HDD testing. Programs for checking errors and bad sectors on a hard drive. How to check a hard drive for serviceability and bad sectors. Let's find out if our hard drive has fallen

If you doubt the performance of your hard drive (HDD) means there is no need to wait and it’s worth checking it, the same with . It would also be a good idea to perform a preventative check.

Good reasons to perform performance testing:

1. The appearance of incomprehensible and unusual sounds.
2. Significant slowdown in computer speed.
3. Before purchasing a used computer or HDD.

In this instruction, I will show you the most effective and understandable ways to check both programs and built-in capabilities in the operating system. They are quite enough to find out whether there are problems with the HDD or not.

Damaged sectors and HDD errors can only be corrected if the problem is at the software level. That is, it is not associated with physical impact on the disk.

I'll start with the standard method.

Checking using Windows

Windows has a built-in Check Disk utility. It only has 2 options, but it is suitable for basic testing. The scan can be performed on all new operating systems starting with Windows XP.

To use it, go to “My Computer” and select the disk to scan.

Then go to its properties. Here select “Service” and click on the check button.

In the settings that appear, check 2 boxes and press the start button.

If the disk is in at the moment is used, a window will appear as in the image below. Click on “Schedule disk scan” and the scan will start automatically the next time you turn on the computer.

Checking the disk with Ashampoo HDD Control 3

This program is shareware and provides trial period. It's very large number functions and explanations for each problem ( if any). It is ideal for beginners. I'll demonstrate how to use it.

Download the program from the official website and install. Activate trial account for 40 days. Detailed activation steps ( via Email) during installation.

Launch it. Devices will be shown at the top ( disks, flash drives). In my example, the disk requires more cooling. This is just one of the tips you can get when using the program.

There will be a test button on the right. If you open additional options, you can run an advanced test. Run Smart Advanced Testing for a more detailed check.

If everything went well, a corresponding window will appear.

Now perform the disk surface verification test. It is located in the same context menu as the extended one. Wait for the results. If everything went well, the following message will appear.

If there are problems during the tests, you will receive information about what needs to be done to fix the problem. In my case everything is fine.

In addition, it contains many useful, additional features that you can familiarize yourself with, as everything is written in Russian.

HDD Health Program

This free program with a simple interface allows you to find out how much “health” your HDD has left and its temperature. There is no need to delve into the speed of reading sectors, the number of faulty errors and other subtleties. Here the program itself estimates the viability of the disk, which is certainly very convenient.

Download, install and run. If the window does not open ( like me), then try opening it through the disk icon in the notification area ( on the right, below, where time is).

As you can see, my HDD can still work for quite a long time. If the “health” indicator is less than 20%, then it is necessary to urgently change the device.

There are a very large number of similar programs. I decided to show these ones because of their simplicity and effectiveness. For these purposes they should be quite sufficient. If some points were unclear to you, please ask for help in the comments.

How did you check your HDD?

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In all modern houses available desktop computer or laptop. Some people need it for games, others for work or study. In any case, photographs, some important records, contact information of people, required addresses etc. And the place where all this information is stored is a hard drive.

It’s not for nothing that experienced programmers say that in a situation where the computer has hard error disk, formatting it is a real disaster. After all, formatting is fraught with the loss of all information. But this is the case if appropriate measures are not taken. But if you notice some errors and malfunctions in the disk in time and correct them, then you can avoid this global catastrophe

The main causes of HDD problems are “broken” sectors - segments disk space that are damaged in some way.

They are divided into physical and logical. The latter appear due to software errors and can be corrected, while physical ones cannot be corrected. In the latter case, you will have to replace hard drive.

Such damaged areas can appear on both magnetic and standard SSD drives.

Causes of bad sectors and errors

Hard drive failures depend on the type of damaged areas:

1. logical“broken” - displayed when there is malware or viruses, as well as when sudden shutdown power supply or power cable during recording;
2. physical“broken” - found on a completely new product. Then you need to contact the manufacturer with a request to replace the product.

IN magnetic storage devices“broken” sectors can appear as a result of wear of the moving parts of the device, when foreign bodies get into the disk mechanism, or from a simple fall to the floor. In the latter case, the magnetic head of the disk is scratched, which leads to errors.

