Naturally, accidental and deliberate deletion of files destroys previously recorded information that can be restored using special utilities... But you can also find cases of quick or complete formatting of hard drives, when data is believed to be deleted irrevocably, not to mention the damage itself hard drives... What to do in this case? Here programs come to the rescue for rebuilding hard disks. Most of the simplest utilities can be downloaded for free. However, even they help, as they say, bring the disc to life. Consider the most popular, including both freeware and paid utilities.

How does the process of deleting files from the hard drive work?

Before considering the main topic, let's make a small digression into the theoretical part and see how information is removed. On Windows systems, there are two ways: deleting to the Trash and without it. In the first case, the files are simply moved to the area reserved on the hard drive, so it is easy to restore them from the "Recycle Bin".

In the second case, it occurs when the first character in the name is changed to unreadable ($). If in the process of working in the clusters where such a file is located, the overwriting was not performed, the information can also be restored.

The situation is worse with fast or full formatting of disks and partitions, as well as with situations when the hard drive starts to "crumble" or is simply physically damaged. Many users mistakenly believe that it is impossible to recover files in this case, they say, only professional experts can do it. Nothing like this! If you use, for example, the same programs for recovering Seagate Barracuda hard drives, with which there were many problems at one time, anyone, even an unprepared user, can carry out such a process. Moreover, it is completely elementary.

Programs for recovering hard drives after formatting: can it be done?

In the case of a quick formatting of the hard drive, the partition tables are overwritten, and with a complete format, the disk surface is also checked, followed by the correction of bad sectors. At the same time, we are not talking about factory low-level formatting at all.

This is what allows many developers to create programs for recovering hard drives, which, as it were, perform the opposite process. This gives the very effect of restoration. But first things first.

The best hard drive recovery programs

As for the most famous utilities today, an approximate list might look like this:

• Victoria HDD;
• R.Saver and R-Studio;
• HDD Regenerator;
• Acronis Recovery Expert and Active Partition Recovery Pro;
• Hetman Partition Recovery;
• Zero Assumption Recovery.

Naturally, it is impossible to give a complete list, since today such software products you can find hundreds. But let's dwell on the above utilities in more detail.

Victoria HDD

If we consider the most popular programs for recovering hard drives and disk partitions, of course, the leadership belongs to one of the most powerful utilities of our time called Victoria HDD, developed by Sergey Kazansky.

The program has five levels of testing the hard drive, it is capable of identifying and displaying bad areas, fixing errors, plotting surface condition graphs, measuring performance, etc. The operating modes also look interesting. The application can be run in a regular graphical shell, or you can use a somewhat unusual DOS mode. By the way, it is with such a test that the most powerful effect is achieved.

R.Saver and R-Studio

These two programs for recovering hard drives from a USB flash drive work just fine and are very similar to each other. They can even be used as portable versions.

The main advantage of these utilities is that they support almost all file systems known today and are capable of recovering data on any type of media, including even formatted or damaged memory cards.

HDD Regenerator

This utility is relatively new among all programs. It is designed specifically to restore bad sectors and, as the developers themselves say, even to reanimate the surface of the hard drive.

It applies here latest technology the so-called magnetization reversal, which allows you to completely restore the hard drive and the information that was previously recorded on it. It works, however, only in DOS mode, which causes some bewilderment for many. In addition, the technology itself looks almost unrealistic, because some do not imagine how the surface magnetization reversal can be programmed. Nevertheless, everyone who came across it, express only admiration - the application is able to reanimate even completely "dead" disks.

Acronis Recovery Expert and Active Partition Recovery Pro

Before us are two representatives of the family of utilities for HDD recovery. The peculiarity of these applications is that they support a large number of file systems and hard drives.

In addition, they provide a bootable media creation mode, with which you can fix many problems if you start operating system from a problematic hard drive is impossible.

True, the first utility is paid, the second is not. But the second application is also interesting because it can be run from both DOS and Windows.

