Restoring bad sectors. How to use the Victoria program to erase information from a hard drive sector-by-sector and thereby get rid of bad sectors (bad blocks)

Important things depend on the condition of the hard drive - the operation of the operating system and the safety of user files. Problems such as file system errors and bad sectors can lead to the loss of personal information, failures to load the OS and complete failure of the drive.

The ability to recover an HDD depends on the type of bad blocks. Physical damage cannot be repaired, while logical errors must be corrected. To do this, you will need a special program that works with bad sectors.

Before running the healing utility, it is necessary to carry out diagnostics. It will allow you to find out if there are problem areas and whether you need to work on them. We have already written in more detail about what bad sectors are, where they come from, and what program scans the hard drive for their presence in another article:

You can use scanners for built-in and external HDD, as well as flash drive.

If, after checking, the presence of errors and bad sectors is discovered, and you want to eliminate them, then special software will again come to the rescue.

Method 1: Using third-party programs

Often users decide to resort to using programs that would handle errors and bad blocks at the logical level. We have already compiled a selection of such utilities, and you can familiarize yourself with them using the link below. There you will also find a link to a lesson on disk recovery.

When choosing a program for HDD treatment, approach it wisely: if used inappropriately, you can not only damage the device, but also lose important data stored on it.

Method 2: Using the built-in utility

An alternative way to resolve errors is to use the built-in Windows program chkdsk. It can scan all drives connected to the computer and fix any problems found. If you are going to fix the partition where the OS is installed, then chkdsk will start working only the next time you start the computer, or after a manual reboot.

To work with the program, it is best to use the command line.

Please note that none of the programs can fix bad sectors at the physical level, even if this is stated by the manufacturer. No software can restore the surface of a disk. Therefore, in case of physical damage, it is necessary to replace the old HDD with a new one as quickly as possible before it stops functioning.

Often, personal computer users encounter hard drive problems that affect the operation of the system. The main causes of hard drive failure are: bad sectors in HD D and faulty file system. In this material we will describe in detail HDD problem fixing process, and also describe methods for recovering information on hard drives, if it is faulty or completely out of order. I would also like to note that problems associated with the hard drive need to be given special attention. For example, if the HDD becomes completely faulty, then you are unlikely to be able to recover information from it. That is, all your documents, personal videos and photographs, as well as other files may be lost forever.

Reading SMART readings from the hard drive

If files are not copied on your computer, or programs freeze after opening, then a possible reason for this may be faulty HDD. Typically this behavior of the operating system is due to with bad sectors in the hard drive. To be sure that the problem is related to bad sectors of the HDD and not to malware, the first step is to confirm this guess. If the situation described above is observed on your computer, we will install the utility on it CrystalDiskInfo. This utility describes the status of all hard drives installed on your computer. You can download CrystalDiskInfo from its official website http://crystalmark.info. The utility supports Windows OS, from XP to Windows 10.

To check information about the hard drive, the utility uses self-diagnosis technology SMART. SMART technology is used on all manufactured HDDs. Below is an example of checking SMART readings using the CrystalDiskInfo utility in the hard drive WD1200JS. From this window you can see that the program has detected its status as " Fine" - this means that this hard drive is in perfect order and you should not worry about it.

In the following image in the SMART readings, the CrystalDiskInfo utility detected the status of the screw with the message " Anxiety" This message means that the hard drive already has bad sectors or is overheating.

If you see the message " Bad", then this will mean that all the bad sectors on the hard drive have been reassigned and soon it will be completely covered.

In both cases, when the program detected messages " Anxiety" And " Bad", you should make a backup copy of all data on your computer, as the screw will soon become unusable.

One solution that can temporarily fix your screw is the utility Victoria. This utility can do REMAP BAD sectors, that is, it will reassign bad sectors to backup ones. In the next section we will describe in detail the process of REMAP BAD sectors using the Victoria utility.

Recovering a hard drive using the Victoria program

Utility Victoria created by a Belarusian programmer and distributed free of charge. You can download the utility on its official website hdd-911.com. The Victoria utility is distributed in two versions for Windows and DOS. In our case, we will download the Windows version. After launching the Victoria utility on Windows, we will be taken to such a window.

To fix the hard drive, we need to go to the “Tests” tab. On this tab we are interested in the area with the radio buttons Ignore, Erase, Remap and Restore, as well as the Start button. To fix it, we need to select the Remap radio button and click Start.

