Checking the hdd hard drive. Programs for checking your hard drive for bad sectors

Process hard checks disk for the presence of bad sectors, is a search for erroneous records and bad sectors located on the drive.

Some of these problems can cause information loss - in most cases, beyond recovery.

Therefore, every user should be aware of their occurrence - both in order to try to correct errors on the disk, and to back up important information to another location.

The principle of formation of bad sectors

Over time, the owner of almost every HDD has to deal with problem sectors.

The principle of their appearance is as follows:

• During the production of disks, sectors are created, with the help of magnetization of which information can be written to the drive.

• Reading and writing information on (especially if the disk is hit or dropped), and sometimes also the influence of computer viruses, lead to a gradual deterioration in the condition of its structure.
• Bad sectors begin to appear on the surface of magnetic disks - areas in which information is stored incorrectly or is not recorded at all.

It is possible to eliminate bad sectors, but the system does not automatically perform such actions - the user will have to manually run the scan and repair.

If there are few bad sectors, they are replaced by reserve areas.

When damaged HDD blocks appear, their addresses are reassigned to sectors from the reserve, and no data loss occurs.

Signs of a problem

Among the main signs that problem sectors have appeared on the disk and need to be restored are: The following are worth noting:

• The computer freezes while loading the operating system;
• failure to start the OS - in most cases, loading only reaches certain moment(for example, to the Windows logo or the words “Welcome”) and stops;
• unreasonable and frequent computer reboots;
• errors in the operation of the system, expressed in the inability to launch applications, closing windows and slow response to user actions.

The list of utilities that can be used to solve the problem is quite large.

They are divided into two main groups– those that are already built into the operating system (for example, Windows), and applications from other manufacturers.

The latter can also be divided into paid programs and more popular free versions among domestic users.

Using Windows Tools

To correct errors and bad sectors, Windows OS already contains .

The advantages of using it include the ability to restore areas damaged during operation or as a result of virus infection of the system.

Another plus– possibility of launching in two ways, in normal mode or .

The utility is capable of checking any physical and logical disks, but there are slight differences in working with inactive and system areas.

Thus, the stages of checking and restoring a regular partition (which does not contain system control files and the OS itself) will be as follows:

1 Going to the window "My computer".

2 Right-click to open properties of the selected disk.

3 Select a tab "Service".

4 Pressed check disk button.

5 Put checkbox next to check bad sectors.

System volumes on which Windows is installed are scanned differently.

The start of the utility launch coincides with the steps for a regular partition, but when you try to check the disk, a message appears on the screen stating that it is impossible and asking you to do this after a reboot.

After reboot, the system does not boot - instead a check is performed system partition HDD, the progress of which can be determined by the information displayed on the screen.

And you can run Hitachi Drive Fitness Test not only from Windows, but also in mode if problems with the disk have already made it impossible to boot the system.

Seagate Seatools

The Seatools utility is free application, whose capabilities include:

• detection of HDD structure violations, including bad sectors and write or read errors;
• fixing bad sectors or overwriting them with zeros, so that in the future the system ignores damaged areas;
• Windows OS problems;
• damage to the system bootloader;

The application works most effectively with Seagate drives.

The average time to fix detected errors (together with the verification process), depending on the size of the partition, can reach 4 hours.

The advantages of the program include its free distribution and the provision of a detailed report.

HDD Health

The free HDD Health program features the ability to receive while checking bad sectors the following information:

• HDD manufacturer and firmware;
• current storage temperature;
• the general condition of the device structure, including whole and damaged sectors;
• a number of other useful attributes.

The utility is distributed free of charge by Panterasoft.

At the same time, the disk health assessment is carried out only using S.M.A.R.T indicators and is less effective than checking the disk with other applications.

Victoria

In a good way is free program"Victoria".

During the scanning process, the user can obtain information not only about disk sectors, but also about all partitions (volumes) of the computer and the connectors to which they are connected.

The utility does not require installation, but should only be run as Administrator.

Rice. 9. HDDScan disk troubleshooting program.

Among the additional information– temperature control of all disks that are connected to the PC. In addition, the scan results are generated in the form of a report and can be saved in a separate file.

CrystalDiskInfo is a free program for servicing computer HDDs and SSDs with ATA (PATA, SATA), USB and IEEE1394 connection interfaces. If with hard drive something strange is happening, don’t be lazy, download CrystalDiskInfo in Russian for your computer for free using the link from the site https://site without registration and SMS. The advantages of the utility include: output of detailed reliable information about the status, powerful monitoring and verification tools, as well as effective change tools hard settings disks. If problems are detected, Crystal Disk Info displays a warning and sends an email to the user.

