· The system slows down, even if it has just been installed.
· BSOD appears when working in Windows OS ( Blue screen of death).
· The system does not start at all.
· Can't install the operating system.
· Inability to work with the disk because the files cannot be opened
· When working with external hard drives, files cannot be opened.
Sector bits (BAD) - these are sectors located on the surface hard drive, which are poorly readable or not readable at all.
As a rule, the reason why HDD starts to work poorly - these are bad sectors.
There are 2 types of bad sectors - some arise as a result of physical impact on the surface of the hard drive (surface scratches), others - as a result of errors software, they are called logical bad sectors.
Only “Logical” bad sectors can be corrected. In order to correct such blocks, you need to overwrite them with zeros (the so-called low-level formatting), and in the future you can continue working with such sectors.
Reasons for the appearance of bad (BAD) sectors
The reasons why “Logical” bad sectors could appear is a sector of the hard drive that does not work properly, namely, does not respond to system requests (it cannot be read or cannot write data to it). When the system operates with such a sector, the system tries to access this block in order to obtain data for processing information, but the sector does not respond or responds incorrectly, in this case the system marks such a block as not working (broken) and will not access it again in the future appeals.
The reasons why “Physical” bad sectors could appear is the surface of the hard drive, with which the head could come into contact and cause a small light scratch (this can happen if the drive is shaken or hit while it is in use), or the surface could be damaged by dust or moisture that got inside the drive. In the case of SSD drives, bad sectors can appear as a result of wear, overheating of the chips or moisture. Broken sectors that were discovered after such physical impact cannot be corrected.
Ways to fix bad sectors
In order to fix bad (BAD) sectors on your PC or laptop and restore normal operation of the hard drive, you need to use third-party programs.
You may also have heard about utilities built into the Windows OS that supposedly can help fix such blocks, but the most they can do is mark such sectors as not working and not access them again. I also do not recommend using any programs that offer to fix bad (BAD) sectors under Windows. This type of program works with hard drive accessing it while fixing blocks, so using such programs does not provide much of a guarantee that the bad sector will be fixed.
Consider 2 programs that are most likely to be able to fix bad sectors and restore the functionality of your hard drive.
MHDD Program
We can also zero out all sectors that are on the surface of our hard drive. We will completely erase all information from each block, and we will be able to bring the speed of the hard drive as close as possible to the factory state. In order to carry out the procedure of mashing each hard block disk, you must enter the command “Erase” in the line, agree to all warnings and wait for the end of the low-level formatting process. 
Having completed the procedures described above, we can easily get rid of “Logical” bad sectors.
What to do with “Physical” bad sectors? For this purpose, the hard drive manufacturer provided reserve space (reserve sectors), which can be replaced with broken ones. Modern hard drives do Remap on their own if such a sector suddenly appears on the surface, but sometimes they skip them, which is why the laptop or computer drive slows down. In this case, you can resort to the “REMAP” program function.
The “REMAP” option, when a bad sector is detected, tells the hard drive firmware that when reading or writing a given block, the drive accesses the spare sector, replacing the bad one. This method good if there are not many bad sectors (no more than 50-70).
In order to remap bad sectors using the MHDD program, you must enter the command “SCAN”, in the window that appears, select the item “Remap” and set its value to “ON”, after that press key “F 4” and watch the scanning process. We carry out this procedure only after we have tried to zero out the found sectors, so as not to mistakenly mark “Logical” bad blocks as “Physical”. 
Also, if there are a large number of bad sectors, the last option is hard repair disk volume will decrease. This way we can cut off a part of the disk that has a very large number of “Physical” bad sectors, sacrificing disk space.
In order to complete this procedure, you must enter the command “HPA" and specify the values for trimming the drive. 
The first value that needs to be specified in the future will be the end of the hard drive. The drive is trimmed from the end. The value is 10,000 more than the number of the last bad sector, which is displayed in the status line. In my case, this value will be 380515. 
Victoria program
The Victoria program is similar to the previous program, but has slightly wider functionality; you can read the article on how to use, how to install and how to run this program.
After installing and launching the program, select the hard drive we need (if you have 2 or more).
After selecting, press the “F 4” key; in the window that appears, we are interested in 2 items.
1. In the first paragraph, select “Linear reading”, this configuration will alternately read and write all blocks of the hard drive. We select it, as it will most accurately show the presence of bad sectors
2. In the second paragraph, select “BB: Erase 256 sect”. By selecting this option, when scanning and detecting bad sectors on the surface of the hard drive, the program will try to erase such a block. This method will only fix “Logical” bad sectors.
After selecting the necessary parameters, press “Enter" and monitor the progress of the scan. 
After the scanning is completed, but the bad sectors remain, you need to use the “ Remap” function.
To do this, we follow the same steps, press the “F 4” key and in the field where Ignore Bad Block is installed, set “Advanced Remap”. This parameter can help even if regular Remap is powerless; this is the advantage of the Victoria program over the previous one. After selecting the desired parameter, press “Enter" and monitor the progress of the scan.
Conclusion
By performing the above operations with your damaged hard drive, you can bring it as close as possible to its factory condition. The suggested programs should help you repair and restore your drive, but there are times when hard drives cannot be restored. The reason for this is a large number of “Physical” bad sectors that have taken up all the reserve space and there is nowhere to repartition them; in this case, it is necessary to copy all the information to another location and replace the drive.
