Hard drive testing. Checking HDD for bad sectors and correcting errors. Checking HDD speed. Program for checking HDD. Running disk check from the GUI

The HDD Scan program is designed to check hard drives under Windows 2000 and Windows XP. In this article I will consider HDD Scan v2.6 - the latest version released at the time of writing this review. (By the time this article was published, version 2.7 was already available.)

Main features of the program:

View S.M.A.R.T. information
Checking the disk surface in three modes: Verify, Read, Erase.
Control noise characteristics Winchester.
Starting and stopping the spindle motor.

The HDD Scan program does not require installation and takes up about 350 KB on disk.

This program is absolutely free. You can download it from the website HDDGURU.COM.Interface

The program interface is made entirely in English language. However, the program is very easy to use even for novice users.

Rice. 1. HDDScan interface.

Selecting a hard drive

In the drop-down menu located in the section Source Disk, you can select the hard drive with which the program will work. Below is the basic information about the selected hard drive: model ( Model), firmware version ( Firmware), serial number (Serial) and the number of available physical sectors ( LBA).

View S.M.A.R.T.

To view S.M.A.R.T. settings you need to press a button S.M.A.R.T. located at the top of the program window.

Rice. 2. View S.M.A.R.T. settings

Description of table columns:

Attribute- attribute number.
Description- attribute name.
Value- attribute value. Can range from 1 to 255 (the higher the number, the better).
Worst- the most low value attribute for all time.
RAW- attribute value in hexadecimal notation (with the exception of Temperature, the value of which is indicated by the program in degrees Celsius).
Treshold- threshold value of the attribute. Used to compare with the value of the parameter (Value).

The color of the indicator indicates the state of the attribute:

Green - the attribute is normal.
Yellow - deviation of the attribute from the norm.
Red - a strong deviation of the attribute from the norm.

In this case, the received information is automatically saved to the file SMART.txt, located in the directory with the program.

Checking the disc surface

Surface testing parameters are located in the section Process.

Start LBA And End LBA- the sector from which the check begins and the sector at which the check stops. If you want to check the entire disk, this parameter no need to change.
Command- select the type of check ( Verify- verification, Read- full reading of sectors, Erase- writing zeros to all sectors). Selecting the Erase option will result in complete loss of all data on the disk!
Start And Stop- start and stop the scan.
Block size- number of sectors in one block. The default is 256 sectors (it is not recommended to change).

During the disk check, the elapsed time (Process time), current sector (Current LBA) and read speed (Kbytes/s) are indicated.

Rice. 3. Result of checking the disk surface.

In the tab Map the disk map is located. On the left there is a pointer that indicates the colors of the rectangles on the map, depending on the access time. Blue rectangle ( Bads) shows bad blocks (damaged sectors). To the right of the colored rectangles is the number of sectors with this access time found when checking the disk.

Rice. 4. Text report on surface inspection.

In the tab Report A text report about the inspection is located. It contains information about sectors with access times greater than 50 ms (green, orange and red rectangles), as well as bad blocks.

Rice. 5. Reading speed graph.

On the tab Graph There is a graph of disk reading speed. The X axis is the sector numbers, and the Y axis is the reading speed.

Noise Control

On the tab IDE Features, in the upper left section, you can change the noise level emitted by the hard drive. This can only be done if this option is permitted by the manufacturer (a green indicator and the inscription Enabled to his left). It should be noted that reducing noise entails reducing the speed of the hard drive.

Rice. 6. Control of the noise characteristics of the hard drive and the start/stop of the spindle motor.

Starting and stopping the spindle motor

On the tab IDE Features, In chapter Spindle Start/Stop You can start and stop the spindle motor of the hard drive. It is not recommended to stop the spindle motor for system disk.Conclusion

This article discussed the main features of the HDD Scan program. This program also has some other features, but they are not so important and are practically not used.

HDD Scan - convenient and functional program in your class.

Many PC users hardly think about checking the status of their HDD. Checking the hard drive is, first of all, necessary for early detection of errors in it.
If you manage to identify problems with your hard drive in advance, you will be able to save all the important information stored on it until it finally fails.
In this material we will describe specific examples the procedure for checking the status of the HDD, and we will also tell you what to do in a situation if your hard drive is faulty.

How to check the status of your hard drive

You can check the status of your hard drive using various utilities, which read the status of your hard drive from its self-diagnosis system SMART. SMART technology is now installed on every hard drive produced. SMART technology was developed back in 1992 and is still being improved to this day. The main goal of SMART is logging the hard drive aging process. That is, information such as the number of HDD starts, the number of spindle rotations and many others is collected. More SMART keeps track of errors"screw", both software and mechanical and, to the extent possible corrects them. During the monitoring process, SMART performs various short and long tests to identify those same faults. In this material we will look at such programs that can read information from SMART:

Ashampoo HDD Control 3;
Defraggler;
HDDlife;
Victoria.