Before a large number of bad sectors appear, read and write errors, unpleasant noise, the temperature rises, and performance decreases, it makes sense to download the useful CrystalDiskInfo program for free for a computer with an operating system. Microsoft system Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 (32-bit and 64-bit). The utility is quickly installed on your computer and uninstalled correctly, without being tracked in the system registry. When you start the program, it checks the status of the hard drive of your computer or laptop; this takes some time.

Checking, monitoring, analysis, graphs and changing settings

When checking, the utility displays detailed information, including external HDD USB and IEEE1394. Displayed: firmware version, AAM*/APM** data, interface type, spindle speed, buffer size, operating life, number of bad sectors, temperature and even a graph of temperature dynamics over time, as well as others technical specifications. S.M.A.R.T*** parameters are monitored, including: number of read errors, overall performance, start-stop and other data. CrystalDiskInfo dynamically tracks changes in a large amount of data from drives in the system, keeps a log and allows you to beautifully display this in the form of graphs. This format allows you to clearly see the overall health picture of the computer’s disk subsystem.

Those who want to download CrystalDiskInfo for free without registration and SMS, without leaving the site https://site, will also be found because the utility allows you not only to diagnosis of hard disk, but also to take care of its health. Changing the AAM and APM settings allows you to control performance parameters and the corresponding amount of acoustic noise produced, as well as power consumption parameters. If necessary, it is possible to reset the bad sector counters. In the "Tools" menu there is a link to the system "Disk Management", where all the necessary transformations are done with them: create a partition, expand or shrink partitions, etc.

Interface and functionality of CrystalDiskInfo

The nice, modern interface supports many localizations, as well as themes (skins), three of which are available immediately after launch. Positive reviews and comments from users are caused by an intuitive display of the status in color: blue (or green) - good, yellow - warning, red - problems/alarm, gray - no information.

This one is small free utility with open source code, is being developed by Japanese programmer Noriyuki Miyazaki (known as Hiyohiyo), so in Europe and America many people find the menus and settings confusing. The Japanese do not share this opinion. Unfortunately, there are no hints or explanations about the importance of parameters unfamiliar to the average computer user, and to figure it out, sometimes you have to refer to the help section.

Rich functionality allow CrystalDiskInfo to compete not only with free, but also with paid programs. According to reviews and comments from many users around the world, it is definitely worth downloading CrystalDiskInfo for free for Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP (32-bit and 64-bit) in Russian. Among the competitors it is worth noting the paid programs HDDlife Professional and Hard Drive Inspector and free Active@ Hard Disk Monitor with Russian language support, as well as paid HD Tune Pro in English. As for the functionality of Crystal Disk Info, you definitely need to know about the following advantages of this utility:

• high data reliability,
• correct interaction with S.M.A.R.T technology,
• monitoring of more than 25 parameters,
• data about current modes work in real time,
• temperature and S.M.A.R.T data control,
• displaying disk temperatures in the system tray,
• prompt e-mail notification of problems,
• ability to change AAM/APM settings,
• control of speed and amount of acoustic noise,
• settings to save energy consumption,
• no conflicts with latest versions SSD drives,
• work with external HDDs with USB and IEEE 1394 interfaces,
• compatible with a wide range of equipment****.

Background information

* Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM) - control of the track search time parameter, in this case, the faster the block of magnetic heads moves along the radius during search, the more noise.

** Advanced Power Management (APM) - energy management.

*** Self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology (S.M.A.R.T.) - an internal system of self-diagnosis and self-monitoring using equipment built into the disk with the ability to generate reports and predict the breakdown period.

**** Exhaustive list compatible equipment located on the official crystalmark website in the info domain.

Download the latest version of CrystalDiskInfo in Russian

Free programs download for free

Now you are on the page "Russian Crystal Disk Info - checking the hard drive and taking care of its health", in the Computer Tests section of the site, where everyone has the opportunity to legally download programs for a computer running Microsoft Windows OS. This page was created/substantially updated on 11/20/2018. Thank you for visiting the section.

Sooner or later (it’s better, of course, if early) any user asks himself the question of how long the hard drive installed on his computer will last and whether it’s time to look for a replacement. There is nothing surprising in this, since hard drives, by virtue of their design features are the least reliable among computer components. At the same time, it is on the HDD that most users store the lion's share of a wide variety of information: documents, pictures, various software, etc., as a result of which an unexpected failure of the disk is always a tragedy. Of course, it is often possible to restore information on apparently “dead” hard drives, but it is possible that this operation will cost you a pretty penny, and will cost you a lot of nerves. Therefore, it is much more effective to try to prevent data loss.
How? It’s very simple... Firstly, do not forget about regular data backups, and secondly, monitor the condition of the disks using specialized utilities. We will consider several programs of this kind from the perspective of the tasks being solved in this article.

