HGST (Hitachi) hard drive data recovery. Diagnostic utilities from hard drive manufacturers

Have you started to hear extraneous creaks in the system unit? Has the system performance somehow dropped completely intolerably, although the processor and memory should not allow this to happen? Well, it's time to check the hard drive. Find out how to do this in our article.

This is quite an important matter. Besides the performance hit, although that's certainly important, it's about your data. You don't want to one day be left without all your data simply because your drive decided to fail? Here. Therefore, it is important to check the condition of the disc and its health level more often.

Correcting errors in a timely manner also helps increase the lifespan of the disk. Whether it's a regular hard drive or an SSD, file system errors wear it out at a rapid rate, so it's important to keep it in good condition. Otherwise, the data will be lost even faster.

If you understand the importance of this event, then let's get started.

Checking using standard Windows tools

This is the simplest method and can give you quite a lot of information about the hard drive and even try to fix some errors.

Read interesting information and reliable tips in the article -

Command line

If the previous scenario of using standard Windows tools is not very effective, then the command line method can try to supplement it. Its essence is that it is launched from the bootable installation media of the system, that is, the system itself is not running and cannot block some of the requirements of the verification program.

Important! This method has one disadvantage: you need installation media, and it is desirable that it comes with the exact version of Windows that is installed on your computer.

Create bootable media and insert it into your drive or USB port. In your computer's BIOS, select to boot from this media. Wait for the operating environment to load.
When the program reaches the window labeled “Start installation,” press the Windows key combination + F10.
Enter the following command in the console window that opens: chkdsk /f. Press Enter.
The scan will start. The program will display the results right there on the command line. She will immediately try to correct all the errors found.

Simple third party software

Let's look at a few programs that will help you identify most problems with your hard drive without going into too much detail about the process.

HDDScan

Using this program, you can understand in which sectors the writing and reading speed is high, and in which - not. The program is completely universal; with its help you can diagnose anything, as long as it is an information storage device.

The principle of working with her is extremely simple: you start scanning and wait for her report on the work done, from which it is quite possible to draw some conclusions.

Crystal Disk Mark

A more narrowly focused utility, although it essentially also monitors speed. The program can’t do anything else, but based on the write and read speeds, you can quite understand what’s happening with the disk and how much longer it will last.

Important! It is strictly forbidden to use this program if you want to check the SSD drive. His death when using this software will be even closer: this program fills the entire space with some data, and although it is weightless and deleted without a trace, for the SSD this is also wear and tear.

More complex software

If neither standard checking tools nor simple programs satisfy you, then you can move on to more complex checking programs. So, let's begin.

Victoria HDD

The most common program for troubleshooting hard drive problems.

Its advantages are that there are both quick and deep scans of the disk, and also that it monitors its temperature. This is also an important indicator, but it does not affect wear as much.

HDD Regenerator

Pro tool in our article. Corrects everything it finds in its path. Its huge competitive advantage is Russification. It is therefore very easy to use, despite the impressive range of functions.

The principle of its operation is much more complex than that of other programs, and these differences clearly benefited the program. She manages to restore what others could not. Also, unlike other programs, it does not destroy your files that were in the sectors it corrects, but preserves them culturally. Well, not life, but a fairy tale.

The program has two versions - graphical and console. If you are not very knowledgeable about this topic, use the graphical one with the Russian language, everything is intuitive there. In the console, its capabilities are much wider, because there is less pressure and restrictions from the operating system.

Let's look at the graphical interface.

On a note! However, this program has one significant drawback - it is paid, and the trial only allows for verification. Well, that’s good too.

Programs from hard drive manufacturers

Who, besides the manufacturers themselves, can know better how to work with hard drives? Some of these programs work only with disks of a certain brand, some - with all. Experiment.
Let's begin.

