We check the performance of the hard drive for errors and troubles.

If you doubt the performance of your hard drive ( HDD) means there is no need to wait and it’s worth checking it, the same with . It would also be a good idea to perform a preventative check.

Good reasons to perform performance testing:

  1. The appearance of incomprehensible and unusual sounds.
  2. Significant slowdown in computer speed.
  3. Before purchasing a used computer or HDD.

In this instruction, I will show you the most effective and understandable ways to check both programs and built-in capabilities in the operating system. They are quite enough to find out whether there are problems with the HDD or not.

Damaged sectors and HDD errors can only be corrected if the problem is at the software level. That is, it is not associated with physical impact on the disk.

I'll start with the standard method.

Checking using Windows

Windows has a built-in Check Disk utility. It only has 2 options, but it is suitable for basic testing. The scan can be performed on all new operating systems starting with Windows XP.

To use it, go to “My Computer” and select the disk to scan.

Then go to its properties. Here select “Service” and click on the check button.

In the settings that appear, check 2 checkboxes and press the start button.

If the disk is currently in use, a window will appear as in the image below. Click on “Schedule disk scan” and the scan will start automatically the next time you turn on the computer.

Checking the disk with Ashampoo HDD Control 3

This program is shareware and provides a trial period. It has a very large number of functions and explanations for each problem ( If there are any). It is ideal for beginners. I'll demonstrate how to use it.

Download the program from the official website and install. Activate your trial account for 40 days. Detailed activation steps ( via Email) during installation.

Launch it. Devices will be shown at the top ( disks, flash drives). In my example, the disk requires more cooling. This is just one of the tips you can get when using the program.

There will be a test button on the right. If you open additional options, you can run an advanced test. Run Smart Advanced Testing for a more detailed check.


If everything went well, a corresponding window will appear.

Now perform the disk surface verification test. It is located in the same context menu as the extended one. Wait for the results. If everything went well, the following message will appear.

If there are problems during the tests, you will receive information about what needs to be done to fix the problem. In my case everything is fine.

In addition, it contains many useful, additional features that you can familiarize yourself with, as everything is written in Russian.

HDD Health Program

This free program with a simple interface allows you to find out how much “health” your HDD has left and its temperature. There is no need to delve into the speed of reading sectors, the number of faulty errors and other subtleties. Here the program itself estimates the viability of the disk, which is certainly very convenient.

Download, install and run. If the window does not open ( like mine), then try opening it through the disk icon in the notification area ( on the right, below, where time is).


As you can see, my HDD can still work for quite a long time. If the “health” indicator is less than 20%, then it is necessary to urgently change the device.

There are a very large number of similar programs. I decided to show these ones because of their simplicity and effectiveness. For these purposes they should be quite sufficient. If some points were unclear to you, please ask for help in the comments.

How did you check your HDD?

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Friends, hello everyone! In this article we will continue diagnosing the technical condition of the computer’s hard drive. Therefore, the agenda will include the question of how to check hard drive for serviceability and bad sectors.

As you remember, we already did this using the standard capabilities of the Windows operating system. But now everything will be different. Let's just say let's approach this task more professionally.

So, my dears, now it’s time to get acquainted with a very popular utility called Victoria. It is this that will help us diagnose the computer’s hard drive with very high accuracy.

At this step, you should download the installation archive with the program and unpack it on your computer. Then run the file named vcr447.exe with permissions:

After this, in fact, the main application window will appear in front of us. In order to better understand the basic principles of operation, the author suggests watching a short introductory video:

So, let's carry out the above actions on our experimental disk. To do this, select it on the “Standard” tab:

Now the passport data of the hard drive will open:

As you can see in the picture above, here we can find out the exact disk model (Model), firmware version (Firmware) and serial number, full size (Disk size), acoustic noise level during operation (APM val) and much more.

In the next step, go to the “SMART” tab and select the “Get SMART” item. After this, in the main window of Victoria, a completely incomprehensible list will open at first glance:

Let's take a closer look at what's what here. Look, the SMART function is an internal self-diagnosis system of the hard drive. This firmware is built into all modern hard drive models without exception.

