Letter. Difficult question for the site administrator site and please answer plain language in order to be understandable to the average user.
How to check HDD for performance, and most importantly, is it possible to remove bad sectors from the hard disk or, as they are called, bad blocks, which, as it turned out, are of several types:
- physical (crumbling magnetic layer of working plates, chips, etc.),
- logical (sector logic errors), logical bad blocks, can also be attributed software bads, that is, soft-bads (file system errors).
Before writing to you, I have been investigating this issue for quite some time and I realized that ordinary user superficial and inaccurate information is known, namely: many people think that all bad sectors or bad blocks are removed by regular formatting, but this is not so. It turns out that it is impossible to remove physical bads at all, and logical ones only with the help of special programs and only software bad blocks or soft bads (file system errors) can be removed using the usual Windows tools, for example, using or regular formatting. Why am I all this.
Recently, I had to go to a service center about the strange behavior of my computer. Firstly, periodic freezes were observed, lasting for several seconds, and sometimes for good, I had to restart the computer Reset button. Occasionally, strange clicks and creaks were heard from the hard drive. Strange folders without names were found in the system. The simple process of copying a file from one hard drive partition to another took an awfully long time. Also, the operating system often checked the hard disk for errors when the computer was turned on, and the last time it issued BOOTMGR is missing on a black screen, given error restored with installation disk seven, but a day later, when booting up, the computer gave out just a black screen, I thought enough was enough and contacted the service center.
IN service center a technician checked my hard drive free program HDDScan.
Unfortunately, the master did not explain anything when checking, he showed me only after checking the presence of 12 bad blocks (English bad sector, bad block, bad sectors-damaged) marked in blue by the program. Another 90 sectors were marked in red, they were not bad blocks yet, but their response time was not good, more than 500 ms.
The wizard also showed me the S.M.A.R.T of my hard drive and recognized it as not very good, since the most important parameter is Reallocated Sector Count, which indicates the number of remapped sectors (when the disk detects a read / write error, the sector is marked “remapped”, and data from the damaged sector or in other words, the physical bad block is transferred to the spare area) is almost critical, it is responsible for the physical defects of the hard disk that cannot be fixed.
Another parameter, Current Pending Errors Count, which is responsible for the number of sectors that are difficult to read and is very different from reading a normal sector, was also marked in yellow, which indicated its poor condition. The expert’s advice was this: Transfer all important data from the hard drive and “treat” it in this HDDScan program, but since there are a lot of bad blocks, most likely, it will not be possible to fix all of them and it will no longer be possible to install the operating system on it, in Subsequently, you need to use this hard drive as a file storage or, as they say, a file trash can, only in this way, it will live for some more time.
I listened to the master and left the hard drive in the service for "treatment" until the evening, and in the evening I was shown the result.
Not a single bad sector (bad block), but there were 12. The number of sectors with a response time of more than 500 ms has become less (it was 90, but it became 23),
one of the critical S.M.A.R.T indicators - 197 Current Pending Errors Count-responsible, as I said, for the number of sectors, the reading of which is difficult, has become normal, the parameter 198 Uncorrectable Errors Count- the number of uncorrected errors when accessing the sector also became within the normal range, but the most important Reallocated Sector Count indicator, according to him, did not change and remained unsatisfactory, so the conclusion is this: the operating system cannot be installed on this hard disk.
And I have a question for you, explain in detail, how to check hard drive on aptitude on my own, how to determine how much I have bad sectors and what are they? How to use programs like HDDScan, and most importantly, how to get rid of bad blocks with it. What exactly does the program do with the hard drive, ridding it of bad blocks, and for how long will such hard drive treatment help? Is it still possible to install an operating system on this hard drive or not? And the last question, the unrecoverable parameter S.M.A.R.T - Reallocated Sector Count can still be fixed and whether the physical bads are actually unrecoverable at all, on many forums on the Internet they say that there are proprietary utilities of hard drive manufacturers that can perform low-level formatting at home. Alexander Anatolievich. Tomsk.