Control of SMART parameters and temperature

All modern HDDs and even solid state drives (SSDs) support S.M.A.R.T technology. ( from English Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology - technology of self-monitoring, analysis and reporting), which was developed by the main manufacturers of hard disks to increase the reliability of their products. This technology is based on continuous monitoring and assessment of the condition of the hard drive using built-in self-diagnosis equipment (special sensors), and its main purpose is the timely detection of possible failure of the drive.

Real-time HDD status monitoring

A number of information and diagnostic solutions for diagnosing and testing hardware, as well as special monitoring utilities, use S.M.A.R.T technology. to monitor the current status of various vital parameters that describe the reliability and performance of hard drives. They read the relevant parameters directly from the sensors and thermal sensors that all modern hard drives are equipped with, analyze the received data and display them in the form of a short tabular report with a list of attributes. At the same time, some utilities (Hard Drive Inspector, HDDlife, Crystal Disk Info, etc.) are not limited to displaying a table of attributes (the meanings of which are incomprehensible to untrained users) and additionally display brief information about the state of the disk in a more understandable form.

Diagnosing the status of your hard drive using this kind of utility is as easy as shelling pears - just read the brief basic information about installed HDDs: with basic data about disks in Hard Drive Inspector, a certain conditional percentage of hard disk health in HDDlife, the “Technical Condition” indicator in Crystal Disk Info (Fig. 1), etc. Any of these programs provides the minimum necessary information about each of the installed computer HDD: data on the hard drive model, its volume, operating temperature, operating time, as well as the level of reliability and performance. This information makes it possible to do certain conclusions about the performance of the media.

Rice. 1. Brief information about the “health” of the working HDD

You should configure the monitoring utility to launch simultaneously with the start of the operating system, adjust the time interval between checks of S.M.A.R.T. attributes, and also enable the display of the temperature and “health level” of hard drives in the system tray. After this, to monitor the status of the drives, the user will only need to glance from time to time at the indicator in the system tray, where brief information about the status of the drives available in the system will be displayed: their “health” level and temperature (Fig. 2). By the way, the operating temperature is no less important indicator than a conditional indicator of HDD health, because hard drives can suddenly fail due to simple overheating. Therefore, if the hard drive heats up above 50 °C, then it would be wiser to provide it with additional cooling.

Rice. 2.Display HDD Status
in the system tray program HDDlife

It is worth noting that a number of such utilities provide integration with Windows Explorer, thanks to which the icons local disks if they are working properly, a green icon is displayed, and if problems arise, the icon turns red. So you are unlikely to forget about the health of your hard drives. With such constant monitoring, you will not be able to miss the moment when some problems begin to arise with the disk, because if the utility detects critical changes in S.M.A.R.T. attributes. and/or temperature, it will carefully notify the user about this (with a message on the screen, audio message etc. - rice. 3). Thanks to this, it will be possible to copy data from a dangerous medium in advance.

Rice. 3. Example of a message about the need to immediately replace the disk

Using S.M.A.R.T. monitoring solutions in practice to monitor the status of hard drives is completely easy, because all such utilities work in the background and require a minimum of hardware resources, so their functioning will in no way interfere with the main workflow.

Control of S.M.A.R.T. attributes

Advanced users, of course, are unlikely to limit themselves to assessing the condition of hard drives by viewing a brief verdict from one of the utilities presented above. This is understandable, because according to the decoding of the S.M.A.R.T. attributes. You can identify the cause of failures and, if necessary, take precautionary measures. True, to independently control S.M.A.R.T. attributes, you will need to at least briefly become familiar with S.M.A.R.T technology.

Hard drives that support this technology include intelligent self-diagnostic procedures so they can “report” their current status. This diagnostic information is provided as a collection of attributes, that is, specific characteristics of the hard drive used to analyze its performance and reliability.

B O Most of the important attributes have the same meaning for drives from all manufacturers. The values ​​of these attributes during normal disk operation may vary within certain intervals. For any parameter, the manufacturer defines a certain minimum safe value, which cannot be exceeded under normal operating conditions. Unambiguously determine critically important and critically unimportant S.M.A.R.T parameters for diagnostics. problematic. Each of the attributes has its own information value and indicates one or another aspect of the work of the medium. However, first of all you should pay attention to the following attributes:

• Raw Read Error Rate - frequency of errors in reading data from the disk caused by the fault of the equipment;
• Spin Up Time - average spin-up time of the disk spindle;
• Reallocated Sector Count - number of sector reassignment operations;
• Seek Error Rate - frequency of occurrence of positioning errors;
• Spin Retry Count - the number of repeated attempts to spin up disks to operating speed if the first attempt fails;
• Current Pending Sector Count - the number of unstable sectors (that is, sectors awaiting the reassignment procedure);
• Offline Scan Uncorrectable Count - the total number of uncorrected errors during sector read/write operations.