It monitors vital parameters, analyzes them and determines the overall health of the disk. As you can see in the picture above, in our case it is “GOOD”. This means you can breathe out calmly, because everything is fine.

Now a little about how this state is calculated. In fact, everything is very simple. Each parameter from the table has a current value (Val) and a threshold value (Tresh):

So, if the current value is equal to the threshold or is even less than it, then trouble has already arrived. You need to seriously think about saving information to backup media, so as not to shed crocodile tears later.

Also worth mentioning is the column Raw, which displays the current “raw” value. The lower this number, the better. It is on the basis of the data in this column that the Val value is formed.

Now let's look at the most significant parameters from the general list of the SMART system. They are highlighted in pink by the program itself:

If the Raw value of this parameter constantly increases, the hard drive will begin to crumble. The fact is that the replacement of defective areas with working ones is carried out from the reserve area, which also has its own permissible limit. Let's go further down the list:

  • Current pending sectors (No. 197): indicates the number of candidate sectors that will soon cease to be read;
  • Reallocation Event Count (No. 196): shows the total number of operations to replace bad sectors with working ones;
  • Offline scan UNC sectors (No. 198): displays the real number of bad sectors of the hard drive at a given time;
  • UltraDMA CRC Errors (No. 199): indicates errors that occur when transmitting data via the hard drive cable. It may also indicate a loose connector on the drive itself.

So, we have considered the points of primary importance. Now let's look at other, no less interesting and informative positions. For example, this one:

  • Power-on time (No. 9): the total number of hours that the tested hard drive has worked. A Raw value close to 20,000 will be quite critical in this case

  • Seek Error Rate (No. 7): error rate when positioning the magnetic head unit. With an increasing Raw value, there may be problems with the mechanical part or there has been severe overheating

For owners of wearable laptops, it would be useful to pay attention to the values ​​of the G-Sensor Shock Counter attribute:

This is nothing more than a shock sensor. Again, the higher the Raw parameter, the worse it was for the hard drive. Although for some manufacturers this sensor can be very sensitive and respond to even minor shocks.

Well, friends, now let's get to the fun part. Now we will check our hard drive for serviceability and the presence of bad blocks. But before this process, there is an important recommendation to follow.

To prevent the Victoria program from showing false bad sectors, before starting the scan, be sure to disable all extraneous programs that may be accessing the disk in the background. Here is a sample list of them:

After that, feel free to go to the “Test” tab:

Here we need to check the “Remap” option and then click the “Start” button. After this, a long process of scanning the surface of the hard drive will begin. And the enabled function Remap will automatically overwrite bad sectors with healthy ones.

Now pay attention to the sector status indicator. Starting with the green color (reading delay 120 ms), problematic blocks already begin. Those marked with a blue “Err” mark are not readable at all. That is, they are not working:

In conclusion, it should be said that those who are very curious should not experiment with the “Erase” parameter, since this will lead to complete deletion of data:

You also need to understand that such tests place a very heavy load on the hard drive, so it is recommended to ensure good cooling. For example, you can open the side cover of a personal computer case.

And with this, the story about how to check a hard drive for serviceability and bad sectors has come to its logical conclusion. If you have any questions, ask them in the comments to the article. And for dessert you can watch a cool cartoon.

Most old hard drives contain erroneous records, etc. . Some of them lead to sad consequences; It's only a matter of time before this happens to your hard drive.

Windows OS offers tools for finding errors on the HDD, but they are not intended for diagnostics and testing. We invite you to familiarize yourself with much more effective tools.

So, how can you check your hard drive for errors? Here is a list of recommended programs:

HDD Regenerator – a program for testing your hard drive and treating bad sectors

HDD Regenerator is a utility for checking your hard drive, a professional tool for diagnosing, finding and fixing errors. The word "Regenerator" clarifies: the program is not only capable of detecting possible malfunctions, structure errors and bad sectors, but is also suitable for correcting them.

