How to know if the hard drive is working. How to check the hard drive for serviceability? Methods for diagnosing the technical condition of a hard drive

IN modern computer, hard drive is the most unreliable device. Since the failure rate of this component is very high, and the whole danger is that you cannot predict the time when it will break, but you can periodically check for serviceability hard disk Due to untimely diagnosis and prevention, many users lose important information. Therefore, I recommend that you always pay attention to how your computer works.

If so, then you need to check the hard drive for serviceability. I will tell you how to do this in this article.

Let's first look at how a hard drive works and what it consists of.

HDD consists of glass and aluminum plates that are covered special layer ferromagnetic material. If you say in simple words, then the hard drive is a magnetic recording device.

For clarity, I am attaching an image of the insides of the HDD.

During production hard drives at the final stage is carried out low level formatting, which forms a “disk map”, marking it into tracks and sectors. Special marks are also applied to ensure that the head falls into the desired sector. A sector is a unit of measurement hard drive which is 512 bytes.

To check the hard drive for serviceability, we will use special programs.

It is important to follow hard temperature disk, as overheating can lead to its failure. To check the temperature of the hard drive, you can use utilities such as AIDA or HDD Life.

You can download these programs on the official websites; to do this, enter the names of the programs.

After installing the HDDLife program, run it and you will clearly see the status of your hard drive, as well as its temperature.

You can also perform a disk test if you wish.

In the AIDA program you can also view the disk temperature parameters.

To do this, launch the program, open the item “Computer” - “Sensors”

All information is at your fingertips. If you see that hard temperature drives is high enough, you need to install active cooling. Special cooling systems for hard drives are sold in stores.

We check the status of the hard drive using CrystalDiskInfo.

You can download the CrystalDiskInfo program from the official website, it is distributed free of charge, but has quite rich functionality and can provide all necessary information the user about the disk status. If the program, after diagnostics, determines that the disk is fully functional, it will assess the condition as “Good”. If there are any problems, the program will give an “Alarm” or “Bad” rating if the disk is in a dying state.

You can also view S.M.A.R.T information in CrystalDiskInfo - this is the initial data by which the program evaluates the condition of the disk.

We check the status of the hard drive with the Victoria program.

In order to prevent problems with hard drive I recommend using the Victoria program for Windows. With its help you can get large number important information about the disk, as well as check the disk for bad sectors and perform preventive maintenance. The program has a free and paid version; to determine the state of the disk, it will be enough for us to use free version. The program is suitable even for beginners, as it has an intuitive interface, and when scanning the HDD, the user clearly sees the state of the sectors.

Since we are only interested in the condition of the disk, we will not delve into the process of deep checking and restoring problem sectors, if any, but for a complete understanding, I will describe the main functions. First, download the program, it is quite lightweight and weighs less than 1 MB, so after downloading, launch the application - the icon with a green cross. In the main program window you will see horizontal menu with switchable tabs. Let's look at the most important ones.

During the test, the program will scan the disk for readability of sectors, as you can see, the quality of sectors is highlighted in different colors. Let's figure out what each of the colors means.

Gray sectors are the fastest sectors, we have no questions about them.
Green sectors are sectors that work more slowly, but they are also in good condition.
Orange - slow sectors, if the disk has a lot of such sectors, then you need to think about its health, because because of them, the disk starts to work slower, and as a rule, such sectors will fail in the future.
Red – sectors are damaged and cannot be read. If the program detects them, you need to think about a new disk.
Blue sectors with a cross are those that caused a failure when reading. Information from them cannot be restored, but you can replace this sector with a working one, and perhaps the disk will work a little longer, but it is better not to delay the replacement.

If you pay attention, there are four buttons on the test tab panel: Ignore, Erase, Remap, Restore, they will also be useful to us, let’s look at their purpose.

Ignore is a function in which only a surface test is carried out and no actions are applied to bad sectors.
Erase – when this function is enabled, bad sectors will be erased.
Remap – if this function is enabled, the program will try to replace bad sectors with working ones. That is, when scanning, the program finds a bad sector, marks it as not working and replaces it with a good, working sector.
Restore – this function is available only in the paid version of the program. When enabled, the program will try to restore the non-working sector.

