How to check a new hard drive with the program. Checking the hard drive for bad sectors

Hello readers of the ComService company blog (Naberezhnye Chelny). In this article we will look at the topic - Hard Disk Diagnostics. The reason for writing this article was a message from relatives - we operating system It costs a maximum of two months, after which glitches begin and you have to reinstall. Even after I installed Windows 7 for them, complaints began. I had no doubt about the operating system. It has already been installed on more than 10 computers. Tested RAM, replaced the thermal paste on the processor, cleaned the system of dust - nothing. Then I tested the entire system using the system stability test (functions of the AIDA64 program). Everything is fine.

After repeated successful testing, enlightenment came. Checking the hard drive completely slipped my mind. Conducted HDD diagnostics first third party program HDD Regenerator. Having discovered errors (8 unreadable sectors), I ran the check again using a program from the manufacturer Western Digital. The latter confirmed the malfunction and hard drive went to the service center under warranty. Read on to learn how to diagnose your hard drive...

Article structure

1. Hard drive diagnostics using Windows
2. HDD diagnostics using WD Data Lifeguard Tools
3. Hard drive test using Seagate SeaTools
4. Restoring the Seagate HDD
5. Testing hard drives Toshiba
6. Conclusion

1. Hard drive diagnostics using Windows

Diagnostics using the operating system is what can and should be used first. To do this, open the main Start menu and select Computer. Right-click on the partition and call context menu and select Properties

Are opening Disk properties. Go to the Tools tab and in the Check for errors section click the Check button

In Windows 8, the following window appears (most likely due to checking the partition on the SSD drive). Let's trust Microsoft and cancel the disk check

In Windows 7, a window opens where, for a more thorough check, you need to check both boxes (as shown in the figure) and click the Run button

If the operating system is using the volume you want to check, you will see a message

If you click Disable, the disk will be checked

If you click Cancel, another window will appear asking you to check the disk the next time you boot the computer. This is the most preferred option. In this case, the disk being checked will be free from any tasks and processes, which will allow you to perform the scan without problems

Click on disk check schedule.

We repeat all the above steps with all partitions (volumes) of your hard drive and reboot. When the computer boots, the operating system will run diagnostics on the hard drive. If there is something interesting, then when the computer boots, an information window with the results will appear

Typically, Windows does not want (or rather cannot) immediately perform the check system disk. It asks you to assign it the next time you boot. All other partitions can be checked without rebooting.

If you chose to check the system disk and scheduled it for the next boot, then you will see approximately the following picture

You must wait until the diagnostics are completed and the operating system loads. If errors are found, perform diagnostics using programs from the manufacturer.

HDD diagnostics using programs from the manufacturer

There were several manufacturers of hard drives. These are Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung and Hitachi. Each manufacturer produced disks and, of course, utilities for diagnosing them. Afterwards, Seagate bought Samsung, and Western Digital bought Hitachi. That is, there are actually two manufacturers. I will give their diagnostic utilities

• Western Digital - Data Lifeguard Tools
• Seagate - SeaTools

There is a special utility for Hitachi hard drives - Drive Fitness Test. I tried it on two hard drives of the same model - nothing worked. The program does not see the hard drive. Therefore, we will check with the Data Lifeguard Tools utility from Western Digital. Let's start with it.

2. Data Lifeguard Tools - a program for diagnosing WD and Hitachi hard drives

You need to download it. To do this, go to link- Data Lifeguard Tools. A page opens where you need to select your product

Since I needed to check the internal 3.5″ hard drive with SATA interface I choose him. You choose yours.

On next page you select your Windows or Mac system and the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic hard drive diagnostic utility

Opens below additional information about the program. Click on the Download button

The WinDlg_124.zip archive will be downloaded, which can be opened using the 7-zip or WinRar program in the same way as a file with the rar extension. Unpack and run the Setup.exe file highlighted in the figure below to install the diagnostic utility

Under Windows 8, run with administrator rights. Otherwise nothing will work. Installation is simple. The installed program starts immediately. Check the box to accept the license agreement and click Next

The main program window looks like this. You must select the drive to test and click on the highlighted area to select a test

A window opens in which you can select a quick test, an extended test, write the entire disk with zeros, or view the test result. Selecting this option will show the results of the last test. To diagnose a hard drive, you must select either a quick test - QUICK TEST, or an extended test - EXTENDED TEST

Wait for it to finish and see the results.