Good morning everyone!
I think that many users have encountered suspicious work hard disk: long copying/reading of files, brakes, loading up to 100%, clicking, inability to read any files, etc.
This kind of disk behavior may indicate serious problems with him. In order to determine what is wrong with it, you have to resort to specialized service utilities.
In this article I want to highlight a few best utilities ah, who can view the S.M.A.R.T readings. (special hard drive self-monitoring technology), check the disk surface for the presence of bad blocks and try to restore its functionality (that is, try to reassign bad sectors to backup ones, see the link below for more details).
👉 To help!
How to check a disk using the Victoria utility -
Victoria/Victoria
One of the best utilities for checking and treating bad blocks on your hard drive. The program performs testing, diagnostics, and treatment of the disk at a low level. In addition to HDD, Victoria supports other types of media: SSD, FDD, CD/DVD, USB/Flash/SCSI, and also “sees” drives under Windows via API and ports.
Note: I described how to work with Victoria in one.
Main features:
- support for IDE/SATA controllers;
- ability to view S.M.A.R.T. disk;
- the ability to control acoustic noise;
- tests to check the mechanics and surface of the disc;
- obtaining full technical disk information;
- ability to work under Windows and DOS;
- Supports work on laptops;
- support for low-level HDD formatting;
- Benchmark functions.
HDDScan
One of best programs for check hard drives from under Windows. Allows you to quickly assess the condition of the hard drive, check the drive for bad sectors, view S.M.A.R.T. attributes.
In addition, the program allows you to manage power, adjust the acoustic mode, and monitor the temperature of the drive (data can be displayed on the taskbar).
Main features:
- Support for SSD drives;
- Support HDD with interfaces: ATA/SATA, SCSI, USB, FireWire or IEEE 1394;
- Drive test in linear verification, linear reading and linear writing modes;
- Reading and analysis of identification information from hard drives with ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire/SCSI interfaces;
- Changing the AAM, APM, PM parameters on drives with ATA/SATA/USB/FireWire interfaces (useful for those whose hard drive is very noisy during operation);
- Works in all popular Windows OS: XP, 7, 8, 10.
HDTA2
HDAT2- system utility, necessary for diagnosing and “treating” hard drives. One of the main differences between this utility and Victoria (presented above) is its support for a much larger type of disk (note: supported interfaces: ATA/ATAPI/SATA, SSD, SCSI and USB).
HDAT2 can operate in 2 modes:
- disk level: diagnostics and “treatment” of bad sectors on identified drives. By the way, in addition to diagnostics, you can get any information about the disk (which can only be obtained programmatically);
- file level: search, read and check records in FAT 12, 16, 32 file systems. Ability to check, delete and restore records of bad sectors and flags in the FAT table.
On the developer's website, use the version "CD/DVD Boot ISO image"- it must be correctly written to a flash drive/disk, like any other bootable media. You can read about this in one of my articles: .
MHDD
Developer's website: http://mhddsoftware.com/
MHDD is a service utility for accurate diagnostics and repair of drives (HDD). The utility allows you to work with disks at a low level, through the ports of the IDE controller. The program has enough high speed scanning and “curing” the disk from “soft”-bad sectors.
Main functions:
- accurate and very fast diagnosis hard state disk, optimal algorithm for fixing bad sectors;
- the ability to adjust the noise from the drive (AAM);
- viewing S.M.A.R.T. readings;
- error logs;
- the ability to delete all information on the disk without the possibility of restoring it;
- an attempt to warm up the drive and test it under extreme conditions;
- the ability to test several hard drives at once.
Macrorit Disk Scanner
Macrorit Disk Scanner is a good and working tool for checking your hard drive for bad sectors. By the way, I want to especially note that the utility scans the disk very quickly- 1.5-2 times faster than, say, the famous Victoria! True, it will not help “cure” the disk - it simply does not have the functionality that Victoria has.
You can scan the entire disk or a specific range of sectors (useful on large disks when scanning may take too much time).
The utility allows you to work with all popular types of drives: IDE, HDD, SSD, SCSI, FireWire, RAID, SD cards, etc.
Macrorit Disk Scanner main window
Generally, good alternative previous programs, especially when you need to quickly and easily find out the status of the disk.
Ashampoo HDD Control
A multifunctional program for monitoring the status of all your drives in the system. Thanks to minute-by-minute monitoring of the status of your disks, the program will prevent the loss of information by warning you in time about any problems.
By the way, anyone who has used products from Ashampoo knows that their programs are designed so that any novice user can work with the program simply and easily. HDD Control is no exception to this rule; anyone who wants it can figure it out...
Main functions:
- monitoring the status of drives online;
- the ability to test the drive (several tests are available to get a “complete picture” of the drive’s condition);
- notification of dangerous disk conditions leading to failure or possible loss of information;
- possibility of disk defragmentation;
- support for drives with interface: IDE, ATA, hard drives connected via USB and Firewire;
- supports disks connected via RAID controllers;
- viewing disk information: registration number, cache size, number of partitions, etc.;
- It is possible to quickly clean the disk from junk files;
- the ability to export data on the disk status and tests performed.
No matter how good the readings are after testing and diagnosing the disk, do not forget to back up important documents and files. As they say, once a year the stick shoots...