How to check hard drive
Friends, they say brevity - sister of talent, one of my friends, after reading this question, answered it like this:- “You can’t fix a scratch with anything, but a soft bad is treated with zero.”
The topic is not simple, but relevant, the article is long, but I tried to make it understandable to a simple user. To make it easier to understand everything, I suggest that during the article, step by step check the MAXTOR STM3250310AS hard drive installed in the computer that was brought to our service for repair with the free HDDScan program. The operating system installed on the hard drive freezes from time to time, refuses to boot, giving various errors or just a black screen. The hard drive creaks and clicks, (I will explain why below). Reinstalling Windows did not help the case and the owners of the computer do not know what to do.
So how to check hard drive status? This can be done by various tests in the HDDScan program, first we check the S.M.A.R.T indicators this hard drive, then we will test the surface of the hard drive, find no less than 63 bad sectors and our program will fix them all, another question is for how long (read on).
- But first, very brief information about how a hard drive is nevertheless arranged, if this digression is not made, you simply will not understand the principle of operation of the HDDScan program and other similar programs, all the more you will not understand what S.M.A.R.T is, as well as bad sectors (bad blocks) and why some of them cannot be fixed.
The hard disk is made of aluminum or glass plates coated with a layer of ferromagnetic material. A hard disk is primarily a device that works on the principle of magnetic recording. Magnetic heads that read, write or erase information from a hard disk hover above its surface at a height of 10-12 nm and never touch the surface magnetic disk which is easily damaged.
- At the final stage of hard drive production, low-level formatting, that is, tracks are applied to the working plates of the hard disk, each track is divided into sectors. Also, special magnetic servo marks are applied to the magnetic surface of the hard disk, they are needed to accurately hit the magnetic head of the hard drive on the tracks of the hard disk. Minimum unit information on the hard disk is a sector, the amount available to the user is 512 bytes of data. Low-level formatting in the life of a hard disk occurs only once, friends, and only on special and very expensive factory equipment - called Servowriter. Information written using this formatting will never be overwritten. In any service, friends, such formatting cannot be done. Therefore, my answer to the question is it possible to carry out low-level formatting using operating system, the answer will be - no, you can’t. Low-level formatting can only be done at the factory, it even destroys tracks, sectors and magnetic servos. For example, in the program, Victoria overwrites all information on the hard disk by filling all sectors with zeros, this cannot be called low-level formatting, but it cannot be called formatting either, it is something in between. After the Write mode, all sectors of the hard disk are filled with zeros and do not contain any errors, and it can be formatted into the file system using Windows tools.
- At the factory, only service information is written to the sectors ( servo-information servo-service, for example, the physical address of the sector and the address marker that determines the beginning of the sector), this information can be called markup, it is necessary for the normal operation of the hard disk, this is information about the numbers of tracks and sectors, which is necessary for the heads to correctly hit these tracks and sectors when reading information recorded in them.
After purchasing the hard drive, user data will also be written to this area later (for example, the first sector of the hard drive will contain the main boot record MBR), but user data can be written and erased, in contrast to service information, which has a much higher magnetization, which is why the read-write heads of the drive can't rub it.
All service information about track and sector numbers will be stored in a special table located in a closed and inaccessible to OS and BIOS tools service area, which is a mini-operating system, together with Firmware, they control the operation of the hard disk. Sometimes they ask the question - Do I sometimes need to update the firmware of the hard drive, the answer is no, modern hard drives do not need to be updated. This SA will also store the disk passport, SMART attribute values, as well as a defect table with information about unrecoverable or reassigned bad sectors (bad blocks).
So we got with you to the physical, logical and software bad sectors.
The fact is friends, if the operating system has problems reading data from any sector, then the hard drive controller makes several additional attempts to read the data, if they are also unsuccessful, this sector is recognized as a failure, then information is written to the normal sector , located on the backup track, and the problem sector is recognized as a failure and removed from circulation, this is called ( Remapping , in the common people remap).
