presented here, are designed to help in such cases.
Checking the external hard drive
Using the HDD Scan program, you can easily scan not only internal, but also external hard drives that are connected to your computer.
It is designed to check hard drives under Windows. The utility works from the Windows operating system - this means that you do not need to bother creating any boot floppy disks.
Very comfortably! It is simply advisable to disable the antivirus and programs running in the background and occupying resources, for example, download managers, while the program is starting and running.
HDD hard drive recovery
As you probably noticed when watching the video, starting from the 14th minute it is shown how you can try to fix it, that is, simply remove the bad sector of the hard drive if you do not want to replace the hard drive completely (buy a new one).
We start testing the surface with the “full erase” parameter. This usually helps to get rid of these types of bad blocks on the surface of the hard drive.
Attention! Before doing this, copy all important data from the HDD you want to test. In general, if you want to try to recover bad sectors on the disk, then watch the video tutorial again from the 14th minute.
Conclusion: the best way to fully diagnose a hard drive today is the HDDScan program, which works from the Windows environment and at the same time allows you to perform a comprehensive assessment of the reliability and surface condition of any hard drive, including even external USB drives.
The computer hard drive is a device that, perhaps, more often than other components of computer equipment fails. This is often due to the fact that the computer hard drive is very sensitive to mechanical and electrical stress, such as vibration and shaking, as well as voltage fluctuations and insufficient supply current.
Signs of a hard drive failure may include: slow loading of the computer operating system; errors in copying, moving, reading files; BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) - the so-called blue screen of death, a critical error when operating a computer. Often the operating system may not load at all or the loading does not complete; in Windows, it freezes at the Microsoft logo. On some models of computers and laptops, when you turn on the computer, a corresponding error may be displayed - SMART HDD BAD, HDD ERROR, etc.
In especially severe cases, the HDD may not be detected by the computer (it may not be visible in the BIOS); when you turn on the computer, it immediately turns off, and there are extraneous sounds such as clicks, friction sounds, and squeaks.
Diagnosing a faulty computer HDD is not difficult, especially since today there are many different programs. Of course, if there is a lot of noise coming from the HDD during its operation or attempts to turn it on, etc. signs, then there is no need to guess about the reasons for the computer failure - we change the hard drive. But more often than not, you will have to use a useful program to identify the problem.
So, what do you need to know about a hard drive to determine how efficient it is?
Basically, it is enough to pay attention to 2 points:
1. S.M.A.R.T hard drive.
S.M.A.R.T. (from the English self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology - technology of self-monitoring, analysis and reporting) - a technology for assessing the condition of a hard drive using built-in self-diagnosis equipment, as well as a mechanism for predicting the time of its failure. Essentially, this is an on-board recorder of the HDD, which records all its parameters throughout the life of the HDD; based on these parameters, one can draw a conclusion about the “health” of the hard drive.
2. Condition of the surface (sectors) of the hard drive.
Information on a hard disk is stored in sectors (the sector capacity can be 512 bytes or 4096 bytes), respectively, one file can be located in hundreds of such sectors. Information is also read from them, and the more this speed corresponds to the technical characteristics of the HDD, the more this indicates its performance. Delays in reading indicate problems with the HDD.
To check these hard drive parameters, we will focus on the Victoria 4.46b program.
The program does not require installation, just download and run the application file "vcr446f".
When you start the program, the "Standard" tab window appears:
On the right side of the program interface (2) you need to specify the hard drive being tested, while on the left (1) information about the hard drive will be displayed - serial number, model, memory size, etc.
And press the “Get SMART” button, the status is written to the right of the button, in this case “GOOD”, this means that the program automatically determines our disk is good based on SMART indicators, otherwise there will be a red “BAD” inscription. However, you should not rely on this inscription, because... It often happens that one of the SMART indicators is in a critical state, and the program displays “GOOD”.
SMART attributes (mouse click)
01 Raw Read Error Rate
The frequency of errors when reading data from a disk, the origin of which is determined by the hardware of the disk. For all Seagate, Samsung (F1 families and newer) and Fujitsu 2.5″ drives, this is the number of internal data corrections carried out before being output to the interface, therefore you can react calmly to frighteningly huge numbers.
02 Throughput Performance
Overall disk performance. If the attribute value decreases, then there is a high probability that there are problems with the disk.
03 Spin-Up Time
The time it takes to spin up a package of disks from a resting state to operating speed. It grows with wear of the mechanics (increased friction in the bearing, etc.), and may also indicate poor-quality power supply (for example, a voltage drop when starting the disk).