One of the biggest troubles for PC owners can be damaged sectors on the hard drive. Such sectors are called “broken,” and the hard disk itself with such damage is said to have begun to “crumble.”
The location of such damage directly determines the ability to turn on/off the computer. If the sectors where the files are located fail operating system, then the PC will not turn on. If we are talking about sectors where other files are located, then the user will have the opportunity to boot the machine. Depending on this feature, the method for eliminating bad sectors of the hard drive is selected.
What to do
With this type of damage, you need to open “My Computer” and select right click mouse the desired disk. Next, from the proposed options, select “Properties”, then “Service” and “Run check”. You need to check the box “Automatically correct system errors” and “Scan and repair bad sectors”. By clicking “Start”, the user starts checking the hard drive for damage. After this, you are instructed to restart the PC.
In the second case, you should have a disk with a virtual operating system or a Windows installation disk at hand. To start the computer, you need to insert the disk into the drive and turn on the machine in normal mode. All further actions are similar to those described in the previous paragraph. When working with the installation disk, a menu will appear with the option to select the “Restore System” command. As a result, the hard drive will be checked for bad sectors, and any damage found will be repaired.
Special programs
You can also check and restore your hard drive using a program launched through the recovery console. The Recovery Console itself can be launched without a boot disk. To do this, press the F8 key and select Safe Mode, which supports the command line. After the console is loaded, the partition with Windows installed on it is selected. It is necessary to ensure that the partition matches the disk, after which the administrator password is entered. After the appropriate prompt appears in the line, enter the disk name, route and file name. Using the “Enter” key, the user starts the recovery process.
Thus, when checking the “C” partition of the hard drive, you need to launch the System Recovery Console and issue the command chkdsk c: /f /r. It’s easy to prevent such a nuisance in the future - for this you need to acquire special programs, for example, MHDD. Such
In this article we will talk about bad sectors on the hard drive what they are and how to treat them. But first, let's find out where they come from?
Everyone knows that the hard drive consists clusters- these are miniature cells. Each of the clusters is a logical storage of information where files are constantly written. The combination of all clusters ensures the correct operation of the entire computer.
Bad block or damaged sector- this is an unreadable sector of the disk that contains bad memory cells.
Such a hard drive is no longer suitable for working with the operating system, but you can try to use it as an external drive, like a “large-capacity flash drive.” If you use such a hard drive for data storage, it is advisable to cut off the place where the bad blocks are located using a program for working with hard drives. For example, Acronis DiskDirector.
Bad sector on the hard drive
Most common cause of bad sectors- this is the natural wear and tear of the drive, i.e. If the hard drive has been working for many years, then simply due to the large number of write and read cycles to a particular sector, the hard drive begins to slowly but surely fail. As a rule, this is more than 10,000 hours of work. This increases the access time to the sector, i.e. for a new working cell it is about 10-15 ms, while indicators of more than 150 ms indicate severe wear of the drive. If one sector fails, then others will soon begin to fail, which means you should think about replacing the hard drive, or at least copying the information you need.
We’ve figured out why bad sectors appear, now we’ll discuss how to identify them.
Victoria
Maybe you already know about the program Victoria is a program specially created for in-depth diagnostics of the hard drive. Victoria is available in 2 versions: with and without a graphical shell (DOS version).
Received Smart in the Victoria program
This is an already tested hard drive, and its main parameters are shown here, i.e. data SMART. During the surface test, you can get the response time to a request for each sector. The time is indicated from 5 milliseconds to 1.5 seconds and higher, the lower the better, the faster our hard drive reacts.
As for Smarta, you can navigate by the number of “”, the more of them, the better. Judging by the number" Hardware ECC recovered"It's time to change the hard drive.
- 1 Raw read error rate 100 253 6 0
- 3 Spin-up time 97 97 0 0
- 4 Number of spin-up times 94 94 20 6522
- 5 Reallocated sector count 100 100 36 0
- 7 Seek error rate 87 60 30 564751929
- 9 Power-on time 83 83 0 14937
- 10 Spin-up retries 100 100 97 0
- 12 Start/stop count 94 94 20 6273
- 187 Reported UNC error 1 1 0 103
- 189 High Fly writes 100 100 0 0
- 190 Airflow temperature 55 48 45 45°C/113°F
- 194 HDA Temperature 45 52 0 45°C/113°F
- 195 Hardware ECC recovered 80 64 0 100816244
- 197 Current pending sectors 100 100 0 0
- 198 Offline scan UNC sectors 100 100 0 0
- 199 Ultra DMA CRC errors 200 200 0 1
- 200 Write error rate 100 253 0 0
- 202 DAM errors count 100 253 0 0
Victoria can also do many other operations with HDD, up to closing sectors.
With this function, bad sectors can be closed, however, this will only slightly delay the failure.
You can download the Victoria program on the website, it is free and does not require installation on your computer.
If, for some reason, you didn’t like Victoria, then there is always an alternative, and many others, such as: Active boot disk, HDD Regenerator, R-Studio etc.
Bad sectors are not healed, but closed, and their space on the disk will be assigned to workers.
Recovering HDD using Victoria
No matter how high-quality your hard drive is, sooner or later problems may arise with it. Improper removal of programs, viruses and harmful applications, wear and tear - all this can lead to breakdown of the hard drive and the appearance of so-called. The latter do not make themselves felt instantly; it will most likely take months before you notice the problem.