Each program on the list, in addition to reading SMART readings, offers a number of functions and tests that, to one degree or another, extend the life of the hard drive. But the most interesting is the program Victoria. Victoria program in addition to determining the HDD state, it can also produce REMAP of bad sectors. That is, she can hide bad sectors by replacing them with spare ones, if available. Essentially, the REMAP procedure can completely restore the hard drive. It is also worth noting the possibility hard fixes disk thanks console application « chkdsk" The console program "chkdsk" can fix errors file system, which will avoid reinstalling Windows.

Ashampoo HDD Control 3

First we will look at the program Ashampoo HDD Control 3. Let's run this utility on a computer under Windows control 10.

The Ashampoo HDD Control 3 window displays the message “ ✓ OK", as well as the inscription " This hard drive has no problems" This information means that the hard drive in question is in perfect order. If when opening the program you see the message “ Error", as well as the inscription " This hard drive has a problem", this means that it has bad sectors or is overheating. To view complete information about the health of the “screw” taken from the smart, you need to click on the footnote “” located in the central block.

In addition to viewing information from the smart device, Ashampoo HDD Control 3 can launch self test S.M.A.R.T. And surface inspection test. You can test these tests in the "" block.

By performing these tests, you can also identify problems with the HDD. In addition to taking readings from smart devices and tests, Ashampoo HDD Control 3 can:

Perform defragmentation;
Clean the system of debris;
Find and delete duplicate files;
Securely erase files from the HDD, without the possibility of recovery.

The presence of such functionality of Ashampoo HDD Control 3 in monitoring the health of the screw and additional functions puts utility first.

Defraggler

Utility Defraggler primarily intended for defragmentation, but besides this she can read SMART readings. The utility is free and any user can download it from the website www.piriform.com. After launching the utility, you need to go to the “ State».

In the window you can see that the utility displays a message about the status of the screw, like “ GOOD" - this means that he is completely fine. If you see the message " Error" in status, this will mean that the hard drive has bad sectors and it’s time to change it. The utility is quite simple and is suitable primarily for novice PC users who want to monitor the health of the HDD and defragment it. I would also like to note that the utility supports all current operating systems, from Windows XP to Windows 10.

How to check your hard drive using HDDlife

Utility HDDlife It has a nice interface and immediately gives us the information we need, which is responsible for the serviceability and breakdown of the screw.

From the image above you can see that in the health block there is " OK!", which means that everything is fine with the HDD. To view smart details, you just need to click on the link “ click to view S.M.A.R.T. attributes».

If you see a message in the health block " DANGER!", this means that your HDD will soon become unusable.

In this case, you need to replace the old hard drive with a new one. The HDDlife utility is, first of all, suitable for novice PC users, since its simplicity will make it easy to monitor the health of the “screw”. In addition to the standard utility, the developer also releases HDDlife for Notebooks, which is designed for laptops. The laptop version has the same functionality as standard version, but can also carry out HDD noise level control. It is also worth noting that the program supports all current operating systems, from Windows XP to Windows 10.

Victoria

Program Victoria is being developed in a version for DOS and by Windows. For our example, we will use the Windows version of Victoria, which can be downloaded from http://hdd-911.com. Victoria is currently available in version 4.47. By launching the Victoria utility, we will be taken to such a window.

Victoria does not have a beautiful interface, as in previous utilities and is written in such old languages as Delphi And Assembler.

In the first tab of the quiz " Standard"is all information about installed hard drives to the computer.

Second tab " SMART» needed for smart reading. To display smart results, you must click the Get SMART button, after which the results will be displayed.

In the hard drive in question, Victoria discovered 1212 bad sectors. This number of BAD sectors is critical, so in this case it is necessary to full backup all data from the HDD. To repair a hard drive using the REMAP test in Victoria, you need to go to the “ Tests" and select the mode " Remap" After these steps, you can begin the procedure of reassigning bad sectors to backup ones with the Start button.

The REMAP test in Victoria can take a very long time. The test time depends on the number of BAD sectors. This test of the Victoria utility does not always help, since there may not be any spare sectors left in the screw.

Please note that using Victoria tests, you can damage the serviceability of the HDD and the information on it.

How to check if a disk is healthy using “chkdsk”

It may happen that by checking the S.M.A.R.T. values. Using the utilities described above, you did not find any problems, but the system still behaves unstable. Instability can manifest itself as blue screens of death and freezes in programs. This behavior of the operating room Windows systems caused by file system errors. In this case, the console command “ chkdsk" By running the "chkdsk" command, you can fully restore functionality Windows OS. For this example, we will take a computer with the new Windows 10 operating system. First of all, we will open the console in Windows 10 as an administrator. This can be easily done by clicking right click mouse on the " Start» and selecting the item we need.

