Command to fix disk errors. Checking and fixing disk errors using the Windows Chkdsk utility. Run a disk check if the system won't boot

Computer using the standard “check disk (chkdsk)” program included in Microsoft operating systems.

I don’t know how it is at work or at home, but for our IT department, work increases immediately after a sudden blackout on one of the floors of our organization. I remember once an electrician was changing the socket and, without being at all embarrassed, turned off all the automation on the staircase, and this is about fifty computers in one wing of the floor, two 50-port switches and a wireless Wi-Fi access point in the wiring closet :)

And as winter approaches, such things, alas, happen more and more often (people begin to abuse heaters of all kinds and power). Operating systems really do not like such manipulations with energy supply, and not all user computers are equipped.

What usually happens is the following. After another similar mass blackout, there are always one or two computers on which, after the power supply is restored, . At any stage of loading, the operating system goes into a cyclic “reboot” (reboots) and here our intervention is urgently required :)

In such cases, as a rule, you need to scan your computer's hard drive with a check disk program, which checks the integrity of the OS file system and tries to eliminate any errors and inconsistencies found.

Let's first see how you can check your hard drive using the Windows graphical interface?

To do this, right-click on the icon of the desired disk and select “properties” from the menu that opens. In the window that appears, go to the “Service” tab.

And there we click the “Run check” button.

Under "Check Disk Options" we have two checkboxes:

1. automatically fix system errors
2. check and repair bad sectors

We can select any of them (or both) and click the “Launch” button.

This graphical interface launches the standard “check disk” utility to check the hard drive using the “chkdsk” command. Moreover, if only the first checkbox is checked, the program checks the hard drive in three stages, and if there is a second one, it adds two more levels of checking to these.

After completing all (three or five) stages of the scan, the program will notify us that the procedure has been successfully completed and (for Windows 7) offer to review its results. By clicking the arrow next to "Show details", we can see a list of all the checks that the utility has done.

Graphics, windows, buttons... all this is great, but let's dive a little deeper with you and see how you can check your hard drive using the command line " cmd»?

Note: we discussed working with the cmd command interpreter in one of the .

There is a task - to check the hard drive of a computer that has stopped booting (usually after a sudden power outage) and restore the operation of the operating system.

What do I do in such cases? I remove the drive from the “victim” and connect it as an additional one to my computer. I click the "Start" button (for Windows XP - run) and in the field that appears I enter cmd.

Note: a similar procedure can be carried out on the same (damaged) computer, booting from some kind of recovery disk like a “Live CD”, but for me personally, this is more convenient. I, to the fullest, carry out general preventive maintenance for the “patient” and test the drive for the presence of . They also like to appear after such “surprises”.

I suggest now typing the following in the command interpreter line: chkdsk /?

Design " /? " will allow us to view all the available arguments (keys) that we can apply along with the main command chkdsk.

As you can see, the explanation for each “key” is given in Russian, so it won’t be too difficult to figure it out. Additional arguments are introduced through the sign “ / "(right slash). Now let's try to check the hard drive with the chkdsk command.

Take a close look at the screenshot below:

Circled in red at the top is the structure “ chkdsk d: /f/r"What does it mean? Check (chkdsk) drive d (d:) by applying the keys " f" And " r"(what they do can be found in the previous screenshot). Just below you can see the completed stages of this check and the number of remaining ones (stage 1 of 5, stage 2 of 5, etc.), as well as the percentage of completion of the current one.

What's interesting is that running the chkdsk command with the attribute /f runs a check in three stages, completely similar to what happens after selecting the first checkbox in the graphical interface:

Adding a "key" /r identical to checking the second box in the screenshot above (check and repair damaged sectors). In fact, to check the hard drive, the same utility is launched. It’s just more convenient for some to use graphic windows and a mouse, while others make do with the command line.

The check window at boot and before the operating system starts is slightly different, but the essence remains the same:

At the top it is indicated which logical drive is currently being scanned, what type of file system it contains, and below are the verification steps that are already familiar to us. For Windows 7, similar information is presented on a black background.