Hetman Partition Recovery

Another USB device or memory stick and information stored on them is interesting because it can work with all types of virtual partitions. It goes without saying that data can be recovered even after full formatting.

But the most important thing is that the program can work both in manual mode and in the "Wizard" mode, which allows any user to automate the entire recovery process.

Zero Assumption Recovery

Finally, one more small and fairly simple application, abbreviated as ZAR. This program is mainly intended for recovering FAT and NTFS file systems, although it can be used for Linux as well. For users of Windows systems, it is perfect.

But here it is worth considering that in this case we are talking exclusively about restoring information (even from bad sectors). In this case, the program on the hard disk itself does not make any corrections after analysis.

Conclusion

Of course, only the most basic programs were considered here.When choosing a program, one should be guided by the situation itself, that is, choose which operation should be applied (restoring information or eliminating failures on the hard drive itself), and only then make a decision about using this or that utility.

The problem of recovering a hard drive and the information that was stored on it is one of the most pressing on this moment time. Due to the seriousness of the issue, it is advisable to always have a tool on hand that could troubleshoot the drive. It can be either a comprehensive HDD recovery program or a utility that can diagnose a specific disk functionality.

HDD Regenerator is a program for recovering bad sectors of a hard disk and creating recovery bootable disks. Its main advantages include a simple interface without unnecessary problems, the ability to monitor the status of the HDD, as well as support for different file systems. And the disadvantages are that official version the product costs almost $ 90 and the fact that using this program it is impossible to recover information after formatting the hard drive. It removes only bad sectors and then only at the logical level.

R-Studio is a versatile program that is perfect for both recovering a hard drive after formatting and recovering damaged partitions. It works with a large number of file systems and is one of the most effective programs for recovering lost data. Also, its advantages include an intuitive interface. Well, the main disadvantage is that R-Studio, like HDD Regenerator, is paid.

The program compares favorably with other analogues due to the interface in the style Windows explorer, which allows its users to easily and quickly cope with the problem. Also, Starus Partition Recovery has the ability to preview files before restoring them and has a built-in Hex editor, which will come in handy for experienced users... The price of such convenience is 2,399 rubles, which is also the main disadvantage of the program.

Acronis Disk Director

Another paid, but very convenient and effective program for recovering a hard drive after damage. It has extensive functionality and allows the user to do whatever he wants with the hard disk - from recovering damaged information to optimization. Fast, powerful, paid.

Free program for diagnostics and recovery of hard disk partitions. Its main task is low-level HDD testing and assessing its performance. The main drawbacks are that the program is no longer supported by the developer and has an overloaded interface that will be difficult for an inexperienced user to cope with.

With most of the programs reviewed, you can easily manage sections of hard disk, recover lost and deleted data, as well as diagnose HDD operation. Unfortunately, almost all of them are paid, but they have trial versions or demo modes. Therefore, you can try and evaluate the work of all programs, and then choose the one that you like the most.

Often users personal computers face hard disk problems that affect system performance. The main causes of hard drive failure are: broken sectors in HD D and faulty file system... In this article, we will describe in detail process of fixing HDD problems and also describe methods for recovering information on hard drives if it is defective or completely out of order. I would also like to note that the problems associated with the hard drive should be given special attention. For example, if the HDD becomes completely faulty, then you will hardly be able to recover information from it. That is, all your documents, personal videos and photos, as well as other files may be lost forever.

Reading SMART readings from the hard drive

If files are not copied on your computer, programs freeze after opening, then possible reason it might be faulty HDD... Typically, this behavior of the operating system is associated with bad sectors in your hard drive. To be sure that the problem is related to bad sectors of the HDD, and not to malware, the first step is to confirm this guess. If the situation described above is observed on the computer, we will install the utility on it CrystalDiskInfo... This utility describes the status of all hard drives installed on your computer. You can download CrystalDiskInfo from its official website http://crystalmark.info. The utility supports Windows operating systems from XP to Windows 10.