What are bad sectors?
For a clearer definition of a bad sector, it’s a good idea to understand the design of your hard drive. In general, it consists of rotating magnetic disks, which are divided into tracks, and these same tracks are in turn divided into sectors. They contain any information that you copy to your hard drive. Disk sectors have one unpleasant property - they deteriorate over time and you lose access to them. And this process is accelerated by incorrect work with the computer.
Computer freezes when trying to access any files, long copying from one partition to another, errors and PC reboots - all this can be a consequence of a large number of bad blocks on your “screw”. Some of them can be corrected, and some cannot be treated. Based on this feature and the nature of the damage, all bad sectors can be divided into two types: physical and logical.
- Physical bads are the result of damage (for example), dust getting inside the hard drive and normal wear and tear of the equipment. The main thing to understand is that in such cases, it can no longer be restored. Even the data from such sectors will be a miracle;
- Logical bads appear under the influence of viruses, file system errors and incorrect recording of information to disk (for example, a sudden shutdown of the computer while copying files or other active work). In such cases, it is not the magnetic coating of the sector that is damaged, but its data. Such broken sectors can be treated and can be corrected using a variety of programs at home.
Programs for recovering bad sectors of a hard drive
Microsoft provides a built-in utility chkdsk for working with hard drives. By default, the utility only checks for errors file system, but if you add the key /f, That chkdsk will check the disk for bad blocks and try to fix them automatically. Of course, there are many alternative solutions from third-party manufacturers for checking the hard drive and fixing bad sectors, which can be easily found on the Internet. Let's talk a little more about the most popular of them:
- Victoria is probably the most popular program for testing hard drives and restoring bad sectors on a hard drive. Can be used not only for treatment, but also for testing equipment. As the developers themselves note, when interacting with a hard drive, it ignores the file system and works at the level of I/O ports. This property ensures the most efficient and high-quality work. In addition, there are two versions of the program, one of which runs directly under Windows, and the other under DOS. The latter is more universal, but is also recommended for use by experienced users.
- MHDD- another popular program that works with equipment through controller ports. It also has two versions (Windows and DOS), both of which are completely free. Very different fast speed work that does not in any way affect its quality. In addition, it displays complete statistics on your device: the number of on and off cycles, the number of spindle revolutions, etc. One downside is the unfriendly interface of the program, which will become a problem for inexperienced users.
- HDD Regenerator- a unique program that, according to the developers, can even restore physical damage. The point is that often physically damaged sectors have incorrect magnetization, which this program eliminates. The rest of the set of characteristics and capabilities is similar to the above utilities.
In conclusion, I would like to note that the main danger of hard drive failure is not in the drives themselves, but in the information that is stored on them. For example, if your video card fails, you can simply replace it. If your hard drive fails, then all the materials that are often so important to us will disappear along with it. Therefore, even if you do not notice signs of poor hard drive performance, test it from time to time. After all, trouble is much easier to prevent than to fix.
A hard drive is a fairly fragile device. Bad sectors are damaged cells for storing information on a hard drive. After using the hard drive for some time, a problem with bad sectors may occur. This is why it is so important to repair bad sectors from time to time.
This is easily done using various programs, but first you need to determine whether there are bad sectors. Our article is about this, as well as how to restore the boot sector of a hard drive.
How to recover damaged disk sectors
There are many ways to repair bad boot sectors on a disk. Let's look at several of these methods in detail.
How to restore sectors via Windows
If it is possible to enter the OS, then restoring the hard drive will not require special effort. To do this, you need to call the context menu of the hard drive and select “Properties”.
In the new window that opens, select the “Service” tab, where we click on the “Run check” item. Check the boxes next to “Automatically correct” system errors" and "check and repair bad sectors." After this we run the check.
If the disk is a system disk, a reboot will occur and the verification process will begin. If the disk is not a system disk, then the test will pass without rebooting.
The system itself will find all errors and perform recovery. After which it will display statistics of the work done.
But sometimes it happens that the OS does not boot due to bad sectors.
How to recover bad sectors if the OS does not start
If Windows does not start, you can take a disk with a virtual system and load the virtual OS. In it, all steps to restore a hard drive are performed in the same way as in the previous section.
If you do not have a virtual disk with the OS, then the Windows installation disk will help. After downloading it, you need to select “System Restore”. The recovery console will appear, where you need to select the local disk with your OS. Usually this is the “C:” drive.
After the reboot, a console will appear where you need to enter the command “CHKDSK [drive:]”, where:
- /F - this is disk check and error correction,
- /R is a search for and recovery of bad sectors.
After this, press “Enter” and wait for the recovery to begin. Then we exit the console and restart the computer. All is ready.
How to restore sectors using programs
To restore bad sectors on a hard drive, there are many programs that can be easily downloaded from the Internet. Let's look at their principle of operation using an example HDD programs Regenerator.
The program restores bad sectors by remagnetizing them again. This is achieved by creating a virtual flash drive.
After installation, launch the program. In the window that opens, several options will appear in Russian. You can restore bad sectors both in the Operating System itself and using a flash drive or regular disk from the console.
The program will check bad sectors (broken) and restore them. To make the most of the program, it is better to use a bootable USB flash drive or disk, which is created after installing the program.