In the running console, execute the following command CHKDSK F: /F /R After checking using the command application “chkdsk”, the result of the check will be displayed in the console.

Now let's look at the command " CHKDSK F: /F /R» more details. Immediately after the command “chkdsk” comes the letter “ F" - this letter local disk, where we correct errors. Keys " /F" And " /R» fix errors in the file system, and fix bad sectors. These keys are almost always used, unlike the others. You can view the remaining keys with the command chkdsk /?

It is also worth noting that in Windows 10 the capabilities of the chkdsk application have been significantly expanded thanks to new keys.

How to check your hard drive's health using DST

Abbreviation DST deciphered Disk Self Test , that is self test disk. Manufacturers specifically integrate this method into the HDD, so that later, using special software, they can perform DST self-diagnosis, which will identify problems. By testing the “screw” using DST you can get data about probable breakdown hard drive. It is especially convenient to use DST on servers and computers of enterprises, where secure storage information plays a big role. Now let's look at using DST using HP laptops as an example. For new HP laptops with support UEFI BIOS exists special menu diagnostics " Startup Menu" Starts this menu by using combination of power key and key ESC.

To run system tests, press the F2 button.

In the window that appears, DST is called Hard Disk Test. After selecting it, a self-test will start.

Other manufacturers also have a DST method, only the launch on a PC from other manufacturers differs from the one discussed above.

Checking your hard drive in Linux

For example, let's take a computer based on the Ubuntu 16.04 operating system. To do this, let's launch a terminal in Ubuntu. In the terminal, type the following command: sudo apt-get install smartmontools This command should install console utility Smartmontools.

Now that the Smartmontools utility is installed, you can use the command sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda which will display all the information of the smart hard drive in the console.

If you don't like working in console mode, you can set graphical utility Gnome-disk-utility. In it you can see everything you need about the HDD and its condition.

Let's sum it up

In this article, we described how you can monitor the status of the HDD, as well as how to fix its sectors and file system, if possible. From the material it becomes clear that monitoring hard conditions disks is very important, as it allows anticipate HDD failure.

If you have discovered that your hard drive is problematic, then do not put off replacing it until later. The problematic “screw” can fail at any moment, and you will lose all the information stored on the computer.

We hope our material will be useful to our readers and will completely help solve the problem of checking a hard drive.

Video on the topic

There is no need to say that a computer hard drive is an ordinary piece of hardware with a limited service life. Everyone knows this. The only question is when exactly it will fail. To prevent this from happening, constant checking of the disk for performance is required. Now we will look at what this process is like in different options, and will also touch on topics such as data recovery, bad sectors, and the hard drive itself in the event of physical damage.

Why is hard drive diagnostics necessary?

As a rule, not every user of modern computer systems thinks about the state of the hard drive, which stores a huge amount of information. Unfortunately, many users begin to solve this problem only after HDD“crumbles” or is, so to speak, on the verge of a foul.

Here, every user should understand that at least a weekly check of the hard drive for functionality will not only increase its service life, but will also prevent the emergence of extremely unpleasant situations related to disruptions in the operation of the operating systems themselves.

System errors are perhaps one of the most common phenomena. Their occurrence may be associated, say, with incorrect shutdown of programs, a power outage at the most inopportune moment, cleaning the inside of the computer, when the connection of the HDD cables to the motherboard is disrupted, etc. What can I say, even an overestimated number of spindle revolutions at An attempt to speed up access to data stored on a hard drive can play a cruel joke. However, this is not about that now. Let's look at the most common and most effective means by which a hard drive is diagnosed.

Standard verification tools

Let's start with the fact that users of absolutely all versions of Windows operating systems have available tools. Although they are quite primitive, they nevertheless allow you to get rid of many problems, most often associated with system errors.

The simplest tool is the built-in hard drive diagnostic utility, called from the properties of the hard drive or logical partition in the context menu from the standard Explorer.

There is special button cleaning to remove junk or unused files, there is a button to check the hard drive for errors (on the “General” tab), as well as two buttons in service menu, allowing you to run check processes for system errors and optimization.

In addition, at any Windows versions You can use the command line or the Run menu, where you enter the chkdisk command with different variations. When standard checking for system errors, it is advisable to use additional parameter automatic correction. If absolutely necessary, you can also enable checking the surface of the hard drive (the so-called Surface Test).

Now let's take a different look at the question of what hard drive diagnostics are. Windows 7, for example, like any other “operating system” of this “family”, can use not only the standard command for checking system errors on the hard drive. Today, not all users know that the chkdisc line can easily be supplemented with letters and symbols, the use of which as a main command will help perform various actions.

