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Check disk iso. Diagnosis and elimination of errors on the hard drive. Trimming HDD with AOMEI Partition Assistant

You are reading this article because your HDD is malfunctioning or you accidentally stumbled upon a title that interested you. In either of the two cases, it will be useful to know what a check is hard drive on broken sectors and how to produce it. As usual, let's start with terminology. A disk sector is a unit of information storage, the smallest possible. A damaged sector is one that is not readable due to the content of a bad cluster (cell) in it. By the way, you can also find terminology on the net - bad (bad) sector or block. Speaking of bad sectors, we immediately note that there are two types: physical and logical, they arise for the following reasons.

Physical bad blocks are non-recoverable:

• ingress of moisture / dust - led to clogging;
  contact of the HDD head with a moving plate and, as a result, damage;
• with regards to SSD - wear and / or overheating of the microcircuit, as well as moisture ingress, can be causal;
• factory marriage is also possible, especially among inexpensive and little-known manufacturers.

Logical bad sectors - can be fixed, as part of the hard drive does not work correctly:

• incorrect disconnection of power / power cable at the time of writing data to HDD, so the operation cannot be completed and is aborted;
• virus attack;
• malicious software.

So when accessing them, the OS cannot read the information and issues an error code, as a result, Windows will report that the sector is damaged and cannot be further used for storage. The problem of logical bad sectors is solved by low-level formatting, using the built-in Windows utilities and third-party software tools. See below for more details on each possibility.

Built-in tools

Checking the HDD of a hard disk for bad sectors, as already mentioned, is carried out in a number of ways, let's start with the built-in tools of Windows 7.

CHKDSK

Before using check disk, let's use check disk - many have probably already turned to this service.

If the check indicated errors, it will immediately offer to correct them.

Now let's use a deeper check using the check disk command, which literally translates to check the disk:

The chkdsk command has a number of options, such as:

• "/F" - check for errors and fix them automatically;
• "/V" - in the process of checking the disk, display the full paths and names of files stored on the disk, also for disks with NTFS partitions;
• "/R" - searches for bad sectors and restores the contents, used with "/F";
• "/X" - disables the volume before checking if necessary, used with "/F". As well as a number of other parameters.

Checking the flash drive for bad sectors is also carried out, let's use the "/F" and "/R" keys:

Third party software

To date, there is a lot of software that allows you to check the hard drive for bad sectors, but we will consider proven software. The program for checking an external hard disk HDD for bad sectors is performed by the same means as a regular disk. All of these instructions are suitable for all types of memory, both stationary and connected via a USB port.

Victoria HDD

The Victoria HDD program is one of, let's not be afraid of this word, legendary.

Created to check the disk; shows complete information: model, features, size and more. It also performs a surface test to determine the presence / absence of bad sectors. Let's check the hard drive or SSD drive on bad sectors in Windows 7 with Victoria. First you need to download the installation package from our resource, the fact is that it is not possible to download from the official site, since support is no longer provided for this product.

Use only proven resources, I would like to note that installation is not required and no additional components should also be included in the archive. After successfully downloading the software, let's move on to use.

Wait for the result and look at the performance of the screw, so if “GOOD” is highlighted in green, then there is no point in worrying about the operation of the device, but if “BAD” is indicated, then it is worth taking action, but more on that later.

In addition, pay attention to the "Health" column, translated from English - health, and in general, the number of points and their color will say a lot. It is also worth paying attention to the “VAL” parameter - the higher the number, the better, then “Wrst” or “Worst” - displays the lowest value of the attribute for the entire time of work. The parameter "Tresh" - the threshold value for "Val", and one of the most important "Raw" - displays a quantitative indicator, as in the example indicated by the field ID 5 "RAW" - Reallocated sector count indicates the number of rejected and reassigned from the reserve area disk sectors - in this case 1. If the number were much higher, it would be worth starting to worry.

Let's go to the "Tests" tab → click "Start" → wait for the result.