In this article we will talk about recovering bad sectors of a hard drive and the reasons for their occurrence. Step-by-step instructions will help you prepare for this procedure and cope with it yourself.
What are bad sectors?
Let's take a quick look at the structure of the hard drive. It consists of several separate disks, above which there are magnetic heads designed for reading and writing information. When storing data, the heads magnetize certain areas of the disk, which is divided into tracks and smaller components - sectors. It is in them that units of information are stored. If a sector becomes unreadable, it is called “broken”.
Several signs indicate the occurrence of such a problem:
- creaks, rattles, tapping when the disk is operating;
- heating the HDD surface (in in good condition this should not happen);
- Frequent errors when working and starting the operating system.
Typical reasons
The main reasons for the appearance of broken hard drive segments are:
Also, malfunctions in the hard drive may occur due to mechanical damage. They are often caused by dropping a hard drive or computer, resulting in damage to the magnetic surface (for example, during transportation). Non-working parts also appear due to manufacturing defects. In this case, they may not appear immediately, but “crumble” over time, quickly increasing their number to a critical level.
Important! If you suspect mechanical damage or defects, you should immediately contact specialists or exchange the hard drive under warranty.
Recovering bad HDD sectors using Victoria
If the appearance of broken segments is due to software glitches, then they can be restored using specialized software. One such program for recovering bad hdd sectors is Victoria. The utility is available in two versions - for Windows and DOS. Recovery via DOS will be the most effective, since when the OS is running, some sectors may be occupied and therefore unavailable for scanning.
Scanning
To get started, we will need to do a little preparation. Firstly, you will need a disk with a program image recorded on it or a bootable flash drive. If everyone can cope with recording an image, then creating a flash drive may be difficult.
Let's take a closer look at this step:
Note! The program takes up very little space, so after installing it, the drive can be used to store other information. To avoid accidentally deleting files necessary for the utility to work, it is recommended to select a separate folder for them.
Let's start the scanning process:
Here we need a point "Reallocated sector count", which displays the number of fragments located in the reserve zone, as well as "Current pending sectors", where parts that cannot be read are displayed. If their number is not very high, then the disk can be restored.
Hard drive recovery
Let's figure out exactly how this process happens. Problem segments can be roughly divided into two types. The first ones are not readable due to a mismatch between the information stored in them and its checksums.
This error occurs during a power outage, when new data has already been written, and checksums remained old. They simply cease to be recognized and are restored quite easily - by formatting them and recording the correct amounts.
The second type occurs as a result of mechanical damage. In this case, recovery is more difficult, but still possible. Restoring the functionality of such parts is carried out through the use of reserve areas that are on each hard drive.
We begin to recover each of these types of errors.
Video: HDD - “healing” bad sectors
First, let's try to fix bad sectors by erasing the information stored in them:
- press F4 and get to the verification menu;
- in the menu for selecting operations with unreadable sectors, indicate “BB: Erase 256 sect” and press “Enter”.
A long process of scanning and repairing bad sectors of the HDD will begin. If the program finds a bad sector, it will try to erase it, thereby correcting the error. If there is a mechanical defect, an error will be reported. In any case, you must wait until the check is completed and then separately correct the sectors with physical defects.
For this:
Now the recovery operation will work on a different principle, trying not to erase bad sectors, but to replace them with space from the reserve area.
Important! If there are a lot of such sectors, then the reserve space may run out. A special message will inform you about this, and further restoration will become impossible.
After successfully recovering bad sectors on your hard drive, it is recommended to full check file system for errors.
This can be done using the CHKDSK utility or in the following way:
Attention! To ensure that the system not only finds, but also corrects problems, before starting the scan, select “Automatically fix system errors.”
One of the biggest troubles for PC owners can be damaged sectors on the hard drive. Such sectors are called “broken”, and the hard disk itself with such damage is said to be...
Recover your hard drive using special programs. They allow you to test the hard drive and also fix minor problems. Often, this is quite enough to continue fruitful work. From the article you will learn about one of them called Victoria.
What can the utility do?
Checking hard Victoria HDD is completely free. The program also has many functions and is designed not only for professionals, but also for inexperienced users. So, now you will learn how to check your hard drive with Victoria.
Modes
In its work, the utility can use standard Windows tools (API) or work offline through ports. The offline mode provides more reliable data, has additional recovery tools, and allows you to test not only internal but also external drives.
What is the use of the utility?
The Victoria program allows you to:
- speed up your computer;
- ensure the stability of both programs and the operating system itself.
The following capabilities allow this:
- repairing faulty areas of the hard drive;
- replacing damaged sectors with backup ones;
- erasing bad sectors.
Is it necessary to use Victoria?
Experienced users will note that it is possible to fix bad sectors of a drive by replacing them with backup ones using the OS (operating system) itself. Correct, but for this you need to check the hard drive volume. However, this method has some disadvantages, for example, work with the active partition occurs exclusively in DOS mode, there is no detailed information, and there is no possibility of choosing a method for treating the problem. Therefore it is better to do hard restoration disk using Victoria hdd, which is free of these shortcomings.
Working with the program
If you decide to use the program in question, it is best to look for the most recent version. After all, it has already corrected the errors that were in the previous ones. There is no need to install the utility. It is distributed in archival form. Unpack the resulting archive and go inside. There you will find only one executable file, vcr447.exe. To make it easier to use, make a shortcut to it on the screen.
