• Victoria program description. HDD recovery

    There is version 4.46 for Windows, unofficial versions written by enthusiasts, for example version 4.47. It is already more convenient for operation and diagnostics - this version already has a graphical interface. The program opens in a separate window, the window can be minimized, buttons, navigation, switches are made like in Windows, etc. The program supports working with large-capacity disks; less time is spent on testing. Today we will take a look at version 4.46 and 4.47.

    There are different opinions about the performance of version 4.46. Although it is more beautiful, faster and more convenient, not everyone is happy precisely because the stated error correction mechanism does not fully work on it. Here, of course, you need to take into account that the program is free. There was also a commercial version, it cost about $700. The author himself admits that he does not want to leave hard drive repairers without work, so you cannot expect full functionality in the free version.

    How to install and run the Victoria 4.46 program to test the hard drive?

    It all depends on the task you set for yourself. If you decide to simply and quickly diagnose a disk, the Windows version is suitable for you. This is the so-called desktop version. It can be run like any other program. It will test the disk, find errors, but will not be able to fix them, since the disk will be busy. You can download this program here. You need to run the program as Administrator by selecting the program file in Explorer:

    Another version of the program is included in the rescue disks; you can download such a disk, burn it to a CD, and boot your computer from this disk. Afterwards, you can select a program from the menu and run it. Such disks are loaded from Windows PE and can work fully.

    How to work in the Victoria 4.47 program?

    After starting the program, we see a window where we can start working. The first thing we must do is select the desired hard drive. Each disc has its own unique serial number, which is usually found on the label.

    When you select a disk, all information about it is displayed - model, serial number, support for units of measurement, cache. The device passport with its technical characteristics is displayed on the screen.

    The next tab is S.M.A.R.T. You should definitely read it. Go to the tab and press the button Get SMART:

    The self-monitoring system (SMART) displays the current state (health) of the device. Read more in. The condition of this disk is no longer very good, it will need to be changed soon:

    But the program considers the SMART status to be good so far. In addition, it saves the verified disk as a binary SMART file. Comfortable. You can compare after testing. Go to the tab Tests. This is what we need now. The window on the left displays testing in real time:

    We check whether the checkboxes for counting bad sectors are checked. Information about the marked sectors is recorded in the log:

    Select the scan mode. This version has a linear reading mode from the first sector to the last (the fastest):

    Another mode, linear reading, but vice versa - from the last sector to the first. It happens that bad sectors come at the very end and in this mode the program finds them right away:

    There is a random reading mode, this is when the block address is not read sequentially, but is set by a random number generator:

    There is also a mode that works according to the butterfly algorithm - sectors from the beginning and end of the disk are checked alternately. The test ends when it reaches the halfway point. Not a quick check mode. Evaluates disk performance and simulates disk operation under load.

    The switches above are responsible for the surface reading mode:

    • Verify— test mode, the data on the disk is checked;
    • Read— information is read sector by sector;
    • Write— disk recording mode.

    Attention! Testing a drive with the Write option selected will result in data loss on the drive. Be careful!

    Below are the switches that determine what the program will do with bad sectors:

    • Ignore— finds bad sectors, but does not fix them;
    • Remap— heals (hides) bad sectors by assigning them a new address from the reserve. There is no further contact with them;
    • Erase— erases information from bad sectors and writes zeros there. If this succeeds, the sector is no longer considered faulty. Destroys data.
    • Restore. Tries to recover information from bad sectors. In the free version the mode is disabled.

    For safety, it is better to first set the settings as in the screenshot. Using the start button we begin testing:

    Information will begin to appear on the screen in the form of a graph:

    You can stop scanning at any time and switch to another mode. You can change the size of the block being checked and the delay timeout. This may increase or decrease scan time.

    Here, I suddenly found bad sectors on my disk:

    Hmm, there are already 448 of them. Now more will be added after testing. The surface of the disk gradually degrades. I need to think about replacing it before it’s too late, I’ll put this guy in reserve or use magnets... Only ten minutes have passed, and I already have three bad sectors:

    I think testing can end here. You need to launch Victoria from the “rescue disk” and carry out full testing and correction. Anyone who wishes can see the most complete overview of the program's capabilities.