After these steps, the Victoria program will begin the process of repairing sectors, which can take quite a long time.

After reassigning the sectors, Victoria may be able to restore the bad sectors, and the CrystalDiskInfo utility will display the value “Good”. But a magical fix may not happen, since the reserve sectors may simply be absent and Victoria will not be able to help. In this case, there is only one way out - do a complete HDD replacement. In addition to screw treatment, Victoria also provides checking readings SMART on the " tab SMART».

I would like to note that all operations that you perform using Victoria are done at your own peril and risk. Using the utility, an inexperienced user can damage the hard drive and also deprive it of warranty service.

Fixing file system problems on your hard drive

Many users on Windows computers often experience problems related to file system errors NTFS. File system problems occur due to malicious utilities and various software. Also, file system problems most often occur due to inexperience the PC user himself. For example, incorrect handling of the utility Acronis Disk Director. To solve this problem, Windows itself will help us. Windows provides file system repair tool. To fix the file system on a specific partition, you need to go to its properties. In our case, this is the system partition of the Windows 10 operating system. To run the fix, we need to go to the “ Service».

On this tab there is a button Check that we will click.

After this action, a window will appear in which you need to confirm our actions.

After confirming the action, Windows will scan this partition.

After scanning, the system will display a message with the results of scanning the partition for errors.

Using this method, many users restored the operating system to normal operation without having to reinstall it. If the problems lie in the HDD itself, then no amount of checking the disk or reinstalling the OS will help in this case. The only option in this case is that you can resort to the Victoria utility or completely replace the screw with a new one, while reinstalling Windows.

Recovering disks using Acronis True Image 2016

The software is the ideal tool to create a full backup all local partitions, including the system one. This feature is used by many administrators around the world. The created backup of local disks can be restored in a very short time. For example, if the system is infected with a virus or the HDD is broken, in this case you will restore all OS disks in a short period of time. You can find Acronis True Image 2016 on its official website www.acronis.com. By launching the program in question, we will be taken to such a window.

First of all, we will show our readers how you can create a backup copy of local Acronis True Image 2016 partitions. On the first tab “Backup” you can see that the entire computer is selected for backup. That is, a complete backup of all local partitions, including the system one, will be carried out. In the next block you need to select a backup location. In our case, this is local drive E. After selecting the type of backup data and where to save it, click the Create a copy button located in the lower right corner.

Depending on the amount of data being saved, the time it takes to create a backup will depend.

Having completed the backup, we will describe the process of restoring the computer. To do this, we need to create a boot disk or flash drive for Acronis True Image 2016. This can be done by going to the “ TOOLS/BOOTABLE DRIVE CREATION WIZARD" Below is the wizard that should open.

In this wizard, we will select the first option and continue. In the window that appears, select where we will save the boot drive: into the image or to a flash drive.

After saving the boot drive, the wizard will display a final window.

Having created a bootable USB flash drive or optical disk with Acronis True Image 2016, you can begin data recovery. To do this, we will boot from the bootable USB flash drive when the computer starts. After booting from the boot drive, we find ourselves in the Acronis True Image 2016 menu. Select the first item in this menu, after which we find ourselves in the main Acronis True Image window.

In the program window, go to the “” tab and find the backup copy of the entire system we previously created.

Now, to restore the system disk with Windows and local disks, click the button Disk recovery.

In the wizard that appears, select the item “ Recover disks and partitions" and continue.

In the next window, select all local disks and continue the wizard.

In paragraphs " Destination"For the first and second disks, select the original HDDs. If there are many hard drives installed in the system, be careful not to mix up the screws. In the final window, click the Proceed button.

The backup recovery time depends on the size and speed of the HDD. In our case it took 10 minutes.

The example shows how easy it is to make a backup copy of your entire computer, so if you master the Acronis True Image 2016 software package, you can easily restore its functionality in cases where the system is infected or the hard drive is broken. Also, after mastering the program, you will not have questions about how to recover data from a hard drive.

Data recovery using Recuva

There are times when, when reinstalling Windows or using Acronis software, users mistakenly erase all information from the hard drive. If this is exactly the situation you have, then you shouldn’t be upset, since all the information can be found restore. A free utility will help us with this task. Recuva. You can download the utility on its official website www.piriform.com. After launching the utility, the user is taken to a wizard that will help you restore all your data. Below is the sequential work of the master.