If your PC is running Windows 7 or higher, then you must run the file only as an administrator. Right-click on the shortcut and select context menu"Run as administrator" entry and click on it.
Before the Victoria program window opens, several pop-up windows will appear in front of you one by one:
- Unknown error.
- Invalid handle.
- PortTalk driver not installed.
This warns experts that the system does not yet have a driver for working with ports. Click OK and that's it.
Let's get started
The graphical interface of the utility opens on the Standard tab. On the right side, indicate the disk that is to be scanned. Even if it is the only one, it is still necessary to point out it. Then his data will appear on the left.
Important! It is strictly forbidden to enter any passwords. This option is for specialists only. Next, go to the Smart tab and with right side click on Get Smart. The table will display 242 parameters of your hard drive.
The system removes this data from the disk immediately after installing it on the PC, and Victoria takes it from the system. You can look through them, but pay most attention to the fifth item, the Health column. It contains the information for which you launched the utility. What does the color of these circles mean?
- green – HDD sectors feel great;
- yellow – there are problems;
- red – parameter values are invalid.
The Raw column displays how many bad disk sectors were detected.
Test tab
Go to the Test tab. The scanning process is based on measuring the length of time that elapsed from sending a request to returning a response from each sector of the drive. When scanning a disk, the utility evaluates the sectors being scanned and sorts them by color and state (to the left of the sector colors is the maximum allowable response time in milliseconds):
- three gray – great;
- green - not bad;
- orange - satisfactory;
- blue or red – bad.
Actions according to the selected modes will be applied to HDD sectors that you mark.
Operating modes
The utility has four operating modes:
- Ignore – check without attempting to cure bad sectors;
- Remap – replacing damaged sectors with backup ones;
- Restore – an attempt to restore damaged sectors programmatically;
- Erase - removing bad blocks from disk memory using formatting low level. You can’t just try the mode, as there is a possibility of damage to areas that may still work in the future. The first three will be enough.
Reserve sectors, what are they?
The operating system separates a reserve area on the hard drive. Most often, it is the slowest of all and is located closer to the center of the HDD. Its size is approximately 10% of the total volume. When bad sectors appear, the OS moves data from them to this backup area. True, it does not do this itself, but while running disk error checks using Windows tools or using external programs.
Diagnostics
If you have already selected a mode and marked the sectors for treatment, then click Start.
Attention! If after clicking Start the diagnostics do not start, then most likely you did not select your drive in the Standard tab with the mouse. You need to go back, do this and run the scan again.
The testing process can be observed on the screen. In earlier versions of Victoria, the tested sectors were displayed on the screen in the form of a grid.
However, such graphical display placed a significant load on the processor with large volumes of hard drives. As a result of this, in latest version 4.47, the developers replaced the grid with a graph that appears within a few minutes after the start of scanning.
Visualization is disabled if you uncheck Grid.
Button meaning
After starting the test, the name of the Start button changes to Stop, which allows you to stop the process by clicking it.
If you click on the Pause button, it will change the name to Continue and the scanning will pause. Click on it and everything will pick up right where it left off.
Attention! Quit all programs that may be accessing the hard drive being tested. If they are not removed from memory, the readings will lose accuracy, and the number of orange sectors will increase significantly. This will happen due to the fact that some of them will use open source programs.
Will the life of the hard drive be extended thanks to Victoria?
You can programmatically cure up to 10% of bad sectors, as well as restore the operation of any sector on the active volume if this was the result of system failures. Victoria does not fix physical damage.
However, if the faulty sectors are restored and the remaining ones are moved to the spare area, the disk will still serve. True, it is better not to use it to install the system, but only as an additional one.
Read about ways to fix HDD errors, is it possible to restore bad sectors and how to do it. Let's consider how to recover data from problem disks. The occurrence of bad sectors and other hard drive malfunctions can lead to the loss of all information. We will talk about possible methods for correcting such errors and ways to recover data from problem disks in our article.
The most popular representatives of the team of computer devices are stationary personal computers and laptops, including their various modifications (netbooks, ultrabooks, convertible laptops, etc.). A complex combination of the most powerful computer processors, modern high-level memory elements, ultra-fast graphics accelerators, significant data storage and other essential elements allows them to rightfully occupy a leading place among other types of computer devices.
The presence of modern versions of personal computers and laptops implies the mandatory use of software to maintain a high level of productivity, management and control over all processes. The most common program that fully satisfies the stated requirements can be safely called the operating system Windows from the corporation Microsoft.
Mandatory use of modern developments in the field of computer programming, the highest speed characteristics of processing a huge amount of data, high level system functionality, multitasking and unification of the internal shell of the operating system, suitable for sharing programs and applications from third-party manufacturers, a friendly user interface and a number of other advantages helped the system obtain Windows extraordinary popularity, distribution and recognition of users around the world.
A combination of an advanced operating system and modern elements The internal content of personal computers and laptops helps users cope with any high-cost tasks, carry out the simultaneous execution of many tasks without an overall loss of productivity and data processing speed.
One of the main elements of computer devices, which is responsible for managing and safe storage all user and operating system information Windows, acts as a data warehouse. As such, users can use various devices for storage: internal and external hard disk drives HDD,solid state drives SSD, combined hybrid hard drives, combining elements of the two previous types of drives, and other types of devices.