Here are the results of the extended hard test the disk I talked about at the beginning of the article

Errors were detected when clicking the Repair button

All you have to do is click OK

Then close - Close and see the result. As you can see, the short test succeeded, but the extended test failed

Hence the conclusion. It is necessary to check with an extended test. This takes several hours (in in this case about five), but reliable.

Afterwards, the disk that failed the test was successfully replaced under warranty.

3. SeaTools - diagnostics of hard drives from Seagate and possibly Samsung

You also need to download the utility. Follow the link - SeaTools. We get to the Seagate company page. To download, go to the DOWNLOADS tab. We are offered a choice of downloading the utility for Windows and DOS. If your operating system does not boot at all, then you need to select DOS. The disk image will download. It must be written to disk. If you are at a loss, I recommend reading the article How to burn an image to disk?. Then it will boot from the disk and diagnose the HDD in the same way as in the Windows version. To find out how to do this, read on.

Select SeaTools for Windows by clicking Download in the appropriate field

On the next page you must accept the license agreement by clicking ACCEPT

Then, to directly download the diagnostic utility, click Download

The file SeaToolsforWindowsSetup-1208.exe will be downloaded, ~20 MB in size. Launch and install the utility. On the site, Windows support 8 was announced, but the program did not install immediately. On Windows 7 the installation went without problems.

Launch the hard drive diagnostic utility. If you don't have it installed NET package Framework version 4.0, you will see the following window. Click Yes and go to the download page

The page below opens. You need to wait until you are redirected to the package download page

Select your language and click the Download button

The following pop-up window may appear. Click Cancel and continue

The dotNetFx40_Full_setup.exe file will download and you need to run it. Next, accept the license agreement by checking the appropriate box and clicking the Install button.

The installation is not fast because distributed calculations are carried out in parallel.

When finished, click Finish

Launch the SeaTools program again

Searches for supported drives. Need to wait a little

Then, accept the license agreement again

To diagnose a hard drive, the Short and Long universal tests are sufficient

To be on the safe side, select Long-term universal and wait until it ends. If the test does not pass, follow the instructions and if the program does not fix the disk, bring it under warranty.

In the Basic tests menu there is an item Repair all. This function I haven't tried it. I’ll try as soon as I get a suitable hard drive.

4. Restoring the Seagate HDD

21_10_2013 A few months ago bring hard Seagate drive 160 GB without warranty. A long-term universal test produced an error. When connecting to another computer, I was able to copy all the important information from this disk without any problems.

To restore functionality, we used Additional tests

A warning window opened saying that you can activate Additional tests using the F8 key.

By clicking on F8, the window closed and the Additional tests section appeared. Since our data was saved, I chose Full Erase (SATA)

Another warning popped up

Scrolling the screen in this message with the slider, it was discovered that to start a complete erase, you need to press F8. After pressing, erasing started.

When the process was completed, I ran the Long-Term Universal Test again. The test was passed. After that we reinstalled the image working system using Norton Ghost. And until this moment no one complained.

5. Testing Toshiba hard drives

31_10_2013. It was necessary to check two hard drives from Toshiba. Of course, I wanted to find and use a utility from the manufacturer.

I downloaded the diagnostic utility from:

Downloaded the test for Windows. The notes do not state support for Windows 7

Launched the downloaded file fjdtwin.exe. Accept the license by clicking Agree

The diagnostic utility from Fujitsu starts in which you need to select and press the Short Test or Extended Test button

The problem is that I can't select the hard drive for the test. I selected it with the mouse and keyboard - nothing.

Download the utility for DOS from the Toshiba official website. and copy it to a flash drive.

Reboot the computer and use Boot menu, called using the F8 or F11 keys or look at the instructions, select the flash drive

In the command line, write the name of the diagnostic utility and press Enter

Press Space to continue

We agree by clicking Agree

We wait while the utility identifies

Then comes a warning from the test utility asking you to press any key to exit. That is, the utility did not find the hard drive

I tried connecting it to another SATA connector - nothing. I tried connecting through another SATA cable- the result is the same.

Here's a tough test HDD diagnostics from Toshiba. If anyone has managed to test their disks, please tell us in the comments. Everyone will be interested.