HDD Regenerator program interface

HDD Regenerator is a program for checking your hard drive and fixing errors. Can also be used as a full-fledged tool for . If the information is not readable, regeneration will allow you to bypass bad blocks and read problematic files.

In order to determine the condition of the HDD, you must pass a special test. Additional information can be retrieved. HDD Regenerator has the corresponding tools.

Other features of the program:

  • FAT and NTFS file systems are supported, but the system type does not matter when testing
  • Displaying detailed statistics about the operation and status of the hard drive
  • Creating a bootable regenerating flash drive or CD/DVD based on HDD Regenerator
  • Prescan mode: quick diagnostics of the hard drive (surface scanning)
  • HDD monitoring in real time
  • Data security: the program works in read mode (with the exception of overwriting bad sectors)

The cost of the PRO version of HDD Regenerator is $79.99/year. There is a free trial version available that allows you to restore 1 bad sector for free.

Hitachi Drive Fitness Test (WinDFT) – a program for testing and checking the condition of the hard drive

Hitachi Drive Fitness Test is a program for diagnosing a hard drive and finding read errors. The utility allows you to quickly check the status of internal and external hard drives that support G-Technology.

Seagate Seatools for Windows: Testing Drive Performance

Seatools from Seagate is a free HDD diagnostic tool for Windows and DOS. The utility will allow you to identify some problems on the HDD before contacting the warranty service to repair the disk (In our realities, instead of repairs, you will be offered a replacement device, as a result of which you will lose all saved data).

Note. The program is not compatible with all HDD models; it is only relevant for hard drives from Seagate.

Problems that the program can detect:

  • Violation of the HDD file system structure
  • Bad sectors and read errors
  • Driver errors and Windows system problems
  • Equipment incompatibility
  • Windows bootloader (MBR) corruption on the disk
  • Presence of viruses, keyloggers or other malicious applications

Seatools works as follows: the user selects tests for diagnostics, runs them, and as a result receives a detailed report. If the test is passed, the PASS mark will be displayed, otherwise FAIL. Please note that HDD testing can take up to 4 hours. To save time, you can choose one of three testing modes.

Seagate Seatools can also be used to “treat” your hard drive. That is, the program is able to detect bad blocks and try to restore or overwrite them with zeros (this method allows you to subsequently ignore problem blocks when reading/writing the disk structure).

HDD Health program: checking the disk and reading SMART attributes

HDD Health is another free program for testing your hard drive and monitoring its performance. The utility checks the hard drive for errors (SSD / HDD) and makes a forecast (Health indicator as a percentage).

Preliminary check of the disk for errors using basic SMART indicators. HDD Health program interface

The main program window displays the following information:

  • manufacturer, model, firmware version
  • current HDD (SSD) temperature (available through the notification area)
  • general condition of the disk structure
  • other attributes (via the Extended info menu)

Similar to other diagnostic tools, HDD Health reads S.M.A.R.T indicators, which allows you to clarify the current hardware performance. The program does not have any other tools for calculating errors or checking for bad blocks.

HDD Health 4.2: checking the status of the SSD disk

Thus, the tools of the HDD Health program will be useful to those for whom S.M.A.R.T. indicators are sufficient to check the condition of the hard drive (and if the condition of the device is not critical). Fortunately, the latest HDD/SSD drives have S.M.A.R.T technology. implemented.

HDDScan - a program to check your hard drive for bad sectors

HDDScan is a free program for hard drive diagnostics, reading S.M.A.R.T. and other parameters. After testing, you will receive a detailed log file detailing the disk status.

HDDScan supports various types of storage devices:

  • RAID arrays
  • HDD drives with IDE/SATA interface
  • SATA/ATA SSD
  • USB flash drives

Let's note the most useful functions of HDDScan:

  • Checking the hard drive for errors that are not detected by standard Windows utilities: bad blocks and bad sectors
  • Testing the hard drive (Read/Wipe)
  • Checking the temperature for all hard drives connected to the PC
  • Export any information as a custom report

CHKDSK is a Windows OS utility for checking errors and fixing bad blocks

You can check your hard drive for errors without installing third-party programs. The Windows operating system allows you to do this through the Check Disk utility.