So, let's go back to our console. A complete program report might look like this:

The item marked in red is of paramount importance to us here: the number of kilobytes in bad sectors. If there is “0” here, then everything is fine :)

Let's take a quick look at what exactly each of the hard drive verification steps does?

The first pass checks the files. During this phase, CHKDSK checks the entry information for each file in the main table MFT.

Note: MFT - Master File Table, which contains information about all files and their attributes located on a volume with the NTFS file system. Approximately 12% of disk space is reserved for it.

The first stage is checking each file for internal consistency (ex: the same data sector is marked as belonging simultaneously to two different files)

During the second stage, the indexes are checked. What is it? These are the directories of the file system, it is checked whether the record segment for each directory and file is contained in the main file table, as well as the date of the modification time of the files and their size. The CHKDSK command checks to see if any files are orphaned (empty) or have an incorrect MFT location record.

Further (at the third stage) of checking the hard drive, security descriptors are analyzed. They contain information about the owner of files (directories) and access rights to them at the file system level. Verifies audit information for user data sets.

If the fourth stage of checking the hard drive is used, it includes a search for bad sectors (bad blocks). If one is detected, the program automatically adds information about it to the MFT table and no more entries are made to it and the sector is excluded from the file table.

The fifth step is to check the free disk space. There is nothing special to comment here :)

This way we can check our hard drive for the correctness of all the metadata it contains.

The term "metadata" in this case means "information about data." Metadata ensures the integrity of the file system and also contains information about all its files and directories. It contains information about the clusters that make up each file, which clusters are free and which are busy, contain bad sectors, etc.

And now - the harsh reality! :) Unfortunately, it happens that the metadata structure is so corrupted that using the command chkdsk not only does it not help, but it can further complicate the situation in restoring the operating system.

On the other hand, there were times when my inner instinct told me to check the hard drive using this tool and I got the result I needed. So try it and decide for yourself whether to use this recovery tool or not?

The screenshot below is a photograph of one of the longest verification cycles in my practice. The utility worked for more than two hours, while the following picture was constantly displayed on the monitor:

But from the blinking LED indicator of the hard drive on the front part, it was clear that there was an active exchange of data with the drive, so I waited stubbornly and finally waited for the complete completion of this process. After rebooting, Windows was restored!

The CHKDSK command actually does a lot of checking and can fix a wide variety of errors found in the file system and in individual files. For example, you may see these “scary” messages while scanning a disk:

The second is another example from practice:

Now the team is making corrections to the hard drive file system itself.

In all cases, the final scan result is positive. Do not neglect this “repair” opportunity provided by the developer himself! Sometimes disks with a damaged file system (when you can’t even access the disk and its file system is displayed as RAW in its properties) “miraculously” come back to life only after using this command.

CHKDSK is a standard application for checking a hard drive for errors, detecting bad sectors on a hard drive, and correcting file system errors. The CHKDSK application (short for Check Disk) is built into the Windows operating system.

The Chkdsk.exe program finds file system errors, bad sectors on the hard drive, and eliminates detected problems. If checking the disk for file system errors reveals problems, the CHKDSK check runs when the computer is turned on.

There are some differences when using Chkdsk.exe in different versions of Windows:

• In Windows XP, the chkdsk utility finds file system errors and repairs bad sectors on the disk.
• In Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, with default settings, the CHKDSK application finds file system errors, but does not fix them. To correct file system errors and check disk sectors, you must manually set certain parameters.

Problems with the Windows operating system affect its performance. File system errors occur in the following situations:

• Due to a power outage - if the computer suddenly turns off, an unexpected system failure may occur (to prevent such situations, use a UPS - uninterruptible power supply).
• If the system is infected with malware.
• Due to a computer hardware malfunction.

Bad sectors may appear on the surface of the hard drive. When checking a disk using chkdsk, bad bad sectors of the hard disk are marked as damaged, and the system no longer reads or writes information from bad sectors of the disk. The system will try to recover data from damaged sectors (clusters, directories), if possible.

The chkdsk disk scan runs in two modes:

• in the graphical interface using the system tool;
• using the command line.

If your computer does not boot due to a problem, you can check your hard drive using the Windows installation DVD. After booting from removable media, in the system recovery options, select the command line to run a disk error check.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to use the CHKDSK application using the Windows 10 operating system as an example.

