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?
Examination hard drive 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 volume hard disk. 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 the 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 during the launch of disk error checks 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.
The question that arises among users about how to restore a hard drive can actually be resolved without the help of various computer technicians who offer to return your hard drive to a working state for a fee. Developers software offer several options for restoring bad sectors, which can be used by a person with almost any level of computer literacy.
What are bad sectors?
To understand what bad sectors are, you need to understand the order work hard disk and organization of information storage on it.
The hard drive consists of several rotating magnetic disks over which the read heads move. When recording, these heads magnetize certain areas of the disk, recording information on them. The disk itself is divided into tracks, and they, in turn, into sectors.
If information from a disk cannot be read, it is considered broken. The cause of this problem may be a power failure, physical wear of the disk, mechanical stress, or overheating.
Depending on the reason, two types of unreadable sectors can be distinguished:
- Mismatch between the recorded information and the checksums at the end of the sector. It usually occurs when the power is turned off during an operation. A similar problem is solved by erasing incorrectly stored information and recording the correct checksums.
- Physical damage to the disk. A more difficult problem to solve that arises as a result mechanical impact to the hard drive or its overheating. In this case, damaged sectors are transferred to the reserve area of the disk, but if there are too many of them, the data processing speed is significantly reduced.
In any case, it is worth trying to restore unreadable sectors, at least to make sure that the hard drive is completely inoperable and, with a clear conscience, replace it with a new data storage device.
HDD Regenerator
First, let's figure out how to restore a hard drive using a simple but functional HDD Regenerator program. This utility works with hard drives at a low level, that is, it has exclusive access not only to sectors and clusters of the hard drive, but also to its mechanisms and controllers.
HDD Regenerator, unlike other similar utilities, does not block access to bad sectors, but tries to restore them through magnetization reversal.
Other programs simply block access to the sector, which leads not only to the loss of information stored on it, but also to a reduction in the volume of the hard drive. Restore deleted files after such a procedure it is very difficult. Another question is that this approach allows you to quickly deal with a broken disk, but if you have a small number of bad sectors (up to 100), then it is justified to use the HDD Regenerator program. 
The latest versions of the utility are distributed for a fee, but you can use the demo version to familiarize yourself with the program's capabilities. In addition, HDD Regenerator belongs to that type of program, the price for which is offset by its functionality and usefulness.
Working with HDD Regenerator
Download the utility to your computer from the official website. Install it on your computer and, if necessary, Russify it (all necessary files can be found in the public domain).
Russification only applies to the program interface. The DOS mode, in which the main work of the utility occurs, will still be presented on English language, and this cannot be corrected.
After launching HDD Regenerator, you will see a window like this: 
To start testing and subsequent recovery of the hard drive, click on top menu“Click to fix.” A warning may appear on the screen indicating that you need to reboot and configure the BIOS by setting the SATA controller to IDE mode. If these words don't mean anything to you, click No. This will not affect the performance of the program in any way.
In the next window, the program will display all connected to the computer hard disks. In the “Select disk” field, you need to double-click on the hard drive that you want to restore life to, or select it and click the “Start” button. 
The utility will try to start DOS - the working environment through which direct access to the equipment is provided. Since you are working with the program on a running system, a message will appear on the screen stating that HDDR was unable to obtain exclusive access to the hard drive partitions.
To fix this error, close all applications and end processes running as the user through the Task Manager.
Click "Retry"; If the error appears again, restart your computer and try again to complete all running tasks. 
Another way is to start the system in safe mode, marking it in the boot type selection menu (F8 key when starting the computer). As a last resort, you can simply click the “Ok” button and ignore the warning. The program will continue to work, but its performance will decrease slightly.
Sector recovery
In the DOS window that opens, you will see several lines, the purpose of which needs to be discussed separately. In total, you will be offered four options for the program:
When starting the program for the first time, it is recommended to select item number 2. To do this, press “2” on the keyboard and then “Enter”. The following window will appear, asking you to select the scan order. You can specify a specific sector span, enter the disk size, or simply start testing from the very beginning. 
If you have a rough idea of which partition the bad sector is located in, then you can try to indicate a specific interval. However, it is more convenient to start checking the disk from the beginning so as not to miss anything. Such a scan will take much longer, but the result will be the most complete. 
After selecting the test mode, a disk check will start, during which the number of scanned and identified bad sectors will be displayed on the screen. You can stop the scanning process using the Esc key.
