How to check the functionality of the hard drive head. How to check your hard drive

The hard drive is an important, but far from perfect, component of a personal computer. For some users it does not work reliably, it crashes, data from it is lost or is significantly damaged. One of the most common problems with a hard drive 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 a hard drive, list a number of programs that allow you to recognize them, and also explain how to check a hard drive for bad sectors on your PC.

What are “bad sectors”?

As you know, a traditional hard drive consists of several rotating magnetic disks, over which magnetic heads move, magnetizing some part of the disk and thus writing information onto 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 recording needed by the user information.

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”, and the system tries to either restore the functionality of such a sector (restore), or reassign the address of such a bad sector reserve sector(remap), or carry it out total cleaning bad sector (erase). In the case of remapping, spare workable sectors are usually located at the end of the hard drive, and the hard drive spends additional time accessing them, which inevitably affects the speed of the hard drive, loading various applications and programs. Next, I will tell you how you can check your computer’s hard drive for bad sectors.

Reasons for bad sectors

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

Gradual “shedding” of the surface of the hard drive 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 types of external shocks;
Power surges in the network, which 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 reasons described, there are more and more bad sectors on the hard drive, which begins to directly affect the operation of the 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 drive;
The system refuses to boot at all (quite often in the middle of the process);
The computer sometimes restarts for no reason;
During operation of the OS, problems regularly occur. various errors.

After we have described the symptoms and reasons for the appearance of bad sectors, let’s move on to a description of how to check a 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 simplest and convenient way to find and fix bad sectors on an HHD hard drive - this is to use the functionality system utility CHKDSK.

To take advantage of its capabilities, launch Explorer, click right key mouse on an inactive volume (on which there is no operating system installed), 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 command line on behalf of the administrator, and enter in it:

chkdsk c: /f /r - (instead of: if necessary, specify a different letter of the problem 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- probably the most popular program to check the hard drive for bad sectors (and to restore the latter). It effectively checks and restores bad sectors, has good reviews from experts, and can be used as in the classic graphic mode, and in 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

Program HDD Regenerator 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 in different letters and color.

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 according to available sections (using SMART technologies, including the general condition of the structure, the disk rotation temperature indicator, the presence of bad sectors, and so on).

Icon running program is located in the system tray, and the program itself notifies the user as necessary about 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, 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 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.

Hard disk drive (HDD) – essential element a computer on which all the necessary information, programs and user files are stored. Like any other component, over time the hard drive wears out and its normal operation, failures begin to occur. Along with physical wear and tear, leading to the appearance of so-called bad sectors (bad blocks), logical errors associated with file system, indexes and the main file table.

For the time being, you may not observe problems in work hard disk, but this does not guarantee that one fine day the hard drive will not die for long. Therefore, it is important to periodically (once or twice a year) check your hard drive for errors and bad sectors that require repair. Regular monitoring will allow you to track the condition of the media and respond in a timely manner to changes in its condition. Of course, you should not neglect such a proven method of protecting information as backup. The most valuable data must be duplicated on a backup storage device.

Symptoms of a failing hard drive

In most cases, HDDs operate smoothly for several years without requiring special attention. However, in case of improper operation (physical impact, lack of proper cooling), the resource of the storage medium is significantly reduced. In rare situations, there may be a manufacturing defect or sudden failure.

For malfunctions hard drive may indicate that the operating system takes too long to load, files and folders disappear for no reason, or applications are launched slowly. Obvious symptoms of a hard drive losing its functionality are slowdowns in programs and long periods of copying files. If the computer constantly freezes, and nothing other than restarting helps, then in the process of identifying the causes, checking the hard drive should be the first point.

Using standard Windows 7/10 tools

You can test the media standard means Windows. The easiest way is to select in Explorer needed hard disk, right-click on it and go to the “Service” tab.

Next, click the “Run scan” button and set the scan parameters in the window that opens. If both checkboxes are checked, Windows will automatically fix everything during diagnostics. system errors and restore damaged sectors.