If I come across another Toshiba HDD, I'll try again. If I succeed, I'll post it. If it doesn't work, I'll test it SeaTools utilities or from WD.

Conclusion

In the article diagnosing a hard drive, you learned how to check your HDD for errors. Here we looked at two way: check with built-in Windows tools and check special utilities from manufacturers. In a combat situation, I like to use diagnostic utilities. Since this, for me, is 100% an option. If the disk passes the test, everything is fine. Otherwise, we will take it for repair under warranty. This is why in the article about such importance I attach to guarantees. It is necessary that she be 3 years old. This is a whole 3 years without a headache. Naturally all necessary warranty period It is good to handle the hard drive, as the service center takes a closer look at scratches.

The main thing I want to convey to you is. Hard drives- This consumables. Like cartridges for a printer. You need to have at least two copies of your important data on two different drives. For example, on internal and on . One fails, buy a new one, restore the data from the backup one and you are happy again. In order not to buy often, look at the same guarantee. I wish it was longer. Another great option is to use .

With hard drives Samsung I haven't encountered it. I couldn't find any utilities specifically for these disks. If anyone has information, please share in the comments. For now I will check them with a utility from Seagate or WD.

A video in which I will briefly talk about diagnosing hard drives
Thanks for sharing the article on social media. All the best to you!

• 1. How to check your hard drive?
• 2. Checking utilities systemic hard disk
• 3. Other ways to check the hard drive for damage
• 4. Disk analysis using the command line

A computer's hard drive is the main block of its memory, the part responsible for storing, distributing and moving information. Like anyone physical media, the hard drive tends to fail and become damaged, which is critically unacceptable in cases where vital information is stored on it. Checking hard Checking the disk for performance is the first thing you need to know how to do when purchasing a computer. We will help you understand the intricacies of this process.

How to check your hard drive?

The first thing we need to do is copy the existing important files to another physical medium, be it a Flash card or a third-party HDD. If your SDD or HDD issues strange sounds, clicks, or simply raises doubts about its functionality - you can resort to various methods check it before you take it in specialized service. There is a great variety various applications to check the disk for bad sectors, compatibility of software, hardware, etc. Where to start checking?

Utilities for checking the system hard drive

Microsoft is famous for its large toolkit for working with various system components, and one of them is the standard built-in CHKDSK program for checking and repairing bad sectors. In this case, we can check the disk without installing third-party applications. If the disk file system has errors, chkdsk is our assistant in finding and eliminating them.

Main functions of the built-in utility:

1. Finding and fixing errors in NTFS/FAT file systems
2. Identification of physically damaged bad sectors
3. Checking third party media ( USB flash drives, SD cards, etc.) for malfunctions

Starting a system scan is very simple: open the standard “Run” window in the “Start” menu on “Windows”, or, if you do not have basic skills in interacting with the command line, find the menu we need through “Explorer”. To do this:

• Find the “My Computer” section in Explorer;
• Right-click on the media that requires verification
• Open the “Properties->Service” section;
• Click top button"Run check." This command only works if you have administrator rights;

• Reboot the computer during the scan Windows disk automatically searches for problems and fixes problems found;
• If there are no problems, the disk will be checked without fixing, but if there are problems, be prepared for the fact that checking the disk will take quite a long time;
• The system checks third-party physical media immediately, without rebooting.

Note that the built-in Windows tool performs only a superficial check, and is far from accurately detecting problems with media. To conduct a more thorough and in-depth analysis, you will need to download and install third-party utilities, the most popular of which we will consider below.

Other ways to check the hard drive for damage

Useful utility utilities for checking disk health and troubleshooting:

Seagate Seatools – no less useful utility, which, however, does not have the versatility of the previous one, and is compatible only in the case of Seagate hard drives; for other models, the analysis will be fragmentary or completely erroneous. Using Stools is quite simple - you select items for diagnostics, and the program performs automatic testing. If the analysis is completed successfully, PASS will be displayed, in other cases you will see the message FAIL. Issues such as:

• Errors file system HDD;
• Problems in Windows boot loader disk MBR;
• Hardware conflict and Windows driver incompatibility;
• Availability of Bad Sectors;
• The presence of Trojans, viruses and other applications that disrupt the operation of the disk.