HDDScan

Another program for checking bad sectors of an SD card and any media is HDDScan. You can download it from the official site.

Installation is not required, and the executable file is opened on behalf of the Administrator of the machine.

By the way, by clicking on the same button with the image of a screw → "Identity Info", you can get full identification information about the device.

Next about the tests, select "Butterfly Read".

Here, the data will be read into the internal buffer and transmitted through the interface, stored in the software's temporary buffer. Thus, the total indicators of the time of data transmission and recording of blocks are measured, and the readiness after each recording is determined, respectively, with the results. Testing is also sequential, from the minimum to the maximum block.

As for the two remaining tests, they work as follows:

• "Read" - measures the total time of disk readiness and information transfer for each block with results. Testing is also sequential, from the minimum to the maximum block.
• "Erase" - here the total record of the block and the time of information transfer are measured, and displays the readiness for each record with the results. Testing is also sequential, from the minimum to the maximum block.

HDD REGENERATOR

Checking the disk for bad sectors in Windows 7 is also carried out using the HDD REGENERATOR software. Just want to note that it is paid and in English. Free demo version is available on the official website

Next, follow the screenshots step by step to install.

Let's start checking:

In the upper part of the window, click on the long active text "Click here to repair ...", in the program status bar we see information that this copy is not registered and that only 1 sector can be restored.

Further, if a window appears with an important message, translated into Russian it sounds literally like this: “The system has detected a SATA controller operating in AHCI mode. For better performance, it is recommended to change it to compatible IDE mode(in BIOS). Reboot the computer to manually change the controller settings in the system BIOS?". Here at your discretion.

In order to show the possibility of work, I will connect an external screw and click in the main window once again on the active link with the text “Click here to repair…”, having already selected the connected screw:

In the results table we see the following indicators:

• "D" delays sectors - shows the sectors where the read delay occurs or is completely erroneous.
• "B" bad - bad sectors.
• "R" turquoise, recovered - restored.
• "N" new bad sectors appear - new bad sectors appear.
• "R" color burgundy, bad sectors reappear - newly appeared bad sectors during rescanning.

By pressing the spacebar, we will exit to the main menu, and by pressing any key, we will exit this report.


Now we will select a scan with the possibility of recovery, step by step in the screenshots.

Recovery of bad sectors

So, the hard drive has been checked for bad sectors in Windows 7, and now you need to recover the data. I will say right away that in general, a full-fledged recovery of bad sectors is possible from MS DOS with a bootable flash drive. But we will show how the situation can be corrected from the full version of Victoria HDD.

As soon as the list of bad sectors is displayed, go to the "Tests" tab:

So we assigned the program an algorithm for forced writing of data to a bad sector of the hard disk, and several attempts will be made. As a result, either the bad sector will become healthy, or it will be replaced by a healthy backup, by the way, modern models have enough of them, but if the screw began to crumble, it's time to take action.

Long life to your HDD!

Have a great day!

The hard drive is an important, but far from perfect, component of a personal computer. For some users, it works unreliably, “crumbles”, data from it is lost or is significantly damaged. One of the most common hard drive problems is the appearance of so-called "broken" (bad) sectors on it, which become a "headache" for many users. In this article, I will talk about the reasons for the appearance of bad sectors on the hard disk, list a number of programs that allow you to recognize them, and also explain how the hard disk is checked for bad sectors on your PC.

What are "bad sectors"?

As you know, a traditional hard disk consists of several rotating magnetic disks, over which magnetic heads move, magnetizing any part of the disk and thus writing information to it (in the form of zeros and ones).

The disk itself is divided into tracks, and the latter, in turn, are divided into sectors, on which the information necessary for the user is recorded.

Due to certain reasons (I will list them below), information from a number of sectors cannot be read by the hard drive. Such sectors receive the status of "bad sectors" (bad sector), and the system tries either to restore the operability of such a sector (restore), or reassign the address of such a bad sector to the reserve sector (remap), or to completely clean up the bad sector (erase). In the case of remapping, spare healthy sectors are usually located at the end of the hard disk, and the hard drive spends additional time accessing them, which inevitably affects the speed of the hard disk, loading various applications and programs. Next, I will tell you how you can check your computer's hard drive for bad sectors.