    Video about how to use the Victoria program 4.46, 4.47

    In the meantime, I'll cure the disk. I just recently did this. An article about this. Probably, sooner or later I will have to clone this disk to a working one. I promise you an article on this topic. And now I tell you - bye! Leave your opinions in the comments.

    Hello admin, question! My computer is 5 years old and it began to noticeably freeze when working in various applications. Often, when turned on, the utility for checking the hard drive for errors automatically starts. Reinstalling Windows did not help and I had to turn to a computer technician friend, he scanned the hard drive with Victoria and I found a lot of sectors with a delay of more than 200 ms and with a delay of 600 ms (candidates for bad blocks). My friend told me what to do« Recording throughout the clearing» in other words, to perform a sector-by-sector erase of information from the hard drive. Hence the question of how to do it yourself, since my friend always has no time.

    Hello friends! This article is a continuation of the story about the Victoria hard drive repair program, and of course it would be better if, before reading this article, you.

    Let me briefly remind you of what was discussed in the first article.

    If your operating system slows down and freezes, and your hard drive sometimes makes strange sounds, then the problem may be bad sectors (bad blocks).

    There are two types of bad sectors: physical and logical.

    Physical bad blocks- this is a mechanically deformed sector of the hard disk, from which it is impossible to read information, and it is also impossible to write data to it. It is impossible to correct such sectors with any programs. The firmware built into the hard drive must promptly detect the emerging bad sector and reassign it as a normal sector from the backup track. At this moment, the faulty sector is taken out of operation and information about it is entered into a special defect list. But it often happens that bad blocks are present on the hard drive, but they are not hidden. In this case, you need to hint to the firmware built into the hard drive about the presence of bad blocks on the hard drive using special programs for working with hard drives (Victoria, HDDScan, MHDD) and only after that the bad blocks will disappear if the outcome is favorable.

    • Note : for those interested, a more detailed article about bad sectors (bad blocks) .

    Logical bad blocks- are much more common, this is information incorrectly written to a sector, which the magnetic head of the hard drive cannot read or reads with a significant delay; if there are many such sectors, then because of this our computer can also work slowly.

    To diagnose your hard drive, you can use the Victoria program.

    To make everything clear to you, I propose to consider this issue using a specific example.

    Meeting 10 years later...

    The other day, a friend came to me with a system unit under his arm and complained about the strange operation of the computer (freezes, brakes, constant checks of the hard drive for errors when turned on), reinstalling the operating system did not help.

    The system unit turned out to be perfectly clean inside, and the temperature of the processor, video card, and hard drive was normal. Of course, my suspicions fell on the hard drive, which, upon closer examination, turned out to be a famous veteran WDC WD1200JS-00MHB0: capacity 120 GB SATA-II, the once popular black high-performance hard drive Caviar SE from the manufacturer Western Digital! Friends, I bought this disc for my friend 10 years ago, pay attention to the production date - October 16, 2005!

    So, let's see what's going on with our old friend's health and why he started freezing and slowing down!

    I launch the CrystalDiskInfo program from the flash drive and look at SMART (hard drive self-diagnosis), there is nothing criminal, the technical condition is Good.

    I also launch the Victoria program directly in a running Windows 8.1 and, always as an administrator, begin to test the surface of the hard drive.

    In the initial window of the program, select the tab Standard and in the right part of the window, select the WDC WD1200JS-00MHB0 hard drive with the left mouse.

    I go to the tab Tests and mark the points Ignore and read , press Start . A simple test of the hard drive surface is run without error correction. This test is not dangerous for the information located on the hard drive. I'm interested to know what the condition of the hard drive is after ten years of use. The most important thing is not to run any programs during the test, otherwise errors are possible; in general, it is ideal to test the HDD in DOS mode using a bootable USB flash drive of the Victoria program, but we will do this a little later.

    After 30 minutes we get the test result:

    In our case, there are no bad blocks, but there are sectors with large delay of more than 600 ms, look at the screenshot, everything is shown with arrows.

    500 sector blocks with a delay of more than 50 ms.

    31 blocks sectors with a delay of more than 200 ms.

    7 sector blocks with a delay of more than 600 ms (sector blocks with such a delay are dangerous and are most likely candidates for bad blocks).

    There is a small chance that these seven sectors are why the computer freezes.