Despite the rapidly developing industry solid state drives, they have a number of significant disadvantages that significantly reduce their distribution. Therefore, hard drives have received, and continue to retain, the greatest popularity and widespread use. HDD, which have proven themselves to be low-cost, high-capacity storage devices that meet the needs of consumer and enterprise segments, and have high degree reliability.
Taking into account the wide popularity and significant number of used information storage devices, the question often arises about the problem of bad sectors and the search for possible ways to correct detected hard drive errors HDD. To preserve user information and prevent its premature loss, an important requirement is the mandatory maintenance of the hard drive used in good working order. And if problems arise with its structure, software or hardware content, you need to take care of transferring user data to a working storage device, or recover lost data if bad sectors on the hard drive lead to its failure. Further in our article we will try to consider possible ways solutions to the problems presented.
A quick overview of the hard drive design HDD
Before we begin to describe the solution to the above problems, it is worthwhile to dwell on the hard drive device in order to fully understand the principles of operation of the device, correctly diagnose the problem and choose ways to fix it.
The hard drive is a mechanical storage device, which makes it the most vulnerable element personal computer, due to the presence of moving parts. The main components of a hard drive include an electronics control board, a block of read heads, and hard aluminum or glass plates coated with a ferromagnetic layer, onto which all information is directly recorded.
IN hard drives, depending on the declared memory capacity, one or several plates located on the same axis are used. Due to the high speed of rotation of the drum, the read heads, in the process of writing or reading information from the hard drive, do not touch the surface of the platters, thereby achieving a high level of durability of the disk as a whole. And upon completion, they move to the parking area for a safe location.
The hard drive case is a hermetically sealed container, which prevents the entry of foreign elements and particles and ensures the overall security of the device.
The principle of storing information on a hard drive HDD
Based on the knowledge gained about the hard drive structure described in the previous section, it is known that all information is stored on hard plates in a sealed drive case.
The process of writing and reading information implies the presence of a strictly structured disk space that has certain elements of disk division. Therefore, the internal organization of the surface of the disk plates has a special marking, in interaction with which information is recorded and stored on the device. In accordance with the markings, the surface of the storage plates is divided into tracks, which in turn are divided into sectors (the minimum disk memory area used for storing information). The sector size, as the minimum basic unit of information recording, is 512 bytes. But depending on the selected file system used when formatting the hard drive, sectors can be combined into clusters, which in turn will be used as a single amount of memory when recording and storing data. A cluster can consist of several physical sectors, the final size of which depends on the total number of sectors combined, and can be up to sixty-four kilobytes.
When recording information, the system determines the size of the recorded file and places its contents in the required number of clusters. The location of the recorded clusters on the disk surface may vary. Depending on the size of the source file, the load on the hard drive and a number of other factors, clusters containing data from one file can be located either next to each other or can be distributed over the entire surface of the storage platter of the drive. In other words, when recording, the source file will be split into separate parts and recorded fragmentarily on the hard drive. Which ultimately can increase the time it takes for the disk head to read the file, because it will need to find all the fragments of the file when accessing it. And if a sector is damaged, some or all of the information may be lost, since the sector is the main element responsible for storing data.
What does the concept of bad sectors mean?
As previously described in the previous section, design feature A hard disk drive is made up of sectors (or clusters) that are used to record and store various information. If, for various reasons, a sector is damaged, then, with a high degree of probability, all the information recorded on it will be damaged, and it is not always possible to restore it, depending on the degree and type of damage. Therefore, damaged sectors are usually called bad sectors (also called BAD sectors, bad or faulty), and it is no longer possible to store any data in them.
In the window command line with administrator rights enter the command to run the application CHKDSK:
IN in this example logical partition errors will be checked and corrected C:.
The application allows you to use many different flags aimed at performing relevant tasks. However, to correct hard drive problems disk, only two of them are used:
/f– using this flag instructs the application to check the hard disk for errors and correct them;
/r– this flag is used in conjunction with the flag /f and forces the application to search for damaged sectors of the hard drive and restore their contents.
Learn more about ways to check your hard drive for errors and possible methods fixing them in the operating system Windows on our video channel in the manual: How to check your hard drive for errors and fix errors in Windows 10, 8, 7.
In the second case, you can perform actions to search for bad sectors and correct errors from the file explorer Windows. Open the file explorer in any way convenient for you, for example, by double-clicking the shortcut This computer on the desktop. In chapter Devices and drives Right-click on the required drive. Select a section from the pop-up context menu Properties.
Or, having selected the drive, click on the main menu bar in the tab Computer button Properties.
In the local disk properties window that opens, go to the tab Service and then in the section Checking for errors click on the button Check.
A check will be launched to detect and eliminate hard errors disk, the result of which will be the complete elimination of diagnosed problems.
Using disk formatting
Sometimes, if we are not talking about a system drive, you can use the method of completely formatting a logical drive. Such a process in the execution of operating system tools Windows performs a comprehensive check of the hard disk surface and excludes detected bad sectors from the trusted data storage area. By entering a mark about specific bad sectors into the disk service information, Windows does not allow them to be used to record new data in the future. Formatting system disk possibly together with reinstalling the operating system Windows, which can also be performed if the computer’s performance has slowed down significantly and frequent system problems, and you have sufficient knowledge to complete the system reinstallation process.