To check information about the hard drive, the utility uses self-diagnosis technology SMART... SMART technology is used on all manufactured HDDs. Below is an example of checking SMART readings using the CrystalDiskInfo utility in the hard drive WD1200JS... From this window, you can see that the program has detected its state as “ Good"- this means that this hard drive is in perfect order and you shouldn't worry about it.

In the following image, in the SMART readings, the CrystalDiskInfo utility detected the status of the screw with the message “ Anxiety". This message means that there are already bad sectors in the hard drive or it is overheating.

If you see the message “ Bad", It will mean that all bad sectors are reassigned on the hard drive and soon it will be completely covered.

In both cases, when the program found the messages “ Anxiety" and " Bad", You should make a backup copy of all data on your computer, as the screw will soon become unusable.

One solution that can temporarily fix your screw is the utility Victoria... This utility can do REMAP BAD sectors, that is, it will reassign the bad sectors to the spare. In the next section, we will describe in detail the process of REMAP BAD sectors using the Victoria utility.

Recovering a hard drive using Victoria

Utility Victoria created by the forces of a Belarusian programmer and is distributed free of charge. You can download the utility on its official website hdd-911.com... Victoria utility is distributed in two versions for Windows and DOS. In our case, we will download the Windows version. After running the Victoria utility on Windows, we will get into such a window.

To fix the hard drive, we need to go to the "Tests" tab. On this tab, we are interested in the area with the radio buttons Ignore, Erase, Remap and Restore, as well as the Start button. To fix it, we need to select the Remap radio button and click Start.

After these actions, the Victoria program will begin the process of fixing the sectors, which can take quite a long time.

After reassigning the sectors, the Victoria program may be able to recover the bad sectors, and the value "Good" will be displayed in the CrystalDiskInfo utility. But the magic fix may not happen, since the reserve sectors may simply be absent and Victoria will not be able to help. In this case, there is only one way out - do a complete replacement of the HDD... In addition to the treatment of the screw, Victoria also provides verification of readings SMART on the “ SMART».

I would like to note that all the operations that you perform with Victoria, you do at your own peril and risk. Using the utility, an inexperienced user can damage the hard drive and void its warranty service.

Fixing file system problems on your hard drive

Many users on Windows computers often have problems with file system errors NTFS... File system problems occur due to malicious utilities and various software ... Also, most often, problems in the file system occur inexperience the PC user himself. For example, mishandling the utility Acronis Disk Director... Windows itself will help us to solve this problem. Windows provides file system fixer... To fix the file system on a specific partition, you need to go to its properties. In our case, this is the system partition of the operating room. Windows systems 10. To start the fix, we need to go to the " Service».

There is a Check button on this tab that we will click.

After this action, a window will appear in which you need to confirm our actions.

After confirming the action, Windows will scan this section.

After scanning, the system will display a message with the results of scanning the section for errors.

Using this method, many users restored the operating system to normal performance without having to reinstall it. If the problems lie in the HDD itself, then no disk check and OS reinstallation will help in this case. The only option in this case, it will be that you can resort to the Victoria utility or do a complete replacement of the screw with a new one, while reinstalling Windows.

Recovering disks with Acronis True Image 2016

The software is the perfect tool to create a full backup all local partitions, including the system one. This opportunity is used by many administrators around the world. The created backup of local disks can be restored in a very short time. For example, if the system has been infected by a virus or the HDD is broken, in this case you will restore all OS disks in a short period of time. You can find Acronis True Image 2016 on its official website www.acronis.com. Having launched the program in question, we will get into such a window.

First of all, we will show our readers how to back up local partitions in Acronis True Image 2016. On the first Backup tab, you can see that the entire computer is selected for backup. That is, a full backup of all local partitions will be carried out, including the system one. In the next block, you need to select a location for the backup. In our case, this is the local disk E. After selecting the type of backup data and the location of their saving, click the Create a copy button located in the lower right corner.