SeaTools

Essentially a simple program:

Data Lifeguard Diagnostics

This is the name of the verification program from the manufacturer WD. The functionality is approximately similar to the previous program, but has a number of advantages.

firstly, it can be used with any disk. This is a huge plus, despite the prevalence of discs of this brand;
secondly, she knows how to destroy information;
thirdly, it can simply cut off dead sectors so that the disk runs longer at the same speed, albeit with a slightly smaller volume. Definitely an extremely useful feature.

All options are in context menus. That is, to start scanning a specific disk, you just need to right-click on it (in the program interface, of course) and select the desired action. That's all the work.

We hope these methods helped you deal with the problems of your machine, repair it, or prevent damage. Good luck!

Video - How to check your hard drive yourself

Hello, friends! In this article we will understand the topic - Hard Drive Diagnostics. The reason for writing this article was a message from relatives - our operating system has been installed for a maximum of two months, after which glitches begin and we have to reinstall it. Even after I installed Windows 7 for them, complaints began. I had no doubt about the operating system. It was already installed on more than 10 computers. I tested the RAM, replaced the thermal paste on the processor, cleaned the system of dust - nothing. Then I tested the entire system using the system stability test (functions of the AIDA64 program). Everything is okay.

After repeated successful testing, enlightenment came. Checking the hard drive completely slipped my mind. I first diagnosed the HDD with a third-party program called HDD Regenerator. Having discovered errors (8 unreadable sectors), I ran the check again with a program from the manufacturer Western Digital. The latter confirmed the malfunction and the hard drive was sent to a service center under warranty. Read on to learn how to diagnose your hard drive...

Diagnostics using the operating system is what can and should be used first. To do this, open the main Start menu and select Computer. Right-click on the section to bring up the context menu and select Properties

Disk Properties opens. Go to the tab Service and in the section Checking for errors press the button Check

This will be Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows.

The WinDlg_v1_28.zip archive will be downloaded, which can be opened using the 7-zip or WinRar program in the same way as a file with the rar extension. Unpack and run the Setup.exe file.

When finished, click Ready

Launch the SeaTools program again

Searches for supported drives. Need to wait a little

Then, accept the license agreement again

To diagnose a hard drive, the Short and Long universal tests are sufficient

To be safe, choose Long lasting universal and wait for it to finish. If the test does not pass, follow the instructions and if the program does not fix the disk, bring it under warranty.

In the Basic tests menu there is an item Repair all. I have not tried this function. I’ll try as soon as I get a suitable hard drive.

Restoring the Seagate HDD

10_21_2013 A few months ago, bring a 160 GB Seagate hard drive without warranty. A long-term universal test produced an error. When connecting to another computer, I was able to copy all the important information from this disk without any problems.

To restore functionality we used Additional tests

A warning window opened saying that you can activate Additional tests using the key F8

By clicking on F8, the window closed and the Additional tests section appeared. Since our data was saved, I chose Full erase (SATA)

Another warning popped up

Scrolling the screen in this message with the slider, it was discovered that to start a complete erase, you need to press F8. After pressing, erasing started.

When the process was completed, I ran the Long-Term Universal Test again. The test was passed. After that, we reinstalled the production system image using Norton Ghost. And until this moment no one complained.

Conclusion

In the article hard drive diagnostics you learned how to check your hard drive (HDD) for errors. Here we looked at two methods: checking with built-in Windows tools and checking with special utilities from manufacturers. In a combat situation, I like to use diagnostic utilities. Since this, for me, is 100% an option. If the disk passes the test, everything is fine. Otherwise, we will take it for repair under warranty. This is why in the article on choosing a hard drive I attach such importance to the warranty. It is necessary that she be 3 years old. This is a whole 3 years without a headache. Naturally, it is necessary to treat the hard drive well during the entire warranty period, since the service center pays close attention to scratches.

The main thing I want to convey to you is. Hard drives are consumables. Like cartridges for a printer. You need to have at least two copies of your important data on two different drives. For example, on an internal and external hard drive. One fails, buy a new one, restore the data from the backup one and you are happy again. In order not to buy often, look at the same guarantee. I wish it was longer. Another great option is to use Windows 7 archiving.