    I propose to use the algorithm for the hard drive in the Victoria program Write(Record, erase) in the jargon of repairmen - “Record throughout the clearing.” There will be a sector-by-sector erasure of information from the disk in blocks of 256 sectors and subsequent forced writing of zeros to the sectors. This is how you can get rid of logical bad blocks and, in some cases, physical bad blocks (a remap will occur).

    Logical “bads” after such a forced write will simply lose incorrect information in their sectors; it will be overwritten with zeros.

    Physical “bads” may disappear because Victoria too clearly shows them to the built-in firmware of the hard drive, and it will simply reassign the bad blocks as backup sectors from spare tracks!

    On the tab Tests mark the item Write (Write, erase). Be careful, all information will be deleted from the hard drive!So make sure you select the correct drive to test. You can mark the itemDDD Enable(increased erasure).

    I press Start.

    Will be lost(all user data on the WD1200JS-00MHB0 hard disk will be lost).

    We agree. Yes.

    The process of sector-by-sector erasing information from the hard drive begins.

    If we run Disk Management at this moment, we will see that all partitions on the tested hard drive have been deleted along with the data.

    After erasing is complete, we again perform a simple test of the hard drive surface.

    On the tab Tests mark the points Ignore and read , click Start . A simple test of the hard drive surface is run without error correction.

    After 30 minutes I get the result, all sectors with long delays are fixed.

    The Victoria hdd utility was created to solve problems and check various types of hard drives with the ability to use different parameters. The software has advanced functionality that allows you to solve various hard drive problems that arise under current circumstances.

    Utility features

    This utility can be downloaded from

    Download the archive, unpack it and run the executive file vcr446f.exe

    The utility interface opens.

    This free software has a logical and simple interface with various additional software modules for examining hard drives. Even an ordinary inexperienced user can understand the program, because all the points are written in clear language, and you can understand the basic and most important functions even at the first launch.
    The Victoria hdd utility will help the user perform a thorough check of the hard drive; as a result, information about the status of the hard drive will be provided. In addition, you can perform self-diagnosis in the “S.M.A.R.T.” mode. which allows you to determine the service life of the disk.

    Victoria hdd software has a function to check the surface of the hdd disk for possible damage and other problems. The utility can perform a full scan of the hard drive for defective sectors; after the analysis, information about the state of the media as a whole is provided. If Victoria hdd finds bad sectors, they will be reassigned so that you can use the drive in the future without losing data.
    The Victoria disk utility can be used by both professional repairmen and ordinary users. Depending on dexterity and skills, the user can configure the Victoria hdd software to suit his needs, which will change the hard drive analysis algorithm.

    What is included in the functionality of the Victoria utility:
    The utility is able to give a detailed report on the operation of the hard drive and its technical characteristics;
    Allows you to identify connected media via a sata/ide channel;
    Has the ability to detect flaws on the surface of the hard drive;
    Capable of eliminating hard drive shortcomings caused during operation, such as encryption of a bad sector and others;
    Equipped with a practical and comfortable smart monitor that clearly displays important vital signs of the disk;
    Has an integrated explorer for working with the file system;
    Detailed help system for using and configuring the Victoria hdd utility;
    The Victoria utility is absolutely free;

    The Victoria hdd utility was created to conduct various tests of hard drives; it is more suitable for people with an above-average level of computer use. If you are running the Victoria hdd utility for the first time, it is better not to change the preset settings if you have no idea about their purpose.
    In general, the Victoria utility is very useful and relevant for tracking hard drive problems and successfully eliminating most failures. This software has already been able to restore more than one practically “dead” hard drive, and if you are faced with a problem related to a hard drive, the Victoria hdd utility will be very useful.

    Checking the hard drive

    We open the program, and on the “Standard” tab we see the disk passport, which is listed on the right.

    Go to the “Tests” tab. Select the “Ignore” check mode. In this mode, the program will make requests to sectors of the hard drive and if they are faulty or faulty, it will skip them.

    A hard drive is a complex physical device designed for recording and storing information. The surface of the disk is divided into tracks. The vertical stack of these tracks forms a cylinder. The track is divided into smaller sections called sectors. Each sector is marked. Their number depends on the interface that is used to communicate with the disk.