The time of the backup will depend on the amount of data to be backed up.

After completing backup, we will describe the process of recovering a computer. To do this, we need to create an Acronis True Image 2016 bootable disk or USB flash drive. You can do this by going to the “ TOOLS / BOOTABLE STORAGE WIZARD". Below is the wizard that should open.

In this wizard, we will select the first item and continue. In the window that appears, select where we will save the boot drive: in the image or to a USB flash drive.

After saving the boot source, the wizard will display a final window.

After creating a bootable USB flash drive or optical disc with Acronis True Image 2016, you can start data recovery. To do this, boot from bootable flash drive at computer startup. After booting from the bootable drive, we get to the Acronis True Image 2016 menu. Select the first item in this menu, and then we get to the main Acronis True Image window.

In the program window, go to the "" tab and find the previously created backup of the entire system.

Now, to restore the Windows system drive and local drives, press the button Disk recovery.

In the wizard that appears, select the item " Recover disks and partitions"And continue.

In the next window, select all local drives and continue with the wizard.

In paragraphs " Destination»For the first and second disks, select the original HDDs. If there are many hard drives installed in the system, be careful not to mix up the screws. In the final window, click the Proceed button.

The recovery time of a backup depends on the size and speed of the HDD. In our case, it took 10 minutes.

The example shows how easy it is to back up an entire computer, so if you master the Acronis True Image 2016 software package, you can easily restore its functionality in cases where the system is infected or the hard drive breaks down. Also, after mastering the program, you will not have any questions about how to recover data from your hard drive.

Recovering information with Recuva

There are times when at reinstalling Windows or when using Acronis software, users by mistake erase all information from the hard drive... If you have exactly this situation, then you should not be upset, since all the information can be restore... A free utility will help us in this task. Recuva... You can download the utility on its official website www.piriform.com. After starting the utility, the user enters a wizard that will help you recover all data. Below is the sequential work of the wizard.

The example shows that data recovery using Recuva is quite a simple process and almost any PC user can handle it.

Summing up

From this article, it can be emphasized that hard drive recovery is not a very simple task, but depending on the situation, even an ordinary PC user can handle it. I would also like to advise laptop owners to handle it as carefully as possible. For example, if the laptop falls or receives a strong impact, it can damage the HDD. In addition, if you yourself identified the problematic screw, then do not be afraid to open the laptop case yourself or stationary computer, since replacing the HDD is quite an easy task. And we, in turn, hope that our material will be useful to our readers and will allow you to restore your hard drive.

Related Videos

Good hour everyone!

I think that many users have encountered suspicious work of the hard disk: long copying / reading of files, brakes, loading up to 100%, clicking, inability to read any files, etc.

This behavior of the disk may indicate serious problems with it. In order to determine what is wrong with it, you have to resort to specialized service utilities.

In this article, I want to focus on a few best utilities ah who can view the S.M.A.R.T. (special technology of hard disk self-monitoring,), check the disk surface for the presence of bad blocks and try to restore its operability (that is, try to reassign the bad sectors to the spare, for more details on this, see the link below).

What is a bad block, how to check the disk with the Victoria utility (in detail for beginners, with examples and screenshots), see this article -

6 best utilities to check disk for bad blocks

Victoria / Victoria

Developer site: http://hdd-911.com/

One of the best utilities for checking and treating bad blocks on your hard drive. The program conducts testing, diagnostics, and treatment of the disc at a low level. In addition to HDD, Victoria supports other types of media: FDD, CD / DVD, USB / Flash / SCSI, she also "sees" drives under Windows through APIs and ports.

Note: I described how to work with Victoria in one of my previous articles, the link to it is presented just above.