SSD drives give errors because they have tried to write any information to them many times.

It is quite possible to check the hard drive for “broken” sectors. Windows has an application called "chkdsk" (check disks). You need to open the folder on your desktop or in the Start menu "My computer" by clicking on the drive to be scanned. By using context menu select “Properties” - “Tools”. Under the phrase “Check” there will be a button, by clicking on which you will be able to see the number of “broken” sectors.

During the test, the computer will eliminate errors in logical “broken” sectors, as well as mark areas with physical damage.

Attention! You can run the scan system manually, but if Windows independently detects “bad” sectors, the utility will launch itself when the system starts.

Checking utilities

Some software does not have built-in verification. For such cases, there are special programs that help identify “broken” sectors and errors and, if possible, correct them.

"Victoria"

It is a popular software for searching damaged areas. In addition to various methods of analyzing and reassigning problem areas, it has a function for searching for damaged contacts in a cable, as well as a function for assessing the performance of the hard drive. The only “disadvantage” of the program is the lack of official assemblies. Therefore, experts recommend using it separately from the OS.

"HDD Regenerator"

This utility uses its own methods to restore “bad” sectors (a combination of high and low signals) and supports any drive connection interfaces.

The downside is the high cost of the license ($90).

One of the best and multifunctional utilities to check the device for damaged areas. Has the following functionality:

• restores and reconfigures sectors;
• fixes partition tables;
• restores files and creates backup copies;
• selects files in the table;
• copies data from remote partitions;
• creates backup copies of data.

This utility uses several methods to identify problems, as well as the ability to track SMART attributes and cleaning hard disk.

Important! The program supports everything Windows versions, however, it does not scan/test the drive where the OS is installed.

With the help you can check both one and several hard drives simultaneously.

"Seagate Seatools" for Windows

The app supports everything modern systems Windows. It can be used to do both basic and advanced testing. Simpler than « Seagate Seatools» for DOS, but less powerful.

One of the most important parts for the average user personal computer(or laptop) is a hard drive (or hdd, hard drive). It is he who is responsible for saving all important information, files and documents on the computer. Accordingly, since information is most often stored on a hard drive in a single copy (and very few people prefer to regularly backup important data to cloud services or removable media), then the issue of hdd performance and its support becomes extremely relevant. Let's look at how you can check your hard drive for functionality.

How to check whether a hard drive is working or not?

First of all, it should be noted that the performance of the hard drive of a PC or laptop is assessed programmatic method, there are two options:

— checking with software built into the operating system;
— verification using specialized third-party programs;

As a rule, specialized third-party programs have more features and more advanced functionality, but they must first be found and installed.

Checking the performance of the hard drive using OS capabilities

So, what about the performance of the tools built into the OS? The following may help:

— CHKDSK utility
- SMART technology

CHKDSK (the name comes from the abbreviation of the phrase check disk - check disk) is a built-in program in Windows (and MS-DOS) and its purpose is to check and correct errors file system hard drive of a PC or laptop. To run this utility, the user must enter the appropriate command in the OS command line, after which the check will be carried out during the next boot operating system. It should also be said that if necessary this utility can be launched automatically to check the computer before turning it on.
SMART (self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology - or technology for self-monitoring, analytics and reporting) is a specially developed technology designed for continuous monitoring of the condition of the hard drive using built-in self-diagnostic tools. It is important that leading companies that specialize in hdd production (including Seagate) took part in the development of this technology.

SMART technology regularly monitors the status of the hard drive and works with two groups of characteristics:

— characteristics that reflect the gradual wear of the disk (for example, the number of on-off cycles completed, the number of spindle revolutions, etc.)
— current hdd performance characteristics

The saved data is then recalculated into a disk reliability value relative to a certain reference level. A lower value indicates a more worn-out condition of the hard drive and a higher likelihood of an early breakdown, failure, or an increase in the number of operational errors.

