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Utility for recovering hard drives. A program for recovering a hard disk (bad sectors). What devices can be regenerated

Free software MHDD for diagnostics and repair hard drives ... By functionality for working with a hard drive, the utility surpasses many analogues software for testing and repair of drives. Besides diagnostics MHDD is able to read and write selective sectors, supports S.M.A.R.T. system, manages noise characteristics HDD and knows how to change its size. With MHDD you can scan disk with detailed statistics of sectors and if available BAD sectors execute function REMAP that will hide "broken" sectors from using the operating system.

How MHDD Works

The program works with hard disks at the lowest possible level - addresses directly to IDE controller or SATA drive bypassing MS-DOS and BIOS. Thanks to this, the diagnostics of the hard drive is available even in the case when the BIOS of the computer does not see it and does not detect it. The exception is SCSI devices, in which case MHDD uses the ASPI driver to access the DOS disk.

How to start MHDD

To run the program, you must write a bootable image to a CD or floppy disk; set in the BIOS the device from which the computer will first of all start (CD drive or floppy drive) and boot the PC from it. The archive offered for download contains an ISO bootable image for a CD, a bootable floppy image and an instruction for MHDD in Russian.

Another reliable and free program for diagnostics and repair of hard drives in Russian.

Official site: http://www.ihdd.ru
OS: Windows All
Supported languages: English
Version: 4.6
License:freeware (is free)

File size 1.01 Mb

More interesting programs:

  • SmartLombard is the first Russian program to optimize the management of the pawnshop business

No matter how high quality your HDD, sooner or later problems may arise with him. Incorrect removal of programs, viruses and malicious applications, wear and tear - all this can lead to a breakdown of the "hard drive" and the appearance of the so-called. The latter do not make themselves felt instantly, most likely months will pass before you notice the problem.

Scheme of work

Delivery

by courier free of charge

Diagnostics

fast and free

recovery

on professional equipment

examination

quality and completeness of restoration

only if successful

What are bad sectors?

For a more understandable definition of a broken sector, it will not be superfluous to understand the design of your hard drive. In general, it consists of rotating magnetic disks, which are divided into tracks, and these very tracks, in turn, are divided into sectors. Any information that you copy to your hard drive is recorded in them. Disk sectors have one unpleasant property - they deteriorate over time and you lose access to them. And it speeds up this process wrong job with a computer.

You most likely will not know about the existence of several bad sectors without the use of special programs. They practically do not affect the operation of the computer in any way and only become a real problem in large numbers.

Computer freezes when trying to access any files, long copying from one partition to another, errors and rebooting the PC - all this may be the result of a large number of bad blocks on your "screw". Some of them can be corrected, and some cannot be treated. By this sign and by the nature of the damage, all broken sectors can be divided into two types: physical and logical.

  • Physical problems are the result of damage (for example), dust getting inside hard disk and normal wear and tear on equipment. The main thing is to understand that in such cases, which can no longer be restored. Even the usual data recovery from such sectors will be a miracle;
  • Logic bads appear under the influence of viruses, errors file system and incorrect writing of information to the disk (for example, sudden shutdown computer while copying files or other active work). In such cases, it is not the sector's magnetic coating that is damaged, but its data. Such broken sectors are subject to treatment and can be corrected using a variety of programs at normal home conditions.

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Programs for recovering bad sectors of the hard drive

Microsoft provides a built-in utility chkdsk to work with hard drives. By default, the utility only checks for file system errors, but if you add the key / f, then 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 to check the hard drive and fix broken sectors, which can be easily found on the Internet. Let's talk a little more about the most popular of them:

  • - probably the most popular program for testing hard drives and recovering bad sectors on a hard drive. It can be used not only for treatment, but also for testing equipment. As the developers themselves note, when interacting with the hard drive, it ignores the file system and works at the level of I / O ports. This property ensures the most efficient and quality work. Besides, there are two versions of the program, one of which works directly from under Windows, and the other from under DOS. The latter is more versatile, but it is also recommended for use by experienced users.
  • Is another popular program that works with equipment through controller ports. Also has two versions (Windows and DOS), both of which are completely free. It features a very fast speed of work, which does not affect its quality in any way. In addition, it gives out complete statistics on your device: the number of on and off cycles, the number of spindle revolutions, etc. As a minus, you can count the unfriendly program interface, which will become a problem for inexperienced users.
  • - a unique program that, according to the developers, can even repair physical damage. The point is that often physically damaged sectors have incorrect magnetization, which is eliminated this program... The rest of the set of characteristics and capabilities is similar to the above utilities.