04 Start/Stop Count
The total number of spindle start-stop cycles. Drives from some manufacturers (for example, Seagate) have a power saving mode activation counter. The raw value field stores the total number of disk starts/stops.
05 Reallocated Sectors Count
Number of sector remap operations. When the drive detects a read/write error, it marks the sector as “remapped” and transfers the data to a specially designated spare area. This is why bad blocks cannot be seen on modern hard drives - they are all hidden in remapped sectors. This process is called remapping, and the remapped sector is called remap. The higher the value, the worse the condition of the disk surface. The raw value field contains the total number of sectors remapped. An increase in the value of this attribute may indicate a deterioration in the condition of the disk plate surface.
06 Read Channel Margin
Reading channel reserve. The purpose of this attribute is not documented. Not used in modern drives.
07 Seek Error Rate
Frequency of errors when positioning the magnetic head unit. The more of them, the worse the condition of the mechanics and/or surface of the hard drive. Also, the value of the parameter can be affected by overheating and external vibrations (for example, from neighboring disks in the basket).
08 Seek Time Performance
Average performance of magnetic head positioning operation. If the attribute value decreases (positioning slows down), then there is a high probability of problems with the mechanical part of the head drive.
09 Power-On Hours (POH)
The number of hours (minutes, seconds - depending on the manufacturer) spent in the on state. The passport time between failures (MTBF - mean time between failure) is selected as a threshold value for it.
10 Spin-Up Retry Count
The number of repeated attempts to spin up disks to operating speed if the first attempt was unsuccessful. If the attribute value increases, then there is a high probability of problems with the mechanical part.
11 Recalibration Retrieves
The number of times recalibration requests will be repeated if the first attempt is unsuccessful. If the attribute value increases, then there is a high probability of problems with the mechanical part.
12 Device Power Cycle Count
The number of complete on-off cycles of the disk.
13 Soft Read Error Rate
The number of reading errors caused by the software that could not be corrected. All errors are not of a mechanical nature and only indicate incorrect layout/interaction with the disk of programs or the operating system.
184 End-to-End error
This attribute is part of HP SMART IV technology, which means that after the data buffer is transferred through the memory cache, the data parity between the host and the hard drive does not match.
187 Reported UNC Errors
Errors that could not be recovered using hardware error recovery techniques.
188 Command Timeout
Number of interrupted operations due to HDD timeout. Typically this attribute value should be zero, and if the value is much higher than zero, then most likely there will be some serious problem with the power supply or an oxidized data cable.
190 Airflow Temperature (WDC)
Air temperature inside the hard drive case. For Seagate drives it is calculated using the formula (100 - HDA temperature). For Western Digital drives - (125-HDA).
191 G-sense error rate
Number of errors resulting from shock loads. The attribute stores readings from the built-in accelerometer, which records all impacts, jolts, falls, and even careless installation of the disk into the computer case.
192 Power-off retract count
Number of shutdown cycles or emergency failures (drive power on/off).
193 Load/Unload Cycle
The number of cycles of moving the magnetic head unit into the parking zone / into the working position.
194 HDA temperature
The readings of the built-in thermal sensor for the mechanical part of the disk - the can (HDA - Hard Disk Assembly) are stored here. The information is taken from the built-in thermal sensor, which is one of the magnetic heads, usually the bottom one in the jar. The attribute bit fields record the current, minimum and maximum temperature. Not all programs that work with SMART parse these fields correctly, so their readings should be taken critically.
195 Hardware ECC Recovered
The number of error corrections performed by the disk hardware (reading, positioning, transmission via external interface). On drives with a SATA interface, the value often deteriorates as the system bus frequency increases - SATA is very sensitive to overclocking.
196 Reallocation Event Count
Number of reassignment operations. The “raw value” field of the attribute stores the total number of attempts to transfer information from reassigned sectors to the reserve area. Both successful and unsuccessful attempts are counted.
197 Current Pending Sector Count
Number of sectors that are candidates for replacement. They have not yet been defined as bad, but reading from them differs from reading a stable sector; these are the so-called suspicious or unstable sectors. If the subsequent reading of the sector is successful, it is excluded from the list of candidates. In case of repeated erroneous reads, the drive tries to recover it and performs a remapping operation. An increase in the value of this attribute may indicate physical degradation of the hard drive.
198 Uncorrectable Sector Count
The number of uncorrectable errors when accessing a sector. (Perhaps they meant “the number of sectors that cannot be corrected (by disk means”), but not the number of errors themselves В случае увеличения числа ошибок велика вероятность критических дефектов поверхности и/или механики накопителя.