- Friends, whether to remap or not is decided only by the hard disk controller during operation, and not by any programs for working with the hard drive (Victoria, MHDD). These programs can only hint with their tests (for example, Advanced REMAP in the Victoria program - an improved algorithm for hiding bad blocks) to the hard drive controller that a REMAP needs to be done.
The fact that a sector is recognized as bad is entered in the defect table with information about unrecoverable or reassigned bad sectors located in the service area.
By the way, there are two defect tables, one initial P-list (Primary-list) is created after the final factory tests, any friends hard drive already has several reassigned bad blocks when it leaves the factory. Well, the growing G-list (Grown-list) table of defects is filled in as we use the hard disk.
What are bad sectors and how to fix them?
- Physical bad sectors are mechanical defects in the magnetic coating of the hard disk surface (crumbling magnetic layer of working plates, chips, etc.). That is, the sector structure itself is physically faulty, such a bad block is undoubtedly subject to reassignment as a normal sector from the backup track. Very often this happens due to an impact caused, for example, by a hard drive falling to the floor, mechanical damage to the magnetic coating of the hard drive, damage to the magnetic heads, the same can happen due to overheating. Vibration of the hard drive is also dangerous if it is not securely fixed. A dusty room, smoking, despite the filter installed in the hard drive, also play a huge role in the formation of bad blocks, tobacco tar and dust stick to the surface of the hard drive and interfere with reading information.
- Physical bad blocks impossible fix it with no formatting, you can only reassign spare sectors from backup tracks, naturally, because of this, performance will drop somewhat, since the magnetic head of the hard drive will have to make many additional movements, looking for information on the reassigned sectors from backup tracks.
Why does the hard drive creak and clicks sometimes when working
When the operating system encounters a bad sector, the hard disk controller makes several attempts to read information from it, while clicks and creaks can be emitted by the hard drive head positioner.
The following reason may also be the cause of clicks and creaking of the hard drive. When reassigning a bad sector to a normal one from a backup track (which is not always nearby), the magnetic head naturally has to change direction, as many people say, jump from side to side.
The third reason - as I said above, in the manufacture of a hard drive, a special marking of the magnetic surface of hard drives is made with special servo marks, these servo marks serve for precise positioning of the magnetic head on the tracks of the hard drive, it is with the help of servo marks that the magnetic head of the hard drive moves correctly. Sometimes servo tags are destroyed for the same reasons that physical bad blocks are formed and the magnetic head cannot take and hold the position it needs, while clicks and creaks are heard from the hard drive.
- Logic bad blocks(sector logic errors), in turn divided into correctable and incorrigible. In which case logical bad block cannot be fixed? As I said above, each sector, in addition to user information, also contains service information (servo information, for example, the physical address of the sector and the address marker that determines the beginning of the sector), in simple words marking, with the help of which the magnetic head of the hard drive gets to the desired tracks of the sectors, such marking is applied by low-level formatting at the factory during the manufacture of the hard drive. This information it is almost impossible to remove it since it is highly magnetized, but under certain circumstances, similar to the causes of the appearance of physical bad blocks (shock, vibration, bearing play, and so on), this information is violated and it can be restored only in the factory. Yes, there are special proprietary utilities that overwrite service information, but due to the complexity of their application, this issue is difficult even for narrow specialists and we will not consider it.
- Logic bad blocksthat can be corrected. When writing to the user information sector, a portion of service information is additionally recorded, the so-called ECC sector checksum (Error Correction Code), given code allows you to recover data if they were read with an error. But sometimes this code is not written, and accordingly the sum of user data in the sector does not match the ECC checksum. One of simple examples why this happens, you can cause a sudden shutdown of the computer due to power failures, because of this, information was written to the hard disk sector, but there was no checksum. The next time the operating system will access this sector and try to read data from it, but they will not match the ECC checksum, an attempt will be made to read the data again and again unsuccessfully (here you get freezes and a bad bad block).