I have described the main functions of the program; all you have to do is select the one you need and run the test. It may take quite a long time, depending on hard capacity disk, as well as on its condition. Therefore, please be patient. If many problem sectors are found on your disk, then do not delay in purchasing a new one, and take care to transfer all important information to another one as soon as possible

Despite the fact that in lately solid state drives They are increasingly conquering the niche of the main memory module of computers and laptops; their market share is not so large. Good old mechanical hard drives They have a much lower cost, which is why they are still popular. However, they have the ability to fail, like any other equipment. This article is devoted to the question of how to check a hard drive for serviceability at home, without resorting to the help of service centers. Moreover, options will be given here that will allow you to partially restore functionality. damaged hard disk.

A little about the hard drive itself

The classic hard drive of a laptop or computer consists of several so-called “pancakes” with a ferrimagnetic coating, onto which information is written using heads, and with their help it is read. These discs rotate at high speeds, ranging from 5400 to 10,000 rpm. For comparison, the same rotation speed is found in an industrial cutting tool, commonly referred to as a “grinder.” Impressive?

It is during rotation that reading or writing occurs. But if at the moment work hard If the disc is hit or pushed, the heads can make an almost imperceptible scratch on the surface. And although it is small, the clusters in this area become unreadable, and the computer tries to access them again and again. As a result, after unsuccessful attempts to read information, it freezes. How can I check my disk for such areas?

Testing software Victoria

One of the popular utilities for testing hard drives is Victoria. Although it can be launched from under operating system, today we will learn how to check a hard drive for serviceability through BIOS. The website of the manufacturer of this utility has information on how to do it boot disk or a flash drive with it. In the BIOS of a laptop or computer, you need to set it to boot from removable media, after which, when you turn on your device with the bootable media connected, you will see the interface of this program. Select your hard drive by pressing the "P" key on your keyboard and start scanning it using the "F5" key.

Now you can go and do your business. Depending on the disk size, scanning will take from 1 to 3 hours. As a result, on the right side you will see a legend of the disk map, which will indicate the number of sectors of each type. If there are sectors that take more than 1.5 seconds to read, or bad sectors in the frame below, it means that the hard drive is faulty and needs to be repaired or replaced. So, you already have one way in your arsenal on how to check the health of the hard drive on a laptop or computer.

Testing via HDD Regenerator

You will have to prepare bootable media in the same way by downloading the utility from the developers’ website. This utility is easier to use, but takes a little longer to work. It is believed that this best way, since it is easier to check the hard drive for serviceability; moreover, it provides more information.

To start checking, select your disk by entering its number from the list. After this, you will need a menu item called Normal Scan. In the next submenu, select Scan, but do not repair. Then everything follows the standard pattern: you can go about your business. After a period of time, you will receive a hard drive map on which you can see which areas are damaged. If the drive is good, the entire card should be white, with no "D" or "B" letters. What other test can you use to check if your hard drive is working properly?

One of the difficult options is MHDD

Working with this utility is very similar to the previous option. As in other cases, you should first prepare bootable media to launch it without starting the operating system.

After launch you have to choose needed hard disk, if you have more than one. The selection is made by entering the desired number from the list. After this, initialize the disk using the “F2” key and enter the SCAN command. It starts scanning the surface of the hard drive. If necessary, you can scan not the entire surface, but a specific area of clusters.

The program interface is reminiscent of the Victoria we already know. As is the case with it, the result should not be any sectors that could not be considered a program or take too long to read.

Now you know all the common ways to check the health of your hard drive. There is no point in installing these programs on your computer; a bootable USB flash drive is enough.

Recovering a hard drive using Victoria

Of course, knowledge about the malfunction alone is not enough; you need to fix it. But it is physically impossible to cure problem sectors. Programs simply block access hard drive to problem areas, due to which they are completely crossed out from the map, and he does not address them.

In the case of the Victoria program, before starting the scan after pressing the “F5” key, you simply need to specify one of the recovery options in the fourth line of the window. As a result, not only scanning will occur, but also problem sectors will be re-partitioned, and you will put your disk in order if it has not completely failed. Now you know not only how to check your hard drive for serviceability, but also how to restore it.

Recovery using HDD Regenerator

The very name of this program says that it is designed to treat problematic disks, and this is actually true. In order for sectors to be re-partitioned during scanning. When starting, in the last menu, instead of Scan, but do not repair, select Scan and repair. This operation will take a little longer, but all problem areas of the surface will be erased.

It is worth noting that if the recovery lasts more than 5-6 hours, then most likely the disk has completely failed and cannot be restored. This applies to all recovery programs.