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199 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
The number of errors that occur when transmitting data over the external interface in UltraDMA mode (packet integrity violations, etc.). An increase in this attribute indicates a bad (crumpled, twisted) cable and poor contacts. Also, similar errors appear during overclocking of the PCI bus, power failures, strong electromagnetic interference, and sometimes due to the fault of the driver. Perhaps the reason is a poor-quality cable. To fix this, try using a SATA cable without latches that has a tight connection to the disk contacts.
200 Write Error Rate /
Multi-Zone Error Rate
Shows the total number of errors occurring when writing a sector. Shows the total number of disk write errors. Can serve as an indicator of the surface quality and mechanics of the drive.
201 Soft read error rate
The frequency of occurrence of “software” errors when reading data from a disk. This parameter shows the frequency of errors during read operations from the disk surface due to the fault of the software, and not the hardware of the drive.
202 Data Address Mark errors
Number of Data Address Mark (DAM) errors (or) vendor-specific.
203 Run out cancel
Number of ECC errors.
204 Soft ECC correction
Number of ECC errors corrected by software.
206 Flying height
The height between the head and the disk surface.
207 Spin high current
The magnitude of the current when spinning the disk.
209 Offline seek performance
Drive’s seek performance during offline operations.
220 Disk Shift
Distance of displacement of the disk block relative to the spindle. Mainly caused by a blow or fall. The unit of measurement is unknown. When the attribute increases, the disk quickly becomes unusable.
221 G-Sense Error Rate
Number of errors caused by external loads and impacts. The attribute stores readings from the built-in shock sensor.
222 Loaded Hours
The time spent by a block of magnetic heads between unloading from the parking area into the working area of the disk and loading the block back into the parking area.
223 Load/Unload Retry Count
The number of new attempts to unload/load a block of magnetic heads into/from the parking area after an unsuccessful attempt.
224 Load Friction
The magnitude of the friction force of the magnetic head block when unloading it from the parking area.
225 Load Cycle Count
The number of cycles of moving the magnetic head unit into the parking area.
226 Load "In"-time
The time during which the drive unloads the magnetic heads from the parking area onto the working surface of the disk.
227 Torque Amplification Count
Number of attempts to compensate torque.
228 Power-Off Retract Cycle
The number of repetitions of automatic parking of the magnetic head unit as a result of turning off the power.
230 GMR Head Amplitude
Jitter amplitude (distance of repeated movement of the magnetic head unit).
231 Temperature
Hard drive temperature.
240 Head flying hours
Head positioning time.
250 Read error retry rate
Number of errors while reading the hard disk.
As you can see from the SMART indicators, you can learn a lot about the condition of the HDD. Not all attributes will necessarily appear on a specific drive. Particular attention should be paid to the indicators
187 Reported UNC Errors
196 Reallocation Event Count
200 Write Error Rate
If the reading is greater than 0, then there is reason to think about replacing the HDD.
191 G-sense error rate - an indicator of mechanical impact; if it is significant (more than 100), then you should also think about replacing it.
Figure 2 shows the case when the program says “GOOD”, but there are problems with the HDD and it is better to change it; the operating system freezes on this disk and programs run slowly.
Let's move on to testing the surface of the hard drive. To do this, select the "Test" tab and click "Start". The results of testing HDD sectors are shown graphically. The color of the sectors from green to red indicates reading delays. If a sector is marked with a yellow X on a blue background, then such a sector is not readable at all and the disk must be replaced.
Thus, with the help of one program, you can diagnose the HDD and make a timely replacement and backup the data if the disk is even more or less efficient.
Hello.
Forewarned is forearmed! This rule comes in handy when working with hard drives. If you know in advance that such and such a hard drive will most likely fail, then the risk of data loss will be minimal.
Of course, no one will give a 100% guarantee, but with a high degree of probability, some programs can analyze S.M.A.R.T. readings. (a set of software and hardware that monitors the condition of the hard drive) and draw conclusions on how long it will last.
In general, there are dozens of programs to perform such a hard drive check, but in this article I wanted to focus on some of the most visual and easy to use. So…
How to find out the status of your hard drive
HDDlife
(By the way, in addition to HDD, it also supports SSD drives)
One of the best programs for constantly monitoring the condition of your hard drive. It will help you recognize the threat in time and replace the hard drive. Most of all, it captivates with its clarity: after launching and analysis, HDDlife presents the report in a very convenient form: you are shown the percentage of the “health” of the disk and its performance (the best indicator, of course, is 100%).
If your performance is above 70%, this indicates the good condition of your disks. For example, after a couple of years of work (quite active by the way), the program analyzed and concluded: that this hard drive is about 92% healthy (which means that it should last, unless force majeure occurs, at least the same amount) .