The example shows that data recovery using Recuva is a fairly simple process and almost any PC user can handle it.

Let's sum it up

From this article it can be emphasized that restoring a hard drive is not a very simple task, but depending on the situation, even an ordinary PC user can cope with it. I would also like to advise laptop owners to handle it as carefully as possible. For example, if the laptop is dropped or receives a strong impact, the HDD may be damaged. In addition, if you yourself have identified a problematic screw, then do not be afraid to open the case of a laptop or desktop computer yourself, since replacing the HDD is a fairly simple task. And we, in turn, hope that our material will be useful to our readers and will allow you to restore your hard drive.

Video on the topic

In this article we will talk about recovering bad sectors of a hard drive and the reasons for their occurrence. Step-by-step instructions will help you prepare for this procedure and cope with it yourself.

What are bad sectors?

Let's take a quick look at the structure of the hard drive. It consists of several separate disks, above which there are magnetic heads designed for reading and writing information. When storing data, the heads magnetize certain areas of the disk, which is divided into tracks and smaller components - sectors. It is in them that units of information are stored. If a sector becomes unreadable, it is called “broken”.

Several signs indicate the occurrence of such a problem:

creaks, rattles, tapping when the disk is operating;
heating the surface of the HDD (this should not happen under normal conditions);
Frequent errors when working and starting the operating system.

Typical reasons

The main reasons for the appearance of broken hard drive segments are:

Also, malfunctions in the hard drive may occur due to mechanical damage. They are often caused by dropping a hard drive or computer, resulting in damage to the magnetic surface (for example, during transportation). Non-working parts also appear due to manufacturing defects. In this case, they may not appear immediately, but “crumble” over time, quickly increasing their number to a critical level.

Important! If you suspect mechanical damage or defects, you should immediately contact specialists or exchange the hard drive under warranty.

Recovering bad HDD sectors using Victoria

If the appearance of broken segments is associated with software failures, then they can be restored using specialized software. One such program for recovering bad hdd sectors is Victoria. The utility is available in two versions - for Windows and DOS. Recovery via DOS will be the most effective, since when the OS is running, some sectors may be occupied and therefore unavailable for scanning.

Scanning

To get started, we will need to do a little preparation. First, you will need a disk with a program image recorded on it or a bootable USB flash drive. If everyone can cope with recording an image, then creating a flash drive may be difficult.

Let's take a closer look at this step:

Note! The program takes up very little space, so after installing it, the drive can be used to store other information. To avoid accidentally deleting files necessary for the utility to work, it is recommended to select a separate folder for them.

Let's start the scanning process:

Here we need a point "Reallocated sector count", which displays the number of fragments located in the reserve zone, as well as "Current pending sectors", where parts that cannot be read are displayed. If their number is not very high, then the disk can be restored.

Hard drive recovery

Let's figure out exactly how this process happens. Problem segments can be roughly divided into two types. The first ones are not readable due to a mismatch between the information stored in them and its checksums.

This error occurs during a power outage, when new data has already been written, but the checksums remain old. They simply cease to be recognized and are restored quite easily - by formatting them and recording the correct amounts.

The second type occurs as a result of mechanical damage. In this case, recovery is more difficult, but still possible. Restoring the functionality of such parts is carried out through the use of reserve areas that are on each hard drive.

We begin to recover each of these types of errors.

Video: HDD - “healing” bad sectors

First, let's try to fix bad sectors by erasing the information stored in them:

press F4 and get to the verification menu;
in the menu for selecting operations with unreadable sectors, indicate “BB: Erase 256 sect” and press “Enter”.

A long process of scanning and repairing bad sectors of the HDD will begin. If the program finds a bad sector, it will try to erase it, thereby correcting the error. If there is a mechanical defect, an error will be reported. In any case, you must wait until the check is completed and then separately correct the sectors with physical defects.

For this:

Now the recovery operation will work on a different principle, trying not to erase bad sectors, but to replace them with space from the reserve area.

Important! If there are a lot of such sectors, then the reserve space may run out. A special message will inform you about this, and further restoration will become impossible.

After successfully recovering bad sectors on your hard drive, it is recommended to conduct a full check of the file system for errors.