I have not encountered any problems with Samsung hard drives. I couldn't find any utilities specifically for these disks. If anyone has information, please share in the comments. For now I will check them with a utility from Seagate or WD.

This article does not provide step-by-step guides to diagnosing your hard drive. However, you will find in it links to programs that allow you to comprehensively test your hard drive, as well as instructions for them. In addition, the article describes how to scan your hard drive partitions using built-in Windows tools.

Windows Check Disk Utility (chkdsk)

Windows OS has its own disk checking utility. It can be launched from the GUI or from the command line.

Running disk check from the GUI

Open the window My computer, right-click on the disk or partition you want to scan and select from the context menu Properties. In the disk properties window, go to the tab Service and press the button Run check.

In the next window, click the button Launch.

Run disk check from the command line

Below is an example of running a partition check C from the command line.

Windows XP

If the problem occurs in Windows XP, use the Recovery Console. After booting from the installation disk into the console, run the command

For more information about the Recovery Console, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

Installing and using the Recovery Console in Windows XP
Enable automatic administrator login when using the Recovery Console

Windows Vista

Boot from the installation disk Windows Vista.
Select your language options and click Further.
Click the button System Restore.
Select the system with the problem and click the button Further.
In the window with a selection of recovery options, select Command line.
At the command prompt, enter the command

For more information about restoring your system using the installation disc, see Windows Vista Help.

The HDD Scan program is designed to scan 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.
Controlling the noise characteristics of the hard drive.
Starting and stopping the spindle motor.

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

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

Interface

The program interface is completely in English. 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 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- lowest attribute value ever.
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 scan the entire disk, this parameter does not need to be changed.
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 on the 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 is a convenient and functional program in its class.

Hello readers of the ComService company blog (Naberezhnye Chelny). In this article we will look at the topic - Hard Disk Diagnostics. The reason for writing this article was a message from relatives - our operating system has been installed for a maximum of two months, after which glitches begin and we have to reinstall it. Even after I installed Windows 7 for them, complaints began. I had no doubt about the operating system. It has already been installed on more than 10 computers. I tested the RAM, replaced the thermal paste on the processor, cleaned the system of dust - nothing. Then I tested the entire system using the system stability test (functions of the AIDA64 program). Everything is okay.

Article structure

Diagnosing a hard drive using Windows
HDD diagnostics using WD Data Lifeguard Tools
Hard drive test using Seagate SeaTools
Restoring the Seagate HDD
Testing Toshiba hard drives
Conclusion

1. Hard drive diagnostics using Windows

Diagnostics using the operating system is what can and should be used first. To do this, open the main Start menu and select Computer. Right-click on the partition to open the context menu and select Properties

Are opening Disk properties. Go to the Tools tab and in the Check for errors section click the Check button

In Windows 8, the following window appears (most likely due to checking the partition on the SSD drive). Let's trust Microsoft and cancel the disk check

In Windows 7, a window opens where, for a more thorough check, you need to check both boxes (as shown in the figure) and click the Run button

If the operating system is using the volume you want to check, you will see a message

If you click Disable, the disk will be checked

If you click Cancel, another window will appear asking you to check the disk the next time you boot the computer. This is the most preferred option. In this case, the disk being checked will be free from any tasks and processes, which will allow you to perform the scan without problems

Click on disk check schedule.

We repeat all the above steps with all partitions (volumes) of your hard drive and reboot. When the computer boots, the operating system will run diagnostics on the hard drive. If there is something interesting, then when the computer boots, an information window with the results will appear

Typically, Windows does not want (or rather cannot) immediately check the system disk. It asks you to assign it the next time you boot. All other partitions can be checked without rebooting.

If you chose to check the system disk and scheduled it for the next boot, then you will see approximately the following picture

You must wait until the diagnostics are completed and the operating system loads. If errors are found, perform diagnostics using programs from the manufacturer.