Most of us store a lot of important information on our computer's hard drive. And almost always everything is fine, but it so happens that the unexpected happens. Once again you start the computer and get an error - a message that the hard drive is damaged. In this case, you need to rebuild the hard drive. In principle, this is a simple procedure, but not for a beginner. Let's take a closer look at this issue.

Mechanical damage to the hard drive

There are many problems that arise through the fault of PC users. But it so happens that not everything depends on us, and the hard drive fails without human intervention. This can happen due to damage to the power supply when the engine stops starting. In this case, it is sufficient to use special utilities to help solve problems. A little later we will definitely consider a few of them.

If you notice that the hard drive is constantly knocking or making other incomprehensible sounds, then most likely the matter is in the damage to the magnetic head unit. In this case, you will hardly be able to do it on your own, so you will have to call a specialist who will solve the problem.

There are other common problems such as switch failure or motor inoperability caused by negligence in technology. It is worth noting that logical errors are much more common, which are eliminated by installing special programs.

As a rule, hard disk recovery takes place without complications. All that is required from the user is to install special software and spend some free time.

Recovering data from hard drive with Recuva

This utility is ideal for working with file systems such as NTFS and FAT. It is worth noting that there is a so-called portable version that runs from a USB flash drive. This is necessary in cases where the hard drive refuses to work, and there is no disk drive. Since it is completely free, it is very popular among ordinary users, but not professionals, which is due to some shortcomings, for example, the inability to recover files that were deleted some time ago.

During the first launch of the utility, you will be prompted to select what you want to restore. To mark all files, click opposite "other". Then indicate the path (in our case, this is the hard drive). The process takes a lot of time. It all depends on the capacity of the HDD, as well as on the reading speed. We can safely say that in 90% of cases, data recovery from a hard disk with the Recuva program is successful. You just need to make sure that after deletion, no records are made to the hard drive.

UndeletePlus - hard drive recovery software

If you formatted your hard drive, and there was extremely important information, do not worry, this utility will solve all problems. It is completely free, but its functionality is suitable only for a beginner, since the number of tools is very limited. Everything here is extremely simple and understandable thanks to the Russian-language interface.

To begin with, select the disk on which important information was stored, and start scanning it. At the end of the process, select the location for recovery. By the way, it is desirable that this was not the medium on which the work is carried out, since the correctness of the files may be violated. There is also a recovery wizard. It is more suitable for beginners as it has step-by-step instructions. In principle, this program is for rebuilding hard disk is good for home use, and nothing more. Moving on.

For professionals - R-Studio

The optimal solution for most large offices and companies that save gigabytes to their computers every day useful information is the installation of paid programs. This is exactly what R-Studio is. Its main advantage lies in the fact that it allows you to recover files that were lost as a result of formatting, deletion, or trivial damage to the hard drive. If the operating system does not even start, then for our utility this is not a problem at all, since it is possible to create a bootable disk or drop it onto a USB flash drive. Here are the main features of R-Studio:

  • data recovery from HDD, flash drives, memory cards, CDs, DVDs;
  • work with damaged hard drives;
  • support for FAT, NTFS on MAC OC, Linux;
  • recovering files from hard disk, RAID arrays, etc.

It is safe to say that this program is one of the most demanded among professionals. This is due to its wide capabilities and relatively low cost.

How do you find something that suits everyone?

If a comprehensive hard drive data recovery is required, a program called Recovery Software is the best solution... This is due to the fact that it is a whole software package. Each separately taken utility is designed to solve specific problems. What features does this development have? Consider below.

By downloading Current Package Software, you have seven programs at your disposal. For example, RS Partition Recovery is designed to recover a hard drive after accidental formatting. It supports all popular file systems today, while RS FAT Recovery is used to restore the logical structure of a disk, flash drive, etc. In addition, this package includes products that are specifically designed for photo recovery. It often happens that the resulting images have dead pixels. The assembly has RS File Repair, which is designed to solve this problem... Works with JPG, TIFF, PNG.

