How to remove bad blocks in Victoria. Bad sectors or bad blocks

We launch our program and see the following window:

Select the "start process under windows" item in the "regeneration" menu. To start scanning bad sectors or bad blocks, we first need to "explain" to the program what exactly we want to do.

In the next window, we need to select the hard drive to scan. In our case, he is alone, select it and click on the inscription "start process".

We continue. In the next window we will be asked to indicate the option of scanning the disk. I advise you to immediately choose the first option "scan and repair" (scan and restore). Just enter the number “1” from the keyboard, as shown in the screenshot.

And in the last window, before scanning the bad sectors themselves, we are “asked” from which sector to start scanning? I advise you to leave the number "0". This will ensure full disk scanning.

Press the "Enter" key and run a scan on bad blocks. We will look at the whole process using an example of a disk that contains bad sectors. Pay attention to the screenshot below, on it we see the progress of scanning (white bar) and on it are the three bad sectors found by the program.

We’ll analyze this screenshot in more detail: at the top right, we see the elapsed time from the moment the bad blocks were scanned and the time remaining until the process was completed. If bad sectors are detected on the disk, the program marks them with the English letter “B” and immediately tries to “cure” it. If she succeeds, then in place of the letter "B" appears the letter "R", which indicates the successful "restoration" of the bad block. In the lower left corner we see statistics on scanned megabytes, as well as the number of found “B” and “cured” “R” bad sectors.

Upon completion of the scan, we will see this window:

Here, three bad sectors found by the program are indicated, and on the right are the statistics we already know, which says that all bad blocks found are eliminated.

Also consider the fact that if bad sectors are detected, it is highly advisable (immediately or after a few days) to start the verification procedure again. The fact is that (with a serious disk defect) bad blocks can reappear and their number can only increase.

This is what the following inscriptions on the screenshot above “tell” us: “4 new bad sectors appear” and “18 bad sectors appear” - these are the failed areas that appeared on the hard drive again when it was re-scanned. Such a disk can still be used quite successfully for some time as an additional one, and various (not very necessary) information and temporary files can be stored on it. But here's how reliable carrier  information or - system disk  it does not suit us definitely!

Actually, I described you the whole simple testing process :) The very logic of what happens “behind the scenes” of the work of any program to restore bad sectors was discussed in the previous article, which is called "".

In addition to the above, I would like to mention another very useful function of the program “ HDD Regenerator". She can record her boot image  to the cd.

Why is this needed? Imagine a situation: you have problems with hard drive  (God forbid! :)) and operating system  Because of this, it just does not load. How do we run our program so that it scans bad sectors of the hard drive? In this case, the function of creating a bootable version of the program comes to our aid.

Let's look at this opportunity. At the very beginning, after starting the program, in the "regeneration" menu, select "create bootable CD / DVD" (create a bootable CD or DVD disc).

In the next window, select our recording device installed in the system.

Press the “OK” button, insert blank disk  into the device and go to the last window immediately before burning the disc. Here we are offered to choose the recording speed. Select and press the "Burn CD" button (burn a CD).

After the recording we take ours (now boot disk) with the “HDD Regrenerator” program, insert it into the computer on which we want to check for bad sectors. We set the boot from the CD on it and see the menu in which the program shows us the hard disks of the computer it found.

As you can see, we have two of them. Select (for example) the second (enter the number "2" from the keyboard) and press "enter". Next we see the following window.

It has several options for scanning the hard drive for bad sectors:

1. Scan, but do not fix found bad blocks
2. Scan to correct these sectors
3. View information about the program itself

Enter the number "2" from the keyboard (select the second option). We see such a window.

Here we indicate that we will scan immediately with recovery bad sectors. Press the number "1", then - "enter" and then the familiar testing process will start.

Also keep in mind the following point: poor power supply (failures caused) or the use of various adapters may cause the recovery program to signal the detection of a large number of bad sectors.

There have been such cases in my practice. HDD  SATA was connected via the molex to sata adapter:

The diagnostic program found a lot of bad blocks on it, but as soon as we installed the corresponding one (which had Sata power connectors), the problem disappeared. So remember that all adapters are a necessary evil, and if you can do without them, get rid of them immediately!

That's all I wanted to tell you today about how to look for and fix bad sectors on the disk. At the end of the article, as agreed, I give a link to the program itself "". Download, use.

In previous articles, we repeatedly mentioned such a phenomenon as a failed (bad or bad) block, but so far we have not given an exact definition of what it is, what are the causes of their occurrence, how to deal with them and whether it is necessary. In this article, we will consider the first two questions and give you some time for your own thoughts and searches for solutions. Next time, let's talk about methods of dealing with them.