So, for example, input chkdsk lines c:/f provides automatic correction errors. For file NTFS systems The command chkntfs c: /x is applicable with the same result. In this case, not only system errors are searched, but the hard drive is also checked for bad sectors. However, in most cases the same automatic start starts even when the system itself boots after unexpected failures. Unfortunately, such a hard drive diagnostic program cannot always boast of a positive result. This is why many specialists and experts in this field recommend using more powerful third-party utilities. But more on that later.

Defragmenting your hard drive

Separately, it is worth noting that diagnosing and restoring a hard drive cannot be done without using the defragmentation process. The fact is that at this time the most frequently used files or program components are moved to the fastest areas of the hard drive. If there are bad sectors, this is the first means of restoring application launches.

Basically, nothing special happens - the logical address with the file checksum remains the same. Only its physical location changes. And who knows, maybe there is, say, physical damage in the place where the file was originally stored? No one is immune from this.

Formatting your hard drive

In the most extreme case, the system provides for partial or complete formatting (well, if nothing helps at all). The essence this process in the first case, comes down to clearing the table of contents (MBR file allocation tables), after which, using special utilities data can be recovered. In the second option, the situation is much worse. At full formatting the data is deleted without any possibility of recovery.

This can be explained with an example. During normal deletion, the file is not erased in terms of its physical presence on the hard drive. It’s just that the capital letter in its name is changed to the “$” symbol. After this, neither the user nor the system itself sees such a file. But it is precisely from this symbol that it is possible to restore it. It is clear that any recovery utility (such as Recuva) first determines the state of the hard drive, after which it identifies deleted files by the first character and finds out the degree of their damage and the possibility of recovery. But this only applies to those cases when certain sectors of the hard drive were not overwritten. If other information was saved in this place on top of the old one, no program to check the hard drive for errors in order to further recovery information will not help.

Removing computer junk

Residual or unused files can also cause problems on the disk. system errors. ABOUT physical damage there is no question now. But in terms of the fact that the system constantly accesses system registry, which contains keys and records about absolutely all folders and files located on the hard drive, this is quite a big problem.

Such constant access only leads to the fact that even the loading of the Windows OS itself slows down, not to mention the launch of user programs and applications.

To get rid of all this, you can use utilities complete removal installed programs or special automatic cleaners, optimizers like iObit Uninstaller, CCleaner.

Checking for bad sectors

Almost every third-party hard drive diagnostic utility is capable of performing a special test for the presence of bad sectors. As is already clear, errors of this kind are corrected by rewriting the checksums of the files to another location. In essence, the functions of defragmentation and standard scanning are combined here. Among other things, there are quite a lot of software packages that even allow you to avoid repairing or replacing a hard drive if it falls apart.

What to do if the HDD is physically damaged?

The HDD Regenerator software package is a unique program for diagnosing a hard drive that may have been physically damaged or damaged.

It works using a completely non-standard technology. Not only does it check the hard drive for bad sectors, it is also capable of resuscitating the hard drive even if the surface is damaged. The essence of the impact method itself comes down to the use of hard drive magnetization reversal technology.

It was created relatively recently, however, as practice shows, it has managed to prove itself high level. By the way, when using it you won’t even need hard formatting disk and subsequent removal important information and no definition bad sectors. And this is one of the most important advantages of the package. What do you think the FBI uses to recover hard drive data from computer hackers and pirates? That's it. In addition, the hard drive is checked for functionality in such a way that the user does not need to interfere with the process itself. Agree, it’s very convenient.

Actually, this is the most powerful program, which is used to diagnose the hard drive. Windows 7, of course, is no exception as a platform for running the resuscitator. The application works perfectly in almost all systems, starting with the “expansion” system.

The most powerful utilities for checking hard drives

As for some standard utilities of this type, you can find quite a lot of them on the Internet.

Among the most interesting are the applications and software packages like Norton Disc Doctor, ScanHDD, Victoria.

A good program that can be used to diagnose a hard drive is Victoria. She deserves special attention. Although it was created by a Belarusian programmer-enthusiast, it occupies one of the first places in the world of modern computer systems and technologies.

It is worth noting that this application is capable of working in both normal mode(when running in Windows environment), and in the already unsupported DOS emulation mode by many operating systems. What is most interesting is that it is in DOS that the program demonstrates the highest performance.

As for the interface and control system, they are terribly simple. To start the analysis, just click the appropriate button. For most users, checking the hard drive in Russian is provided by default. It is also advisable not to change the basic parameters, especially if you are not a qualified user in this area.

On the other hand, the advanced settings for hard drive checking and error correction parameters provide a fairly flexible configuration. True, in order for an uninitiated user to understand all this, it is necessary to at least carefully study the accompanying technical documentation.