After launch, the program minimizes to the tray next to the clock and you can always monitor the status of your hard drive. If any problem is detected (for example, the disk temperature is high, or there is too little space left on the hard drive), the program will notify you with a pop-up window. Example below.
HDDLIFE alerts you when your hard drive is running out of space. Windows 8.1.
If the program analyzes and gives you a window like the one in the screenshot below, I advise you not to delay making a backup copy (and replacing the HDD).
HDDLIFE - the data on your hard drive is in danger, the faster you copy it to other media, the better!
Hard Disk Sentinel
This utility can compete with HDDlife - it monitors the disk status just as well. What captivates us most about this program is how informative it is and how easy it is to work with. Those. it will be useful for both a novice user and an already experienced one.
After launching Hard Disk Sentinel and analyzing the system, you will see the main program window: hard drives (including external HDDs) will be presented on the left, and their status will be displayed in the right window.
By the way, there is a rather interesting function for predicting the performance of the disk, according to how long it will serve you: for example, in the screenshot below the forecast is more than 1000 days (that’s about 3 years!).
The condition of the hard drive is EXCELLENT. No problematic or weak sectors were found. No speed or data transmission errors were detected.
No action needs to be taken.
By the way, the program has a rather useful function: you can set the threshold for the critical temperature of the hard drive, upon reaching which Hard Disk Sentinel will notify you that it has been exceeded!
Hard Disk Sentinel: disk temperature (including the maximum for the entire time the disk was used).
Ashampoo HDD Control
An excellent utility for monitoring the status of hard drives. The monitor built into the program allows you to find out in advance about the first problems with the disk (by the way, the program can even notify you about this by e-mail).
Also, in addition to the main functions, a number of auxiliary ones are built into the program:
Disk Defragmenter;
Testing;
Cleaning the disk from garbage and temporary files (always relevant);
Deleting the history of visiting sites on the Internet (useful if you are not alone at the computer and do not want anyone to know what you are doing);
There are also built-in utilities for reducing disk noise, adjusting power, etc.
Screenshot of the Ashampoo HDD Control 2 window: everything is fine with the hard drive, condition 99%, performance 100%, temperature 41 degrees. (it is desirable that the temperature be less than 40 degrees, but the program believes that for this disk model everything is in order).
By the way, the program is completely in Russian, intuitively thought out - even a novice PC user can figure it out. Pay special attention to the temperature and status indicators in the main program window. If the program produces errors or the condition is assessed as extremely low (+ in addition there is a grinding or noise coming from the HDD), I recommend that you first copy all the data to other media, and then start dealing with the disk.
Hard Drive Inspector
A distinctive feature of this program is:
1. Minimalism and simplicity: there is nothing superfluous in the program. It gives three indicators in percentage terms: reliability, performance and absence of errors;
Hard Drive Inspector - monitoring the condition of the hard drive.
СrystalDiskInfo
A simple but reliable utility for monitoring the status of hard drives. Moreover, it works even in cases where many other utilities refuse, crashing with errors.
The program supports several languages, is not full of settings, and is designed in a minimalist style. At the same time, it has quite rare functions, for example, reducing the disk noise level, temperature control, etc.
What is also very convenient is a graphical display of the situation:
Blue color (as in the screenshot below): everything is ok;
Yellow color: alarm, measures need to be taken;
Red: you need to take immediate action (if you still have time);
Gray: the program was unable to determine the readings.
CrystalDiskInfo 2.7.0 - screenshot of the main program window.
HD Tune
This program will be useful to more experienced users: who, in addition to a graphical display of the “health” of the disk, also need high-quality disk tests, in which they can familiarize themselves in detail with all the characteristics and parameters. It should also be noted that the program, in addition to HDD, also supports new-fangled SSD drives.
HD Tune offers a rather interesting feature to quickly check a disk for errors: a 500 GB disk is checked in about 2-3 minutes!
HD TUNE: quickly find errors on the disk. Red squares are not allowed on a new disk.
Also very necessary information is checking the disk read and write speed.
HD Tune - checking disk speed.
Well, we can’t help but note the tab with detailed information about the HDD. This is useful when you need to know, for example, supported functions, buffer/cluster size or disk rotation speed, etc.
HD Tune - detailed information about the hard drive.
In general, there are at least as many similar utilities that can be cited. I think that these will be more than enough for most...
And lastly: do not forget to make backup copies, even if the disk condition is rated as 100% excellent (at least the most important and valuable data)!
Good luck...