Typically S.M.A.R.T. attributes are displayed in tabular form indicating the attribute name (Attribute), its identifier (ID) and three values: current (Value), minimum threshold (Threshold) and the lowest attribute value for the entire operating time of the drive (Worst), as well as the absolute value of the attribute (Raw). Each attribute has a current value, which can be any number from 1 to 100, 200, or 253 (there are no general standards for upper bounds on attribute values). The Value and Worst values ​​for a completely new hard drive are the same (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Attributes of S.M.A.R.T. with a new HDD

Shown in Fig. 4 information allows us to conclude that for a theoretically serviceable hard drive, the current (Value) and worst (Worst) values ​​should be as close as possible to each other, and the Raw value for most parameters (with the exception of the parameters: Power-On Time, HDA Temperature and some others ) should approach zero. The current value may change over time, which in most cases reflects deterioration of the hard drive parameters described by the attribute. This can be seen in Fig. 5, which presents fragments of the S.M.A.R.T attribute table. for the same disk - data were obtained with an interval of six months. As you can see, in the more recent version of S.M.A.R.T. the frequency of errors when reading data from the disk (Raw Read Error Rate), the origin of which is determined by the hardware of the disk, and the frequency of errors when positioning the magnetic head unit (Seek Error Rate) have increased, which may indicate overheating of the hard drive and its unstable position in the basket . If the current value of any attribute approaches or becomes less than the threshold value, then the hard drive is considered unreliable and should be replaced urgently. For example, the value of the Spin-Up Time attribute (average spin-up time of the disk spindle) drops below critical value, as a rule, indicates complete wear of the mechanics, as a result of which the disk is no longer able to maintain the rotation speed specified by the manufacturer. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the condition of the HDD and periodically (for example, once every 2-3 months) carry out S.M.A.R.T diagnostics. and save the received information in a text file. In the future, these data can be compared with current ones and certain conclusions can be drawn about the development of the situation.

Rice. 5. S.M.A.R.T. attribute tables obtained at six-month intervals
(more latest version S.M.A.R.T. down)

When viewing S.M.A.R.T. attributes, you should first of all pay attention to critical parameters, as well as parameters highlighted by indicators other than the base color (usually blue or green). Depending on the current state of the attribute in the S.M.A.R.T. utility output. in the table it is usually marked in one color or another, which makes it easier to understand the situation. In particular, in Hard program Drive Inspector color indicator can have green, yellow-green, yellow, orange or red - green and yellow-green colors indicate that everything is normal (the attribute value has not changed or changed insignificantly), and yellow, orange and red colors indicate danger (worse the color is red, which indicates that the attribute value has reached its critical value). If any of the critical parameters are marked with a red icon, then you urgently need to replace the hard drive.

In the Hard Drive Inspector program, let's look at the table of S.M.A.R.T. attributes of the same drive, which we briefly assessed using monitoring utilities earlier. From Fig. Figure 6 shows that the values ​​of all attributes are normal and all parameters are marked green. The HDDlife and Crystal Disk Info utilities will show a similar picture. True, more professional solutions for analysis and HDD diagnostics are not so loyal and often label S.M.A.R.T. attributes more pickily. For example, such well-known utilities as HD Tune Pro and HDD Scan, in our case, were suspicious of the UltraDMA CRC Errors attribute, which displays the number of errors that occur when transmitting information over the external interface (Fig. 7). The cause of such errors is usually associated with a twisted and poor-quality SATA cable, which may need to be replaced.

Rice. 6. Table of S.M.A.R.T. attributes obtained in the Hard Drive Inspector program

Rice. 7. Results of assessing the state of S.M.A.R.T. attributes
HD Tune Pro and HDD Scan utilities

For comparison, let’s take a look at the S.M.A.R.T. attributes of a very ancient, but still working HDD with periodically arising problems. It did not inspire confidence in the Crystal Disk Info program - in the “Technical Condition” indicator, the disk condition was rated as alarming, and the Reallocated Sector Count attribute was highlighted in yellow (Fig. 8). This is a very important attribute from the point of view of disk health, indicating the number of sectors reassigned when the disk detects a read/write error; during this operation, data from the damaged sector is transferred to the reserve area. The yellow indicator of the parameter indicates that the remaining reserve sectors There are few left that can be used to replace bad sectors, and soon there will be nothing to reassign newly appearing bad sectors. Let's also check how more serious solutions assess the condition of the disk, for example, the HDDScan utility widely used by professionals - but here we see exactly the same result (Fig. 9).