Recovering data from an image

Now let's deal with the issue of data recovery in case of loss or unexpected deletion. If you look closely, diagnosing a hard drive using standard or third-party tools cannot be done without creating control point system recovery.

Few people think about this, but in vain. Thus, even if the result of any utility is incorrect, you can always make a so-called rollback to the initial state without losing data. True, in the case of using Windows operating systems, as stated, the changes do not affect user files. However, the truth is that even a system restore from a checkpoint restores all deleted data.

In this case, it is better, naturally, to use a system image. Here it will certainly be clear that only the data that was registered in the image itself will be restored.

External media

As is already clear, diagnostics external hard a USB HDD or a regular flash drive is made according to the same principle that applies to standard disk drives. The only thing worth paying attention to is the inclusion of the required component in the list of devices being tested.

This applies equally to standard Windows operating system tools and specialized utilities for checking HDDs or recovering data.

BIOS

It is also worth noting BIOS settings, without which some programs created to check and diagnose the condition hard drives, they just won't work.

In particular, this applies to the SATA controller mode, which sometimes needs to be switched from AHCI mode to IDE mode. Only in this case is guaranteed uninterrupted access to the hard drive with all the ensuing consequences.

As a rule, after installing this mode, absolutely all programs can access the hard drive, naturally, using user-controlled parameters. It goes without saying that accessing the BIOS on different devices is carried out differently. IN standard version This is pressing the Del key before starting the system; sometimes you can use the function keys F2 and F12. It all depends on BIOS version and developer. However, when loading, the system itself signals in the status bar what exactly needs to be clicked to enter the main settings.

Instead of an afterword

Now let's try to sum up all of the above. It remains to add that diagnosing a hard drive is the key to the normal functioning of a computer system and data storage. Moreover, this concerns not only Windows performance, but also optimization of access to files and folders.

Which exact tool with which to diagnose a hard drive to use for your needs is up to everyone to choose for themselves, but with a high degree of probability we can say that better utilities than Victoria and HDD Regenerator, has not yet been created. This statement is based not only on calculating the performance of the software packages themselves, but also on the results of the tests that they demonstrate. And, I must say, these indicators are superior to all other programs taken together, not to mention the standard tools of Windows operating systems, which, alas, are not particularly flexible and effective. Even in the top ten, the results are far from encouraging.

Separately, we need to dwell on the issue of simultaneous use of several tools for checking the hard drive in one system. It happens that permanently installed software packages may conflict with each other. This is due to the fact that some of them are trying to work in background similar to optimization programs that constantly “hang” in the system tray.

If it so happens that on one computer terminal there are several applications this kind, it’s worth removing one of them, and instead using, say, a portable version that does not install own files and libraries into the system. This allows you to start the scanning process of a hard drive or removable media even from a regular flash drive. Even if the program’s executable file and additional folders are present on the same flash drive, this does not interfere with the launch of the utility.

Here it is worth paying attention to one more fact. As sad as it sounds, with the transition to Windows 10 free update from the official Microsoft website, some utilities of this type flatly refuse to work. The situation is such that the “top ten” blocks not only the installation of applications of this kind, considering them as such that they can harm the system, but also does not launch even some portable versions programs. So here you will have to scour the Internet thoroughly to find something that works more or less normally.

If the HDD issues strange noises or there are problems with writing and reading information, you should use one of the programs to check the hard drive for errors. Depending on the task (checking the disk surface for damage, searching for bad sectors, correcting errors, etc.), different software may be useful.

You can quickly check the disk for errors using standard system tools, but to restore the hard drive you will need special third-party programs. Having learned how to check the health of a hard drive using various utilities, a user of any level will be able to cope with any problems that may arise.

CheckDisk System Service is the simplest hard drive diagnostic program that can't find complex errors or fix bad sectors, but is useful for fixing basic problems. It is available on all versions of Windows OS and can be used to check drives of any type. All users need to know how to check a hard drive for errors with this tool.

The GUI version of the utility is most convenient for novice users. You can launch it through the disk management menu, which can be accessed in two ways:

in Windows XP/Vista/7 - select “Manage” in the context menu of “My Computer”, then go to the desired menu;
in Windows 8/10 - press the Win+X combination and select the appropriate item.

In the window that opens, select the device that needs analysis, right-click on it and select “Properties” from the drop-down menu. By going to the “Service” tab, you need to run the hard drive diagnostic program.

The system will check and automatically correct errors if the disk is not currently busy with read or write processes. Otherwise, the program will offer to test after rebooting the PC. If necessary, in the scan results window you can see detailed information about the HDD status.

The GUI version does not always help, since checking the status of the hard drive is sometimes required from safe mode or without starting the operating system at all. In such cases, the console comes to the rescue; you can launch it before the system starts using boot disk.