CHKDSK check for file system troubleshooting in GUI

The easiest option for checking the file system for errors is to run the CHKDSK program in the graphical interface using system tools.

Follow these steps:

1. Launch Explorer.
2. Right-click on the local disk on which you want to scan.
3. In the “Properties: Local disk (X:)” window, go to the “Tools” tab.
4. In the “Check for errors” section, click on the “Check” button.

1. In the “Checking errors (Local disk (X:))” window that opens, select “Check disk”, despite the fact that the operating system writes that no errors were found when checking the disk.

In Windows 7, additional scanning options are available; to launch them, you need to check the boxes next to the items:

• Automatically fix system errors.
• Check and repair bad sectors.

1. The scanning process begins and will take some time. The scan time depends on the size of the local disk and the amount of data on the disk.

When checking file system errors, the status is scanned:

• The basic structure of the file system is checked.
• File name connections are checked.
• Security descriptors are checked.
• The USN log is checked.

1. After completing the verification process, information about its result will open. In this case, the disk was successfully scanned and no errors were detected. If errors are found, you will be asked to fix them.

For detailed information, click on the "Show Details" link.

In the Event Viewer window, click Details.

In the “Event Properties” window, in the “General” and “Details” tabs, detailed information about the result of the disk scan is available.

The information obtained about checking the disk for file system errors can be copied into Notepad or another text editor for further study.

How to run CHKDSK (check disk) on the command line

The chkdsk command to check a hard drive with the specified parameters is executed from the command line:

1. Run Command Prompt as Administrator. Read How to Find the Command Prompt in Windows
2. To check the system partition (system drive) in the command line interpreter window, enter the command:

1. Press the "Enter" key.
2. A message appears in the Command Prompt window indicating that the CHKDSK command cannot be executed because the specified volume is in use by a system process. To start checking the system disk after rebooting the system, press the “Y” key and then press the “Enter” key.
3. During the system reboot, the system disk will be checked and restored.

A sample command template looks like this: ["chkdsk" (application name)], space, [drive letter of the drive being checked followed by a colon ("c:", "d:", "f:", etc.), path, or filename], space, [command options].

Command parameters have the following meanings:

• /F - checks the file system and automatically corrects errors found.
• /R - search for bad sectors on the disk, restore the contents (the command requires the /F key, example: “chkdsk C: /F /R”).
• /V - displays full file paths, displays file names on the disk, in the NTFS file system - displays cleaning messages.
• /X - disable the disk before scanning, the descriptors of this disk will not be scanned (the mandatory /F key must be set, example command: “chkdsk C: /F /X”).
• /I - Performs a less stringent check of index items; CHKDSK performs a faster but less thorough check.
• /C - skips checking cycles within the folder structure.
• /L: size - Changes the log size to a value specified in kilobytes.
• /B - reset the scan results, re-check previously found damaged hard disk sectors (the /R key is required, example command: “chkdsk C: /F /R /B”).

In most cases, to check the file system and eliminate bad sectors on the hard drive, it is enough to use the “F” and “R” flags.

How to disable disk check in CHKDSK when Windows boots

In some cases, disk check runs when you turn on the computer, before loading the Windows operating system. In most cases, you need to wait until the check is completed; a restart will not follow.

Constantly checking the disk every time the system starts indicates that there are problems and the need to fix them. You may need to consider replacing your hard drive. There are programs, for example, that constantly monitor the status of computer disks.

To disable Chkdsk from starting when Windows boots, you can use 2 methods: changing values ​​in the operating system registry, or using the command line.

Disabling disk check on the command line:

1. Run Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. In the command line interpreter window, enter the command (“C:” is the name of the drive on which you want to disable the startup of Check Disk when the system boots), and then press the “Enter” key:

• If you need to disable scanning on several drives, add the corresponding drive letters to the command separated by spaces, for example, “chkntfs /x c: d:”.
• Using the command “chkntfs /d” you can return the original settings.