In many cases, Seagate Tools automatically fixes problems found; in rare cases, it requires user intervention. It is worth noting that you will need to be patient before checking and correcting errors. A painstaking analysis of a hard drive is not a momentary task, and the duration of the process increases in proportion to the volume of recorded memory.

Disk analysis using the command line

This is how you can verify that your hard drive is working using simple combinations. The disk should be checked when you just bought a new computer, as well as after errors in installing programs or moving large quantity files. If you rarely use your computer, it is worth turning it on sometimes to overclock the physical media - each hard drive has a certain write-overwrite resource, and the method of writing data to a large media does not provide for static storage.

Even if the hard drive is fully operational and the manufacturer is reliable, it is recommended to always save copies of the most important files on third party media. Although you can use some programs to recover lost or damaged files, this method is not absolute, and even a computer service center will not always help you recover erased data from physically damaged media.

A computer's hard drive works hard every day, processing huge amounts of data, constantly writing and erasing it. Over several years of service, the condition of the drives may leave much to be desired: bad sectors, overheating, and frequent errors are likely to appear. To protect your data from sudden problems, as well as check your “health”, there are a number of useful programs to evaluate HDD performance.

A small program to check the status of the hard drive. Despite its modest size, the functionality of this product is impressive. In addition to displaying temperature and health, you can get comprehensive information about your hard drive and all the available functions of the device. In addition, you can set up various types of important alerts.

It’s a pity that HDD Health doesn’t support the Russian language, and on x64 systems there may be glitches in the interface.

Victoria

Veteran in his field, great program to diagnose the drive. Unlike its analogues, it can perform a very detailed reading test, without missing a single sector. As a result of scanning, you can get not only S.M.A.R.T. data, but also a graph of the disk state by area, as well as statistics on the speed of individual sectors. So this is an ideal program for checking the speed of your hard drive.

The long release date makes itself felt, frightening the unprepared user with sudden errors and an archaic interface.

HDDlife Pro

The most convenient program for checking HDD, with a hint of professionalism. Conducts both general analysis of drives and monitoring during operation, notifying about problems in a whole range of ways.
Most will appreciate the support for the Russian language and the clarity of data display. This program will do everything quickly, efficiently, and most importantly – independently.

HDDlife Pro is not pleasing except for its availability - in free use Only 14 days are given, and then you will have to pay for constant monitoring.

It's not difficult to thoroughly check your hard drive. The developers have prepared for us many tools that allow us to save our data in a timely manner and predict failures in the operation of the drive. Which program did you prefer?

HDDScan

The program is designed to check hard drives and SSDs for bad sectors, view S.M.A.R.T. attributes, changing special settings, such as power management, spindle start/stop, acoustic mode adjustment, etc. The drive temperature value can be displayed in the taskbar.

Features and Requirements

• HDD with ATA/SATA interface.
• HDD with SCSI interface.
• HDD with USB interface (see Appendix A).
• HDD with FireWire or IEEE 1394 interface (see Appendix A).
• RAID arrays with ATA/SATA/SCSI interface (tests only).
• Flash drives with USB interface (tests only).
• SSD with ATA/SATA interface.

• Test in linear verification mode.
• Test in linear reading mode.
• Test in linear recording mode.
• Butterfly reading mode test (artificial random reading test)

• Reading and analyzing S.M.A.R.T. parameters from disks with ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire interface.
• Reading and analyzing log tables from SCSI drives.
• Launch S.M.A.R.T. tests on drives with ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire interfaces.
• Temperature monitor for drives with ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire/SCSI interfaces.

• Reading and analysis of identification information from drives with ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire/SCSI interfaces.
• Changing AAM, APM, PM parameters on drives with ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire interfaces.
• View information about defects on a drive with a SCSI interface.
• Spindle start/stop on drives with ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire/SCSI interface.
• Saving reports in MHT format.
• Printing reports.
• Skin support.
• Command line support.
• SSD support drives.

• Operating system: Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 (NEW).
• The program should not be run from a drive operating in read-only mode.

User Interface

Main view of the program at startup

Rice. 1 Main type of program

Main window controls:

• Select Drive – a drop-down list that contains all supported drives in the system. The drive model is displayed and serial number. Nearby there is an icon that determines the expected type of drive.
• S.M.A.R.T. button – allows you to get a report on the state of the drive based on S.M.A.R.T attributes.
• TESTS button – displays a pop-up menu with a selection of read and write tests (see Figure 2).
• TOOLS Button – Displays a pop-up menu to select available drive controls and functions (see Figure 3).
• More button – shows a drop-down menu with program controls.