Once you open the recovery console, you need to run the chkdsk /f command, which will check all connected drives. In some cases, this will help fix the error. However, in most situations, if a HDD failure has made it impossible to start the system, a more in-depth check will be required hard state disk.

To take advantage console command from inside the system you need:

launch the command line (via Win+X or by entering cmd in the “Run” window);
enter the chkdsk command indicating the letter of the partition being checked and additional flags;
Confirm the operation by pressing Y.

Checking the HDD via the command line will be a little faster than when using the GUI version of the program; the results will be shown here in the console.

Linux systems also have standard tools— hdparm and smartctl, launched from the console.

Simple programs for quickly checking HDD

If standard utilities are not suitable, hard drive diagnostics can be carried out using simple third-party programs. They allow you to get more information about the condition HDD health, but in case of serious problems they will not be suitable, since they cannot be used to correct breakdowns.

HDDScan is a free program that performs analysis in two modes:

according to S.M.A.R.T. indicators;
linear processing.

The tool evaluates the read and write speed of various sectors, marking the “slow” cells. During the analysis, the program ensures that the tested hard drives do not overheat; at the end of processing, the user is presented with a full report.

HDDScan good versatility. The utility allows you to check disks for errors, regardless of the type of device: you can use it to check how external hard disk, and analyze a RAID array, SSD drive or memory card.

Crystal Disk Mark has only one function - it evaluates the read and write speed. Despite this, it is often used, since it is still possible to check the hard drive for serviceability using just two indicators.

The test uses different algorithms, one of which is sequential recording mode. The program gradually fills all the space on the drive with blocks of a size specified by the user, after which it cleans the HDD. The same technique is used by hard drive manufacturers to check product quality. Its disadvantage is that it accelerates the wear of SSD drives.

CrystalDiskInfo And DiskCheckup They are similar in their set of functions, differing only in the interface. They check the status of the hard drive using S.M.A.R.T. algorithms and compile a history of checks, which allows you to track the dynamics of changes. U CrystalDiskInfo features to visualize history more. For example, you can create a graph, not just get a written report.

Another feature of these programs is convenient system notifications. In-depth hard drive tests usually take a long time. If the user needs to step away from the computer, they can turn on notifications about critical errors HDD by E-Mail.

Programs from hard drive manufacturers

Some HDD manufacturers have developed their own utilities for analyzing the status of the hard drive. They are intended for use with devices of the same name; diagnosing a hard drive from another company is possible with their help, but this must be done carefully. Unlike simpler programs, these utilities have versions in different languages, including Russian. Which program is better to analyze the HDD status?

The proprietary program from Seagate exists in two versions: a standard version for running under Windows and a DOS version in ISO image format, from which you can make a bootable USB flash drive. It is recommended to use the second option, since the check in this case will be more accurate and efficient.

SeaTools uses part of the S.M.A.R.T indicators. For hard testing disk, without giving out details about each item. Three tests can be performed:

short self-test of HDD;
short rapid test;
a long-term check in which all sectors are read sequentially.

As the scan progresses, the program automatically corrects any errors found.

Owners of hard drives from WD should know how to check the performance of hard drives using proprietary software from this manufacturer. The range of its capabilities is similar to that of the program from Seagate, but is somewhat expanded and allows for more in-depth work with the affected device.

There are two additional functions:

deep disk formatting - the program writes zeros to all sectors, permanently destroying information;
blocking access to bad sectors - the program marks bad blocks, preventing the writing of new information to them.

Unlike SeaTools, this program for diagnostics, the HDD can be freely used with devices from any manufacturer to check the hard drive for errors - no problems were identified with this.

Deep testing software

If you need not only checking the hard drive for errors, but also correcting bad sectors, you cannot do without sophisticated software that carries out the most in-depth analysis of the HDD state.

Victoria HDD

According to many users Victoria HDD is the best software for detecting hard drive problems. The program gained this reputation due to its wide range of functions.

Victoria exists in two versions:

With graphical shell for use from inside Windows;
with a DOS shell to create a boot disk.

It's better to use the second version. HDD diagnostics outside the system allows you to achieve best results, so it is always recommended to follow the principle “if possible, test the disk from the boot disk.” As a last resort, you can use a LiveCD of another OS, for example, Linux distribution like Ubuntu.

Victoria HDD has a variety of functions:

fast and full check disk;
reassignment of bad sectors and their restoration;
checking the status of contacts in the IDE or SATA cable;
equipment performance analysis;
viewing S.M.A.R.T. indicators.

When checking, you need to pay attention to the access time to sectors. It should not exceed 200-600 ms. You can also view the temperature of the disk during operation, but this is not so important.