So, a bad block is usually understood as a specific part of the disk, normal operation with which is not guaranteed or impossible at all. These areas may contain various information, it can be user data or service information (otherwise called servo (obviously from the Latin. servire or English serve - to serve), in this case it is fraught with consequences, the severity of which varies very widely), although, of course, the best option there would be a lack of anything in this area (although it would probably not be more likely to encounter bads in such areas). The appearance of such sectors may be due to various reasons, in one case such sectors can be restored, in the other it is impossible, in one it is necessary to use some methods of treatment and reassignment to others. But first, dispel some fairly common myths.

The first myth: on modern hard drives there are no bads. This is not true, they happen. By and large, the technology is the same as years ago, only improved and finalized, but still not ideal (however, the ideal is unlikely to be created on the basis of magnetic recording technologies).

The second myth: for hard drives equipped with SMART this is not relevant (read there can not be bads). Not so either: relevant, no less than for hard drives without SMART (if there are any). The concept of a failed sector is close and familiar to her, this should have become clear from the relevant publications on this technology (links at the end). The fact is that most of the concerns about such sectors previously assigned to the user, SMART took over. And often it may happen that the user does not know anything at all and does not know about the bads taking place on his screw, unless of course the situation is pathological. I heard from users that sometimes sellers justify their refusal to guarantee the exchange of hard drives, in which the bads "floated" out. The seller, of course, is wrong. SMART is not omnipotent, and no one has canceled the bads yet.

In order to understand the bads and their varieties, let's delve into the method of storing information on the hard drive, just a little bit. We will clarify two points.

1. The unit of which the hard drive operates at a low level is the sector. In the physical space on the disk corresponding to the sector, not only data is written directly, but also service information - identification fields and checksum for it, data and checksum for them, error recovery code, etc. (not standardized and depends on the manufacturer and models). By the presence of identification fields, two types of records are distinguished - with and without identifier fields. The former is old and has lost ground in favor of the latter. Later it will become clear why I celebrate this. It is also important that there are means to control errors (which, as we will see, can become their sources).

2. When working with old hard drives, it was necessary to register their physical parameters in the BIOS, which were indicated on the etiquette, and in order to unambiguously address the data block, it was necessary to indicate the cylinder number, sector number on the track, and head number. Such work with the disk was completely dependent on its physical parameters. It was not convenient, and tied the hands of developers in many matters. It needed a way out and it was found in address translation. The one that interests us - it was decided to address the data in the drive with one parameter, and assign the function of determining the actual physical address corresponding to this parameter to the hard disk controller. This gave the enduring freedom and compatibility.

The actual physical data of the drive was already not important. It is only important that the number of logical blocks indicated by the BIOS does not exceed the actual one. The creation of such a translator is of great importance for the problems of bad sectors, too. And that's why. Handling Bad Sectors Old hard drives  was not perfect, was carried out by means of the file system. The disk came with a sticker on which the addresses of defective blocks found by the manufacturer were indicated. The user manually entered this data into the FAT, and thus excluded the access to the operating system.

The plate manufacturing technology was imperfect then, and imperfect now. There are no methods to create an ideal surface that does not contain a single bad block, contrary to the common opinion that a hard drive is delivered from the factory without them. With the increase in disk volume, the number of bad sectors when leaving the factory increased, and it is clear that only until a certain moment the procedure for registering them in FAT could be performed manually, it was necessary to find a way to mark bads, even though it is not known which file system  will be used. The invention of the translator allowed to solve these problems. A special protected area was allocated on the hard drive, where a translator was recorded, in which the correspondence of each logical block of a continuous chain and the real physical address was established.

If suddenly a bad block was detected on the surface, then it was simply skipped, and the address of the next physical accessible block was assigned to this logical block. The translator was read from the disk when it was turned on. Its creation was carried out (and is being carried out) at the factory, and precisely because of this, and not from the fact that the manufacturer uses some kind of super technology, the new disks do not contain bad blocks. The physical parameters turned out to be hidden (and they were too different, since the companies had their hands free in the production of their own low-level formats, and the user did not care), defects were flagged at the factory, and universality increased. Good as in a fairy tale.

Now back to the bads and their varieties. Depending on the nature of the origin, all of them can be divided into two large groups: logical and physical.

Physical and logical defects

Surface defects can be associated with the gradual deterioration of the magnetic coating of the disks, the smallest dust particles leaked through the filter, the kinetic energy of which, dispersed inside the drive to tremendous speeds, is sufficient to damage the surface of the disks (however, most likely they will slide off the disk under the action of centrifugal forces and will be delayed by the internal filter, but they can catch it), the result of mechanical damage upon impact, in which small ones can break out of the surface e particles, which then in turn will also knock out other particles, and the process will go like an avalanche (such particles will also roll off the plates under the action of centrifugal forces, but much longer and harder, as they will be held by the forces of magnetic attraction. that a collision of a head hovering at a very low altitude will occur with them, which will cause its heating and performance degradation - signal distortions will occur, the result is reading errors), I heard (I have such statistics em) that smoking at the computer can do the same, since tobacco resins can penetrate the hard drive’s air filter (which have it), causing the heads to stick to the plates (damage to the surface and heads), simply settling on the surface, and thereby changing performance, etc.