- Software bad blocks(File system errors - for example, an incorrectly marked sector belonging to two files) can be removed by means of the operating system -, more reliably, by regular formatting.
You will say that all this is good and understandable, but how to get rid of bad blocks, can you transfer data from the hard drive and format it in the operating system installer?
When formatting by all means available to the operating system, the same attempt will be made to read information from the bad sector, then compare them with the ECC checksum, but it does not match, which means that incorrect information will not be overwritten and the bad sector will remain bad even after formatting. So it turns out that you need a special program, such as MHDD or HDDScan, which will not read anything, but simply force overwriting, usually filling the bad sector with zeros, but then it will read what was written and compare checksum, after which the sector will return to work.
For example, the HDDScan program has the Erase function - Test in linear recording mode (sector-by-sector erasing of data), carefully all your data will be deleted. Unfortunately, nothing will work without deleting the data, therefore, before this test, they must be transferred to another storage medium.
And the best thing is to completely remove your hard drive and connect it to another computer that has the HDDScan program, then run the Erase test and check your entire hard drive. You can not shoot anything, write down boot disks with MHDD or Victoria programs, boot from them and run these programs with the Advanced remap function, but we will do this in other articles.
Now friends go directly to working with the HDDScan program, with the help of this program, we will see the complete picture of what is happening with our hard drive, namely, we will find out the S.M.A.R.T of our hard drive and decrypt it, we will also set the number of bad sectors and of course we will try to fix them.
Read more article
Good mood to you all! Friends, in this publication we will consider one very simple and primitive way of how check hard drive for performance and errors using Windows 7, 8 and 10.
This method is very well suited for beginners, as well as for identifying bad sectors of a hard drive at the stage of their early occurrence. Moreover, in this scenario, you only need to press a couple of buttons.
And in the window that opens, right-click on hard drive. Then in context menu select the "Properties" section:
And after that go along the path "Service-Check":
Sometimes the operating system may display a message stating that, they say, no verification is required. We do not pay any attention to this and confidently click on the "Check disk" item:
When Windows usage 10, the process of scanning the disk will automatically start, after which the verdict will be displayed: there are errors or they are not:
If you click on the "Show details" item, the system event log will open, in which you can familiarize yourself with all the details of this process:
When used in your Windows 7 or 8, the service section "Check" will be slightly different from that shown in the article. But this does not change the essence, you just need to check the two existing items and that's it.
Also, in these versions of the operating system, when checking with the letter C, you will need to reboot the system, since a message will be displayed that this moment the disk is busy and diagnostics will not run.
That's all, friends, now you know exactly how to check the hard drive for health and errors using Windows 7, 8 and 10. And already in we will consider a more advanced method. And in the end, as always, you can watch a scary video.
The hard drive is an extremely important hardware component of a PC. Therefore, the user may need to solve problems related to testing the hard drive for errors, as well as correcting them. What tools can be used for this? What are the most common errors in the operation of a hard drive?
What are the problems with the hard drive?
Before considering how to test a hard drive, let's look at what might be the reason for performing the appropriate test. What problems might arise in his work?
To use the utility in question, you need to go to the "Computer" section, then right-click on the hard drive icon. There may be several of them, in which case it makes sense to check each one in turn. After right-clicking on the hard drive icon in the menu that opens, select the "Properties" option. In the window that appears, go to the "Service" tab. Then click on the "Perform verification" button and follow the instructions.
In some Windows versions the utility in question is not configured to test logical drives that host system files OS. But in this case, the "Check Disk" program provides an option: initiating testing of the hard drive during the subsequent boot of the operating system. You can select it and immediately restart Windows: during the startup process, the system itself must ask the user for permission to check the disk on which the system files are located.