Rice. 8. Assessing a problematic hard drive in CrystalDiskInfo

Rice. 9. Results of S.M.A.R.T. diagnostics of HDD in HDDScan

This means that it is clearly not worth delaying the replacement of such a hard drive, although it may still serve for some time, although, of course, you cannot install an operating system on this hard drive. It is worth noting that if there are a large number of reassigned sectors, the read/write speed drops (due to the unnecessary movements that the magnetic head has to make), and the disk begins to noticeably slow down.

Scanning the surface for bad sectors

Unfortunately, in practice, monitoring SMART parameters and temperature alone is not enough. If the slightest evidence appears that something is wrong with the disk (in the case of periodic program freezes, for example, when saving results, reading error messages appear, etc.), it is necessary to scan the disk surface for the presence of unreadable sectors. To carry out such a media check, you can use, for example, the HD Tune Pro and HDDScan utilities or diagnostic utilities from hard drive manufacturers, however, these utilities only work with their own hard drive models, and therefore we will not consider them.

When using such solutions, there is a risk of damaging data on the scanned disk. On the one hand, if the drive really turns out to be faulty, anything can happen to the information on the disk during scanning. On the other hand, we cannot exclude incorrect actions on the part of the user who mistakenly starts scanning in write mode, during which data from the hard drive is erased sector by sector with a certain signature, and based on the speed of this process, a conclusion is drawn about the state of the hard drive. Therefore, compliance with certain precautionary rules is absolutely necessary: ​​before launching the utility, you need to create a backup copy of the information and during the test, act strictly according to the instructions of the developer of the relevant software. To obtain more accurate results, before scanning, it is better to close all active applications and unload possible background processes. In addition, you should keep in mind that if you need to test the system HDD, you need to boot from a flash drive and start the scanning process from it, or completely remove the hard drive and connect it to another computer from which you can start testing the disk.

As an example, using HD Tune Pro, we will check the surface of the HDD for bad sectors, which did not inspire confidence in the Crystal Disk Info utility above. In this program, to start the scanning process, just select the desired disk, activate the tab Error Scan and click on the button Start. After this, the utility will begin sequential scanning of the disk, reading sector by sector and marking sectors on the disk map with multi-colored squares. The color of the squares, depending on the situation, can be green (normal sectors) or red (bad blocks) or will have some shade intermediate between these colors. As we see from Fig. 10, in our case the utility did not find full-fledged bad blocks, but nevertheless there is a significant number of sectors with one or another read delay (judging by their color). In addition to this, in the middle part of the disk there is a small block of sectors, the color of which is close to red - these sectors have not yet been recognized as bad by the utility, but they are already close to this and will move into the bad category in the very near future.

Rice. 10. Scanning the surface for bad sectors in HD Tune Pro

Testing a media for bad sectors in the HDDScan program is more difficult and even more dangerous, since if the mode is incorrectly selected, the information on the disk will be irretrievably lost. The first step to start scanning is to create a new task by clicking on the button New Task and selecting the command from the list Suface Tests. Then you need to make sure that the mode is selected Read- this mode is installed by default and when used, the hard disk surface is tested by reading (that is, without deleting data). After this press the button Add Test(Fig. 11) and double-click on the created task RD-Read. Now in the window that opens you can observe the disk scanning process on a graph (Graph) or on a map (Map) - fig. 12. Upon completion of the process, we will get approximately the same results as those demonstrated above by the HD Tune Pro utility, but with a clearer interpretation: there are no bad sectors (they are marked in blue), but there are three sectors with a response time of more than 500 ms (marked in red color), which pose a real danger. As for the six orange sectors(response time from 150 to 500 ms), then this can be considered within normal limits, since such a response delay is often caused by temporary interference in the form, for example, of running background programs.

Rice. 11. Running disk testing in HDDScan program

Rice. 12. Results of disk scanning in Read mode using HDDScan

In addition, it should be noted that if there are a small number of bad blocks, you can try to improve the condition of the hard drive by removing bad sectors by scanning the disk surface in linear recording mode (Erase) using HDDScan programs. After such an operation, the disk can still be used for some time, but, of course, not as a system disk. However, you should not hope for a miracle, since the HDD has already begun to crumble, and there are no guarantees that in the near future the number of defects will not increase and the drive will not completely fail.