You can disable automatic disk check when loading the operating system in the following way:

1. Launch Registry Editor (type “regedit” in the search field, run the command).
2. Follow the path:

1. Click on the “Session Manager” option.
2. Find the “BootExecute” parameter, left-click on it.
3. The Edit Multiline window displays the default value.

1. To disable disk checking during Windows startup, add the following parameter before the asterisk:

1. To disable scanning on multiple partitions, add drive letters separated by a space. Example for drives “C:” and “D:”:

Conclusions of the article

The CHKDSK system application, built into the Windows operating system, is used to check the file system for errors and to detect bad sectors on the computer's hard drive. Using the utility, you can fix system errors and eliminate the negative impact (disable writing and reading) on ​​the system due to the presence of bad sectors of the hard drive.

Experienced PC and Internet user

You can check your hard drive for errors and fix them either using third-party programs or through the built-in services found in Windows by default. Next, we will look at several ways to automatically check your hard drive and fix problems found on it.

Checking the disk for errors in Windows 7

You can run diagnostics through the command line, disk properties, PowerShell, and Control Panel. Each of the proposed options scans the disk for errors of various types, so it is recommended to use all three instructions and only after that, if the problem is not found, resort to diagnostics through third-party programs.

Checking the hard drive using commands

Through disk properties

Video tutorial: Checking HDD

Via PowerShell

Using the control panel

Using third-party programs to diagnose and check the hard drive for bad sectors

If checking the disk using standard methods does not bring the desired results, then you can use third-party programs that perform disk diagnostics.

You can download the program for free from this site - http://programdownloadfree.com/load/system/test_hdd/victoria/71–1-0–122. Its capabilities and advantages include the following parameters:

HDAT 2

Similar to the previous application, but supporting a larger number of hard drive models and operating modes. The official website of the program is https://hdat2.com.

CrystalDiskInfo

The program has a beautiful and understandable design, as well as the presence of the Russian language. Official website of the developer -

http://crystalmark.info/?lang=en. In addition to the basic functions common to all the programs described above, CrystalDiskInfo supports diagnostics of external drives, checks the status and temperature of the HDD, and has a wide selection of disk settings.

Correcting detected problems

In most cases, errors found will be corrected automatically. But sometimes, the computer may detect an error, but not get rid of it, but only inform you about its presence. In this case, you must correct the error yourself.

Using the Victoria program

The Victoria application can both scan the disk for errors and correct those found.

So, checking a hard drive or SSD can be done using either third-party or built-in programs. In most cases, errors found will be corrected automatically. Before you start working with the disk, it is recommended to restart your computer, and you should do the same after you finish working with it.

Hello friends. Checking the hard drive or how to check a hard drive for errors and bad sectors, we will talk about this in detail today.

In the previous article I showed. Today you will learn about programs for testing hard drives and other storage media. At the end of the review I posted a short video tutorial.

Checking our disk

It is useful for anyone who has a computer to know about the status of the hard drive or drives, if there are several of them. After all, the hard drive stores information that is important for some, and not so important for others. So, in order not to lose it, I recommend making backup copies at least once a month.

You can purchase a portable disk or flash drive to store important information, or you can use regular CDs and DVDs. If you don’t know how to save information on optical plastic discs, then I recommend reading.

You can test computer disks in different ways and with special programs. In this article we will look at:

• Checking the disk using Windows 7
• Useful Victoria v4.3
• HDDScan program
• Ashampoo HDD Control 2

There are, of course, many other useful and worthy programs and utilities, but in this publication we will only talk about these 4 methods.

How to check your hard drive using Windows 7

Any hard drive or flash drive can be checked for functionality using Windows tools. I wrote more about this here. Here is a simple algorithm for the necessary actions.

Go to My Computer, select the desired hard drive or flash drive, right-click on it and go to Properties.

Check the boxes you need or all and click Start.

This procedure can take a long time, everything will depend on the size of the storage medium that you want to check for errors and bad sectors.

Checking the disk with Victoria

Victoria one of the main programs that I personally use to check the hard drive through Windows, or if the operating system does not start at all, then through a boot disk with this utility.

After downloading Victoria version 4.3, you need to go into the archive, unpack it or run the file with a green cross called Victoria43.

Let's launch the program, it's in English, if you don't know this language, don't be alarmed, I'll help you figure it out.