HDD diagnostics using programs from the manufacturer

There were several manufacturers of hard drives. These are Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung and Hitachi. Each manufacturer produced disks and, of course, utilities for diagnosing them. Afterwards, Seagate bought Samsung, and Western Digital bought Hitachi. That is, there are actually two manufacturers. I will give their diagnostic utilities

Western Digital - Data Lifeguard Tools
Seagate - SeaTools

There is a special utility for Hitachi hard drives - Drive Fitness Test. I tried it on two hard drives of the same model - nothing worked. The program does not see the hard drive. Therefore, we will check with the Data Lifeguard Tools utility from Western Digital. Let's start with it.

2. Data Lifeguard Tools - a program for diagnosing WD and Hitachi hard drives

You need to download it. To do this, go to link- Data Lifeguard Tools. A page opens where you need to select your product

Since I needed to check the internal 3.5″ hard drive with a SATA interface, I chose it. You choose yours.

On the next page you select your Windows or Mac system and the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic hard drive diagnostic utility

To take advantage of its capabilities, launch Explorer, right-click on an inactive volume (on which there is no operating system installed), and select “Properties” from the menu that appears.
In the window that opens, go to the “Service” tab, there click on the “Run check” button.
Check the boxes next to the two verification options, click on “Run”, and wait for the process to complete.

The same can be done for the system volume (on which the OS is installed). The only thing is that this may require a system reboot, but after the system reboots, it will begin checking the disk for bad sectors.

You can also run CHKDSK through the console. To do this, run the command line as an administrator and enter:

chkdsk c: /f /r - (instead of: if necessary, specify a different letter of the problematic drive) press enter and wait for the process to complete.

Method 2. Use the Victoria HDD program to analyze and treat the disk

Victoria HDD is probably the most popular program for checking a hard drive for bad sectors (and even for restoring the latter). It effectively checks and repairs bad sectors, has good reviews from experts, and can be used in both classic graphics mode and DOS mode.

One of the Wiki bonuses is the ability to read the SMART indicator of your hard drive, which allows you to monitor in sufficient detail the degree of its performance (the “SMART” tab of the program). In addition, the Victoria program performs “remapping” (reassignment of damaged sectors), resets bad sectors, conducts a detailed test of the hard drive surface, ranking sectors into different groups depending on the speed of reading information from them.

To use this program, download and run it.
Then go to the “Test” tab, select “Ignore” there and check the surface for bad sectors.
If such are found, you should select the “Remap” mode in the same tab, this will allow you to reassign addresses from bad sectors to backup ones.
If, after remapping, bad sectors remain, you can try to restore them using the “Restore” function, while the “Erase” function completely erases data in bad sectors, writing zeros there.

In general, the functionality of “Victoria” is quite extensive, and to get a full description of it, you need to go to the material specifically about using the program.

Method 3. Use the HDD Scan program to check the hard drive for bad sectors

Another program that can check a hard drive for bad sectors is HDD Scan. This is a fairly popular utility that offers several different tests (Surface Test, Smart Offline Tests, etc.). Select Surface Test, check the “Read” box on the right and run a disk surface test.

The program will analyze the response time of the available sectors and give us the result in graphical mode.

Method 4. Check your hard drive with HDD Regenerator

The HDD Regenerator program allows you to check and restore data on your hard drive, the same applies to bad sectors. I note that the program is paid, but those interested can search for free options online.

To take advantage of the program’s capabilities, you need to launch it, select the disk to work with, decide on the scanning mode (I recommend Normal Scan), and then select the “Scan and repair” option.
Then it will be necessary to specify the scanning boundaries (starting from sector 0) and monitor the scanning process itself.
Depending on the response speed, sectors will be marked with different letters and colors.

Method 5. Scan the disk with HDD Health for damaged sectors

Another program for checking the disk surface for damaged sectors. HDD Health analyzes the general condition of the disk, provides detailed statistics on existing partitions (using SMART technology, including the general health of the structure, disk rotation temperature, the presence of bad sectors, and so on).