Programs for S.M.A.R.T. monitoring and HDD testing

HD Tune Pro 5.00 and HD Tune 2.55

Developer: EFD Software

Distribution size: HD Tune Pro - 1.5 MB; HD Tune - 628 KB

Work under control: Windows XP/Server 2003/Vista/7

Distribution method: HD Tune Pro - shareware (15-day demo version); HD Tune - freeware (http://www.hdtune.com/download.html)

Price: HD Tune Pro - $34.95; HD Tune - free (for non-commercial use only)

HD Tune is a convenient utility for diagnostics and HDD testing/SSD (see table), as well as memory cards, USB drives and a number of other data storage devices. The program displays detailed information about the drive (firmware version, serial number, disk size, buffer size and data transfer mode) and allows you to set the device status using S.M.A.R.T. data. and temperature monitoring. In addition, it can be used to test the disk surface for errors and evaluate the device's performance by running a series of tests (sequential and random data read/write speed tests, file performance test, cache test and a number of Extra tests). The utility can also be used to configure AAM and safe removal data. The program is presented in two editions: commercial HD Tune Pro and free lightweight HD Tune. In the HD Tune edition, you can only view detailed information about the disk and the S.M.A.R.T. attribute table, as well as scan the disk for errors and test for speed in read mode (Low level benchmark - read).

The Health tab is responsible for monitoring S.M.A.R.T. attributes in the program - data from sensors is read after a set period of time, the results are displayed in a table. For any attribute, you can view the history of its changes in numerical form and on a graph. Monitoring data is automatically recorded in the log, but no user notifications are provided for critical changes in parameters.

As for scanning the disk surface for bad sectors, the tab is responsible for this operation Error Scan. Scanning can be quick (Quick scan) and deep - with a quick scan, not the entire disk is scanned, but only some part of it (the scanning area is determined through the Start and End fields). Damaged sectors are displayed on the disk map as red blocks.

HDDScan 3.3

Developer: Artem Rubtsov

Distribution size: 3.64 MB

Work under control: Windows 2000(SP4)/XP(SP2/SP3)/Server 2003/Vista/7

Distribution method: freeware (http://hddscan.com/download/HDDScan-3.3.zip)

Price: for free

HDDScan is a utility for low-level diagnostics of hard drives, solid state drives and Flash disks with USB interface. The main purpose of this program is to test disks for the presence of bad blocks and bad sectors. The utility can also be used to view the contents of S.M.A.R.T., monitor temperature and change some hard drive settings: noise management (AAM), power management (APM), forced start/stop of the drive spindle, etc. The program works without installation and can be launched from portable media, for example flash drives.

HDDScan displays S.M.A.R.T. attributes and temperature monitoring on demand. S.M.A.R.T report contains information about the performance and “health” of the drive in the form of a standard attribute table; the drive temperature is displayed in the system tray and in a special information window. Reports can be printed or saved as an MHT file. S.M.A.R.T. tests are possible.

The disk surface is checked in one of four modes: Verify (linear verification mode), Read (linear reading), Erase (linear writing) and Butterfly Read (Butterfly reading mode). To check a disk for the presence of bad blocks, a test in Read mode is usually used, which tests the surface without deleting data (the conclusion about the condition of the drive is made based on the speed of sector-by-sector data reading). When testing in linear recording mode (Erase), the information on the disk is overwritten, but this test can somewhat heal the disk, ridding it of bad sectors. In any of the modes, you can test the entire disk or a specific fragment of it (the scanning area is determined by indicating the initial and final logical sectors - Start LBA and End LBA, respectively). Test results are presented in the form of a report (Report tab) and displayed on a Graph and a disk map (Map), indicating, among other things, the number of bad sectors (Bads) and sectors whose response time during testing took more than 500 ms (marked in red ).

Hard Drive Inspector 4.13

Developer: AltrixSoft

Distribution size: 2.64 MB

Work under control: Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista/7

Distribution method: shareware (14-day demo version - http://www.altrixsoft.com/ru/download/)

Price: Hard Drive Inspector Professional - 600 rub.; Hard Drive Inspector for Notebooks - 800 rub.

Hard Drive Inspector is a convenient solution for S.M.A.R.T. monitoring of external and internal HDDs. IN at the moment the program is offered on the market in two editions: the basic Hard Drive Inspector Professional and the portable Hard Drive Inspector for Notebooks; the latter includes all the functionality of the Professional version, and at the same time takes into account the specifics of monitoring laptop hard drives. Theoretically, there is also an SSD version, but it is distributed only in OEM supplies.

The program provides automatic checking of S.M.A.R.T. attributes at specified intervals and, upon completion, issues its verdict regarding the state of the drive, displaying the values ​​of certain conditional indicators: “reliability”, “performance” and “no errors” along with numerical value temperature and temperature diagram. Technical data about the disk model, its capacity, total free space and operating time in hours (days) is also provided. In advanced mode, you can view information about disk parameters (buffer size, firmware name, etc.) and the S.M.A.R.T attribute table. Provided different options informing the user in case of critical changes on the disk. Additionally, the utility can be used to reduce the noise level produced by hard drives, and reducing HDD power consumption.