We can say that the main advantage of such a solution lies in its wide functionality, but often an ordinary user does not see the point of overpaying for packages he does not need, and this is correct.

What to do if bad sectors appear?

Sometimes users notice that folders start disappearing from the computer, and the operating system takes a little longer to load. If there are read errors and logical disks are violated, we can say that bad blocks appear. It is difficult to say exactly what causes this kind of problem. In some cases, this is due to the lifespan of the hard drive, and sometimes - logical failures. But in any case, you need to do something and somehow restore the missing folders.

There are many programs that will help us with solving this problem. One of the best is Data Extractor. Its main advantage is as follows: you can work with the hard drive in technological mode. This solution is good because you can perform multiple reads with skipping or ignoring the control code. As a result, 90-100% of the information that was on the broken sectors is restored.

Stellar Phoenix - powerful software for the hobbyist and professional

This utility is good because it has a very wide functionality. Recovering information from a hard drive can be performed regardless of what has been lost. This refers to the format of the document, executable file etc. This is due to the fact that this utility recognizes more than one hundred and eighty seven formats, and the medium can be almost any - from a memory card and a CD to an external hard drive. There is also a drawback - it is impossible to restore RAID arrays, since it will not be possible to create a copy of the image to work with it, and not with the original.

I am glad that even a beginner will understand the menu and navigation. This is due to the fact that hard disk recovery after formatting takes place in Russian. You can hardly make a mistake, since after launching the utility itself will ask what needs to be done. The following choices are provided:

  • work with a hard drive;
  • image recovery;
  • recovery of files on CD- / DVD-disks.

Victoria - fast and reliable

The utility is designed to work only on Windows, this is the main drawback of this product... But, despite this, he is very popular. Victoria was recently released, running on DOS systems.

The strong point of the utility is diagnostics, which can tell almost everything about the hard drive. The most interesting thing is that there is an opportunity to find out how much longer the hard disk will work. Based on the data received, you can conclude whether to buy a new hard drive or repair it with paid programs.

But that's not all. The point is that if recovery sectors of hard disk is impossible to implement, "Victoria" will simply mark them as inoperative. After that, they will not be read, and the speed of reading, as well as loading the OS, will increase slightly. Even a beginner will understand how the utility works. There is a main window, which displays basic information about the hard drive, and a "test" section. The latter is needed in order to detect bad sectors, and, if possible, cure or block them.

What everyone should know

Most of the above utilities work the same way. But you have to gain a little theoretical knowledge, and only then proceed with the recovery. For example, after testing, you need to figure out which disk sectors are working properly and which are not.

Various colors are used as designation. For normal sectors - gray, for workers with signal delay - green. Orange is assigned to sectors that take too long to read. They are the ones that cause the braking, so there should be no more than 50 of them. Red ones are damaged and cannot be repaired. Sometimes there are also blue ones with a cross, information about which could not be obtained. Such sectors require re-annotation.

Several important points

Do not forget that recovering a damaged hard disk always takes a long time. During the operation, it is not recommended to perform any actions at all (write / delete / copy) on the hard drive, otherwise you can only make it worse. It is best to use utilities that can be dropped onto a USB flash drive or disk, so as not to download them to the hard drive. This will provide faster testing.

Conclusion

As you can see, not everything is as complicated as it might seem at first glance. Of course, there are free and paid programs. If you are not an employee of a large office, but an ordinary user, and just want to perform a hard disk recovery after a recent formatting or for any other reason, then it hardly makes sense to buy software. As practice shows, there are a lot of free utilities, the functionality of which allows you to do everything you need to do (and even a little more). There are fewer Russian-language software, but with due diligence, you will definitely find a suitable option. In addition, some programs in English have an intuitive interface.

Key features

  • HDD surface check;
  • Restoration or replacement of failed sectors with serviceable ones;
  • Unscrewing the hard disk spindle;
  • Reading SMART attributes;
  • Stopping the hard disk spindle.

Advantages and disadvantages

  • Works under managed by Microsoft Windows XP / 2000;
  • Small size of software;
  • High working speed and high efficiency;
  • Russian-language interface;
  • The ability to download software for free.
  • Not detected.