This can be done using the CHKDSK utility or in the following way:

Attention! To ensure that the system not only finds, but also corrects problems, before starting the scan, select “Automatically fix system errors.”

The methods described above will help you easily deal with non-critical cases of problem sectors, find and fix them. By following our instructions exactly, any user can do this on their own, even without computer education. We hope that this information was useful to you.

The computer hard drive is a very sensitive component. Errors that appear in its file system, bad sectors on the surface, and mechanical problems sometimes cause a complete failure of the computer system.

The same problems are typical for flash drives, which in essence are practically no different from a hard drive. How to determine the presence of errors and bad sectors and how to correct them if possible?

Just a little bit of theory

Many people simply confuse file system errors and bad sectors. Therefore, we will try to explain the difference between these phenomena and the reason for their occurrence. We will also determine what the symptoms of errors that appear on the surface of the hard drive may be.

File system errors

When people talk about hard drive errors and trying to fix them using the chkdsk utility built into Windows, they most often mean file system errors. Such errors are associated with problems with metadata that describe the file system itself: errors in the $Bitmap, $BadClus files, the main file table, and various indexes.

For example, errors in the $Bitmap file of the NTFS file system can cause the system to incorrectly recognize the amount of free space on a volume. And problems with the $BadClus file can lead to incorrect identification of bad sectors and an attempt to write data to such sectors, which will cause the computer to completely freeze.

Bad sectors

The nature of bad sectors is somewhat different. The hard drive is “cut” into sectors at the factory during production. It is then that its logical structure is created, then it receives magnetic properties for recording data. These structures become faulty as a result of the gradual degradation of areas of the surface of the hard drive, which become so due to careless handling of the hard drive, which was accidentally dropped on the floor or was hit on the case even with an ordinary screwdriver.

Testing programs that fall on parts of a degrading surface detect so-called faulty or damaged sectors - bad sectors. Sectors that have lost their magnetic properties do not allow data to be read or written to them. It is possible to eliminate faulty hard drive structures. For this purpose, manufacturers create special reserve areas of sectors. When a bad sector appears, diagnosed at a specific address, its address is reassigned to a sector from this reserve area.

Symptoms of errors and bad sectors

We have already talked a little about the symptoms of file system errors above. However, the symptoms are sometimes very varied. Here are some manifestations of errors and bad sectors that have arisen in the hard drive.

Noticeable freezing of the operating system when performing read and write operations.
Failure to load the operating system. For example, downloading continues only until the download notification and Windows logo appear.
Frequent occurrence of errors in the operating environment.
Extremely slow and unproductive operating system.

Here is a far from complete list of error manifestations associated with file system problems and the presence of degrading areas of the hard drive. What to do in such cases?

Checking errors using Windows

Checking and correcting file system errors in Windows is carried out by a standard utility of this operating environment called chkdsk. It can also be useful in eliminating programmatically generated bad sectors as a result of viruses. It can be launched both in a graphical environment and from the command line. Let's consider the most accessible option for performing it in a graphical environment.

Checking an inactive volume

Checking an inactive volume is the simplest. It can be done entirely in graphical mode. By inactive volume we mean a partition on which the currently running operating system is not installed. This could be another connected hard drive or, for example, drive D.

Click the "Run check" button.

The utility is launched from the “Service” tab of the volume properties. This tab contains the “Perform check” button. If you click it, the chkdsk utility window will open. To check bad sectors that appeared as a result of software errors, you need to check the box next to the corresponding option. Next, just click the “Run” button - the utility will check and correct errors.

The chkdsk utility checks volume D, also diagnosing bad sectors.

Checking the system volume

Checking and correcting errors on the system volume, where the operating environment valid at the time of checking is located, is carried out a little differently. The utility identifies such a volume as mounted, and therefore warns that it cannot perform the check, but offers to perform it during the next reboot.

The chkdsk utility reports that it cannot scan the disk.

After restarting the computer, the user will find that during boot, after the Windows logo appears, a black screen appears. This black screen is gradually filled with lines of text. This is the chkdsk utility that checks the system volume of the hard drive. After checking and making the necessary corrections, it will show the result, and then the operating system will continue loading.

The chkdsk utility checks volume C after a reboot.

Programs for checking hard drives for bad sectors

There are a number of applications on the software market that can test the surface of a hard drive. In this case, not just one volume is tested, but the entire surface of the hard drive. Of course, the user can independently set the boundary sectors and test individual areas. To identify bad sectors, a sector read test is usually performed.