The system may freeze during the scan - this means that HDDR has found bad sectors and is trying to determine the extent of their damage.
After testing is completed trial version HDDR will prompt you with a message informing you that you need to purchase a licensed copy of the program to continue disk recovery. You will be shown the number of detected bad sectors, based on which you can decide whether it is better to buy full version utilities or go straight to the store for a new one hard drive.
If you purchased the full version of the program, connect a USB drive - it will be needed during the sector recovery process. After starting the program, select "Bootloader" USB flash drive» and highlight the connected media. 
All data will be erased from the drive. Instead, the program will write its files to the flash drive, making it bootable.
Loaded into DOS system, you will see the same windows as when working with the demo version. This time you need to select the first option - scanning and recovering sectors.
The recovery process itself can take a long time, so if you need to pause it, press the Esc key and be sure to wait for the prompt to exit the program. In this case, the program’s stopping point will be recorded on the flash drive, from which scanning will begin the next time it is launched. Why these difficulties? So as not to sit in front of the computer for days, but to check it in several approaches. For example: restoring 100 bad sectors may take several days continuous operation HDDR.
Victoria
One of the most popular methods among users is hard drive recovery using Victoria. This program, unlike HDDR, is distributed under a free license.
Victoria can work as in Windows environment, and in DOS mode, allowing you to view the SMART table, scan the disk surface for bad sectors, restore them, and also perform low-level formatting.
Preparation
Before you start checking the disk, you need to configure the hard drive controller in the BIOS. On the “Main” tab, set the “SATA Mode” parameter to “IDE”. After this you can launch it using bootable flash drive Victoria. 
After booting from the drive in DOS mode, select the IDE channel you are going to work with. To do this, press the P key and check the “Ext. PCI ATA/SATA" (if the drive is connected via SATA interface). For IDE drives, select the appropriate port. 
A list of channels will appear on the screen, numbered in order. To select your hard drive, press the number that corresponds to its number, and then press Enter. 
You can identify errors without scanning - just look at the SMART table of the hard drive. You can call it using the F9 key. In the table, pay attention to two points:
The more bad sectors there are, the less likely it is that the disk can be recovered. However, you can try to restore it to functionality by starting the scanning process.
To open the disk scanning menu, press the F4 key. Select "BB: Erase 256 sect" using the arrow keys on your keyboard and press Enter. The scanning process will start, which will take quite a long time. You can interrupt scanning using the Esc key. 
When a sector is detected, the program will try to erase it. If it is physically intact, then the attempt will be successful and you will get rid of the broken parts of the disk. The information will be deleted, but you shouldn’t worry too much about this - getting it out would still be problematic.
If the sector is damaged on physical level, then an attempt to erase it will be unsuccessful. An error message will appear on the screen. However, this does not mean that you need to stop scanning the disk.
If you cannot restore sectors, try moving them to the backup area. Press the F4 key and use the arrows to select “BB: Classic REMAP”. The scanning process will start again. This time, bad sectors will not be restored, but will be transferred to the area for Reserve copy.
After scanning the disk is completed (subject to recovery of sectors), it is advisable to check file system using the chkdsk utility.
The user probably already knows what bad sectors are on the hdd (“bad blocks”) of the hard disk surface. If you are reading this review, then at least you have an idea: what a “hard drive” is, and what you want to achieve as a result (remove bad sectors on the hdd). But are they really “bad”, and how much of this defect is “hardware” - let’s try to figure it out.
Symptoms of physical surface damage or file system errors
Symptoms of “bad” sectors (“hardware” or “software” reasons) may be the following:
- Slow start installed applications and/or the OS itself;
- Unreasonable disruption of the operation of some applications (disappearance of previously made settings, lack of functions);
- Lost folders and files, damaged files;
- Significant slowdown in the copying process when accessing files.
As you can see, nothing good. Working with a hard drive (hard drive) will consist of 2 stages, answering 2 different questions: are there physical defects on the surface of the hdd, and (if so) - how to remove bad sectors so that they do not come back.
I already wrote in another article about, so it’s better not to install Windows on a disk with bad sectors; first you need to get rid of them.
A little theory
On a hard drive, the surface is divided into sectors. Each sector on the physical surface of one pancake is called a “block”. The number of blocks, if you add them up and count them in total, will always be greater than the number of available blocks “shown” by the hard drive. That is, any manufacturing company makes several (in fact, dozens) of unused “parts” of the hdd surface - spare blocks.