The CHKDSK utility appeared in DOS. It not only searches for, but also corrects basic file system errors. It should be clarified that it is not intended to search for all types of errors and is not a HDD diagnostic tool.

However, using CHKDSK you can fix errors on various storage devices: not only on your hard drive, but also on a flash drive and an SD card. Starting with Windows NT, it fixes bad blocks (physically bad sectors) by marking them accordingly. Subsequently, these areas are bypassed by other programs when reading/writing.

HDDLife - a program for monitoring the status of your hard drive

Usually the heart of a computer is called the processor or motherboard. But they serve faithfully for several years, and then the hard drive suddenly fails. In terms of loss, no component can compare with it.

The hard drive is computer memory, which, of course, needs to be protected. In order to prevent sudden data loss, you need to regularly back up your data to another HDD or storage media. However, if you want to prevent hard drive failure in advance, you need to determine its current state. The HDDLife program will help with this.

HDDLife has several very useful features. First of all, monitoring the status of the hard drive. The “health” of the HDD is shown as a color scale. If everything is in order, the scale is green; if the disk has worked for a decent period of time, the color is yellow. The red scale is already a signal of a pre-emergency condition: the hard drive has worked and is ready to retire. In this case, it is better not to take risks and promptly replace the component. In the pro version of HDDLife, you can set up an email notification about the pre-failure state of hard drives. If there are a lot of computers on the network, then the diagnostic option will come in handy. The status graph also informs you how long the disk has been working. This is worth paying attention to, especially if you are buying a used drive or just want to make sure it is new.

The second important section is displaying the disk temperature. Any electronics works, or rather wears out faster, at elevated temperatures. And too high a temperature, as a rule, leads to disastrous consequences. If the indicator text is green, then everything is in order and the disk is in good thermal conditions. Otherwise, you need to buy special cooling or check the ventilation of the slot in which the disk is located. On some HDDs, the program allows you to adjust the noise level and performance. This is done using a slider that determines the relationship between the characteristics. Either this is the possibility of a special version for a laptop, or a limitation of the trial version - however, the option was not available for us. Some HDDLife functions cannot be called unique: for example, an indicator of available space. If there is not enough space on the partitions, the now familiar warning is displayed. Free space monitoring is available in Windows, as in almost any OS, so the message is more annoying than informative.

The program is distributed in three versions: free, HDDLife Professional and HDDLife for Notebooks. The differences can be found on the page http://www.hddlife.ru/rus/compare.html.

Answers to readers' questions

I often resort to system recovery due to a crash. It often freezes, the processor is constantly overloaded, I have already deleted unnecessary programs. As best I could, I closed all background programs. Experts say that you need to change the hard drive, they say, there are many damaged (broken) sectors. I want to try this program to check sectors. How to check your hard drive for errors?

Answer. Indeed, if you experience the problems described in your question, checking your hard drive for bad sectors will not hurt. At a minimum, we recommend scanning the disk using applications such as HDD Regenerator and Victoria. You can find out how to check your hard drive for bad sectors directly in the documentation. Whether it’s worth it or not, the wording is not very correct. You should check your HDD for errors regularly if the data is of even minimal value to you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To use the console command from inside the system you need to:

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

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

The Linux system also has standard tools - hdparm and smartctl, launched from the console.

Simple programs for quickly checking HDD

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Programs from hard drive manufacturers

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

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

SeaTools uses part of the S.M.A.R.T indicators. to test the hard drive without giving away details about each item. Three tests can be performed:

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

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

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

There are two additional functions:

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

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

Deep testing software

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

Victoria HDD

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

Victoria exists in two versions:

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

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

Victoria HDD has a variety of functions:

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

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

HDD Regenerator

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

Program features:

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

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

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

If, after checking the HDD and correcting all problems, the computer does not stop working incorrectly, it is worth checking the registry. Perhaps the failures are caused not by hardware failure, but by internal system errors.