    The hard drive is vulnerable. The causes of failure may be a malfunction in the operation of the device software, failure of the controller, power failures, disruption of physical contact with the interface, sticking of the magnetic head, etc. The main defects of disks are sectors with damaged magnetic coating. Information cannot be stored in these areas.

    Defective sectors are called bad sectors. Bad sectors located on the zero track are especially dangerous, because this is the boot area.

    To determine the presence of bad sectors and the possibility of restoring them, Belarusian programmer Sergei Kazansky developed the Victoria utility. The latest release of the program was June 26, 2013. License type is Freeware, which makes it especially popular.

    Purpose

    The Victoria program allows you to perform low-level testing of a hard drive with a parallel connection interface - IDE (ATA - Advanced Technology Attachment) and SATA interfaces - a serial connection interface. The output contains detailed information about the physical state of the drive, its performance, and errors.

    The Victoria program performs an in-depth analysis of the HDD state with the ability to restore bad sectors. This tool can be used by both service center professionals and ordinary users to evaluate the performance of the drive, the ability to correct errors, and analyze all the physical characteristics of the hard drive.

    Video: Victoria HDD scan

    Key Features

    1. comprehensive information about the technical characteristics of hard media;
    2. analytics of HDD self-monitoring parameters;
    3. testing of many technical parameters;
    4. the ability to change disk space due to bad clusters;
    5. constructing surface graphs;
    6. eliminating bad clusters from used ones - replacing them with backup ones;
    7. HDD performance analysis;
    8. determining the speed of access to clusters;
    9. clearing the disk of information without the possibility of recovery;
    10. protecting the device by setting a password;
    11. the ability to copy any sectors to a file;
    12. context help system;
    13. other useful features.

    Installation and launch

    There are:

    • boot versions of the program. In this case, you need to create either a boot floppy disk or a boot disk. The tool for creating a floppy disk is the makedisk.bat file. To create a bootable CD, you need to unzip the program file and burn its ISO image to disk;
    • not bootable version. The program is unpacked directly onto your hard drive.

    In the first case, after downloading from the devices, you can start working with the program.

    In the second, to obtain a complete picture of the state of the hard drive, a number of conditions must be met:

    • disable the controller channel of the disk being checked;
    • shut down all running programs;
    • run Victoriyu only on a warm disk.

    Launch from the operating system is carried out by the application vcr446f.exe.

    After launch, the user is presented with a window with a clear English-language interface.

    HDD recovery using Victoria

    The first tab is Standard, which provides information about the passport of the hard drive or drive that we want to test. (Selection is made in the upper right window of the section).

    Photo: information about the hard drive passport

    The second tab is Smart.

    Photo: tab for checking disk self-test parameters

    Here you can check such parameters of the HDD self-testing system as:


    On the right side of the window, click the GetSMART button and get an assessment of the health of the hard drive as a whole (next to the GetSMART button) and by parameters.

    The third tab is Tests. The main partition, which allows you to quickly detect and cure disk sectors.

    The hard drive is divided into many clusters of the same size. The Victoria program, while running, accesses each cluster during testing. The duration of the call is analyzed. The longer the wait time, the more likely there is a physical defect in that area.

    There are many reasons for defects:


    In this section, testing launch modes are important, which can be selected in the lower right window. These are the modes:

    • Ignore - allows you to run the test in information mode, without making adjustments;
    • Erase - mode for cleaning the hard drive (used carefully and rarely);
    • Remap - check with simultaneous replacement of damaged sectors with working ones. Can be used after checking in ignore mode if damaged clusters are found;
    • Restore - restoration. Used in the case when the remaining sectors are not reassigned after checking in remap mode.

    To start the test, press the “START” button. The sectors being checked are graphically displayed in the left window and are indicated by color. In the windows on the right you can see the percentage of the tested device volume and the number of tested clusters.

    Bad sectors on the HDD are hidden by replacing them from the reserve area of ​​the hard drive. Reassigned so that they are no longer read. The utility allows you to restore only a hard drive that does not have any physical damage in its parts. If there is wear or an obvious breakdown, then software, of course, cannot be corrected.

    Testing with the utility is considered low-level, but has high performance. So testing a 232 GB device takes about 60 minutes.

    After the testing, error correction or recovery procedure, you need to restart the computer and recheck. The result should improve.