Scanning using BIOS without utilities

Some laptops and computers can check the hard drive and RAM without additional utilities. Therefore, in the question of how to check a hard drive for serviceability via BIOS, you don’t have to complicate your life with preparation bootable media, but use standard means.

However, they may not always be intended for recovery. To be fair, it is worth noting that they will still allow you to make an initial diagnosis without unnecessary problems, which means you definitely shouldn’t neglect them.

What about removable hard drives?

Drives of this type are also for the most part mechanical devices, packed in a special pocket. So how to check external hard Is the disk in good working order? All the same methods apply to them, except Victoria programs, since she won't be able to detect it. The main thing is to connect it to the USB connector of your computer or laptop before turning it on, so that it can correctly recognize it. After this, the procedure does not change, you can simply check it. Or run a script to restore damaged clusters.

Now you know all the ways to check your hard drive for serviceability without the help of professionals. This information will help you save a lot of money on trips to service centers, because hard drive failures are one of the most common in computer technology.

To store information on most personal computers and even servers use hard drives. They are quite reliable, but over time magnetic storage fall into disrepair. In most cases, the service life of the disk is 5-10 years. Each user must be able to carry out HDD diagnostics to determine whether to replace the part and perform a data backup. You will learn everything about verification from this article.

Symptoms of hard drive problems

Malfunctions or imminent death of the hard drive may be accompanied by typical symptoms. We recommend paying attention to the following symptoms:

The appearance of uncharacteristic sounds during operation. There may be clicks, crackles, or metallic clanging. In such cases, the problem is usually mechanical in nature.
“Brakes” in the operation of the system. Windows loads too slowly, some files do not open, and errors occur when installing programs.
The appearance of blue “screens of death”. In such cases, an error code is always written, which can be used to determine the source of the problem.
Spontaneous shutdown or reboot of the computer. As a rule, in such situations, the boot sector of the HDD is damaged.

Please note that computer freezes can also occur due to insufficient RAM.

Ways to check the hard drive

HDD diagnostics is an important task. There are several ways to do this. Operating system tools allow you to analyze your hard drive, but they are not always effective. Optimal solution– use of specialized utilities that are created specifically for this task.

Via command line

Windows operating systems have a standard utility that can analyze the status of the hard drive. To do this you will have to run the command line:

In the command parameters, specify the drive letter and two specifiers. The first one – F is responsible for automatic correction errors, and R performs information recovery. Be prepared that the verification may take several hours. If you are using a laptop, be sure to charge it. At the end you will get statistics on how many sectors are damaged.

Using Windows Explorer

If you like more use familiar windows, you can run the scan through Explorer. To do this, users should follow a number of steps:

During this operation, the system will perform the following checks:

basic file system structure;
security descriptors;
file name associations;
USN magazine.

To find out the scan results, you need to go to the "Event Viewer" menu, and then to Windows log find the verification log.

Via Windows PowerShell

The latest Windows operating systems have an additional utility similar to the command line, which was created for convenient system administration. You can also use it to test your hard drive. To start, you need to perform several steps:

The system will scan and automatically fix if possible. If there are no errors, the message NoErrorsFound will appear.

Using Windows 10 Tools

The latest operating system from Microsoft has advanced functionality, so it can independently diagnose a wide range of problems. Using the built-in security center, you can check the status of the HDD. Additionally, go to storage diagnostics. How to use these functions will be described below.

Security and Service Center

This is a special section in the “ten”, which is responsible for maintaining the operating system. As a rule, everything necessary checks are performed automatically after a certain period of time. You can access this section through the control panel. Next, open the “Maintenance” tab if necessary and find the “Disk Status” line. Opposite it should be the “OK” option. If it is not there, then we recommend conducting a thorough analysis of the condition of the hard drive.

Storage Diagnostic Utility

Windows 10 developers also created additional utility For hard checks disk – storage diagnostics. It is launched via the command line (how to open it was described in the sections earlier). Next, enter the command and press Enter.

The procedure may take 2-5 hours (depending on the HDD capacity). At some points the process will appear to be stuck, but it is strongly recommended that you do not interrupt the scan. Once the process is complete, navigate to the path to save the report and open it (the file will have evtx permission). It will provide the following information:

chkdsk check data and error information;
registry files containing data about connected drives;
Event Viewer Logs.