Key features:

1. support for IDE / SATA controllers;
2. the ability to view S.M.A.R.T. disk;
3. the ability to control acoustic noise;
4. tests to check the mechanics and surface of the disc;
5. getting full tech. disk information;
6. the ability to work from under Windows and DOS;
7. work on laptops is supported;
8. support for low-level HDD formatting;
9. Benchmark functions.

HDDScan

One of the best programs for checking hard drives from under Windows. Allows you to quickly assess the state of the hard drive, check the drive for bad sectors, view S.M.A.R.T. attributes.

In addition, the program allows you to control the power supply, adjust the acoustic mode, control the temperature of the drive (the data can be displayed on the taskbar).

Key features:

1. Support for SSD drives;
2. HDD support with interfaces: ATA / SATA, SCSI, USB, FireWire or IEEE 1394;
3. Drive test in linear verification mode, linear reading and linear writing;
4. Reading and analyzing identification information from hard drives with ATA / SATA / USB / FireWire / SCSI interface;
5. Changing the AAM, APM, PM parameters on ATA / SATA / USB / FireWire drives (useful for those who have a lot of noise HDD in progress);
6. Works in all popular Windows OS: XP, 7, 8, 10.

HDTA2

HDAT2 - system utility, necessary for diagnostics and "treatment" of hard drives. One of the main differences between this utility and Victoria (presented above) is support for a much larger type of disks (note: supported interfaces: ATA / ATAPI / SATA, SSD, SCSI and USB).

HDAT2 can work in 2 modes:

1. disk level: diagnostics and "treatment" of bad sectors on certain drives. By the way, in addition to diagnostics, you can get any information about the disk (which can only be obtained programmatically);
2. file level: searching, reading and checking records in file systems FAT 12, 16, 32. Ability to check, delete and restore records of bad sectors, flags in the FAT table.

Important!

Recommend HDAT2 to use with boot disk or a flash drive. Work from under Windows program will most likely be incorrect. On the developer site, use the version "CD / DVD Boot ISO image"- it must be correctly written to a USB flash drive / disk, like any bootable media. You can read about this in one of my articles:.

MHDD

Developer site: 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 a fairly high speed of scanning and "curing" the disk from "soft" -bad sectors.

Main functions:

1. accurate and very quick diagnostics the state of the hard disk, the optimal algorithm for correcting bad sectors;
2. the ability to adjust the noise from the drive (AAM);
3. viewing the readings of S.M.A.R.T .;
4. error logs;
5. the ability to delete all information on the disk without the possibility of its recovery;
6. an attempt to warm up the drive and test it in extreme conditions;
7. the ability to test several hard drives at once.

Macrorit Disk Scanner

Macrorit Disk Scanner is a good and working tool to check 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 - there simply is not the functionality that Victoria has.

You can scan the entire disk or a specific range of sectors (useful for large disks when scanning can take too long).

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

In general, it is a good alternative to previous programs, especially when you need to simply and quickly find out the state of the disk.

Ashampoo HDD Control

Developer site: https://www.ashampoo.com/ru/rub/pin/0365/system-software/hdd-control-3

Multifunctional program for monitoring the status of all your drives in the system. Thanks to the minute-to-minute control over the status of your disks, the program will prevent the loss of information, warning you in time about all problems.

By the way, those who have used Ashampoo products know that their programs are designed so that any novice user can simply and easily work with the program. HDD Control is no exception to this rule, anyone who wants it will deal with it ...

Main functions:

1. monitoring the status of drives online;
2. the ability to test the disk (there are several tests available to get a "complete picture" of the state of the drive);
3. notification about the dangerous state of the disk, leading to a failure or possible loss of information;
4. the ability to defragment the disk;
5. support for drives with the interface: IDE, ATA, hard drives connected via USB and Firewire;
6. supports drives connected via RAID controllers;
7. viewing disk information: registration number, cache size, number of partitions, etc .;
8. there is the ability to quickly clean the disk from junk files;
9. the ability to export data about the state of the disk and the tests performed.