The results of the audit can be found in the report.

Command line

You can also audit your hard drive using the utility chkdsk called from the command line. In fact, such a check will not differ much from the above option.

So, launch the command line by selecting the required Start menu item. Then enter the command in the window: chkdsk G: /f /r

G – name of the hard drive being tested (select the drive you will check);
f – error checking and correction;
r – detection and recovery of bad sectors.

All information about errors and bad sectors found will be displayed as the diagnostics are carried out.

Third-party programs for checking your hard drive

There are many programs and utilities for finding bad sectors and fixing HDD errors. We will list only the most famous ones.

Victoria

Perhaps the most popular verification tool hard drives. The program can be launched as in Windows environment, and in DOS mode from a bootable flash drive.

The interface provides five tabs: Standard, SMART, Tests, Advanced and Setup. First of all, go to the section Standard, where in the list of devices we select the hard drive we are interested in. The Drive passport area will display basic information about the HDD.

Next, select the tab SMART and press the “Get SMART” button. SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analisys and Reporting Technology) is a hard drive self-monitoring technology. Those. The hard drive monitors its operation during operation, recording information on a set of parameters that allows one to assess the condition of the media. It is this service information that we are trying to obtain.

After clicking “Get SMART”, either the inscription GOOD on a green background or the inscription BAD! will appear to the right of the button. on red. The second option will indicate that the media is in unsatisfactory condition and will most likely have to be replaced. For a more detailed study of SMART statistics, let's pay attention to the list of parameters on the left. Here we are primarily interested in the attribute 5 Reallocated sector count, indicating the number of sectors remapped. If there are too many of them, then the disk has begun to “crumble,” that is, its surface is rapidly degrading and it is urgent to make a copy of all data. In this case, there is no point in restoring the hard drive.

Chapter Tests makes it possible to check the hard drive for bad sectors, as well as try to “cure” or reassign unreadable blocks. For simple testing of the hard drive, set the switch to Ignore and start the test with the Start button. Sector health is assessed by measuring response time. The smaller it is, the better. Each response time range has its own color designation. The slowest blocks are marked in green, orange and red. Sectors that could not be read at all are marked in blue. If there are a large number of “slow” and unreadable blocks, the hard drive should be replaced.

The Victoria program allows you to restore bad sectors, but we will not consider all the nuances of the procedure. Moreover, “treatment” often contributes only to a slight extension of the service life of the storage medium. To reassign bad blocks, perform a check with the mode enabled Remap. If the restoration was successful, do not rush to rejoice. Re-diagnostics the disk after certain period operation. The appearance of new bad blocks will indicate that the degradation of the hard drive is irreversible, and it’s time to find a replacement.

HDDScan

This is another one convenient program to identify problems with hard drives. After launching the application, select Select list Drive storage, needing verification.

Below we click on the “S.M.A.R.T.” button and get acquainted with the provided report.

Now let's diagnose the disk surface. Click on the round button to the right of the drop-down list of media and select Surface Tests in the menu that opens.

Click on the Add Test button, thereby adding a test to the list and starting its execution.

You can receive information about the progress of testing in Graph, Map, and Report modes. All blocks are also distributed into groups with corresponding color markings depending on access time.

At the end, a final report is generated.

Perhaps this is all we wanted to tell you about the methods of checking a computer’s hard drive for functionality. We hope the information provided will be useful to you and help you save important data.

– one of the most unreliable computer components. At active use modern hard drives live on average 3 years. Therefore, in order not to lose your data, it is very important to regularly check the status of the drive (and do not forget to make backup copies). In this article we will look at several ways to check your hard drive for functionality.

Checking the health of the hard drive using S.M.A.R.T.

If you want to check your hard drive for performance, then you should start with data from the S.M.A.R.T. system, which can be viewed in the CrystalDiskInfo program. This program is completely free and you can .