Analogs

Victoria HDD is a program for a comprehensive analysis of the work of a computer hard drive. Suitable for both home use and professional work. Considering some of the difficulties that an ordinary user may encounter while working with the program, a system of prompts is built into it. When using this software, it is advisable to have additional cooling for the hard drive and a high-quality power supply.

HDDRegenerator is a unique program for recovering physically damaged disks. Eliminates bad sectors from the surface of the hard disk, does not hide them, but actually restores. About 60% of hard drives can be regenerated using the program. As a result, unreadable and damaged information will be restored without affecting the existing data.

MHDD is a multifunctional program for accurate diagnostics and repair of hard drives. The program is absolutely free and has great practicality and reliability of scanning. Performs a high-quality disk check for damage. The basic advantage of the software is that it works with the hard drive at a low level through the ports of the IDE controller.

Installation and use principles

Run it;

Program in progress;

HDD Master is a free program for testing and repairing hard drives. It has many advantages among analogs, so it should be in the arsenal of all PC users.

One of the biggest annoyances for PC owners can be hard drive sector corruption. Such sectors are called "broken", and the hard disk itself with such damage is said to have started to "crumble".

The ability to turn on / off the computer directly depends on the location of such damage. If the sectors where the operating system files are located are out of order, 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, a method is chosen to eliminate the bad sectors of the hard disk.

What to do

With this type of damage, you need to open "My Computer" and select right click the desired disk. Next, from the options offered, select "Properties", then "Service" and "Run Check". Check the box "Automatically fix system errors" and "Check and repair bad sectors". By clicking "Start", the user starts checking the hard disk for damage. After that, it is 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, insert the disc into the drive and turn on the machine normally. All further actions are similar to those described in the previous paragraph. When working with the installation disc, a menu will appear with the option to select the "Restore System" command. As a result, the hard disk will be checked for bad sectors, and the damage found will be repaired.

Special programs

You can also check and repair 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, you need to press the F8 key and select Safe Mode that 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 corresponds to the disk, after which the administrator password is entered. After the corresponding prompt appears in the line, the disk name, route and file name are entered. By pressing "Enter" the user starts the recovery process.

Thus, when checking the "C" partition of the hard drive, you need to start the system recovery console and issue the chkdsk c: / f / r command. It is 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 disk 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 of clusters are miniature cells. Each of the clusters is a logical storage of information, where files are constantly written. The totality of all clusters provides us correct work the whole computer.

Bad block or bad sector is an unreadable disk sector that contains bad memory cells.

Such a hard disk is no longer suitable for working with the operating system, but you can try to use it as an external storage device, like a "large flash drive". If you use such a hard disk for storing data, it is advisable to cut off the place where the bad blocks are using a hard disk program. For example, Acronis DiskDirector.

Bad sector on the hard disk

Most frequent the reason for the appearance of bad sectors- this is the natural wear and tear of the drive, i.e. if the hard disk has been working for many years, then simply due to the large number of write and read cycles to one sector or another, the hard disk starts to fail slowly but surely. As a rule, this is more than 10,000 hours of work. This increase in the access time to the sector is manifested, that is, for a new serviceable cell it is on the order of 10-15 ms, then indicators of more than 150 ms indicate a strong wear of the drive. If one sector fails, then others will soon begin to fail, which means that you should think about replacing the hard drive, or at least copy the information you need.

Why bad sectors appear - we figured it out, now we will discuss how to identify them.

Victoria

Maybe you already know about the program Victoria is a program specially created for deep diagnostics of the hard drive. Victoria is available in 2 versions: with a graphical shell and without it (DOS version).

Received Smart in Victoria program

This is already a proven hard drive, and its main parameters are shown here, i.e. data SMART... During the surface test, the response time to the request for each sector can be obtained. The time is indicated from 5 milliseconds to 1.5 seconds and higher, the less - the better, the faster our hard drive reacts.

As for Smart, here you can be guided by the number of "", the more, the better. Judging by the quantity " 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 also knows how to do many other operations with HDD, up to sector closures.

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 a computer.

If, for some reason, you did not like Victoria, then there is always an alternative, and many others, such as: Active boot disk, HDD Regenerator, R-Studio etc.