Such sectors are unusable and should be excluded from circulation. Their restoration is not possible either at home or in the conditions of service centers. It will be good if one of them succeeds in at least recovering information. The speed of the process of this type of surface destruction is individual. If the number of bads does not grow or grows very slightly, then you can seriously not be afraid (although to do backup  still worth it) if the growth is fast, then the disk will have to be replaced, and, moreover, be in a hurry. With this type of bad, you can reassign blocks to a reserve surface: it makes sense in the absence of progression. But this is not right now. This is if we talk about the data area. As already noted, official information is also stored on the plates. In use, it may also be destroyed. This can be much more painful than a normal user surface.

The fact is that servo information is actively used in the process of work: according to servo marks, the speed of rotation of the disks is stabilized, the head is held above a given cylinder regardless of external influences. Minor damage to servo information can go unnoticed. Serious damage to the servo format may render some part of the disk or the entire disk inaccessible. Since the drive program uses servoinformation and it is critical for ensuring normal functioning and, in general, due to its specificity, things are much more complicated with it. Some hard drives allow you to disable failed servo tracks. Restoring them is only possible at the factory using special expensive and complex equipment (we will estimate approximately the costs of such repairs of a non-warranty hard drive and understand that it would be right to call this kind of bads incorrigible).

Physical bads can also include bad sectors, the appearance of which is due to malfunctions of the electronic or mechanical part of the drive, for example, breakage of heads, serious mechanical damage as a result of an impact - jamming of the positioner coil or disks, displacement of disks. The actions here can be different and depend on the specific situation, if, for example, the head breaks off (such bads appear because an attempt is made to access a surface that cannot be accessed (which does not mean that something is wrong with surface)), then, for example, you can often turn it off (or you can change it in the conditions of specialized service centers, only the cost of the operation makes you seriously think about its advisability (in most cases the answer is no), unless of course we are not talking about bhodimosti restore very valuable information (but that's another story)).

In general, this type of damage is characterized by a catastrophic nature. Those. As you can see, physical problems are not treated, only some “softening” of their presence is possible. With logical bad sectors, the situation is simpler. Some of them are treatable. In most cases, due to write errors. The following categories can be distinguished:

1. The simplest case: file system errors. The sector is marked in the FAT as bad, but in fact it is not. Previously, some viruses used this technique when they needed to find a secluded place not accessible by simple means on a small volume of the hard drive. Now this technique is not relevant, since it is not difficult to hide a couple of megabytes (or even a couple of tens of megabytes) in the bowels of Windows. In addition, so someone could just make a joke on an unlucky user (such programs came across). And in general, the file system is a fragile thing, it is treated very easily and absolutely without consequences.

2. Irreparable logical bads - typical for old hard drives using a record with identifier fields. If you have such a disk, then you may well encounter them. Due to the incorrect format of the physical address recorded for this sector, a checksum error for it, etc. Accordingly, it is impossible to appeal to him. In fact, they are recoverable, but at the factory. Since I already said that recording technology without identifier fields is now used, this variety can be considered irrelevant.

3. Correctable logical bads. Not so rare, especially on some types of drives, the type of bad blocks. The origin is mainly due to disk write errors. It is not possible to read from such a sector, since the ECC code usually does not correspond to the data in it, and recording is usually impossible, since a preliminary check of the space to be written is performed before recording, and since problems have already been detected with it, writing to this area is rejected. Those. it turns out the block cannot be used, although physically the surface occupied by it in perfect order. Defects of this kind can sometimes be caused by errors in the firmware of the hard drive, can be triggered software  or technical reasons (for example, a power outage and its fluctuation, leaving the head to an unacceptable height during recording, etc.). But if it is possible to match the contents of the sector and its ECC code, then such blocks pass without a trace. Moreover, this procedure is not complicated, and the means for its implementation are widely available, and, in general, harmless.

4. The appearance of bad blocks of this type on hard drives is due to the peculiarities of the production technology: two absolutely identical devices never exist, some of their parameters will certainly differ. When preparing hard drives at the factory, a set of parameters is determined for each one that ensures the best functioning of this particular instance, the so-called adaptives. These parameters are saved, and if they are somehow mysteriously damaged, the result may be a complete disk inoperability, its unstable operation, or a large number of  bad sectors appearing and disappearing in one place or another. At home, nothing can be done about it, but everything can be set up at the factory or at a service center.

As you can see, only two types of logical bad blocks are really treated at home. If necessary, others can be replaced with backup ones, but not cured. Nothing can be done with the third at home. We will talk about how and what to do in the first two cases next time.

To be continued