When you click the TESTS button, a pop-up menu offers you one of the tests. If you select any test, the test dialog box will open (see Figure 4).

Rice. 2 Test menu

When you press the TOOLS button, a pop-up menu will prompt you to choose from the following options:

Rice. 3 Function menu

• DRIVE ID – Generates an identification information report.
• FEATURES – opens a window additional features programs.
• S.M.A.R.T. TEST – opens the S.M.A.R.T window. tests: Short, Extended, Conveyance.
• TEMP MON – starts the temperature monitoring task.
• COMMAND – opens a command line build window.

Test Dialog Box

Rice. 4 Test dialog box

Controls:

• The FIRST SECTOR field is the initial logical number of the sector to be tested.
• Field SIZE – the number of logical sector numbers for testing.
• Field BLOCK SIZE – block size in sectors for testing.
• Previous button – returns to the main program window.
• Next button – adds a test to the task queue.

• Only one surface test can be run at a time. This is due to the fact that the author of the program has not yet been able to obtain stable, high-quality results when running 2 or more tests simultaneously (on different drives).
• A test in Verify mode can have a block size limit of 256, 16384 or 65536 sectors. This is due to the way Windows works.
• The test in Verify mode may not work correctly on USB/Flash drives.
• When testing in Verify mode, the drive reads a block of data into the internal buffer and checks its integrity; no data is transferred through the interface. The program measures the readiness time of the drive after performing this operation after each block and displays the results. Blocks are tested sequentially - from minimum to maximum.
• When testing in Read mode, the drive reads data into the internal buffer, after which the data is transferred through the interface and stored in the program's temporary buffer. The program measures the total time of drive readiness and data transfer after each block and displays the results. Blocks are tested sequentially - from minimum to maximum.
• When testing in mode Erase program prepares a block of data filled with a special pattern with a sector number and transfers the data to the drive, the drive writes the received block ( the information in the block is irretrievably lost!). The program measures the total time of block transmission and recording and drive readiness after each block and displays the results. Blocks are tested sequentially - from minimum to maximum.
• Testing in Butterfly Read mode is similar to testing in Read mode. The difference is in the order in which the blocks are tested. Blocks are processed in pairs. The first block in the first pair will be Block 0. The second block in the first pair will be Block N, where N is the last block of the given section. The next pair will be Block 1, Block N-1, etc. Testing ends in the middle of a given area. This test measures reading and positioning time.

Task management window

Rice. 5 Task manager

This window contains the task queue. This includes all the tests that the program runs, as well as the temperature monitor. The manager allows you to remove tests from the queue. Some tasks can be paused or stopped.

Double-clicking on an entry in the queue brings up a window with information about the current task.

Test information window

The window contains information about the test, allows you to pause or stop the test, and also generates a report.

Graph Tab:

Contains information on the dependence of testing speed on the block number, which is presented in the form of a graph.

Rice. 6 Graph Tab

Map Tab:

Contains information about the dependence of testing time on the block number, which is presented in the form of a map.

Rice. 7 Map tab

You can select Block Processing Time in milliseconds. Each tested block that took longer than the "Block Processing Time" will be logged in the "Report" tab.

Report tab:

Contains information about the test and all blocks whose testing time is greater than the “Block Processing Time”.

Rice. 8 Report tab

Identification information

The report contains information about the main physical and logical parameters of the drive.

The report can be printed and saved to an MHT file.

Rice. 9 Example of identification information window

S.M.A.R.T. report

The report contains information about the performance and health of the drive in the form of attributes. If, according to the program, the attribute is normal, then a green icon appears next to it. Yellow indicates attributes that you should pay special attention to; as a rule, they indicate some kind of drive malfunction. Red denotes attributes that are outside the norm.

Reports can be printed or saved to an MHT file.

Rice. 10 Example of a S.M.A.R.T. report

Temperature monitor

Allows you to evaluate the storage temperature. Information is displayed in the taskbar, as well as in a special test information window. Rice. 11 contains readings for two drives.