Causes of bad sectors

What are the reasons for the appearance of bad sectors on HDD drive? Usually they are as follows:

• Gradual “shedding” of the surface of the hard disk due to its wear, due to which there are more and more bad sectors on the disk;
• Physical impact on the hard drive due to various kinds of external shocks;
• Power surges in the network that directly affect the integrity of data on the hard drive and lead to the appearance of bad sectors;
• Incorrect shutdown of the computer (improper operation), as a result of which bad sectors appear on the hard drive.

Symptoms of bad sectors

Due to the described reasons, there are more and more bad sectors on the hard disk, which begins to directly affect the work operating system. In particular, you may notice the following:

• The system boots slowly;
• The system slows down (freezes) when reading and writing data from the hard disk;
• The system generally refuses to boot (quite often - in the middle of the process);
• The computer sometimes restarts for no reason;
• During the operation of the OS, various errors regularly occur.

After we have described the symptoms and causes of bad sectors, let's move on to a description of how to check your hard drive for bad sectors.

The best ways to check your hard drive for bad sectors

So how to check bad sectors (and fix them)? Below I will describe a number of methods that have proven their effectiveness in working with various hard drives.

Method 1. Use the CHKDSK system utility

The easiest and most convenient way to find and fix bad sectors on an HHD hard drive is to use the functionality of the CHKDSK system utility.

1. To use its capabilities, launch Explorer, right-click on an inactive volume (which does not have an installed operating system), select "Properties" in the menu that appears.
2. In the window that opens, go to the "Service" tab, there click on the "Perform verification" button.
3. Check the boxes next to the two verification options, click on "Run", and wait for the process to finish.

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 start checking the disk for bad sectors.

You can also run CHKDSK through the console. To do this, run command line on behalf of the administrator, and in it enter:

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

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

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

One of the Wiki's 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.

1. To use this program, download and run it.
2. Then go to the "Test" tab, select "Ignore" there and check the surface for bad sectors.
3. If such are found, it is worth choosing the “Remap” mode in the same tab, this will allow you to reassign addresses from bad sectors to backup ones.
4. 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 in order to familiarize yourself with its full description, you need to go to the material specifically about using the program.

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

Another program that can check the hard disk for bad sectors is HDD Scan. This is a fairly popular utility that offers several different tests (Surface Test, Smart Offline Tests, etc.). Let's select Surface Test, check the box next to "Read" on the right and start checking the surface of the disk.

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

Method 4. Checking your hard drive with HDD Regenerator

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

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

Method 5. Scan the disk with the HDD Health program for bad sectors

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

Icon running program located in the system tray, the program itself, as necessary, notifies the user of any problems in the hard drive.

Hard disk recovery, removing BAD (bad) sectors [video]

Usually, a hard disk check for bad sectors is carried out using special software tools, the Victoria HDD or HDD Regenerator level. The most effective of all the programs listed in the article - Victoria HDD allows you not only to check the surface of the hard disk for bad sectors, but also to restore them, remap and clean them. If bad sectors began 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.

Good day.

The hard drive is one of the most valuable pieces of hardware in a PC! Knowing in advance that something is wrong with it, you can transfer all the data to other media without loss. Most often, hard disk testing is carried out when buying a new disk, or when various kinds of problems appear: files are copied for a long time, the PC freezes when opening (accessing) the disk, some files stop being read, etc.

On my blog, by the way, there are quite a few articles on problems with hard drives (hereinafter referred to as HDD). In the same article, I would like to collect in a "heap" best programs(which I have dealt with) and recommendations for working with the HDD.