The icon of the running program is located in the system tray, and the program itself notifies the user, as necessary, of any problems in the operation of the hard drive.

Recovering a hard drive, removing BAD (bad) sectors [video]

Typically, checking a hard drive for bad sectors is carried out using special software tools, the Victoria HDD level or HDD Regenerator. The most effective of all the programs listed in the article, Victoria HDD, allows you not only to check the surface of the hard drive for bad sectors, but also to restore them, remap them and clean them. If bad sectors begin to appear on your hard drive, then I recommend using the functionality of the above programs; they have proven their effectiveness in working with the hard drives of many users.

Data Lifeguard Diagnostics is a proprietary utility from Western Digital, which was developed specifically for checking hard drives from this manufacturer. The program performs diagnostics, recovery and identification with USB, EIDE and FireWire interfaces.

The utility includes two tests: EXTENDED TEST and QUICK TEST. The first test is a quick diagnostic (duration about 2 minutes), during which data is collected on the S.M.A.R.T state and service information, which determines the degree of operability and defectiveness of the hard drive. The second test is an extended diagnostic (duration about 30-60 minutes), which, in addition to collecting S.M.A.R.T data and service information, identifies bad sectors and, if possible, corrects or isolates them.

In addition, the utility has the option WRITE ZEROS (erasing information) and VIEW TEST RESULTS (viewing test results). Data Lifeguard Diagnostics can also display information about the model number and serial number of the hard drive.

Instructions for working with Data Lifeguard Diagnostics

In order to start working with the Data Lifeguard Diagnostics utility, you need to download the program archive, extract and run the WinDlg.exe file. To run WinDlg.exe (provided that the work is running on Windows 7), you need to right-click on the WinDlg.exe shortcut and select the “Run as administrator” menu item.

To continue the installation process of the utility, you must read the license agreement and accept its terms. The main screen of the utility consists of two windows. The top window displays information about the drives installed on the computer that are available for verification, indicating their capacity, serial number, and model number. In the lower window you can see information about the partitions of the selected hard drive.
In order to check the hard drive or view the S.M.A.R.T status, you need to highlight the drive and select the icon in the top row.

After the “DLGDIAG - Select Mode” window appears, you need to select your preferred menu item :
- QUICK TEST - involves quick diagnostics of the hard drive using S.M.A.R.T to collect and check Data Lifeguard information.
- Full test (EXTENDED TEST) - performs a full scan of the drive to detect bad sectors. The duration of the scan directly depends on the capacity of the hard drive and can last up to several hours.
- Overwrite with zeros (WRITE ZEROS) - erases all information from the hard drive. There are two modes: quick and full erase. Attention! When you select this menu item, the file system and data stored on the hard drive will be deleted, so it is recommended to make a backup copy of the data before using the utility.
- Viewing test results (VIEW TEST RESULT) - displays information about the results of the last test.

For the utility to start diagnosing the hard drive, you need to select the appropriate type of scan and click the "Start" button. After the test is completed, a message will appear indicating whether the hard drive passed the diagnostics. To finish working with the utility, click the "Close" button.

Article structure

Diagnosing a hard drive using Windows
HDD diagnostics using WD Data Lifeguard Tools
Hard drive test using Seagate SeaTools
Restoring the Seagate HDD
Testing Toshiba hard drives
Conclusion

1. Hard drive diagnostics using Windows

Are opening Disk properties. Go to the Tools tab and in the Check for errors section click the Check button

In Windows 8, the following window appears (most likely due to checking the partition on the SSD drive). Let's trust Microsoft and cancel the disk check

In Windows 7, a window opens where, for a more thorough check, you need to check both boxes (as shown in the figure) and click the Run button

If the operating system is using the volume you want to check, you will see a message

If you click Disable, the disk will be checked

Click on disk check schedule.

Typically, Windows does not want (or rather cannot) immediately check the system disk. It asks you to assign it the next time you boot. All other partitions can be checked without rebooting.