So now we know how to test a hard drive with the popular built-in Windows tool — Chkdsk programs. This solution allows you to effectively fix file system errors. But what if the alleged failure of the hard drive is associated with the appearance of bad sectors on it? How to test a laptop or desktop hard drive for appropriate damage?
For these purposes, the widest range of solutions can be used. Some of the most popular programs include:
- Data Lifeguard Diagnostic.
- HDD scan.
- Ashampoo HDD Control.
- Victoria HDD.
- AIDA64 (formerly Everest).
- MHDD.
Let's study their features.
Hard drive testing: Data Lifequard Diagnostic
This program was developed by the Western Digital brand, which is one of the most famous manufacturers in the world. hard drives. How to test the hard drive for errors using this software?
The corresponding program works in several modes. The most informative from the point of view of displaying information about errors on the disk is the Extended Test mode. In particular, it can be found on the surface of hard disk platters. bad sectors. If they are detected, the program will prompt the user to use an algorithm by which bad sectors will be excluded from those used by the hard drive to write and read files.
Hard drive testing: HDD Scan
Another popular solution for checking drives is − HDD program scan. How to test a laptop hard drive or desktop computer with her help?
The application in question also contains several tests. Among those that may be useful to us is the Surface Tests. It, like the previous solution, allows you to analyze the surface of the disk platters for bad sectors. It is noteworthy that the program in question allows you to detect not only bad sectors, but also those that have problems with reading and writing. So, HDD Scan can reveal areas on the surface of hard disk platters, where the reading speed can be dozens of times inferior to normal values. In practice, this may mean, as in the case of bad sectors, it is desirable to exclude the corresponding sections from those used by the hard drive to write files.
Disk testing: Ashampoo
Another popular program is Ashampoo HDD Control. How can I test my hard drive for errors with it?
It should be noted that the application in question contains enough a large number of tools for checking the hard drive, as well as working with detected disk problems. Of these, you can use, for example, the option for testing the surface of the device plates - Test Surface.
Based on the results of the corresponding one, it shows sectors that have high reading rates, as well as bad sectors.
Victoria HDD
The next popular solution for checking hard drives is Victoria HDD. It can be noted that this program allows you to both test a hard drive on Windows 7 (8 or any other), and check the hard drive through the DOS command line.
This feature increases the versatility of the considered solution. In addition, the corresponding software has very good functionality.
So, the program allows you to test the hard drive on bad sectors, reassign their use, classify hard drive surface areas into different categories depending on the speed of reading files from them.
If the English graphical version of the program in question is used, you must run it, then go to the Tests tab. It contains tests on the surface of the hard disk platters. If necessary, you can configure the program's actions when bad sectors are detected:
- ignoring the problem (with its subsequent reflection in the test results);
- sector reassignment;
- removal of sectors;
- recovery of damaged areas of the disk.
If necessary, you can use each of the specified modes of the program in turn.
Hard drive testing: AIDA64 program
Many users are interested in the question of how to test a hard drive. Old versions of the corresponding software are now available on various portals on the Internet. The fact is that in the latest modifications the program is called differently, its name sounds like AIDA64.
It is worth noting that given type The software is one of the most functional solutions in terms of hardware performance testing. So, for example, using the program in question, you can test hard speed disk, and more. It can also be used to measure performance random access memory, processor, flash drives.
The functionality of the program includes various stress tests that involve checking in the mode maximum load The appropriate type of tests can also be carried out on the computer's hard drive.
Check disk for errors: MHDD program
According to IT experts, the MHDD program is one of the most functional solutions for checking hard drives for errors. Considering which program to test the hard drive with, experts can opt for the MHDD solution, because:
- it includes a qualitative test of the surface of hard disk platters;
- it can be launched in a bootable format - for example, from a flash drive, which allows you to test the hard drive before installing any operating system on it;
- the program includes a large number of useful tests, as well as disk repair tools;
- related software for free.
Of course, the solution in question can also work from the operating system. The specific way in which it is better to use it depends on the nature of the disk problem that has arisen, on the hardware configuration on a particular PC, on the specifics of the operating system used, if it is pre-installed on the computer.