The CrystalDiskInfo program receives hard drive data from the S.M.A.R.T. system and gives an assessment of it technical condition. If the hard drive is in good condition, then you will see the rating " Good condition e". If there are any problems with the device, you will receive a rating of " Anxiety ". Well, in case of serious problems, you will receive a technical condition rating of “Bad”.

If you wish, you can independently analyze the information from the “S.M.A.R.T.” system. To do this, examine the list of options that is located at the bottom of the CrystalDiskInfo window. As a cheat sheet on the parameters “S.M.A.R.T.” can be used .

Checking the performance of the hard drive under load

If "S.M.A.R.T." does not show any problems, then the hard drive needs to be checked under load. To do this, just try to copy to it large number small files (weighing 2-5 megabytes). For example, you might try to save a large folder of photos to your hard drive. If it is faulty, the following symptoms should appear when copying files:

A sharp decrease in copying speed;
Intermittent copy speed;
The copying process freezes;
Computer or Windows Explorer freezes;
Unpleasant sounds (crackling, grinding, squeaking);
Disabling the drive;

If such a manual check does not reveal any obvious problems, then you can resort to more serious methods of testing the drive.

Checking your hard drive using HD Tune

The next option is to check the disk's performance using HD Tune. This program is free and you can use it. Just don’t confuse it with the paid HD Tune Pro, a link to which is on the same page.

Launch the HD Tune program on your computer and go to the “Error Scan” tab. On this tab you need to start the test using the “Start” button and wait for it to finish.

If a large number of errors were detected during the scanning process, this means that your hard drive is in poor condition. Perhaps it will fail soon.

Checking the hard drive in Victoria 3.5

For the most accurate check, you need to use the program, it can be downloaded as an iso file, for example, (here is version 3.5, it is optimal for checking the HDD outside the operating system). The resulting iso file must be written to a CD (or flash drive) and the computer booted from it. After booting from the CD, you will need to select one of the options for launching the Victoria program. If you have a desktop PC, then select “Victoria for Desktop”, for a laptop “Victoria for Notebook” is suitable, the remaining items launch DOS and the Volkov Commander program.

To run a scan of the entire HDD surface, press the F4 key. As a result, a menu will open in which you need to select “Ignore Bad Blocks” and « Linear reading» . Please note that you do not need to use the “Write (erase)”, “Write from file”, or “BB = Erase 256 sect” options, since they delete information from the drive.

In order for scanning to begin, you need to press the F4 key again. After this, you need to wait until the program finishes checking the hard drive. At the end of testing, if the HDD does not have any problems, then you will see this result.

If the drive has any problem areas, orange and red spots will appear in the scanning window. The more such spots, the worse the condition of the drive. If the number of red spots is especially large, then most likely the hard drive is inoperative and it’s time to throw it away. Detailed information problems will be displayed in the “Defects” block on the right side of the window.

Checking the hard drive in Victoria 4.46 (for Windows)

You can also check the hard drive for functionality using the Victoria 4.46 program from the operating room Windows systems. In this case, you do not need to burn iso images and you do not need to boot from them. Everything is done right in the Windows environment.

You can download Victoria 4.46 for Windows OS, for example. The downloaded archive will need to be unpacked into any folder and run the program vcr446f.exe. After launch, the main Victoria program window will appear, which looks something like the screenshot below.

First, let's look at the "Standard" tab. Here, on the right side of the window, all the drives that Victoria was able to identify are listed, at the top left is information about the currently selected drive (if necessary, you can select another), and at the bottom is a record of all actions, errors and other information.

To test your hard drive, go to the “Tests” tab. Here you first need to click on the “ Passp” button (this will allow you to obtain information about the selected drive), after which you need to start the test using the “ Start” button.

During the scanning process, the program will detect faulty and problematic sectors, the number of which can be seen in the column on the right, as well as at the bottom of the screen.