1.Victoria

Official website: http://hdd-911.com/

Rice. 1. Victoria43 - the main window of the program

Victoria is one of the most famous programs for testing and diagnosing hard drives. Its advantages over other programs of this class are obvious:

1. has an ultra-small distribution size;
2. very fast work speed;
3. a lot of tests (information about the state of the HDD);
4. works "directly" with the hard drive;
5. free

By the way, I have an article on my blog about how to check the HDD for bads in this utility:

2.HDAT2

Rice. 2. hdat2 - main window

Service utility for working with hard drives (testing, diagnostics, treatment of bad sectors, etc.). The main and main difference from the famous Victoria is the support for almost any disk with interfaces: ATA/ATAPI/SATA, SSD, SCSI and USB.

3.CrystalDiskInfo

Rice. 3. CrystalDiskInfo 5.6.2 - S.M.A.R.T readings. disk

A free utility for diagnosing a hard drive. During operation, the program not only displays S.M.A.R.T. disk (by the way, it does this perfectly, on many forums when solving certain problems with the HDD - they ask for readings from this particular utility!), But it also keeps a record of its temperature, general information about the HDD is displayed.

Main advantages:

Support external USB disks;
- HDD health and temperature monitoring;
- S.M.A.R.T. data;
- Manage AAM/APM settings (useful if your hard drive is noisy for example: ).

4.HD Life

Rice. 4. Main window of HDDlife V.4.0.183

This utility is one of the best of its kind! It allows you to constantly monitor the status of ALL your hard drives and notifies you in time of problems. For example:

1. there is little disk space left, which can affect performance;
2. exceeding the normal temperature range;
3. bad SMART disk readings;
4. hard drive"left" not long to live ... etc.

By the way, thanks to this utility, you can (approximately) estimate how long your HDD will last. Well, unless, of course, there is a force majeure ...

5.Scanner

Rice. 5. Analysis of the occupied space on the HDD (scanner)

A small utility for working with hard drives, which allows you to get a pie chart of the occupied space. Such a chart allows you to quickly assess what is being spent on hard drive space and delete unnecessary files.

By the way, such a utility allows you to save a lot of time if you have several hard drives and are full of all sorts of files (many of which you no longer need, and “manually” searching and evaluating is dreary and long).

That's all. Have a good weekend everyone. For additions and comments to the article, as always, thank you!

This beginner's guide shows you step by step how to check your hard drive for errors and bad sectors in Windows 7, 8.1 and Windows 10 through the command line or explorer interface. Additional tools for checking HDD and SSD that are present in the OS are also described. Installation of any additional programs is not required.

The easiest way to check HDD in Windows is to use File Explorer. In it, right-click on the desired hard drive, select "Properties", and then open the "Tools" tab and click "Check". In Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, you will most likely see a message that this drive is not currently required to be verified. However, you can force it to run.

In Windows 7, there is an additional option to enable checking and repairing bad sectors by checking the appropriate boxes. You can still find the verification report in the Windows Application Event Viewer.

You can check the hard drive for errors not only using the command line, but also in Windows PowerShell.

In order to do this procedure, run PowerShell as an administrator (you can start typing PowerShell in the search on the Windows 10 taskbar or in the Start menu of previous OSes, then right-click on the found item and select "Run as administrator" .

In Windows PowerShell, use the following variants of the Repair-Volume command to check the hard disk partition:

If you see the NoErrorsFound message as a result of running the command, it means that no errors were found on the disk.

Additional options for checking disk in Windows 10

In addition to the options listed above, you can use some additional tools built into the OS. In Windows 10 and 8, disk maintenance, including checking and defragmenting them, occurs automatically according to a schedule, at a time when you are not using your computer or laptop.

To view information about whether any disk problems were found, go to the "Control Panel" (you can do this by right-clicking on Start and selecting the desired item context menu) - "Center for Security and Service". Open the "Maintenance" section and in the "Disk Status" item you will see the information received as a result of the last automatic check.

Another feature that appeared in Windows 10 is the Storage Diagnostic Tool. To use the utility, run a command prompt as an administrator, then use the following command:

Stordiag.exe -collectEtw -checkfsconsistency -out path_to_report_save_folder

The command will take some time to complete (it may seem that the process is hung), and all connected drives will be checked.