    If, as a result of testing, there are too many bad clusters and they are located at the beginning of the hard drive, then such a disk is not recommended. Viktoria contains a function that is useful in this case, allowing you to halve the size of the hard drive at the expense of bad sectors. After this procedure, the HDD can be used as a second disk or external storage. It is not suitable for installing an operating system.

    Video: HDD diagnostics and repair

    Legend

    During testing, you can see rectangles of different colors in the window.

    They clearly display a picture of the disk status:

    • The sector marked in white is considered normal. The response from him comes within 5 ms;
    • light grey. Response within 20 ms;
    • grey. The response comes within 50 ms;
    • green. Response within 200 ms;
    • orange. Response within 600 ms;
    • red. Sectors that will no longer work;
    • blue. "Deadly" sectors. Cannot be restored.

    All these designations are in the test section, in the middle lower window. Next to them are numbers indicating the response time from the cluster to the program. The gray and white sectors are not damaged. Green is also a worker, but already strives for bad things.
    Orange is a bad sector that can be restored either by low-level formatting or by S. Kazansky’s utility.

    In order to be able to use the functions of restoring these sectors, you need to check the boxes opposite the designations in the check boxes.

    To ensure proper operation of your computer, it is recommended to periodically test its component devices. The main device is the hard drive. Typically it houses the operating system. The user's comfort at the computer depends on the performance of the disk and its performance. Perform production tasks.

    A high-quality, fast HDD testing program is necessary for both the technical support specialist and the average user. The functions of full-fledged and, importantly, fast low-level testing are performed by Sergei Kazansky’s Victoria program.

    Most modern computers run the Windows operating system, so it is recommended to use version 4.46. It can be found on the manufacturer's website. The latest release of the program was June 2013. It is compatible with Windows 7, does not load the registry, and can be launched from any media. Easy to use.

    Victoria serves as an assistant in various situations. For example, when buying a used drive to assess its technical condition, when the operating system is slowing down, to restore important information. In other matters, and to delete irrevocably classified information.

    The program is a complete solution that combines the capabilities of several diagnostic utilities for the hard drive and useful functions. It is one of the most widely used programs for recovering bad HDD sectors.

    The Victoria program is also designed to fix bad sectors. It helps verify data integrity and restore damaged information. The overall result of the test is the display of the hard drive status characteristics.

    The program is simple and free, and this has made it popular among users. Victoria HDD allows you to check the disk, but there are no functions for data recovery.

    The Victoria program does not display data about integrity or problems in file systems. It is focused only on assessing the physical condition of the hard drive.

    How to use the program

    There is no need to install the program. It is better to write it to removable media and download from there.

    The controller channel to which the hard drive is connected must be disabled through control in the operating system settings if you plan to save the program to your computer. This way you can check the integrity of your hard drive, even if you forgot to run the program from it.

    For most users it will be more convenient to work with the Windows version.

    After launching, the program will ask which hard drive you need to check. If one is connected, its name will appear on the screen. You can view information about the device by comparing it with the real passport. On the SMART tab you can see if everything is in order with the disk, then the “GOOD” status will appear in the message window.

    Victoria provides a complete list of SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) attributes, including disk read error rate, search error rate, number of disk starts and stops, total uptime, and many others.

    To enable quick check, you need to select “Linear reading”. This point is not the only one with which the disk surface is analyzed. Random reading checks random areas. “Butterfly” mode – the beginning and end of disk space are read.

    There is another mode, it is simply called “Reading”. Designed for a more careful and informational inspection of a specific area. It analyzes the data for a long time and displays the most detailed information on the screen.

    A number of additional functions are available in the program: deleting data, recording, recording from a file, checking the interface.

    On the Test tab you can start scanning the surface. To assess the performance of certain areas of the hard drive surface, you need to look at the composition of the blocks that display the test result. They are formed by response time, defects.

    When the option is enabled Remap the addresses of detected sectors with a read latency greater than 1000 ms will be replaced with the addresses of working sectors from a reserve zone specially created by the disk manufacturer.

    If the program has highlighted certain areas in red or brown, it is recommended to view detailed information - the integrity of the area has been significantly compromised.

    The program is no longer supported, so . There is also an unofficial version of Victoria 4.47 online, which runs on x64 Windows and has some bug fixes.

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