HDD Regenerator

HDD Regenerator is a program for professional hard recovery disk. It not only marks bad sectors as unused, but also tries to revive them. For this purpose it is not used standard method deep formatting, but its own algorithm based on transmitting signals to the sector different levels. Despite the professional level, this software can also be used by inexperienced users, since testing a hard drive with its help is easy thanks to its convenient Russian-language interface.

Program features:

ensuring data safety - it works only in read mode;
support for different file systems;
the ability to scan the disk surface;
real-time monitoring.

The program is not suitable for everyone, since you can check your hard drive for functionality for free, but you will have to pay $90 for the sector recovery function.

If you don't want to pay, you can use TestDisk, a free program that can restore the partition table, boot sectors and MFT. It also detects bad sectors and can repair deleted information and fix file system errors. The only drawback is the lack GUI, you have to work from the console.

If after HDD checks and if all problems are corrected, the computer has not stopped working incorrectly, it is worth checking the registry. Perhaps the failures are caused not by equipment failure, but by internal errors systems.

To store information on most personal computers and even servers, hard disks. They are quite reliable, but over time magnetic storage fall into disrepair. In most cases, the service life of the disk is 5-10 years. Each user must be able to diagnose the HDD in order to determine the need to replace the part and perform a data backup. You will learn everything about verification from this article.

Symptoms of hard drive problems

Troubleshooting or emergency death of the hard disc may be accompanied by typical symptoms. We recommend paying attention to the following symptoms:

The appearance of uncharacteristic sounds during operation. There may be clicks, crackles, or metallic clanging. In such cases, the problem is usually mechanical in nature.
“Brakes” in the operation of the system. Windows loads too slowly, some files do not open, and errors occur when installing programs.
The appearance of blue “screens of death”. In such cases, an error code is always written, which can be used to determine the source of the problem.
Spontaneous shutdown or reboot of the computer. As a rule, in such situations it is damaged boot sector HDD.

Please note that computer freezes can also occur due to insufficient RAM.

Ways to check the hard drive

HDD diagnostics is an important task. There are several ways to do this. Operating system tools allow you to analyze your hard drive, but they are not always effective. The optimal solution is to use specialized utilities that are created specifically for this task.

Via command line

Windows operating systems have a standard utility that can analyze the status of the hard drive. To do this you will have to run the command line:

In the command parameters, specify the drive letter and two specifiers. The first - F is responsible for automatic error correction, and R performs information recovery. Be prepared that the verification may take several hours. If you are using a laptop, be sure to charge it. At the end you will get statistics on how many sectors are damaged.

Using Windows Explorer

If you prefer using familiar windows, you can run the scan through Explorer. To do this, users should follow a number of steps:

During this operation, the system will perform the following checks:

basic file system structure;
security descriptors;
file name associations;
USN magazine.

To find out the scan results, you need to go to the "Event Viewer" menu, and then to Windows log find the verification log.

Via Windows PowerShell

The latest Windows operating systems have additional utility similar to the command line, which was created for convenient system administration. You can also use it to test your hard drive. To start, you need to perform several steps:

The system will scan and automatically fix if possible. If there are no errors, the message NoErrorsFound will appear.

Using Windows 10 Tools

The latest operating system from Microsoft has advanced functionality, so it can independently diagnose a wide range of problems. Using the built-in security center, you can check the status of the HDD. Additionally, go to storage diagnostics. How to use these functions will be described below.

Security and Service Center

This is a special section in the “ten”, which is responsible for maintaining the operating system. As a rule, everything necessary checks are performed automatically after a certain period of time. You can access this section through the control panel. Next, if necessary, open the “Maintenance” tab and find the “Disk Status” line. Opposite it should be the “OK” option. If it is not there, then we recommend conducting a thorough analysis of the condition of the hard drive.

Storage Diagnostic Utility

The developers of Windows 10 also created an additional utility for checking the hard drive - storage diagnostics. It is launched via the command line (how to open it was described in the sections earlier). Next, enter the command and press Enter.

The procedure may take 2-5 hours (depending on the HDD capacity). At some points the process will appear to be stuck, but it is strongly recommended that you do not interrupt the scan. Once the process is complete, navigate to the path to save the report and open it (the file will have evtx permission). It will provide the following information:

verification data from using chkdsk and error information;
registry files containing data about connected drives;
Event Viewer Logs.

For correct decoding The information presented in the report requires experienced specialists. The report will be uninformative for ordinary users.

Third party programs

For professionals and ordinary users third party developers have created many useful, functional and easy-to-use utilities for checking the status of your hard drive. With their help, you can get comprehensive information about the status of your HDD. The most popular of them will be described below.