And when the command completes, the problem report will be saved to the location you specified.

The report includes separate files containing:

• chkdsk check information and error information collected by fsutil in text files.
• Windows 10 registry files containing all current registry values ​​related to attached drives.
• Windows Event Viewer log files (events are collected within 30 seconds when using the collectEtw switch in the disk diagnostics command).

For an ordinary user, the collected data may not be of interest, but in some cases it may be useful for diagnosing drive problems by a system administrator or other specialist.

If you have any problems during the verification or need advice, write in the comments, and I, in turn, will try to help you.

Comments (113) to Checking the hard drive for errors in Windows

• 05/20/2017 at 13:56

All modern homes have a desktop computer or laptop. Someone needs it for games, someone - for work or study. In any case, photos, some important records, contact details of people, necessary addresses, etc. are stored on the computer. And the place where all this information is stored is the hard drive.

Not without reason, experienced programmers say that in a situation where a computer has a hard disk error, formatting it is a real disaster. After all, formatting is fraught with the loss of all information. But this is the case if you do not take appropriate measures. But if you notice some errors and failures in the disk operation in time and correct them, then this global catastrophe can be avoided.

The main causes of HDD problems are "bad" sectors - segments of disk space that are somehow damaged.

They are divided into physical and logical. The latter appear with software errors and can be corrected, while the physical ones cannot be corrected. In the latter case, you will have to replace the hard drive.

Such damaged areas can appear on both magnetic and standard SSD drives.

Causes of bad sectors and errors

Railway failures depend on the type of damaged sections:

1. brain teaser"broken" - displayed with malware or viruses, as well as with a sudden power outage or power cable during recording;
2. physical"broken" - are found on a completely new product. Then you need to contact the manufacturer with a request for a replacement product.

In magnetic drives, “broken” sectors can appear as a result of wear and tear of the moving parts of the device, when foreign bodies get on the disk mechanism, or when they fall to the floor. In the latter case, the magnetic head of the disk is scratched, which leads to its errors.

SSD drives give errors because they have tried to write any information to them many times.

Checking "hard" for "broken" sectors is quite realistic. Windows has a "chkdsk" (Check Disks) application. You need to open a folder on the desktop or in the Start menu "My computer" by clicking on the drive to be checked. Using the context menu, select "Properties" - "Service". Under the phrase "Check" there will be a button, by clicking on which, you can see the number of "broken" sectors.

During the check, the computer will eliminate errors in logical "broken" sectors, as well as mark areas with physical damage.

Attention! You can start the check system manually, however, if Windows detects "broken" sectors on its own, the utility will start itself when the system starts.

Verification Utilities

Some software does not have a built-in check. For such cases, there are special programs that help identify "broken" sectors and errors and, if possible, correct them.

"Victoria"

It is a popular software for finding damaged areas. In addition to various methods of analyzing and reassigning problem areas, it has the function of searching for damaged contacts in the loop, as well as the function of evaluating the performance of the hard drive. The only "minus" of the program is the lack of official assemblies. Therefore, experts recommend using it separately from the OS.

HDD Regenerator

This utility uses its own methods to restore "broken" sectors (a combination of high and low signals) and supports any drive connection interfaces.

The downside is the high cost of the license ($90).

One of the best and multifunctional utilities for checking the device for damaged areas. Has the following functionality:

• restores and reconfigures sectors;
• fixes partition tables;
• restores files and backs them up;
• selects files in the table;
• copies data of deleted partitions;
• backs up data.

This utility uses several methods to detect problems, as well as the ability to track SMART attributes and clean up the hard drive.

Important! The program supports everything Windows versions, however it does not scan/test the drive where the OS is installed.

With the help you can check both one and several hard drives at the same time.

Seagate Seatools for Windows

The application supports all modern Windows systems. With it, you can do both basic and advanced testing. More simple than Seagate Seatools for DOS but less powerful.