Thus, SMART technology allows you to perform the following actions:

— monitor changes in the quality characteristics of the hard drive
— scan the surface of the drive
— replace questionable sectors of the hard drive with more reliable ones (if possible, transfer data from sectors in a less reliable state to more “healthy” sectors)

However, SMART technology does not allow hard drives to directly inform the user about potential problems or problems; this requires the use of additional software that provides analysis and display SMART characteristics. We will tell you later in Russian how to check your hard drive’s functionality using special programs.

Checking the health of the hard drive using special programs

Examples of programs with which you can independently check the functionality of the hard drive of a computer or laptop:

- HDDScan
—Victoria
— HDDExpert and others

What these programs have in common is that they are all, in fact, a means for displaying and analyzing data obtained using SMART technology. Thus, their functionality is largely similar, only the appearance of the data presentation and less significant details differ.
HDDScan – special program, the purpose of which is HDD check and SSD for the presence of bad sectors, viewing the attributes of SMART technology, as well as working with some additional parameters operation of the hard drive (including power management, acoustic mode adjustment, and so on).
This program works successfully with various types storage devices, for example HDD with different types connections (ATA/SATA, USB, SCSI, IEEE 1394 or FireWire), SSD or even Flash drives (though in this case only in test mode). The HDDScan utility has the following functionality:

— carrying out various tests of the hard drive (for example, linear verification, linear recording, linear reading)
— work (reading, analysis) with SMART data
— additional control operation of the hard drive (change in operating noise level, power saving mode, forced start or stop of the HDD spindle, etc.)

An additional feature of this program is the very flexible ability to adapt appearance utilities for a specific user by installing various skins. These skins (covers) can be downloaded on the Internet or created independently.

Victoria. This program for checking the health of the hdd is currently one of the most common. An interesting feature of the program is that it was developed by a Belarusian programmer (Kazansky S. O.). In general, the functionality of the program is standard and allows you to diagnose and analyze the operation of the hard drive, process SMART technology data, and, in addition, also correct errors and damaged sectors of hard disk. Additionally, using Victoria, you can measure the performance of a hard drive, plot a graph of the disk surface, hide hdd defects, view unstable disk sectors, and also perform easy formatting of the drive. Many users note the following advantages of this utility: no need for installation, low volume of the program itself, and high speed work. In fact, many experts call this program the best among free utilities for working with hard drives. However, it is important to note that officially this program is not updated and its development has been discontinued, but there are many builds and versions developed by fans of the utility.

HDDExpert is another sufficient popular program, which is used to check the performance of hard drives by processing SMART technology data and presenting them in a form more convenient for analysis. It should be noted that this program does not support the Russian language, however, this should not prevent its use, since the utility interface is quite simple. Among other things, one of the clear advantages of this program is that in addition to detecting errors, it gives recommendations for correcting them. However, it is important to clarify that some of the tips may be promotional in nature. The ease of use of the program and the limited capabilities for checking a hard drive only by analyzing SMART data make HDDExpert suitable for a primary and fairly superficial test of the drive.

Except specified programs For analysis of hard You can also find others to disk a PC or laptop and check its functionality, but the functionality of most of them will be approximately the same. This is based on the fact that all such utilities are primarily related to SMART technology and are intended mainly for more convenient and simple display of data from this technology.

Thus, if the question arises of how to check whether a hard drive is working or not, and you also need to check the overall performance and condition of the hard drive, just download one of the above programs. Any of these utilities can quickly hdd diagnostics and provide information about its condition, the presence/absence of bad sectors and their number, as well as give a forecast of the time during which you can use this drive relatively calmly.

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 and serial number are displayed. 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 of additional program features.
• 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

In a modern computer, the 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, which are coated with a special layer of 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 the production of hard drives, the final stage is 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 on a hard drive that is equal to 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 the temperature of the hard drives is quite high, you need to set 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 Victoria program under Windows. With its help, you can get a large amount of important information about the disk, as well as check the disk for bad sectors and prevent it. The program has a free and paid version; to determine the state of the disk, it will be enough for us to use free paid 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 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 replacement can be made this sector working, and perhaps the disk will work a little longer, but it’s better not to delay replacing it.

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 the capacity of the hard drive, as well as 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