If you chose to check the system disk and scheduled it for the next boot, then you will see approximately the following picture

You must wait until the diagnostics are completed and the operating system loads. If errors are found, perform diagnostics using programs from the manufacturer.

HDD diagnostics using programs from the manufacturer

Western Digital - Data Lifeguard Tools
Seagate - SeaTools

2. Data Lifeguard Tools - a program for diagnosing WD and Hitachi hard drives

You need to download it. To do this, go to link- Data Lifeguard Tools. A page opens where you need to select your product

Since I needed to check the internal 3.5″ hard drive with a SATA interface, I chose it. You choose yours.

On the next page you select your Windows or Mac system and the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic hard drive diagnostic utility

Below is more information about the program. Click on the Download button

The WinDlg_124.zip archive will be downloaded, which can be opened using the 7-zip or WinRar program in the same way as a file with the rar extension. Unpack and run the Setup.exe file highlighted in the figure below to install the diagnostic utility

Under Windows 8, run with administrator rights. Otherwise nothing will work. Installation is simple. The installed program starts immediately. Check the box to accept the license agreement and click Next

The main program window looks like this. You must select the drive to test and click on the highlighted area to select a test

A window opens in which you can select a quick test, an extended test, write the entire disk with zeros, or view the test result. Selecting this option will show the results of the last test. To diagnose a hard drive, you must select either a quick test - QUICK TEST, or an extended test - EXTENDED TEST

Wait for it to finish and see the results.

Here are the results of the extended hard drive test that I talked about at the beginning of the article

Errors were detected when clicking the Repair button

All you have to do is click OK

Then close - Close and see the result. As you can see, the short test succeeded, but the extended one failed

Hence the conclusion. It is necessary to check with an extended test. It takes several hours (in this case about five), but it is reliable.

Afterwards, the disk that failed the test was successfully replaced under warranty.

3. SeaTools - diagnostics of hard drives from Seagate and possibly Samsung

You also need to download the utility. Follow the link - SeaTools. We get to the Seagate company page. To download, go to the DOWNLOADS tab. We are offered a choice of downloading the utility for Windows and DOS. If your operating system does not boot at all, then you need to select DOS. The disk image will download. It must be written to disk. If you are at a loss, I recommend reading the article How to burn an image to disk?. Then it will boot from the disk and diagnose the HDD in the same way as in the Windows version. To find out how to do this, read on.

Select SeaTools for Windows by clicking Download in the appropriate field

On the next page you must accept the license agreement by clicking ACCEPT

Then, to directly download the diagnostic utility, click Download

The file SeaToolsforWindowsSetup-1208.exe will be downloaded, ~20 MB in size. Launch and install the utility. On the website, support for Windows 8 is stated, but the program did not install immediately. On Windows 7 the installation went without problems.

Launch the hard drive diagnostic utility. If you do not have NET Framework version 4.0 installed, you will see the following window. Click Yes and go to the download page

The page below opens. You need to wait until you are redirected to the package download page

Select your language and click the Download button

The following pop-up window may appear. Click Cancel and continue

The dotNetFx40_Full_setup.exe file will download and you need to run it. Next, accept the license agreement by checking the appropriate box and clicking the Install button.

The installation is not fast because distributed calculations are carried out in parallel.

When finished, click Finish

Launch the SeaTools program again

Searches for supported drives. Need to wait a little

Then, accept the license agreement again

To diagnose a hard drive, the Short and Long universal tests are sufficient

To be on the safe side, select Long-term universal and wait until it ends. If the test does not pass, follow the instructions and if the program does not fix the disk, bring it under warranty.

In the Basic tests menu there is an item Repair all. I have not tried this function. I’ll try as soon as I get a suitable hard drive.

4. Restoring the Seagate HDD

To restore functionality, we used Additional tests

A warning window opened saying that you can activate Additional tests using the F8 key.

By clicking on F8, the window closed and the Additional tests section appeared. Since our data was saved, I chose Full Erase (SATA)

Another warning popped up

Scrolling the screen in this message with the slider, it was discovered that to start a complete erase, you need to press F8. After pressing, erasing started.