MHDD program: testing the disk
Consider a number of practical nuances of using the corresponding popular program. Let's agree that the user has a need to use the boot version of this software. To do this, you need to make a device with which the program will be launched, for example, a USB flash drive or CD.
After the device is ready, you need to configure the boot from it in the BIOS. By the way, the question of how to test a hard drive through BIOS is also asked by many users. Computer manufacturers may well implement the necessary options in the appropriate software interfaces to test the performance of hard drives.
When working with the MHDD program, a nuance should be taken into account: the solution in question does not work with hard drives that are connected to the computer in Slave mode. If this is the case, the disks must be reconnected, and only after that should they be tested.
After launching the program installed on a bootable flash drive or CD, you need to select a specific drive that will be tested. After entering into command line the SCAN command, which initiates a media check. If you do not need to set any additional scan parameters, you need to press F4 to run the corresponding test.
But specify Extra options may still be required. For example, if we talk about the Start LBA option, it is used to specify specific blocks on the hard drive from which the program should check the disk. In turn, the End LBA option is intended to specify those blocks that are checked at the end of disk testing. However, by default, the program checks the entire surface of the hard drive platters.
How to test a hard disk for errors and then reassign bad sectors using the interfaces of the MHDD program? Very simple: the Remap option is used for this. If you select the Erase Delays option, the program will ignore bad sectors, which will speed up the disk check if there are a lot of bad sectors on its surface.
The MHDD disk scanning program works quite informatively: the scanned sectors are displayed on the user's screen in real time. In a separate section of the interface of the corresponding software, the number of different blocks is counted.
Summary
Check hard state disk can be both using the built-in Windows tools, and when using special programs. At the same time, tools of the first type are designed mainly to correct errors in file system, the second - to identify and correct bad sectors in accessible ways.
Specialized ones can be supplied in both graphical and console versions. Some of the relevant solutions can be used in the boot modification: it can be used even if the computer does not have an operating system installed.
Note: how to test external hard disk, practically does not differ from the procedure for testing the built-in hard drive. For this, the same solutions can be applied, the main thing is to correctly connect them to the PC. But this is possible only if the computer supports those communication interfaces through which the connection is supposed to be made. external hard disk.
Good day.
The hard drive is one of the most valuable pieces of hardware in a PC! Knowing in advance that something is wrong with it, you can transfer all the data to other media without loss. More often hard testing a disk is spent when buying a new disk, or when various kinds of problems appear: files are copied for a long time, the PC freezes when opening (accessing) the disk, some files stop being read, etc.
On my blog, by the way, there are quite a few articles on problems with hard drives (hereinafter referred to as HDD). In the same article, I would like to collect in a "heap" best programs(which I have dealt with) and recommendations for working with the HDD.
1.Victoria
Official site: http://hdd-911.com/
Rice. 1. Victoria43 - the main window of the program
Victoria is one of the most famous testing and diagnostics of hard disks. Its advantages over other programs of this class are obvious:
- has an ultra-small distribution size;
- very fast work speed;
- a lot of tests (information about the state of the HDD);
- works directly with hard drive;
- free
By the way, I have an article on my blog about how to check the HDD for bads in this utility:
2.HDAT2
Rice. 2. hdat2 - main window
Service utility for working with hard drives (testing, diagnostics, treatment of bad sectors, etc.). The main and main difference from the famous Victoria is the support for almost any disk with interfaces: ATA/ATAPI/SATA, SSD, SCSI and USB.
3.CrystalDiskInfo
Rice. 3. CrystalDiskInfo 5.6.2 - S.M.A.R.T readings. disk
Free utility for diagnostics of hard disk. During operation, the program not only displays S.M.A.R.T. disk (by the way, she does it perfectly, on many forums when solving certain problems with the HDD - they ask for readings from this particular utility!), But it also keeps a record of its temperature, it shows general information about HDD.