Important: the results of the test for the presence of bad sectors must be considered in conjunction with SMART indicators, such as Reallocation Sector Count, Reallocation Event Count.

Data Lifeguard Diagnostic

This utility was created by Western Digital developers. It is available for download on the company's official website. Lifeguard Diagnostic works great with hard drives from almost any manufacturer, and not just native WD hard drives, as one might think. It offers a number of tests: Quick, Advanced, as well as the ability to fill hard drive sectors with zeros.

Interface of the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic utility.

We are most interested in the extended test. This test allows you to detect bad sectors on the surface of disks. When the program finds a bad sector, it informs the user about it, asking him to choose whether he wants to fix the detected error. If it agrees, then the application writes to sector 0, so the sector data will be lost.

A selection of utility tests. We need Extended Test.

This test takes longer than the quick test. Testing time depends on the size of the drive, since the test is carried out on the entire surface, starting from sector 0 and ending with the maximum LBA value.

Extended Test utilities in operation.

HDDScan

The HDDScan application also seems to be an excellent hard drive surface tester. It can often be seen as part of entire software packages such as LiveCD. This application has a graphical interface and offers a number of tests, among which, in our case, the most interesting is “Surface Tests”.

Select the Surface Test from the drop-down list.

Important: when conducting surface tests under Windows, you must close all running programs to avoid random results during the test caused by the action of these programs.

After selecting a test, an additional window will open, which presents the test parameters. Let's leave the “Read” option enabled, which will only allow us to read data from sectors. Thus, we will define sectors from which information cannot be read within a specified time (bad sectors), frozen sectors and normal cells. We will leave the fields of the initial and final sectors unchanged if we want to check the entire surface.

Let's leave the Read test option enabled.

When testing with this program, a number of sectors are identified:

bad sectors,
stuck sectors, reading data from which takes more than 500 ms,
sectors with reading time from 150 to 500 ms,
sectors with reading time from 50 to 150 ms,
sectors with reading time from 10 to 20 ms,
HDDScan considers sectors whose data is read within 5 ms to be normal.

The program test result is available in the form of a line graph, a sector distribution map, and also as a regular text report.

Checking the hard drive surface.

Ashampoo HDD Control

Unlike the programs discussed above, HDD Control is not a free program. This application is a whole set of tools designed to restore the health of your hard drive. This program also offers the ability to test the surface of the hard drive.

Select the "Surface Test" option.

The test is very simple and accessible to the average HDD Control user. To start it, you just need to click the “Surface Testing” button. It lacks additional options that would allow you to customize the type of test. During testing, only two types of sectors are identified: with excellent reading results and bad sectors.

Victoria HDD

Victoria considers the health of the hard drive being tested to be "GOOD".

This application can collect information about the SMART health of your hard drive. It also allows you to test the disk surface, reassign damaged sectors using the Remap operation, and reset bad sectors. It also divides sectors into groups:

bad sectors (Error),
stuck sectors with a read time of more than 600 ms,
freezing sectors with readout times from 200 to 600 ms,
sectors with reading time from 50 to 200 ms,
sectors with reading time from 20 to 50 ms,
Victoria diagnoses normal sectors within the framework of data reading up to 5 ms.

To test your hard drive, you can run this program in Windows graphical mode. Next, you will need to select the “Tests” tab. This is where the surface tests are located. There are four options available for working with the hard surface:

Ignore,
Remap
erase,
Restore.

First of all, you can perform the Ignore test to determine whether there are bad sectors on the surface of the hard drive. If they are, then you need to start the Remap test. This test will allow you to reassign the addresses of damaged sectors to the reserved area, where normal sectors are located.

Types of tests available and sector categories. Victoria checks the surface.

If, after the Remap test, Victoria continues to diagnose bad sectors, then you can still try to restore their functionality by using the Restore test. The Erase option should be used wisely under Windows, as it writes zeros to sectors - erases sector data. It can only be used within a certain selection of sectors, the data of which is not related to the operating system.

Brief summary

It should be noted that there is a difference between errors eliminated by the chkdsk utility of the Windows operating system and bad sectors eliminated by programs such as Victoria HDD. The former are caused by file system problems, and the latter are often the result of the loss of magnetic properties of sectors of the hard drive surface and its gradual degradation. However, chkdsk can also fix some problems with bad sectors.