How to remove bad data from a hard drive becomes clear with an understanding of exactly how hdd electronics work. When receiving the address of the block that needs to be accessed (for reading/writing), this address will first be “translated” into the physical address of the block, which is done using a special table (hardwired into the hdd ROM).
In the table, instead of the physical address of the bad block, you can easily and easily flash the address of one of the free (spare) blocks (see one paragraph above). As a result, we will get a “working” hard drive. By the way, without reducing the logical volume.
Note:
This operation of “reassigning” a block address is called “remapping”, or remap.
Purely “logical” defects
Errors may not occur due to physical damage to the surface, but only due to violations in the logic of one sector. These errors, in turn, are also divided into correctable and uncorrectable. “Logical” defects can only be distinguished from physical defects in an indirect way (using different tests).
Correctable logical defect (soft-bad): when the checksum of a logical sector does not match the calculated checksum of its data. This may appear, for example, due to interference and a power outage (and that’s all). The next time you turn it on, the hard drive will first read the data and calculate checksum, compare what was received with what was recorded. In general, in such cases, the equipment generates an error message. From the side of the operating system, this looks like “real” bad.
Unfortunately, neither the operating system nor the BIOS can correct a logical defect on your own. The hard drive controller will not correct the error either: it tries in vain to read this sector on the third, fourth attempt, and when it doesn’t work, it tries to help by adjusting the servo system and the reading channel... At the same time, that same “grinding” is heard, heartbreaking and well known to the owners of the “killed” » screws.
Note: there is no need to worry about the “heads” scraping the surface. The grinding noise comes from the coil on the spindle (rocker arm), constantly trying to adjust the “correct” angle.
Well, in this case, how to remove bad when it is logical? What can help? Forced rewriting of all sectors (with a special program, bypassing even the BIOS) is a good remedy for this. After filling the surface only with “zeros” (then with “ones”, then again with “zeros”), logical bad disappears without a trace.
But there are “incorrigible” logical errors. These errors relate to low-level formatting of the hard drive. The defect itself looks the same. Such defects are considered irreparable because their correction will require doing the “correct” formatting at a low level, which is most often inaccessible to the average user (in the absence of proprietary low-level format utilities, and the “fastening” of the screw must be stationary). In everyday life, such hard drive blocks are disabled in the same ways as “physical” bad - that is, by remap. Not scary.
Programs
For logical “wiping” of the surface (filling occurs with “0s” and “1s”):
fjerase, wdclear, zerofill.
Download the bootable CD image with Victoria.
In the rar archive, if you unpack it, there will be one file - the .iso file (the image of the boot CD).
Working with Victoria DOS
Firstly, why DOS mode and not Windows? The fact is that if there is only one hdd, and Windows is installed on it, from which you can run Victoria win-32, then you won’t be able to “remap” anything, for obvious reasons (you can’t erase Windows).
Therefore, we take a blank CD, write a boot image on it, and boot from this CD:
Having selected the first item, press “Enter”.
Note: you can create such a boot disk (or flash drive) yourself. By simply making a boot disk/flash drive with DOS, then transferring (adding) Victoria files to it (archive - download here: http://www.hdd-911.com/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=31&task=view_category&catid=69&order =dmdate_published&ascdesc=DESC).
What should we click first (for the hard drive to be detected)? Press "F2".
If after this the program does not find the hard drive, you can do it yourself. Press “P” on the keyboard, the “Select HDD port” menu will appear - we will select “Ext. PCI ATA/SATA" (“arrows” and “Enter”):
Note: other items are needed if you have motherboard With IDE controllers(one of which is connected to a PATA standard hard drive).
And, in the list that appears, the hdd we need should be visible (by company/model name). To select hdd, dial the channel number (on which it is located). Press "Enter". All.
After this, you can work with the hard drive: conduct a test and “remap”.
Note: if there are several hard drives in the system, we proceed in a similar way (press the “P” key, and so on).
First, let's see how many “bad” blocks have already been reassigned (for a new hdd, this indicator can only be “zero”):
To display this screen, we pressed “F9”. Pay attention to the fifth line - this is the number of sectors that were “reassigned” (re-allocated sector count - counter of reassigned sectors).
Here, the value is 100 (the real value is the first column). Well, this is not good. In total, from different companies (producing hard drives), maximum number re-allocated blocks cannot exceed “critical” – several hundred (let’s say 200-300).