Victoria

This is the most popular free software from qualified specialists. Its wide functionality allows you to get almost any information about the hard drive. The parameters are displayed in a form convenient for the average user, so you don’t have to study anything additional to make a conclusion about the state of the HDD. The utility is distributed on a Freeware basis, i.e. absolutely free.

Download the software to your computer and follow the instructions:

All sectors will be marked in different colors depending on the response speed. Gray sectors are not dangerous. Green sectors are allowed in quantities of several hundred (up to 2-3 thousand). For example, on a completely new 1TV hard drive their number is about 1 thousand. Orange sectors are at their limit. No more than 100 pieces are allowed. Red and blue cannot be restored. They need to be “closed”, limiting reading from them.

When scanning, you can set the operating modes:

Ignore - classic check without further action.
Remap – replacing unreadable sectors with reserves if available.
Restore – restore damaged sectors programmatically.
Erase – overwriting unreadable sectors. Attention, erases information.

As you can see, the utility is informative and easy to use even for beginners.

HDDScan

Another useful software for scanning your hard drive. It has less functionality, but a more friendly interface compared to the previous version. The utility is completely free, and allows you to get SMART parameters and detailed information about the state of sectors.

To start the verification procedure, follow these steps:

The colors for the sectors are identical to those described above. The scanning menu does not provide functions for correcting sectors.

DiskCheckup

The software supports work with almost all types of hard drives (SATA, USB, FireWire). It has small but sufficient functionality. Through the application you can check the SMART parameters, as well as carry out full testing on the Disk Self-Test tab. The main disadvantage of the program is the complexity of the results for the average user. The status is indicated by the “OK” line and numerical parameters. Considering that they are all in English, it will be difficult to understand.

MHDD

This is highly specialized software for advanced users. It is used if the system does not start and the OS does not load to the desktop. To run MHDD software, you must burn it to a CD or flash drive as an image. You can even run the utility with the entire operating system. To do this, you need to select a flash drive or CD as the boot drive when using a floppy drive.

After the menu appears, you just need to select the desired hard drive and enter the command to check. The software is controlled in the same way through commands as on the console, or using function buttons keyboards. Not recommended for use ordinary users without the appropriate skills.

Crystal Disk Mark

This utility allows you to evaluate the speed of writing and reading information from your hard drive. In its interface, the user can select the write/read type, local disk and file size to be read and written. After finishing the test you will receive information at speed.

You will not be able to evaluate these results yourself. We recommend finding a similar HDD model online to compare its testing with your test data. If the results with identical settings are almost the same, then there is no need to worry. If there are strong differences, we recommend analyzing the hard drive through Victoria.

HDD Regenerator

Functional utility for HDD scanning and recovery. A special magnetization reversal algorithm allows you to eliminate quite serious problems with the hard drive. To launch the software you should:

The advantage of this utility is the ability to quickly correct errors and close bad sectors.

Seagate SeaTools

Specialized software from Seagate product developers. Allows you to obtain basic information about the disk, perform preliminary and full scans. We recommend using this utility in cases where the above for some reason does not work, and you own a hard drive from Seagate.

Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic

Special software in English for checking Western Digital disks. More suitable for advanced users, but quick diagnostics Ordinary users can also do this. For example, you can check the status of SMART parameters.

The utility also allows you to conduct simple and advanced tests, but the information content of the results for typical users leaves much to be desired.

Disk Utility on macOS

MacOS users also have a standard hard drive utility. Its functionality includes:

creation and transformation of images;
mounting and unmounting disks and other media.
activation and deactivation of logging mode;
HDD integrity testing and file recovery;
erasing, formatting and partitioning disks;
cleaning up debris;
adding a partition table;
checking the S.M.A.R.T status of the hard drive and much more.

To start, you need to find the application in the utilities on the system disk, and then launch it.

Prevention measures

To maximize the life of a hard drive, users can do a variety of things, including:

Defragmentation. This procedure arranges all file blocks in order, making access to them as fast as possible, accordingly, the head travels less distance to open the file and wears out more slowly.
Install a quality power supply. Power surges have a detrimental effect on any equipment. If important data is stored on the HDD, take care of a high-quality power supply to prevent damage to the hard drive due to power surges.
Avoid vibrations and shocks. Winchesters are extremely vulnerable to impacts. When transporting your computer, make sure that the hard drive will not be subject to vibration.
Clean the system. Freezes due to unstable software or viruses can cause increased load on the disk; accordingly, it will use its resource faster.
Eliminate external magnetic fields. Many install system unit with other powerful equipment that has magnetic field. If you want to ensure maximum data safety, do not place the system unit next to equipment that emits a powerful magnetic field.

Never forget to do backups. Any hard drive will eventually become unusable, and it is not always possible to recover data. Regular checks will allow you to determine the future demise of the HDD in advance and take action, for example, purchasing a new one.

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