To eliminate bad sectors, you can use such applications as: Data Lifeguard Diagnostic, Ashampoo HDD Control, HDDScan, Victoria. We highlight the Victoria HDD application as the best for checking and eliminating bad sectors, as it offers a number of tests: Ignore, Remap, Erase and Restore. It allows you not only to detect faulty hard surface structures, but also to treat the HDD.

Read about ways to fix HDD errors, is it possible to restore bad sectors and how to do it. Let's consider how to recover data from problem disks. The occurrence of bad sectors and other hard drive malfunctions can lead to the loss of all information. We will talk about possible methods for correcting such errors and ways to recover data from problem disks in our article.

The most popular representatives of the team of computer devices are stationary personal computers and laptops, including their various modifications (netbooks, ultrabooks, convertible laptops, etc.). A complex combination of the most powerful computer processors, modern high-level memory elements, ultra-fast graphics accelerators, significant data storage and other essential elements allows them to rightfully occupy a leading place among other types of computer devices.

The presence of modern versions of personal computers and laptops implies the mandatory use of software to maintain a high level of productivity, management and control over all processes. The most common program that fully satisfies the stated requirements can be safely called the operating system Windows from the corporation Microsoft.

The mandatory use of modern developments in the field of computer programming, the highest speed characteristics of processing a huge array of data, a high level of system functionality, multitasking and unification of the internal shell of the operating system, suitable for the joint use of programs and applications from third-party manufacturers, a friendly user interface and a number of other advantages helped the system obtain Windows extraordinary popularity, distribution and recognition of users around the world.

The combination of an advanced operating system and modern elements of the internal content of personal computers and laptops helps users cope with any high-cost tasks, carry out the simultaneous execution of many tasks without an overall loss of productivity and data processing speed.

One of the main elements of computer devices, which is responsible for managing and securely storing all user and operating system information Windows, acts as a data warehouse. As such, users can use various storage devices: internal and external hard drives HDD,solid state drives SSD, combined hybrid hard drives, combining elements of the two previous types of drives, and other types of devices.

Despite the rapidly growing industry of solid-state drives, they have a number of significant disadvantages that significantly reduce their distribution. Therefore, hard drives have received, and continue to retain, the greatest popularity and widespread use. HDD, proven to be low-cost, high-capacity storage devices that meet the needs of consumer and enterprise segments and have a high degree of reliability.

Taking into account the wide popularity and significant number of used information storage devices, the question often arises about the problem of bad sectors and the search for possible ways to correct detected hard drive errors HDD. To preserve user information and prevent its premature loss, an important requirement is the mandatory maintenance of the hard drive used in good working order. And if problems arise with its structure, software or hardware content, it is necessary to take care of transferring user data to a working storage device, or recover lost data if bad sectors on the hard drive lead to its failure. Further in our article we will try to consider possible ways to solve the presented problems.

A quick overview of the hard drive design HDD

Before we begin to describe the solution to the above problems, it is worthwhile to dwell on the hard drive device in order to fully understand the principles of operation of the device, correctly diagnose the problem and choose ways to fix it.

The hard drive is a mechanical storage device, which makes it the most vulnerable element of a personal computer due to the presence of moving parts. The main components of a hard drive include an electronics control board, a block of read heads, and hard aluminum or glass plates coated with a ferromagnetic layer, onto which all information is directly recorded.

Hard drives, depending on the declared memory capacity, use one or more platters located on the same axis. Due to the high speed of rotation of the drum, the read heads, in the process of writing or reading information from the hard drive, do not touch the surface of the platters, thereby achieving a high level of durability of the disk as a whole. And upon completion, they move to the parking area for a safe location.

The hard drive case is a hermetically sealed container, which prevents the entry of foreign elements and particles and ensures overall protection of the device.

The principle of storing information on a hard drive HDD

Based on the knowledge gained about the hard drive structure described in the previous section, it is known that all information is stored on hard plates in a sealed drive case.