The Standard window describes the main characteristics of the storage medium: its model, serial number, disk size, how many cylinders, sectors it has, and so on.

In the Smart tab you can view the status of the hard drive. Click on the Get Smart button and look at the indicators that appear. Since my hard drive is new, my indicators are normal, SMART status = Good. You may have different meaning and information.

Smart is a technology of analysis, self-control and reporting. Using it, you can view and evaluate the condition of the hard drive, its built-in self-diagnostic equipment, and also predict the possible time of its failure.

To test the storage media, go to the Test tab and click on the Start button. If you have a lot of green, orange, red and blue rectangles (sectors) - this is not good. Ideally, all sectors should be light gray and grey.

If you have damaged sectors marked “Err X”, then after completing the test, check the box next to the word Remap and run the test again. The Victoria program will try to restore these sectors and fix errors on the hard drive.

Checking the hard drive may take a long time, so be patient, it all depends on the amount of information on the media. In the meantime, testing is underway, I recommend reading the article on how to set up your computer yourself or.

Checking the hard drive using HDDScan

HDDScan is a program for diagnosing and testing hard drives in English.

After downloading, you need to run the file named HDDScan.

Select the desired Select Drive device; on the right there will be basic information about it.

Click on the blue round button and select the desired action. Go to Surfase Test - select and run the test.

Check the boxes next to Verify or Read and click the Add Test button. I do not recommend choosing Erase - it erases data.

Once you click add a test, it will start automatically and will appear in the lower Test Manager window.

Double-click on RD-Read, go to the test that has started and look at its process, you can see it on the Graph.

View on Map. At the top there are navigation buttons for controlling the Pause, Stop and Report test process, cluster and testing speed in KB/s, and on the right is the sector scanning time in numbers from< 5 до >500 milliseconds.

In the third column of Report you can see the scanned clusters and sectors of the storage medium, and at the very bottom the progress of the test process is shown as a percentage.

Upon completion of the test, a corresponding message will appear in the task manager window.

If for some reason you did not like the first three methods, then I suggest for your reference a powerful and useful utility for diagnosing hard drives and storage media from Ashampoo.

Cool program Ashampoo HDD Control 2

I have already worked with this utility for diagnosing and monitoring hard drives from Ashampoo. I really liked this program, so I decided to mention it in this article.

After you download and install Ashampoo HDD Control 2. Depending on the language pack, the program can be in either Russian or English.

It has a simple and accessible interface that anyone can understand.

Here you can see probably almost all the information about the hard drive or flash drive that you want: model, partitions, size, condition, performance, temperature and much other useful information.

This program has extensive capabilities and many settings; at the top there are seven navigation tabs:

1. Control
2. Defragmentation
3. Testing
4. Disk Cleanup
5. Removing Internet Traces
6. Deleted files
7. Content Analysis

You can browse through all seven tabs and explore useful information.

We are interested in checking the hard drive, go to the Testing tab, click Scan hard drives, select the one you need and click on the magnifying glass that says Start. This test can measure the speed of your hard drive.

In order to check the surface of the disk, you need to return to the Control tab and click Surface Test.

After this, the Hard Disk Surface Testing window will appear, in which there are symbols: blue square - not yet tested, green - excellent, red (already bad) - at least one bad sector.

The scanning time will again depend on the capacity and speed of the hard drive or flash drive.

In conclusion

Today we discussed in detail the topic of checking a hard drive or how to check a hard drive for errors and bad sectors. To do this, we used four methods: standard Windows tools, useful Victoria, the HDDScan utility and the cool Ashampoo HDD Control 2 program.

Now let's watch a short video tutorial on how to check your hard drive.

Checking the hard drive | website

You may have questions related to checking your hard drive. You can ask them below in the comments to this article, and also use the form with me.

Thank you for reading me on

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Simple programs for quickly checking HDD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Programs from hard drive manufacturers

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are two additional functions:

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

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

Deep testing software

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

Victoria HDD

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

Victoria exists in two versions:

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

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

Victoria HDD has a variety of functions:

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

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

HDD Regenerator

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

Program features:

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

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

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

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