Victoria DOS: surface test
To run the surface test, press “F4”:
We leave as is - all indicators (the beginning and end of the disk, the “linear” reading mode, and, on at this stage– “ignore” for bad blocks). The test starts by pressing “Enter”:
As you can see, when running the test, it displays how many blocks are read with an excessively long access time. The number of blocks that are bad is also counted (but now we do not know whether they are “software” or surface defects).
Victoria DOS: remapping
So, the surface test showed that the number of bad blocks is greater than zero. Do not rush to immediately proceed to the remapping operation (which will be discussed below).
“Bad” sectors can arise due to a “software” reason. How to fix this is discussed above. Don't be lazy, run the ZeroFill program (or something similar). Sometimes, you can remove all “bad” blocks after two or three runs of this program.
Also (no matter how funny), the low reading speed of periodically repeated blocks is possible due to poor contact of the SATA connector. By the way, you can try switching the hard drive to a slower mode (jumper on the HDD case, turn on “150 megabits”).
And only if none of these two methods helped (the number and location of bad blocks did not change after the repeated test) - proceed to remapping:
As for the “test”, press “F4”. In the menu, use the down arrow and go to the “Ignore bad blocks” line.
Now - attention! – use the left and right arrows to select “Classic REMAP”. Press "Enter". That's it (we'll wait).
Typically, surface testing takes an hour or more (for 500-750 Gigabytes). Well, for 2 terabytes, and even 5000 rpm. – and 3 hours will not be enough (with the “remapping” mode – longer, but not much).
Upon completion of the work, we will get a “good” hard drive. You can do it again, the final “test”. The number of “reassigned” blocks is summed with the existing one (see, as they said - “F9”, in the fifth line).
If you have conducted a surface test, and as a result, you see that the number of blocks in need of “remapping” goes beyond several hundred (let’s say: there were 100, another 200 appeared) – it is better to abandon “independent” repairs altogether.
Instead of output
Remap- This is good. If such an opportunity still exists (if the total number of reassigned blocks has not passed a certain “critical” value), you can use it. Although, the “durability” of this method (that is, how many days the hard drive will last) is always in doubt. This parameter is not predicted (maybe the hard drive will last for another 2 days, maybe for a month, etc.). Transfer all the necessary data, as soon as access to it appears again.
The “remapping” procedure does not overwrite the data, that is, the program tries to “read” the bad block and copy the data. However, if possible, before remapping it is still recommended to do backup copy hard drive (with Ghost software, for example).
(Optional): Instead of the “Classic REMAP” mode, Victoria 3.5 allows you to select “Advanced REMAP”. What can be done if the “standard” remap could not help 100% (2-3 “bad” blocks remained).
As you can see, working with a hard drive takes a lot of time. It also requires the user to have knowledge and maximum accuracy (provided that you understand the meaning of the operations performed using these programs).
In more complex cases (the screw is not detected by the program; after detection, the system freezes) - one way or another, qualified intervention is needed. In addition to “bad” sectors, there may also be problems in the hard drive controller (in its “electronics”). You can't solve this on your own.
Have “bad” sectors appeared? Don't enable their "fix" from Windows itself! Of course, at the same time, it (that is, Windows) will “remap” every sector that is “failure” for it (well, is this necessary?).
Other "programs"
How can I see the number of “reassigned” sectors directly from Windows?
There are many programs that show hard drive ROM data (SMART data). For example, this is Everest (download, launch, watch):
The program is absolutely free. It’s easier to download it here: http://www.aida64.com/downloads/aida64extreme270exe. The first 30 days – all functions are available (but, except for how to “look”, Everest, aka Aida, can’t do anything).
Or, you can download Victoria - already for Windows (starting from version 4.0): http://www.hdd-911.com/index.php. Go to the “Files” section:
As you can see, of. the site contains both versions (for DOS and for Windows).
Compatibility
Victoria–DOS (3.5x) – compatible with SATA controllers(SATA-2). The same goes for IDEs integrated into the motherboard.
This was a review about bad sectors on hdd.
How to check your hard drive?
Hello admin, question! My computer is 5 years old and it began to noticeably freeze when working in various applications. Often, when turned on, the utility for checking the hard drive for errors automatically starts. Reinstalling Windows did not help and I had to contact a computer technician I knew, he scanned HDD Victoria program and I found a lot of sectors with a delay of more than 200 ms and with a delay of 600 ms (candidates for bad blocks). My friend told me what to do« Recording throughout the clearing» in other words, to perform a sector-by-sector erase of information from the hard drive. Hence the question of how to do it yourself, since my friend always has no time.