The process of writing and reading information implies the presence of a strictly structured disk space that has certain elements of disk division. Therefore, the internal organization of the surface of the disk plates has a special marking, in interaction with which information is recorded and stored on the device. In accordance with the markings, the surface of the storage plates is divided into tracks, which in turn are divided into sectors (the minimum disk memory area used for storing information). The sector size, as the minimum basic unit of information recording, is 512 bytes. But depending on the selected file system used when formatting the hard drive, sectors can be combined into clusters, which in turn will be used as a single amount of memory when recording and storing data. A cluster can consist of several physical sectors, the final size of which depends on the total number of sectors combined, and can be up to sixty-four kilobytes.

When recording information, the system determines the size of the recorded file and places its contents in the required number of clusters. The location of the recorded clusters on the disk surface may vary. Depending on the size of the source file, the load on the hard drive and a number of other factors, clusters containing data from one file can be located either next to each other or can be distributed over the entire surface of the storage platter of the drive. In other words, when the original file is written, it will be split into separate parts and recorded fragmentarily on the hard drive. Which ultimately can increase the time it takes for the disk head to read the file, because it will need to find all the fragments of the file when accessing it. And if a sector is damaged, some or all of the information may be lost, since the sector is the main element responsible for storing data.

What does the concept of bad sectors mean?

As was already described earlier in the previous section, a design feature of a hard magnetic drive is the presence of sectors (or clusters) that are used to record and store various information. If, for various reasons, a sector is damaged, then, with a high degree of probability, all the information recorded on it will be damaged, and it is not always possible to restore it, depending on the degree and type of damage. Therefore, damaged sectors are usually called bad sectors (also called BAD sectors, bad or faulty), and it is no longer possible to store any data in them.

In a command prompt window with administrator rights, enter the command to run the application CHKDSK:

In this example, errors in the logical partition will be checked and corrected C:.

The application allows you to use many different flags aimed at performing relevant tasks. However, to fix hard drive problems, only two of them are used:

/f– using this flag instructs the application to check the hard disk for errors and correct them;

/r– this flag is used in conjunction with the flag /f and forces the application to search for damaged sectors of the hard drive and restore their contents.

Learn more about ways to check your hard drive for errors and possible methods for correcting them in the operating system. Windows on our video channel in the manual: How to check your hard drive for errors and fix errors in Windows 10, 8, 7.

In the second case, you can perform actions to search for bad sectors and correct errors from the file explorer Windows. Open the file explorer in any way convenient for you, for example, by double-clicking the shortcut This computer on the desktop. In chapter Devices and drives Right-click on the required drive. Select a section from the pop-up context menu Properties.

Or, having selected the drive, click on the main menu bar in the tab Computer button Properties.

In the local disk properties window that opens, go to the tab Service and then in the section Checking for errors click on the button Check.

A check will be launched to detect and eliminate hard drive errors, which will result in a complete elimination of the diagnosed problems.

Using disk formatting

Sometimes, if we are not talking about a system drive, you can use the method of completely formatting a logical drive. Such a process in the execution of operating system tools Windows performs a comprehensive check of the hard disk surface and excludes detected bad sectors from the trusted data storage area. By entering a mark about specific bad sectors into the disk service information, Windows does not allow them to be used to record new data in the future. Formatting the system disk is possible together with reinstalling the operating system Windows, which can also be performed if the computer’s performance has slowed down significantly, frequent system problems occur, and you have a sufficient level of knowledge to perform the system reinstallation process.

Open File Explorer Windows and find the drive you want to format. Right-click on it and select section from the pop-up context menu Format.

In the local disk formatting options window, set the appropriate settings and click the button Begin to start the process. Once formatting is complete, errors in the logical drive will be eliminated. However, all information located in this section will be erased. Therefore, this method can be used in cases where the disk does not store important data or they have been transferred (copied) to another medium.

Methods for recovering information

If the number of bad sectors has reached a critical value, resulting in loss of access to the disk, it is unreadable or inoperative, then users can try to restore the information located on such disks by contacting a specialized laboratory for help, using free software or using a professional data recovery program.

Contacting a specialized laboratory

Specialized laboratories for recovering deleted data from damaged media have expensive equipment, sterile rooms and specialists of sufficient professional level to repair drives and restore user information.

The use of modern hardware tools for data recovery allows laboratory specialists to extract information from damaged hard drives, overcoming the presence of bad sectors, and restore it.

However, despite all the advantages, seeking help from a specialized laboratory has a number of significant disadvantages that significantly reduce the effect of its use.