PS

No matter how good the readings are after testing and diagnosing the disk, do not forget to backup important documents and files. As they say, once a year a stick shoots ...

Better to spend 5 extra minutes on backups than days and weeks of wasted work.

Free hard drive repair software

Problems with hard drives occur quite often, many users do not know what to do with it. Therefore, in most cases, the average user gives a hard drive to service center where specialists repair it for a fee. But as practice shows, you can solve most problems with a hard drive yourself completely free of charge, it is enough to know what programs exist for repairing a hard drive, what they are responsible for and how to work with them.

In order to protect yourself and your data, I recommend using special programs that will monitor the status of the disk and report possible problems... For example, you can use.

By the way, the described methods will only help ordinary HDD disks if you have an SSD, but it is almost impossible to restore them. If you don’t know which disc you have, it’s worth taking a look.

I also recommend that you constantly monitor what you have stored on the disk. And do not regularly delete required files and folders. You can do this on your own, but it's better to use the software. Windows 10 has added several features that enable the OS to automatic mode will delete unnecessary files and folders, I wrote about this in more detail. If you have large amounts of information, then it is better to use programs for analysis.

Three best programs for the repair and restoration of hard drives

To start repairing a hard drive using specialized programs and utilities, first you need to understand the reasons for its breakdown. There are several classic glitches, namely:

- Violation of the structure in the file concept

- Defective or damaged hard drive files

- Crash and program errors

- Disappearance of information and files

To solve all these problems, the most popular programs and utilities are used:

- Viktoria

- Other

Regenerator is a fairly powerful and powerful program that allows you to find errors in the hard disk system, as well as to restore it. It mainly acts on damaged areas where failures have occurred and tries to repair damaged registries and areas. The program does not restore information that has been deleted or lost, it works to repair damaged areas.

1. Launch the application and select the drive to work with.

2. In the dos window, select the type of scan and press the enter button.

After all the steps, we finish scanning and repairing the disk surface, and look at the results.

According to experts - HDD Regenerator in DOS-mode can completely restore a hard disk by magnetizing the surface of the hard drive. This will solve most of the problems associated with disk damage.

Download HDD Regenerator- http://www.softportal.com/software-17886-hdd-regenerator.html

Viktoria is a well-known program that very efficiently and most importantly quickly copes with many errors, system losses and sector failures in the HDD. The program works in two variations:

- In DOS mode

- In a windowed application of the Windows operating system

In any variation, the program perfectly copes with a large number of errors, reanimating lost files and recovering damaged sectors.

To work in the program you need:

1. Run the program and select the faulty disk.

2. On a special smart tab, view information about the disk.

3. After the information received, go to the test tab and test all areas of the disk by default. Test type should be - Verify.

4. Analyze the received errors, which are marked in red (these are dips and non-working sectors).

5. Hide non-working and bad sectors using the Remap operating mode.

Download Victoria- http://www.softportal.com/software-40873-victoria.html

This program is an excellent assistant for repairing hard disk. Acronis Recovery Expert is quite easy to use, has a user-friendly interface, and runs like a normal application. In addition, it can create a special bootable media that plays files with poor hard drive performance. Also this program supports a huge number system files and large sizes of hard drives.

To work in the program you need:

1. Start the program.

2. Select the operating and recovery mode (manual or automatic).

3. Select the deleted and damaged partition.

4. Select a search method for deleted partitions (fast and full).

5. Restore the partition and repair the disk.

Download Acronis Recovery Expert- http://soft.mydiv.net/win/download-Acronis-Recovery-Expert.html

In addition to these programs, there are many other applications and utilities that also help fix problem areas of the hard drive and solve many problems with it. Of course, the primary solution for minor problems with a hard drive is ScanDisk, but, in more serious ones, these are already such giants as HDD Regenerator or Viktoria. These programs will definitely be able to help with hard drive repair, and you will not need any wizards.