Open File Explorer Windows and find the drive you want to format. Right-click on it and select section from the pop-up context menu Format.
In the local disk formatting options window, set the appropriate settings and click the button Begin to start the process. Once formatting is complete, errors in the logical drive will be eliminated. However, all information located in this section will be erased. Therefore, this method can be used in cases where the disk does not store important data or they have been transferred (copied) to another medium.
Methods for recovering information
If the number of bad sectors has reached a critical value, resulting in loss of access to the disk, it is unreadable or inoperative, then users can try to restore the information located on such disks by contacting a specialized laboratory for help, using free software or using a professional data recovery program.
Contacting a specialized laboratory
Specialized laboratories for recovering deleted data from damaged media have expensive equipment, sterile rooms and specialists of sufficient professional level to repair drives and restore user information.
The use of modern hardware tools for data recovery allows laboratory specialists to extract information from damaged hard drives, overcoming the presence of bad sectors, and restore it.
However, despite all the advantages, seeking help from a specialized laboratory has a number of significant disadvantages that significantly reduce the effect of its use.
Laboratory specialists do not provide any guarantees that as a result of their actions, user information will be restored, and the total cost of laboratory services will require significant financial outlays from users. And even with a negative result, users will in any case be forced to pay for laboratory services.
Therefore, you should contact a data recovery laboratory only if it is not possible to recover information by other means, and its recovery is worth any expense.
Application of free software
Using free data recovery software is not a sound decision because this type of software has serious limitations. And with the type of problems described (the presence of bad and damaged sectors of the hard drive), such programs have practically no chance of restoring user information.
Free programs have stripped-down, significantly limited internal functionality, and they also implement the principle of limiting the final recovered files by the final number or total occupied space. These types of programs are suitable only as a one-time tool for recovering one or several files. To solve more global problems, users need to pay attention to professional programs to recover files. One of these programs, which has received well-deserved recognition from users and many positive feedback, is from the company Hetman Software.
Using professional data recovery software
Professional recovery programs have the widest range of internal tools aimed at troubleshooting, detecting and safely recovering all possible information.
In the international computer information network Internet There are various types of software available for users to download and install to recover deleted data. However the best solution will turn its attention to a truly successful product that has an unusually high final recovery percentage of finished and working files - .
The program occupies a leading position in the company's program line Hetman Software, and besides standard features(file recovery after: regular and permanent deletion, disk formatting, malicious influence virus programs, system or hardware failure, etc.), has the ability to recover almost any data from damaged, inaccessible or completely non-functional hard drives. Regardless of the type of damage, the number of bad sectors and the overall performance of the hard drive, the program successfully analyzes and restores any information almost completely.
Download from the company's official website installation file and start its execution. Master step-by-step installation will help you decide initial settings and safely install the program on your computer or laptop. When finished, click the button Ready to exit the installer.
The program is now installed and ready for future use. Launch, for example, by double-clicking the program shortcut on the desktop, or another in a convenient way. When launched for the first time, the program will perform a basic scan of the system, search for all connected devices and display them in the central panel of the window.
To safely restore information, double-click on the selected local disk or an entire physical disk, and activate the File Recovery Wizard. In the window that opens, users will need to select the type of analysis that the wizard will need to use to search and restore files. There are two types of analysis available to choose from: Quick Scan And Full analysis. The first type of analysis will be able to recover files after the usual and irreversible deletion methods. Therefore it is necessary to choose Full analysis, which will fully utilize the capabilities of the program and will restore all possible information, regardless of the method of its loss.
Users will be able to monitor the analysis process in real time and control its execution in the File Recovery Wizard window using a status indicator. The final completion time directly depends on the size of the hard drive, the degree of damage to the data and the drive as a whole, the selected type of analysis and a number of other additional criteria, and can take from several minutes to several hours. Wait for the analysis to finish and click the button Ready.
All found files will be displayed in the program window. Using the preview function, users will be able to familiarize themselves with the contents of each specific file in the corresponding section. By selecting necessary files and placing them in the section Recovery list(by simply dragging and dropping the file) press the button Restore on the main panel of the program window.
The File Recovery Wizard will immediately prompt users to decide on the method of saving the selected files: saving to a hard drive or other storage device at the user’s request, writing data to optical disk, create virtual image ISO or download data via FTP protocol. Having selected one of the proposed options, users will need to specify several additional parameters, for example, select the name of the folder to save and set the path to it, and save the searched data.
Now user files are saved on the specified type of media and are available for viewing and subsequent use.
You can find a more detailed description of the features of recovering files from a hard drive with damaged sectors and ways to minimize the risk of losing information during the recovery process on our video channel in the guide: How to recover files from broken disk?.
Conclusion
Any information that users use on a daily basis requires secure and extensive data storage. And hard drives HDD fully comply with the stated criteria. They have the largest amount of disk space for recording and storing data, have a high speed of information processing and are quite reliable and durable. However, for various reasons, bad sectors may appear on hard drives, which can subsequently lead to the loss of all data stored on the drive.
But knowing possible reasons the formation of damage, you can avoid their occurrence and extend the life of hard drives, as well as protect yourself from subsequent waste of effort and money aimed at restoring information or purchasing a new drive for storing data.
Use of additional data protection elements (for example, backup), and the use of professional file recovery software (for example, ), will significantly increase the level of data security and help you get it back in case of unexpected loss.
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