Main advantages:
Support external USB disks;
- HDD health and temperature monitoring;
- S.M.A.R.T. data;
- Manage AAM/APM settings (useful if your hard drive is noisy for example: ).
4.HD Life
Rice. 4. Main window of HDDlife V.4.0.183
This utility is one of the best of its kind! It allows you to constantly monitor the status of ALL your hard drives and notifies you in time of problems. For example:
- there is little disk space left, which can affect performance;
- exceeding the normal temperature range;
- bad SMART disk readings;
- the hard drive "left" not long to live ... and so on.
By the way, thanks to this utility, you can (approximately) estimate how long your HDD will last. Well, unless, of course, there is a force majeure ...
5.Scanner
Rice. 5. Analysis occupied place on HDD (scanner)
A small utility for working with hard drives, which allows you to get a pie chart of the occupied space. Such a chart allows you to quickly assess what is being spent on hard drive space and delete unnecessary files.
By the way, such a utility allows you to save a lot of time if you have several hard drives and are full of all sorts of files (many of which you no longer need, and “manually” searching and evaluating is dreary and long).
That's all. Have a good weekend everyone. For additions and comments to the article, as always, thank you!
A hard drive is a storage medium that stores all of your computer's information. It is for this reason that it is important to monitor the condition of the HDD and regularly conduct diagnostics in order to troubleshoot in a timely manner. This is ideal, but before encountering problems with the drive, users often do not even think about how the hard drive is diagnosed, and why it is needed at all. If your computer and the information on it is of any importance to you, take the time to read the manual, which will help you learn how to check hard work disk using the software, without spending a lot of time on it.
We check the performance of the built-in Windows tools
If you do not have the time or skills to use the special software needed to diagnose the HDD, you can use what is built into Windows from the very beginning. Actions are simple:
Through the explorer or the "My Computer" shortcut, go to the HDD.
Right-click on the drive icon, then select "Properties" from the menu that opens.
On the page that appears, click on the "Service" tab located at the top. Click Check.
Wait for the built-in program to finish checking the health of your drive.
Unfortunately, this method is not as effective as diagnostics using special software - it can only point out some errors and push the user to more serious scanning of sectors. A more serious approach is needed to thoroughly scan and eliminate malfunctions and damage.
Scanning the HDD in third-party software
There are a lot of programs with which you can find out about the presence of hard drive errors, as well as deal with their removal, and parsing instructions for using each of them is a very long and complicated matter. For this reason, below you can familiarize yourself with the method, which involves the use of the popular Victoria programs. Choosing another software, remember that the principle of operation of applications for diagnosing disks is practically the same from program to program. Here is the instruction for Victoria:
Run the application as an administrator by calling the menu with the right mouse button on the program shortcut.
In the application window that opens, at the top, find the Standard tab and click on it.
On new page you will see a list of media detected by your system - they are listed on the top right side of the application. Select your HDD, then click the Passport button. If you've done everything right and the media is available for use, Victoria will let you know right away.
Click on the SMART tab, usually located next to the tab you previously opened. Here you need to select Get SMART and wait for approval from the application.
Go to the TEST section, then press the START button to start diagnosing your HDD.
During the verification process, Victoria will display the status of the HDD with a grid of squares. Gray squares indicate that everything is fine - for the normal operation of the equipment, either all or the vast majority of all sectors should be like that. Red squares are damaged sectors that hang like a dead weight and interfere with the operation of the drive.
If you have blue squares - unreadable sectors, they must be rescanned in Victoria with the Remap mode enabled.
Now you know how to check the media status.
Remember that over time there are more and more unreadable sectors on the disk - they appear as a result of mechanical deformations, intensive use of memory, and also for numerous other reasons. This is normal and can be compared to the wearer aging.
Share the article with your friends so that they also know about it, and also learn how to diagnose HDD errors on their own. Don't forget to subscribe to our updates so you don't miss out on new exciting content!