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 staffing capabilities 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. She is the one who will help us implement diagnosing hard computer disk 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 exact model disk (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, SMART function, this is the internal self-diagnosis system of the hard drive. This firmware is built into all modern models Winchesters.

She tracks vital important parameters, analyzes them and determines the general condition 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. It's actually 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 SMART systems. They are highlighted in pink by the program itself:

If the value Raw given parameter will constantly increase, then the hard drive begins 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 on at the moment 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 (#7): error rate when positioning a block magnetic heads. 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.

In order for the Victoria program not to show false bad sectors, before starting the scan you should definitely disable all third party programs, which can access 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 it will start long process scanning the surface of the hard drive. And the enabled function Remap will be in automatic mode 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 removal data:

You also need to understand that with such tests the hard drive turns out to be very heavy load, therefore it is recommended to provide 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.

Surely many PC and laptop users have had to deal with various kinds of problems that arose with hard drive. In this article we will try to answer basic questions regarding the operation of a hard drive and use a specific example. what to do, when, how to check the serviceability of the media and whether it’s even worth spending your nerves and time on it.

As an example, let's take one of the most popular hard drives, which is equipped with thousands of computers and laptops - a hard drive from Seagate. The main problems of the “experimental” are the operating system freezing or completely refusing to boot, various errors, creaking and clicking. So, how can you check if your computer is working properly?

Software

One of the most interesting (and free) technical point In terms of programs for checking the hard drive, this is HDDScan, which can be downloaded from the official website upon request in any search engine.

The first step is to check the S.M.A.R.T indicators. hard drive (built-in technology that evaluates the hard drive using self-diagnosis equipment with a prediction of the remaining “life” time), and then a qualitative test of the media surface will be passed to identify bad sectors (bad blocks).

But before you check state of hard disk for any problems, we will make a short digression to understand the principle of operation of the HDDScan utility, explaining in more detail what S.M.A.R.T., bad blocks are and why some of them cannot be “cured”, especially since numerous reviews about this program are left by users, still haven’t fully understood what these blocks, paths and sectors are.

Operating principle

The hard drive consists of glass and aluminum plates, which are coated with a layer of technical ferromagnetic material. That is, simply put, a hard drive is a magnetic recording device. The heads, which are located on the surface of the carrier, hover at a height of 10-13 nm and never touch the surface itself, which, by the way, is very easy to damage.

Conveyor on last stages hard drive production carries out low-level formatting, which forms a “map” of the hard drive, dividing it into tracks and sectors. Special servo marks are also applied, which are responsible for accurately placing the head on the desired track of the hard drive.

Sectors

The unit of measurement of a hard drive is a sector, which consists of 512 bytes of data, and in order to format the media at a low level, special and very expensive equipment is required - “Servowriter”, so it is performed only in factory conditions, and all information recorded using this equipment will never be overwritten by any service. If someone promises you to check the condition of your hard drive and do it, you should know: this cannot be done at home.

The manufacturer records exclusively service information in the sectors: the physical address of the sector itself and the address marking indicating the beginning of the track. This information is often called hard disk partitioning, and it is needed to correct operation media so that the hard drive heads accurately fall on the desired sector and track for reading and writing data.

After purchasing a hard drive, the user has access to almost its entire capacity, with the exception of service information, which contains the MBR (main boot record) and built-in service utilities. The area of the disk where this data is located is more magnetized, preventing the user from accidentally or intentionally deleting service information.

Firmware

Data about sectors, tracks and their numbers are presented in a special table that is not available for BIOS and any OS. This table is located in the service area, which is a kind of mini-operating system and, together with the Firmware, controls all the actions of the hard drive. Some users wonder: is it necessary before checking serviceability of hard disk on a laptop or on a regular PC, update or even change the built-in firmware? The answer is clear: no. All modern media do not require any firmware updates.

All the information that is recorded in the service area along with the firmware is the disk passport: S.M.A.R.T. attributes, a table with identified defects, bad blocks that cannot be corrected, and reassigned sectors.