Good afternoon.

In today’s article I want to touch on the heart of the computer - the hard drive (by the way, many people call the processor the heart, but I personally don’t think so. If the processor burns out, buy a new one and there are no problems; if the hard drive burns out, then the information cannot be recovered in 99% of cases).

When do you need to check your hard drive for performance and bad sectors? This is done, firstly, when they buy a new hard drive, and secondly, when the computer is unstable: you have strange noises (); when accessing a file, the computer freezes; long copying of information from one hard drive partition to another; missing files and folders, etc.

In this article, I would like to tell you in simple language how to check a hard drive for problems, to assess its performance in the future, and sort out typical user questions along the way.

So, let's begin…

Updated 07/12/2015. Not long ago, an article appeared on the blog about restoring bad sectors (treating bad blocks) with the HDAT2 program - (I think the link will be relevant for this article). Its main difference from MHDD and Victoria is its support for almost any drive with interfaces: ATA/ATAPI/SATA, SSD, SCSI and USB.

1. What do we need?

Before starting the testing operation, in cases where the hard drive is not stable, I recommend copying all important files from the disk to other media: flash drives, external HDDs, etc. ().

1) You need a special program to test and restore the hard drive. There are a lot of similar programs, I recommend using one of the most popular - Victoria. Below are the download links

2) Next, a multi-colored program window will appear in front of us: go to the “Standard” tab. The upper right part shows the hard drives and CD-Roms that are installed in the system. Select your hard drive that you want to test. Then press the “Passport” button. If everything goes well, you will see how your hard drive model is determined. See picture below.

If the hard disk controller operates in AHCI (Native SATA) mode, SMART attributes may not be received, with the message “Get S.M.A.R.T. command… Error reading S.M.A.R.T!” The impossibility of receiving SMART data is also indicated by the “Non ATA” highlighted in red when initializing a medium whose controller does not allow the use of ATA interface commands, including requesting SMART attributes.

In this case, you need to go into the BIOS and in the Config tab->>Serial ATA (SATA)->>SATA Controller Mode Option->>change from AHCI to Compatibility. After finishing testing with the Victoria program, change the setting as it was before.

You can read more about how to change ACHI to IDE (Compatibility) in my other article:

4) Now go to the “Test” tab and click the “Start” button. In the main window, on the left, rectangles colored in different colors will begin to appear. It's best if they are all gray.

You need to focus your attention on the red and blue rectangles (the so-called bad sectors, more about them at the very bottom). It’s especially bad if there are a lot of blue rectangles on the disk; in this case, it is recommended to run the disk scan again, only with the “Remap” checkbox turned on. In this case, the Victoria program will hide the bad sectors found. In this way, hard drives that have begun to behave unstable are restored.

By the way, after such a restoration, the hard drive will not always work for a long time. If it has already begun to crumble, then I personally would not rely on the program. If there are a large number of blue and red rectangles, it’s time to think about a new hard drive. By the way, blue blocks on the new hard drive are not allowed at all! Experienced users call them bad sectors (meaning bad, unreadable). Such unreadable sectors can occur both during the manufacture of the hard drive and during its operation. After all, a hard drive is a mechanical device.

During operation, the magnetic disks in the hard drive case rotate quickly, and the read heads move above them. If there is a shock, impact of the device or a software error, it may happen that the heads hit or fall to the surface. Thus, it is almost certain that a bad sector will appear.

In general, this is not a problem and many disks have such sectors. The disk file system is capable of isolating such sectors from file copying/reading operations. Over time, the number of bad sectors may increase. But, as a rule, a hard drive often becomes unusable for other reasons before bad sectors “kill” it. Bad sectors can also be isolated using special programs, one of which we used in this article. After such a procedure, usually the hard drive begins to work more stable and better, however, how long this stability will last is unknown...

Best…