HDDlife 4.0

Developer: BinarySense Ltd

Distribution size: 8.45 MB

Work under control: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7/8

Distribution method: shareware (15-day demo version - http://hddlife.ru/rus/downloads.html)

Price: HDDLife - free; HDDLife Pro - 300 rub.; HDDlife for Notebooks - 500 rub.

HDDLife is a simple utility designed to monitor the status of hard drives and SSDs (from version 4.0). The program is presented in three editions: free HDDLife and two commercial ones - basic HDDLife Pro and portable HDDlife for Notebooks.

The utility monitors S.M.A.R.T. attributes and temperature at specified intervals and, based on the analysis results, issues a compact report on the condition of the disk indicating technical data about the disk model and its capacity, operating time, temperature, and also displays the conditional percentage of its health and performance, which allows even beginners can navigate the situation. More experienced users Additionally, they can view the table of S.M.A.R.T. attributes. In case of problems with the hard drive, it is possible to configure notifications; You can configure the program so that if the disk is in normal condition, the scan results are not displayed. It is possible to control the HDD noise level and power consumption.

CrystalDiskInfo 5.4.2

Developer: Hiyohiyo

Distribution size: 1.79 MB

Work under control: Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008/7/8/2012

Distribution method: freeware (http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html)

Price: for free

CrystalDiskInfo is a simple utility for S.M.A.R.T. monitoring the status of hard drives (including many external HDDs) and SSD. Despite being free, the program has all the necessary functionality to monitor the status of disks.

Disk monitoring is performed automatically after a specified number of minutes or on demand. At the end of the test, the temperature of the monitored devices is displayed in the system tray; detailed information about the HDD indicating the values ​​of S.M.A.R.T. parameters, temperature and the program’s verdict on the state of the devices is available in the main window of the utility. There is functionality for setting threshold values ​​for some parameters and automatically notifying the user if they are exceeded. Noise level management (AAM) and power management (APM) are possible.

Unfortunately, a considerable part modern HDDs It works normally for a little over a year, then various kinds of problems begin, which over time can lead to data loss. This prospect can be completely avoided if you carefully monitor the condition of the hard drive, for example, using the utilities discussed in the article. However, you should also not forget about regular backup of valuable data, since monitoring utilities, as a rule, successfully predict disk failure due to mechanical faults (according to Seagate statistics, about 60% of HDDs fail due to mechanical components), but they are not able to predict the death of a drive due to problems with the electronic components of the disk.

Hi all! Very often, when diagnosing a computer, you have to check the hard drive for bad sectors and sometimes you need to check it with a program in Windows. From under Windows it is of course more efficient, but such cases also happen.

I already wrote an article on how it is possible, but people are looking for a program to check the hdd in Windows itself and sometimes I understand them. Therefore, I will show how this can be done in the most popular and proven HD Tune program.

Download and install. This version is free.

1. Select a hard drive, for example I have 2 of them
2. Select the Error Scan window
3. Click the Start button

The hard drive will be checked. Its time depends on the size of the hard drive. My terabyte will be checked in about an hour. When the check is completed, all cells should be colored. Shouldn't be red. If there is a red color, then you have a bad sector. If everyone is green then hard sector disks are intact.

What to do if there is a bad sector on your hard drive?

1. First you need to find out the reason:

• Temperature. Look what hard temperature disk, the norm is considered to be from 30 to 35 degrees, and from 35 to 40, this is already critical, which is no longer normal! To be normal temperature, you need to clean your computer from dust every month and the computer must have a properly configured cooling system (as in the picture below).
• Factory defect. There's nothing to be done about it. Just if there is a guarantee, take it where you bought it, if not, then you can try to fix it.
• Not correct use . Any device is afraid of falls, and of large vibrations. If you didn’t drop it or shake it vigorously, then most likely the reason is temperature or defective.

2. Once you identify the cause of the failure, you can try to cure the hard drive. To do this, you can use the program; it can automatically fix bad sectors. If you are a professional, you can use the program mhdd well or Victoria.

Each hard drive has spare sectors, usually 50 of them. So the program reassigns bad ones to spare ones. If you have a whole block of bad sectors and there are more than 50 of them, then overwriting will be pointless.

3. After all the testing, I would advise you to buy new HDD, because There is no guarantee that new bad sectors will not appear. In the meantime, it is cured, you can sell it cheaper, warning that the hdd has worn out sectors.