How to use the Victoria program to erase information from a hard drive sector-by-sector and thereby get rid of bad sectors (bad blocks)
Hello friends! This article is a continuation of the story about the repair program hard drives Victoria and of course it would be better if, before reading this article, you.
Let me briefly remind you of what was discussed in the first article.
If your operating system slows down and freezes, and your hard drive sometimes beeps extraneous sounds, then the issue may be bad sectors (bad blocks).
There are two types of bad sectors: physical and logical.
Physical bad blocks- this is a mechanically deformed sector of the hard disk, from which it is impossible to read information, and it is also impossible to write data to it. It is impossible to correct such sectors with any programs. The firmware built into the hard drive must promptly detect the emerging bad sector and reassign it as a normal sector from the backup track. At this moment, the faulty sector is taken out of operation and information about it is entered into a special defect list. But it often happens that bad blocks are present on the hard drive, but they are not hidden. In this case, you need to hint to the firmware built into the hard drive about the presence of bads on the hard drive using special programs on working with hard drives (Victoria, HDDScan, MHDD) and only after that the bad blocks will disappear if the outcome is favorable.
- Note : for those interested, a more detailed article about bad sectors (bad blocks) .
Logical bad blocks- are much more common, this is information incorrectly written to a sector, which the magnetic head of the hard drive cannot read or reads with a significant delay; if there are many such sectors, then because of this our computer can also work slowly.
To diagnose your hard drive, you can use the Victoria program.
To make everything clear to you, I propose to consider this issue using a specific example.
Meeting 10 years later...
The other day a friend came to see me with system unit under his arm and complained about the strange operation of the computer (freezes, brakes, constant checks of the hard drive for errors when turned on), reinstalling the operating system did not help.
The system unit turned out to be perfectly clean inside, and the temperature of the processor, video card, and hard drive was normal. Of course, my suspicions fell on the hard drive, which, upon closer examination, turned out to be a famous veteran WDC WD1200JS-00MHB0: capacity 120 GB SATA-II, the once popular black high-performance hard drive Caviar SE from the manufacturer Western Digital! Friends, this disk I bought it for my friend 10 years ago, pay attention to the date of manufacture - October 16, 2005!
So, let's see what's going on with our old friend's health and why he started freezing and slowing down!
I launch the CrystalDiskInfo program from the flash drive and look at SMART (hard drive self-diagnosis), there is nothing criminal, the technical condition is Good.
I also launch the Victoria program directly in a running Windows 8.1 and, always as an administrator, begin to test the surface of the hard drive.
In the initial window of the program, select the tab Standard and in the right part of the window, select the WDC WD1200JS-00MHB0 hard drive with the left mouse.
I go to the tab Tests and mark the points Ignore and read , press Start . A simple test of the hard drive surface is run without error correction. This test is not dangerous for the information located on the hard drive. I'm interested to know what the condition of the hard drive is after ten years of use. The most important thing is not to run any programs during the test, otherwise errors may occur; in general, it is ideal to test the HDD in DOS mode using a bootable flash drive Victoria programs, but we'll do that a little later.
After 30 minutes we get the test result:
In our case, there are no bad blocks, but there are sectors with large delay of more than 600 ms, look at the screenshot, everything is shown with arrows.
500 sector blocks with a delay of more than 50 ms.
31 blocks sectors with a delay of more than 200 ms.
7 sector blocks with a delay of more than 600 ms (sector blocks with such a delay are dangerous and are most likely candidates for bad blocks).
There is a small chance that these seven sectors are why the computer freezes.
I propose to use the algorithm for the hard drive in the Victoria program Write(Record, erase) in the jargon of repairmen - “Record throughout the clearing.” There will be a sector-by-sector erasure of information from the disk in blocks of 256 sectors and subsequent forced writing of zeros to the sectors. This is how you can get rid of logical bad blocks and, in some cases, physical bad blocks (a remap will occur).
Logical “bads” after such a forced write will simply lose incorrect information in their sectors; it will be overwritten with zeros.
Physical “bads” may disappear because Victoria too clearly shows them to the built-in firmware of the hard drive, and it will simply reassign the bad blocks as backup sectors from spare tracks!
On the tab Tests mark the item Write (Write, erase). Be careful, all information will be deleted from the hard drive!So make sure you select the correct drive to test. You can mark the itemDDD Enable(increased erasure).