Rice. 11 Temperature monitor in the taskbar

For ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire drives, the information window contains 2 values. The second value is displayed in the taskbar.

The first value is taken from the Airflow Temperature attribute, the second value is taken from the HDA Temperature attribute.

Rice. 12 Temperature monitor for ATA/SATA disk

For SCSI drives, the information window contains 2 values. The second value is displayed in the taskbar.

The first value contains the maximum permissible temperature for the drive, the second shows the current temperature.

Rice. 13 Temperature monitor for SCSI disk

S.M.A.R.T. tests

The program allows you to run three types of S.M.A.R.T. tests:

1. Short test – usually lasts 1-2 minutes. Checks the main components of the drive, and also scans a small area of ​​the drive surface and sectors located in the Pending-List (sectors that may contain read errors). The test is recommended for quickly assessing the condition of the drive.
2. Extended test – usually lasts from 0.5 to 60 hours. Checks the main components of the drive, and also completely scans the surface of the drive.
3. Conveyance test – usually lasts several minutes. Checks drive nodes and logs, which may indicate improper storage or transportation of the drive.

A SMART test can be selected from the SMART Tests dialog box, which is accessed by clicking the SMART TESTS button.

Rice. 14 SMART Tests Dialog Box

Once selected, the test will be added to the Tasks queue. Information window S.M.A.R.T. test can display the execution and completion status of a task.

Rice. 15 Information window S.M.A.R.T. test

Additional features

For ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire drives, the program allows you to change some parameters.

1. AAM – function controls drive noise. Enabling this function allows you to reduce drive noise due to smoother positioning of the heads. At the same time, the drive loses a little performance during random access.
2. APM function allows you to save drive power by temporarily reducing the rotation speed (or completely stopping) the drive spindle during idle time.
3. PM – function allows you to set the spindle stop timer for certain time. When this time is reached, the spindle will be stopped, provided that the drive is in idle mode. Accessing the drive by any program forces the spindle to spin up and the timer is reset to zero.
4. The program also allows you to force stop or start the drive spindle. Accessing the drive by any program forces the spindle to spin.

Rice. 16 Information window for additional ATA/SATA drive capabilities

For SCSI drives, the program allows you to view defect lists and start/stop the spindle.

Rice. 17 Information window for additional SCSI drive capabilities

Using the Command Line

The program can build a command line to control certain drive parameters and save this line to a .bat or .cmd file. When running such a file, the program is called in background, changes the drive settings according to the settings and closes automatically.

Rice. 18 Command line build window

Appendix A: USB/FireWire Drives

If the drive is supported by the program, then tests are available for it, S.M.A.R.T. functions and additional features.

If the drive is not supported by the program, then only tests are available for it.

USB/FireWire drives supported by the program:

USB/FireWire drives that the program may support:

USB/FireWire drives that the program does not support:

Appendix B: SSD drives

Support for a particular drive largely depends on the controller installed on it.

SSD drives supported by the program:

SSD drives that the program may support:

Additional information

Version HDDScan 3.3 can be downloaded version 2.8

The data structure on the hard disk may be damaged. This happens for various reasons, but the most common are: program crashes and freezes while writing to disk.

A slightly damaged disk, in general, will not lose its functionality, but over time, if there are more faults, it may lose its functionality.

And it’s also important that the surface of the disk can be susceptible to various defects - some area can no longer be read, and as a result, all the accumulated information can disappear in an instant. If this is the case, it is necessary to act and take measures.

Program for checking your hard drive - HDD Scan

HDD Scan is very convenient tool, which allows you to test your hard drive, as well as make a statistical report on the work done.

Since the application does not require installation, the keys Windows registry remain untouched. You can also place HDD Scan on external device and directly run it on any computer.

The main advantages of the HDD Scan program:

1. Control over the noise characteristics of the hard drive;
2. Stopping and starting the spindle motor;
3. Information about S.M.A.R.T.;
4. Three modes for checking the disk surface: Verify, Read, Erase.

On the popular website Softpedia, this utility received 5 out of 5 stars, which is a “bold” plus of the program.

http://www.softportal.com/get-4740-hddscan.html

A few words about the interface HDD Scan programs.

After we unpack the archive with the program and run the HDDScan.exe application, the utility will automatically determine what model our hard drive has, serial number, LBA (number of available physical sectors) and Firmware (firmware version):

In the drop-down menu, which is located in the Select Drive section, select the hard drive with which the program will work.