Types of sectors

Before you check external hard disk for serviceability, it is important to know that there are three types of bad sectors: physical, logical and software. When the operating system tries to read a bad sector, it tries to load the data several times, and if this fails, the OS recognizes the sector as bad and writes all the necessary information to the normal sector, which is located on the backup track. This process is called Remapping, or in common parlance remap.

Moreover, whether to carry out or postpone a remap is decided only by the hard drive controller, and not by the user or third-party software, which can only “hint” to the hard drive about the need for a remap. Before checking for serviceability, the built-in utilities always check the defect table, which contains all bad sectors that were either reassigned by the system or marked as unrecoverable.

In total, there are two tables with defects - the factory one (Primary List), which reflects the results of initial tests on the conveyor with already marked bad blocks, and the current one (Grown List), which is filled in as current problems accumulate.

Bad sectors. How to fix them?

Before checking for serviceability, you need to know about the types of bad sectors and the possibility of their further rehabilitation in case of damage.

According to reviews, physically faulty bad blocks cannot be restored by any formatting. The only thing that can be done is to reassign bad sectors as spare ones from backup tracks. A significant disadvantage of this method will be a decrease in the performance of the hard drive, since the heads will have to overcome longer distance and make additional movements to search for information on backup tracks.

Physical bad sectors are hard drive defects of a mechanical nature: a broken magnetic layer of the media surface, chips, scratches, etc. Very often, such problems arise after a hard drive has been hit, when one or more heads have been damaged and, magnetic storage, scratched its surface. Overheating or vibration, as reviews indicate, can also cause bad sectors. In this case, the bad block must always be replaced and reassigned with a normal sector from the backup track.

Creaking and clicking

If before that you often heard a creaking or clicking sound inside the system unit, then the reason in most cases lies in the hard drive head positioner. The carrier tries to read the information over and over again, wearing out the positioner in a certain position, as a result of which a small squeak occurs.

The cause of clicks may be the reassignment of bad sector tracks to spare ones. They are not always nearby, so the heads often and sharply change their direction from side to side, as a result of which specific clicks are heard.

Another one of possible reasons clicking and squeaking is a violation of the factory markings as a result of mechanical impact described in the section above. The servo markers can be destroyed, and the head can no longer accurately get to the sector it needs, which is why multiple attempts by the carrier are heard to read the information and get into its “track”.

According to reviews, the only panacea for squeaks and clicks available to a simple user, are built-in utilities of the operating system, which, if it doesn’t help get rid of the problem, will at least make the hard drive work for some more time.

How to check a hard drive for good sectors?

Logical bad blocks, which result from errors in sector logic, can be divided into correctable and bad blocks. Let's consider in which case it is impossible to fix a logical bad block.

As mentioned above, each sector of the hard disk, in addition to user data, carries part of the service information about the layout and physical addresses that determine the beginning of the sector. If this information has been damaged for various reasons (mechanical or physical impact), then it can only be restored under factory conditions, which is very problematic for the average user.

But if, before checking the hard drive for serviceability, you did not hit or overheat it, that is proprietary information in the sectors is not damaged, you can restore data and the performance of the media using checksum each sector (ECC - error correction code). Each unit of storage media contains this data, and this is what utilities use to rehabilitate the hard drive.

If you believe the reviews, of various kinds software errors Hard disk problems such as incorrectly marked sectors or tracks are “treated” by conventional formatting or software built into the operating system.

To sum it up

After we have figured out the operating principle of the hard drive and identified the points that can be corrected and which cannot, you can safely run disk testing with the HDDScan utility and look at the results, drawing appropriate conclusions for yourself. Positive Feedback There is a lot about this software on the Internet, so it can be recommended to both novice users and experienced professionals.

After you find out current state S.M.A.R.T., you can make a prediction - restore this disk or purchase a new one.