The program for testing hard disks on broken sectors. Hard disk speed testing program

Apparently, almost every user of Windows OS somehow faced with the situation when after a system crash on a reboot, a message is issued that one of the disks requires verification. What is most sad, the check does not always end successfully, but the message is issued again and again. Let's see how in practice this or that program is used to test hard disks.

Errors on the hard drive and the reasons for their appearance

First, let's look at the main types of errors and the reasons for their appearance. Naturally, any program for testing a hard disk will complete the test at the end of the test, but it is also desirable to understand at least common processes that can cause errors.

As a rule, they are divided into two main types: system and physical due to damage to the hard drive itself. That is why a universal program for testing a hard disk (no matter what, "native" is an operating system or an application) has tools for analyzing several types in its arsenal, as well as tools that allow the recovery of broken sectors. It is clear, probably, that this is done systematically, because no program can eliminate physical defects of the hard drive or a removable USB HDD drive.

Broken Sectors

Now we will deal with the concept of broken sectors, because basically the cause of errors is reduced to their damage. The fact is that the information stored on the hard drive is written in a strictly defined place, called the sector. Damage to such a sector causes errors.

The reasons for this can be quite a lot. For example, failures can be associated with "crashing" the Windows OS itself (unfortunately, all operating systems of this family are not ideal), overheating of the hard drive, sudden power failure, dust ingress or, worse, mechanical damage. A sector from which it is impossible to copy or rewrite information, and is called broken.

However, it should be noted that it is possible to combat this in terms of rebuilding the broken sectors. In principle, a program for testing hard disks on broken sectors can not only verify, but also restore them.

In the system plan, everything is quite simple: correct checksums play a key role here , which are overwritten in the damaged sector. Another thing is when there is a mechanical damage to the surface of the hard drive, after which recording in such a sector becomes simply impossible. Here, the output is the use of a special spare disk area, where the correct value of the checksum is prescribed. In fact, the logical address of such a sector remains the same, but the physical location is changing, although this does not affect the reading of data absolutely.

Standard HDD verification tools in Windows

It goes without saying that Windows has its own program for testing hard disks (internal or external, logical partitions, etc.). You can call it in several ways.

The simplest method, which uses the "native" program to test hard drives in Windows, is to use the "Properties" line in the context menu, which is accessed by right-clicking on the drive letter (mouse) on the drive letter in the "Explorer". On the "Tools" tab there is a button for starting the scan process. By default, it is offered only to correct system errors, but it is possible (and desirable) to additionally use the function of automatic recovery of bad sectors.

Unfortunately, as practice shows, the "native" hard disk testing program does not always give the expected result. In some cases, to start the process, you can use the command line or the "Run" menu with the chkdsk command (specifying the drive letter or partition, and using additional parameters).

For example, checking the C drive with automatic error correction looks like this: chkdsk c: / f (the result will not be long in coming).

You can also use the command to check the NTFS file systems (chkntfs / xc :), with the standard check by Check Disc being excluded.

Third-party verification applications

It is best to use third-party utilities. They are much more effective. For example, the same Victoria hard disk testing program is functionally much higher than the standard system tools. Among the most popular utilities, it is worth noting such applications as ScanHDD, Norton Disc Doctor and many others.

As a rule, all such utilities work in automatic mode, where user participation is minimized. In most cases, it is sufficient to select the initial test parameters and start the process.

Preparing access to the BIOS (if required)

In some cases, the hard disk testing program may not detect a built-in or removable hard drive. This requires setting up access in the BIOS.

For the same Victoria utility in the SATA controller mode, you need to change the value from AHCI to the IDE, because in the standard mode the program simply does not accept the disk.

In addition, you need to boot the system from a USB flash drive, and use a better DOS-version of the utility (so you can check the disk before loading the operating system).

Scanning process

If you look a little bit more, you can say that the hard disk speed testing program may still be required, since this parameter can also influence the appearance of failures and the occurrence of errors on the hard drive.

As for the scanning process itself, the principles by which it is produced differ little from each other. Almost all utilities hide from the user's eyes the system processes associated with the scan, showing only the progress in the percentage.

Viewing Results and Correcting Errors

Naturally, the program for testing hard drives WD, that any other means of verification at the completion of the scanning process gives detailed information about the hard drive itself, the time of verification, the total disk space, corrupted and corrected errors, etc.

Here it is worth noting some subtleties. If the hard drive itself or a removable storage medium is severely damaged, no external hard drive testing program or built-in hard drive will help. Of course, some programs are able to conduct such an analysis (the same Victoria). On the other hand, if you find a lot of physical damage, it is better to buy a new hard drive and copy information from the old one to it. It will be very difficult for an ordinary user to do, but for that there are many service centers where this process will not cause any difficulties.

The result

As you can see, we did not go into the technical side of the hard drive verification issue and confined ourselves to general issues. This is due only to the fact that the processes themselves are so complex that the average user simply does not need their understanding.

On the other hand, it can be noted that all utilities designed to scan hard drives and restore their performance, from the point of view of organizing the interface are fairly simple. Look, because the user does not need to "bother" in terms of selecting parameters and directly starting the process of checking or correcting errors. In this regard, except perhaps professional utilities (again Victoria), requiring knowledge of thin and specific settings for use outside the Windows environment.

As practice shows, the simplest programs and applications of this type and their basic capabilities will be enough for the regular user, as they say, with his head. In addition, many utilities of this type are absolutely free, and you can download them in minutes, then install and use at your discretion.

Finally, it only remains to add that it will not even need to know what type of hard drive is installed in the computer system. All processes are so automated that even a person who is completely remote from understanding all these principles of work will be able to use such programs.