There are only two buttons in this program: this is the S.M.A.R.T. button. In short and clearly, SMART is a technology for assessing the condition of a hard drive, as well as a mechanism for predicting the likelihood of hard drive failure:

So, when I clicked this button, the utility produced the following:

Let's describe the columns of this table:

1. Num - attribute number.
2. Attribute name — attribute name.
3. Value—attribute value. This value ranges from 1 to 255. The higher the attribute value, the better.
4. Worst - shows the worst attribute value (low) for the entire existence of the hard drive.
5. RAW(hex) is hexadecimal system calculus (the exception is temperature, since the program indicates it in degrees Celsius).
6. Treshold—threshold or acceptable value of the attribute. Used to compare with the Value attribute.

Now let's move on to the color scheme, which means green and others:

• Green color is an attribute in normal state.
• Yellow color (or as in my picture - an exclamation mark) - the attribute is deviated from the norm.
• Red color - the attribute is strongly deviated from the normal state.

As you can see, my 199th attribute is deviated from the norm. But what does the attribute name: UltraDMA CRC Errors mean?

On a data recovery website, I found the following information: UltraDMA CRC Errors are an error in transmitting information in a mode such as UDMA.

As it turns out, this problem can be fixed. It’s just that my interface cable may be twisted unsightly, as shown in the picture below:

There is one more button in the program that will help us complete hard testing disk:

For example, you can find out the temperature of your hard drive by simply clicking on Temperature Monitor. Then an entry will appear in the Test Manager tab, clicking on which will display a widget with the temperature of the hard drive. We can even change the intensity color range, adding or diluting transparency:

At any time, any of the tasks can be stopped or deleted. To do this, we right-click on the desired task and select the required item:

Now you can get down to more serious things. Let's check the surface of the disk.

These test options are found in the Surface Tests section.

Start LBA and End LBA are the sectors from which the scan begins and stops. If you need to check the entire hard drive, this parameter does not need to be changed.

Command - a choice similar to checking the hard drive (Verify - verification, Read - reading sectors, and Erase - writing zeros to all sectors). Selecting an option such as Erase results in the complete loss of all recorded data on the disk! So be very careful!

Start and Stop - start and stop the scan.

Block size — number of sectors in one block. At the very beginning - 256 sectors (it is not recommended to change the value).

When checking a disk, the past time (Process time), the current sector, called Current LBA, and the read speed (Kbytes/s) are always indicated.

If we go to Map, we will find a map of our disk. The most important thing is the colors of the blocks. Blue square shows bad sectors. Also on the right side we will find the number of sectors with access time from 500 to 5 milliseconds. The fewer slowing squares found, the better.

By the way, if we turn off the Disable map dynamic update checkbox, then checking the sectors will be available to us in real time:

To summarize, we can say that HDD Scan is very powerful and at the same time simple program to check the hard drive.

2. Ashampoo HDD Control 2

This is an excellent utility that will tell you all the intricacies of the hard drive in a simpler user interface. The only significant drawback is that the program is paid.

Main advantages Ashampoo HDD Control 2 programs:

1. Constant monitoring of the hard drive (or drives);
2. Expanded user interface. Tips and information about the health, performance and temperature of the hard drive;
3. Support for external USB and solid state drives(SSD);
4. Supports SMART;
5. Adjusts the noise level and manages the power consumption of the hard drive (however, if this function is supported on the hard drive);
6. Recovering deleted data;
7. Fully automated defragmentation of hard disk;
8. Online search for results obtained as a result of testing your hard drive model.

You can download the program here: http://www.ashampoo.com/en/usd/dld/0165/Ashampoo-HDD-Control-2/

3.Crystal DiskInfo

Another program for checking your hard drive. The program interface is more user-friendly compared to HDD Scan, but there are no advanced settings or additional testing tools. It is perfect for ordinary users. Because it will tell you in blue and white about state of rigid disk. This will happen immediately after installing and launching the program.

You can download the program here: http://www.softportal.com/get-6420-crystaldiskinfo.html

As you can see, the choice of software for servicing hard drives is very rich. Here I have considered only those that I counted the best programs to check the hard drive to date. Read, test and choose the best one.