Laboratory specialists do not provide any guarantees that as a result of their actions, user information will be restored, and the total cost of laboratory services will require significant financial outlays from users. And even with a negative result, users will in any case be forced to pay for laboratory services.

Therefore, you should contact a data recovery laboratory only if it is not possible to recover information by other means, and its recovery is worth any expense.

Application of free software

Using free data recovery software is not a sound decision because this type of software has serious limitations. And with the type of problems described (the presence of bad and damaged sectors of the hard drive), such programs have practically no chance of restoring user information.

Free programs have stripped-down internal functionality that is significantly limited in their capabilities, and they also implement the principle of limiting the final recovered files by the final number or total occupied space. These types of programs are suitable only as a one-time tool for recovering one or several files. To solve more global problems, users need to turn their attention to professional file recovery programs. One of these programs, which has received well-deserved recognition from users and many positive reviews, is from the company Hetman Software.

Using professional data recovery software

Professional recovery programs have the widest range of internal tools aimed at troubleshooting, detecting and safely recovering all possible information.

In the international computer information network Internet There are various types of software available for users to download and install to recover deleted data. However, the best solution would be to turn your attention to a truly successful product that has an unusually high final percentage of recovery of finished and working files - .

The program occupies a leading position in the company's program line Hetman Software, and in addition to standard capabilities (file recovery after: regular and permanent deletion, disk formatting, harmful effects of viruses, system or hardware failure, etc.), it has the ability to recover almost any data from damaged, inaccessible or completely non-functional hard drives . Regardless of the type of damage, the number of bad sectors and the overall performance of the hard drive, the program successfully analyzes and restores any information almost completely.

Download the installation file from the company’s official website and run it. The step-by-step installation wizard will help you decide on the initial settings and safely install the program on your computer or laptop. When finished, click the button Ready to exit the installer.

The program is now installed and ready for future use. Launch, for example, by double-clicking the program shortcut on the desktop, or in another convenient way. When launched for the first time, the program will perform a basic scan of the system, search for all connected devices and display them in the central panel of the window.

To safely recover information, double-click on the selected local disk or an entire physical disk and launch the File Recovery Wizard. In the window that opens, users will need to select the type of analysis that the wizard will need to use to search and restore files. There are two types of analysis available to choose from: Quick Scan And Full analysis. The first type of analysis will be able to recover files after the usual and irreversible deletion methods. Therefore it is necessary to choose Full analysis, which will fully utilize the capabilities of the program and will restore all possible information, regardless of the method of its loss.

Users will be able to monitor the analysis process in real time and control its execution in the File Recovery Wizard window using a status indicator. The final completion time directly depends on the size of the hard drive, the degree of damage to the data and the drive as a whole, the selected type of analysis and a number of other additional criteria, and can take from several minutes to several hours. Wait for the analysis to finish and click the button Ready.

All found files will be displayed in the program window. Using the preview function, users will be able to familiarize themselves with the contents of each specific file in the corresponding section. Selecting the necessary files and placing them in the section Recovery list(by simply dragging and dropping the file) press the button Restore on the main panel of the program window.

The File Recovery Wizard will immediately prompt users to decide on the method of saving the selected files: saving to a hard drive or other storage device at the user’s request, writing data to an optical disk, creating a virtual image ISO or download data via FTP protocol. Having selected one of the proposed options, users will need to specify several additional parameters, for example, select the name of the folder to save and set the path to it, and save the searched data.

Now user files are saved on the specified type of media and are available for viewing and subsequent use.

You can find a more detailed description of the features of recovering files from a hard drive with damaged sectors and ways to minimize the risk of losing information during the recovery process on our video channel in the guide: How to recover files from broken disk?.

Conclusion

Any information that users use on a daily basis requires secure and extensive data storage. And hard drives HDD fully comply with the stated criteria. They have the largest amount of disk space for recording and storing data, have a high speed of information processing and are quite reliable and durable. However, for various reasons, bad sectors may appear on hard drives, which can subsequently lead to the loss of all data stored on the drive.

But knowing the possible causes of damage, you can avoid their occurrence and extend the life of hard drives, as well as protect yourself from subsequent waste of effort and money aimed at restoring information or purchasing a new drive for storing data.

Using additional data protection elements (for example, backup), and using professional file recovery software (for example, ), will significantly increase the level of data security and help you get it back in the event of an unexpected loss.