I press Start.
Will be lost(all user data on the WD1200JS-00MHB0 hard disk will be lost).
We agree. Yes.
The process of sector-by-sector erasing information from the hard drive begins.
If in this moment launch Disk Management, we will see that all partitions on the tested hard drive are deleted along with the data.
After erasing is complete, we again perform a simple test of the hard drive surface.
On the tab Tests mark the points Ignore and read , click Start . A simple test of the hard drive surface is run without error correction.
After 30 minutes I get the result, all sectors with long delays are fixed.
Our veteran is back in service.
Now the hard drive WDC WD1200JS-00MHB0 It works again and so far no freezes.
Note: you can erase all information from your hard drive sector by sector not only with the help of Victoria, but also with programs.
Process hard checks disk for the presence of bad sectors, is a search for erroneous records and bad sectors located on the drive.
Some of these problems can cause information loss - in most cases, beyond recovery.
Therefore, every user should be aware of their occurrence - both in order to try to correct errors on the disk, and to back up important information to another location.
The principle of formation of bad sectors
Over time, the owner of almost every HDD has to deal with problem sectors.
The principle of their appearance is as follows:
- During the production of disks, sectors are created, with the help of magnetization of which information can be written to the drive.
- Reading and writing information on (especially if the disk is hit or dropped), and sometimes also influence computer viruses lead to a gradual deterioration of its structure.
- Bad sectors begin to appear on the surface of magnetic disks - areas in which information is stored incorrectly or not recorded at all.
It is possible to eliminate bad sectors, but the system does not automatically perform such actions - the user will have to manually run the scan and repair.
If there are few bad sectors, they are replaced by reserve areas.
When damaged HDD blocks appear, their addresses are reassigned to sectors from the reserve, and no data loss occurs.
Signs of a problem
Among the main signs that problem sectors have appeared on the disk and need to be restored are: The following are worth noting:
- The computer freezes while loading the operating system;
- failure to start the OS - in most cases, loading only reaches certain moment(for example, to the Windows logo or the words “Welcome”) and stops;
- unreasonable and frequent computer reboots;
- errors in the operation of the system, expressed in the inability to launch applications, closing windows and slow response to user actions.
The list of utilities that can be used to solve the problem is quite large.
They are divided into two main groups– those that are already built into operating system(for example, in Windows), and applications from other manufacturers.
The latter can also be divided into paid programs and more popular among domestic users free versions.
Using Windows Tools
To correct errors and bad sectors, Windows OS already contains .
The advantages of using it include the ability to restore areas damaged during operation or as a result of infection of the system with viruses.
Another plus– the ability to start in two ways, in normal mode or.
The utility is capable of checking any physical and logical disks, however, there are slight differences in working with inactive and system areas.
Thus, the stages of checking and restoring a regular partition (which does not contain system control files and the OS itself) will be as follows:
1 Going to the window "My computer".
2 Right-click to open properties of the selected disk.
3 Select a tab "Service".
4 Pressed check disk button.
5 Put checkbox next to check bad sectors.
System volumes on which Windows is installed are scanned differently.
Starting the utility launch coincides with the steps for a regular partition, but when you try to check the disk, a message appears on the screen stating that it is impossible and asking you to do this after a reboot.
After a reboot, the system does not boot - instead, the system HDD partition is checked, the progress of which can be determined by the information displayed on the screen.
And you can run Hitachi Drive Fitness Test not only from Windows, but also in mode if problems with the disk have already made it impossible to boot the system.
Seagate Seatools
The Seatools utility is free application, whose capabilities include:
- detection of HDD structure violations, including bad sectors and write or read errors;
- fixing bad sectors or overwriting them with zeros, so that in the future the system ignores damaged areas;
- Windows OS problems;
- damage to the system bootloader;
The application works most effectively with Seagate drives.
The average time to fix detected errors (together with the verification process), depending on the size of the partition, can reach 4 hours.
The advantages of the program include its free distribution and the provision of a detailed report.
HDD Health
Free HDD program Health is distinguished by the possibility of receiving while checking bad sectors the following information:
- HDD manufacturer and firmware;
- current storage temperature;
- the general condition of the device structure, including whole and damaged sectors;
- a number of other useful attributes.
The utility is distributed free of charge by Panterasoft.
At the same time, the disk health assessment is carried out only using S.M.A.R.T indicators and is less effective than checking the disk with other applications.
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