It may also happen that the check takes forever or the computer doesn’t see it at all, then something could happen to the electronics or to the head that reads the data. Here, of course, if you need data, you need to contact specialized companies that disassemble and repair them.

What to do if you think that the hard drive is faulty, but there are no bad sectors?

This could also happen. I have witnessed when there are no bad sectors, but the computer is so stupid that it’s as if there are bad sectors))) To do this, take the HDDScan program:

It is portable, so we can simply launch it without installation. You can also check your SSD drive for errors.

To run a high response test you need to:

1. Select your hard drive
2. Press the button with a magnifying glass and a hard drive
3. Select Surface Tests

1. Set Read
2. Add test. The test will then run automatically.
3. Click on RD-Read twice, a window will open.

1. Select the Map tab and see the site map. There are already more flowers here. Each of them means response time (to see the real-time check, uncheck Disable map dynamic update Map Udate Queue).
2. We wait until the hard drive is completely checked and look in the right column.

• The more 5ms sectors the better, these are sectors that have a 5ms response.
• Responses up to 150 ms (green) and up to 500 ms (orange) are not good, but they are not critical either. To know more precisely, you need to scan from under windows in the mhdd program. More than 500ms (red), then the reason is clear. This is why it slows down.
• If you see Bads, then you have bad sectors. I wrote above what to do. There is also an option here, you can try and then check the HDD again. If everything is the same, then you can also sell it cheaper and buy a new one or reassign it to mhdd.

That seems to be all. I think many people will find useful information on how to check a hard drive for bad sectors.

Here's how to fix it in Victoria:

Victoria is one of the most popular programs for testing, service and assistance in recovering information from hard drives. There are versions for DOS and for Windows.

Using the second version, you can perform diagnostics and repair of hard disks. But it is worth noting that fixing bad sectors directly from the OS often ends in failure, so experienced users use a different version.

The version of the Victoria program that runs under DOS is loaded from a boot disk or flash drive. With its help, you can carry out diagnostics and, if necessary, “treat” the hard drive. Boot disk, with the Victoria program installed, will be useful for those who cannot start due to bad blocks operating system, or if you have one hard drive and you want to fix bad blocks on it.

Bad blocks or bad sectors – a bad or unreadable sector, an attempt to access which the drive returns an error.

Bad blocks can be: logical - broken checksum sectors, which is easily corrected by the program; and physical - the surface of the hard drive or its mechanisms are destroyed.

To check your hard drive for bad sectors, it will be enough to install a version of the program that runs directly in Windows. Download it by clicking on the link below.

Extract the files from the archive to the selected folder. Then go to this folder and look for executable file“vcr446f.exe”, right-click on it and run as administrator.

In the main program window, go to the “Tests” tab. On the right side of the window, mark “Ignore” and “read” and click “Start”. Thus, we ran a simple hard drive surface test - it will not affect it in any way, but upon completion of the test, it will be clear what state your hard drive is in.

LBA is a mechanism for addressing and accessing a data block on a hard or optical disk, in other words, this is the sector number. In the fields “Start LBA”, “End LBA” you can specify the starting and ending numbers of the sectors for which you want to scan.

Just below the percentage passed from the one specified in the menu is indicated. maximum value LBA, and there is an indicator of the remaining time until the end of the test.

Now let's look at the test results. Read data blocks are sorted by access time, colored rectangles in the middle of the screen, which allows you to identify the condition of the hard drive surface, and detect not only bad blocks, but also emerging defects.

I only tested 14.1% of the hard drive surface, and of these blocks - 152 blocks with a latency of 600 ms - and these are possible candidates for bad problems. 600 ms is the block access time; ideally, the value should not exceed 30 ms.

Usually, working drives do not have “colored” rectangles, and the appearance of red and brown ones indicates some problems. If after checking you have blocks related to the “Err” field, these are irreparable bad sectors.

To fix bad blocks on your hard drive, you can try to “zero” them - the “Erase” function - the checksum of bad blocks will be restored when the entire sector is rewritten. You can also use the “Remap” function - replacing the address of an unreadable sector with one of the reserve sectors that were created specifically for such cases.

If the damaged sectors are not curable, that is, they are of a physical nature, then you can use the following methods.

If the bad sectors are at the end of the disk, then trim that end of the disk. We remember the sector number and use it in the same cutting program hard size disk (hpa): trim the disk to the first bad sector.

If bad sectors are located in the middle or beginning of the disk, then leave this part of the disk unmarked. That is, split the hard drive into logical volumes so that the logical drives used are not located in an area where there are bad sectors.

I will end here. A program to check your hard drive for broken ones sector Victoria showed us the condition of the hard drive surface. It's up to you to decide what to do next - treat it or buy a new one.

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