Experienced specialists are required to correctly interpret the information presented in the report. The report will be uninformative for ordinary users.

Third party programs

For professionals and ordinary users third party developers have created many useful, functional and easy-to-use utilities for checking hard state disk. With their help, you can get comprehensive information about the status of your HDD. The most popular of them will be described below.

Victoria

This is the most popular free software from qualified specialists. Its wide functionality allows you to get almost any information about the hard drive. The parameters are displayed in a form convenient for the average user, so you don’t have to study anything additional to make a conclusion about the state of the HDD. The utility is distributed on a Freeware basis, i.e. absolutely free.

Download the software to your computer and follow the instructions:

All sectors will be marked in different colors depending on the response speed. Gray sectors are not dangerous. Green sectors are allowed in quantities of several hundred (up to 2-3 thousand). For example, on a completely new 1TV hard drive their number is about 1 thousand. Orange sectors on the verge of the limit. No more than 100 pieces are allowed. Red and blue cannot be restored. They need to be “closed”, limiting reading from them.

When scanning, you can set the operating modes:

Ignore is a classic check without further action.
Remap – replacing unreadable sectors with reserves if available.
Restore – restore damaged sectors programmatically.
Erase – overwriting unreadable sectors. Attention, erases information.

As you can see, the utility is informative and easy to use even for beginners.

HDDScan

Another useful software to scan the hard drive. It has less functionality, but a more friendly interface compared to the previous version. The utility is completely free, but allows you to get SMART parameters and detailed information about the state of the sectors.

To start the verification procedure, follow these steps:

The colors for the sectors are identical to those described above. The scanning menu does not provide functions for correcting sectors.

DiskCheckup

The software supports work with almost all types of hard drives (SATA, USB, FireWire). It has small but sufficient functionality. Through the application you can check the SMART parameters, as well as carry out full testing on the Disk Self-Test tab. The main disadvantage of the program is the complexity of the results for the average user. The status is indicated by the “OK” line and numerical parameters. Considering that they are all in English, it will be difficult to understand.

MHDD

This is highly specialized software for advanced users. It is used if the system does not start and the OS does not load to the desktop. To run MHDD software, you must burn it to a CD or flash drive as an image. You can even run the utility with the entire operating system. To do this, you need to select a flash drive or CD as the boot drive when using a floppy drive.

After the menu appears, you just need to select the desired hard drive and enter the command to check. The software is controlled in the same way through commands as on the console, or using function buttons keyboards. Not recommended for use by ordinary users without appropriate skills.

Crystal Disk Mark

This utility allows you to evaluate the speed of writing and reading information from your hard drive. In its interface, the user can select the write/read type, local disk and the size of the file that will be read and written. After finishing the test you will receive information at speed.

You will not be able to evaluate these results yourself. We recommend finding a similar HDD model online to compare its testing with your test data. If the results with identical settings are almost the same, then there is no need to worry. If there are strong differences, we recommend analyzing the hard drive through Victoria.

HDD Regenerator

Functional utility for HDD scanning and recovery. A special magnetization reversal algorithm allows you to eliminate quite serious problems with your hard drive. To launch the software you should:

The advantage of this utility is the ability to quickly correct errors and close bad sectors.

Seagate SeaTools

Specialized software from Seagate product developers. Allows you to obtain basic information about the disk, perform preliminary and full scans. We recommend using this utility in cases where the above for some reason does not work, and you own a hard drive from Seagate.

Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic

Special software for English to check company disks Western Digital. More suitable for advanced users, but quick diagnostics Even ordinary users can do this. For example, you can check the status of SMART parameters.

The utility also allows you to conduct simple and advanced tests, but the information content of the results for typical users leaves much to be desired.

Disk Utility on macOS

Operating room users MacOS systems also have a standard hard drive utility. Its functionality includes:

creating and transforming images;
mounting and unmounting disks and other media.
activation and deactivation of logging mode;
HDD integrity testing and file recovery;
erasing, formatting and partitioning disks;
cleaning up debris;
adding a partition table;
checking the S.M.A.R.T status of the hard drive and much more.

To start you need in the utilities on system disk find the application and then launch it.