When the process was completed, I ran the Long-Term Universal Test again. The test was passed. After that, we reinstalled the production system image using Norton Ghost. And until this moment no one complained.

5. Testing Toshiba hard drives

31_10_2013. It was necessary to check two Toshiba hard drives. Of course, I wanted to find and use a utility from the manufacturer.

I downloaded the diagnostic utility from:

Downloaded the test for Windows. The notes do not state support for Windows 7

Launched the downloaded file fjdtwin.exe. Accept the license by clicking Agree

The diagnostic utility from Fujitsu starts in which you need to select and press the Short Test or Extended Test button

The problem is that I can't select the hard drive for the test. I selected it with the mouse and keyboard - nothing.

Download the utility for DOS from the Toshiba official website. and copy it to a flash drive.

We restart the computer and using the Boot menu, called up using the F8 or F11 keys or look at the instructions, select the flash drive

In the command line, write the name of the diagnostic utility and press Enter

Press Space to continue

We agree by clicking Agree

We wait while the utility identifies

Then comes a warning from the test utility asking you to press any key to exit. That is, the utility did not find the hard drive

I tried connecting it to another SATA connector - nothing. I tried connecting via another SATA cable - the same result.

Here is a harsh HDD diagnostic test from Toshiba. If anyone has managed to test their disks, please tell us in the comments. Everyone will be interested.

If I come across another Toshiba HDD, I'll try again. If I succeed, I'll post it. If it doesn’t work, I’ll test it with SeaTools or WD utilities.

Conclusion

In the article diagnosing a hard drive, you learned how you can check your HDD for errors. Here we looked at two way: checking with built-in Windows tools and checking with special utilities from manufacturers. In a combat situation, I like to use diagnostic utilities. Since this, for me, is 100% an option. If the disk passes the test, everything is fine. Otherwise, we will take it for repair under warranty. This is why in the article about such importance I attach to guarantees. It is necessary that she be 3 years old. This is a whole 3 years without a headache. Naturally, it is necessary to treat the hard drive well during the entire warranty period, since the service center pays close attention to scratches.

The main thing I want to convey to you is. Hard drives are consumables. Like cartridges for a printer. You need to have at least two copies of your important data on two different drives. For example, on internal and on . One fails, buy a new one, restore the data from the backup one and you are happy again. In order not to buy often, look at the same guarantee. I wish it was longer. Another great option is to use.

A video in which I will briefly talk about diagnosing hard drives
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HGST (Hitachi) hard drive data recovery. Diagnostic utilities from hard drive manufacturers

Checking using standard Windows tools

Command line

Simple third party software

HDDScan

Crystal Disk Mark

More complex software

Victoria HDD

HDD Regenerator

Programs from hard drive manufacturers

SeaTools

Data Lifeguard Diagnostics

Video - How to check your hard drive yourself

Restoring the Seagate HDD

Conclusion

On this page

Windows Check Disk Utility (chkdsk)

Running disk check from the GUI

Run disk check from the command line

Interface

Conclusion

1. Hard drive diagnostics using Windows

HDD diagnostics using programs from the manufacturer

2. Data Lifeguard Tools - a program for diagnosing WD and Hitachi hard drives

Method 2. Use the Victoria HDD program to analyze and treat the disk

Method 3. Use the HDD Scan program to check the hard drive for bad sectors

Method 4. Check your hard drive with HDD Regenerator

Method 5. Scan the disk with HDD Health for damaged sectors

Recovering a hard drive, removing BAD (bad) sectors [video]

1. Hard drive diagnostics using Windows

HDD diagnostics using programs from the manufacturer

2. Data Lifeguard Tools - a program for diagnosing WD and Hitachi hard drives

3. SeaTools - diagnostics of hard drives from Seagate and possibly Samsung

4. Restoring the Seagate HDD

5. Testing Toshiba hard drives

Conclusion