Prevention measures

To maximize life is tough disk, users can perform various actions, which include:

Defragmentation. This procedure arranges all file blocks in order, making access to them as fast as possible, accordingly, the head travels less distance to open the file and wears out more slowly.
Install a quality power supply. Power surges have a detrimental effect on any equipment. If important data is stored on the HDD, take care of a high-quality power supply to prevent damage to the hard drive due to power surges.
Avoid vibrations and shocks. Winchesters are extremely vulnerable to impacts. When transporting your computer, make sure that the hard drive will not be subject to vibration.
Clean the system. Freezes due to unstable software or viruses can cause increased load on the disk; accordingly, it will use its resource faster.
Eliminate external magnetic fields. Many install system unit with other powerful equipment that has magnetic field. If you want to ensure maximum data safety, do not place the system unit next to equipment that emits a powerful magnetic field.

Never forget to make backups. Any hard The disk will eventually become unusable, and it is not always possible to recover data. Regular checks will allow you to determine in advance the future demise of the HDD and take measures, for example, purchasing a new one.

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It would seem that what could be more reliable in terms of storage valuable information, how electronic device in the form of a traditional storage device (HDD)? Perhaps you, dear user, will think about a “newly made receiver” - a solid-state hard drive. However, despite the high technology of the latter, the risk of data loss still remains high. However, when the user knows how to check for performance hard disk, and at the same time periodically monitors its operating condition, degree of reliability and comfortable use any hard drive increases significantly. If you want to understand how to put all this into practice, find out what you should be wary of and how to avoid unforeseen operational situations, then we invite you to read the material in this article. Believe me, a few minutes of reading will ultimately turn into some kind of life experience that will help you avoid many mistakes in the future, including data loss.

What makes a hard drive work: a structural introduction

The mechanical type of drive, and this article will focus specifically on such hard drives, is a storage device that consists of several main parts:

The hermetic block is the enclosure frame of the HDD.
The printed circuit board is (usually green, located at the bottom of the device).
Head block - mechanical module, through which the process of reading and writing data to the hard drive occurs.
A magnetically coated disk (damn) is the area of the HDD on which information is stored.
An electric spindle drive is a device that causes the plates to rotate at a given speed.

It is worth noting that, depending on the modification of the hard drive, the number of read heads and magnetic disks may vary. Of course, the more storage components in the device, the higher the capacitive values of the HDD.

How good is your hard drive?

Follow the instructions below and you will receive a practical answer to your question: “How to check the functionality of a hard drive?” So:

Download and install the Victoria utility on your computer.
Run the specified software with administrator rights.
After opening the program's working window, activate the Smart tab.
Next, click on the Get Smart button.
If the value GOOD is displayed in the adjacent checkbox, then you can breathe easy - your hard drive is in perfect order!

However, in order to fulfill full check your media, you must use the TEST tab. After you use the Start button to launch this utility, you will need to wait until it finishes test process. It is worth noting that the presence of red and blue sectors is not a good sign at all; this kind of graphical indicators indicate that the storage area has damaged or failed sectors. However, the program we are considering for checking performance of the hard The disk also has some recovery tools.

Digital hard drive repair - how is it?

Upon completion of the test analysis process (using the Victoria utility), check the Remap item and restart the test using the same Start key. The program will “try” to correct all detected errors and restore bad sectors.

By the way, depending on the physical capacity of your drive, the duration of the running process also varies. It may well turn out that it will take a lot of time. Therefore, be patient and wait - miracles do happen, and you will have time to see this more than once!

Simple and effective to use “Windows restorer”: a standard method of “treating” HDD

There is no access to the Internet, and you are not able to install the above-mentioned software, but the difficult question “how to check the functionality of the hard drive” is waiting to be resolved? No problem! Follow these simple guidelines:

Go to the Start menu.
Then left-click on “This PC”.
Point the marker at the desired hard drive partition and press the right button of the manipulator.
Select "Properties" from the drop-down list.
Go to the "Service" tab.
Activate the "Check" button.
Before starting the “Restoring your hard drive” process, check the two boxes in the next window.

In some cases, such as when you want to analyze the state system partition(C:), you will need to reboot the OS. The subsequent recovery steps will be displayed on the monitor screen as command lines and changing digital values— be sure to wait for the running verification process to complete!

Summing up

Well, now you know how to check the functionality of your hard drive. However, we should not forget that timely prevention of the hard drive has a positive effect on the long-term service life of this product. Defragment your HDD once every two weeks, clean your hard drive of digital debris, and don’t forget about general process optimizing your OS. That's all. Correct operation of your drive and many years of service!