Broken sectors are not treated, but closed, and their disk space 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. Incorrect removal of programs, viruses and malicious applications, wear and tear - all this can lead to a breakdown of the "hard drive" and the appearance of the so-called. The latter do not make themselves felt instantly, most likely months will pass before you notice the problem.

What are bad sectors?

For a more understandable definition of a broken sector, it will not be superfluous to understand the design of your hard drive. In general, it consists of rotating magnetic disks, which are divided into tracks, and these very tracks, in turn, are divided into sectors. Any information that you copy to your hard drive is recorded in them. Disk sectors have one unpleasant property - they deteriorate over time and you lose access to them. And this process is accelerated by improper work with a computer.

Computer freezes when trying to access any files, long copying from one partition to another, errors and rebooting the PC - all this may be the result of a large number of bad blocks on your "screw". Some of them can be corrected, and some cannot be treated. By this sign and by the nature of the damage, all broken sectors can be divided into two types: physical and logical.

  • Physical problems are the result of damage (for example), dust getting inside the hard drive, and normal wear and tear of the equipment. The main thing is to understand that in such cases, which can no longer be restored. Even the usual data recovery from such sectors will be a miracle;
  • Logical badges appear under the influence of viruses, file system errors and incorrect writing of information to the disk (for example, a sudden shutdown of the computer while copying files or other active work). In such cases, it is not the sector's magnetic coating that is damaged, but its data. Such broken sectors are subject to treatment and can be corrected using a variety of programs at normal home conditions.

Programs for recovering bad sectors of the hard drive

Microsoft provides a built-in utility chkdsk to work with hard drives. By default, the utility only checks for file system errors, but if you add the key / f, then 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 that can be easily found on the Internet. Let's talk a little more about the most popular of them:

  • Victoria- probably the most popular program for testing hard drives and recovering bad sectors on a hard drive. It can be used not only for treatment, but also for testing equipment. As the developers themselves note, when interacting with the hard drive, it ignores the file system and works at the level of I / O ports. This property ensures the most efficient and quality work. Besides, there are two versions of the program, one of which works directly from under Windows, and the other from under DOS. The latter is more versatile, but it is also recommended for use by experienced users.
  • MHDD Is another popular program that works with equipment through controller ports. Also has two versions (Windows and DOS), both of which are completely free. It features a very fast speed of work, which does not affect its quality in any way. In addition, it gives out complete statistics on your device: the number of on and off cycles, the number of spindle revolutions, etc. As a minus, you can count the unfriendly program interface, which will become a problem for inexperienced users.
  • HDD Regenerator- a unique program that, according to the developers, can even repair physical damage. The point is that often physically damaged sectors have incorrect magnetization, which is eliminated by this program. 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 drives breakdown is not in them, but in the information that is stored on them. For example, if your video card is out of order, you can simply replace it. If your hard drive is out of order, 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 performance of your hard drive, test it from time to time. After all, trouble is much easier to prevent than to fix.

A hard drive is a fragile device. Bad sectors are damaged cells for storing information on a hard disk. After some time of using the hard disk, a problem with bad sectors may occur. Therefore, it is so important from time to time to deal with the restoration of broken sectors.

This is easily done using various programs, but first you need to determine if there are bad sectors. About this, as well as how to recover the boot sector of a hard drive, see our article.

How to repair damaged disk sectors

There are many ways to recover bad disk boot sectors. Let's consider 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 much effort. To do this, open the context menu of the hard disk and select the "Properties" item.

In the new window that opens, select the "Service" tab, where we click on the "Check" item. We put a checkmark in front of the items "Automatically fix system errors" and "check and restore bad sectors." After that, we run the check.

If the disk is a system disk, then a reboot will occur and the verification process will begin. If the disk is not a system disk, then the check will pass without rebooting.

The system itself will find all errors and carry out recovery. Then 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, then you can take a disk with virtual system and load the virtual OS. In it, all actions to restore the hard drive are performed in the same way as in the previous section.

If you don't have virtual disk with the OS, the Windows installation disc will help. After downloading it, you must select "System Restore". The recovery console will appear, where you need to select a local drive with your OS. This is usually the "C:" drive.

After rebooting, the console will appear, where you need to enter the command "CHKDSK [drive:]", where:

  • / F is a disk check and error correction,
  • / R is a search and repair for bad sectors.

After that, press "Enter", we are waiting for the recovery to start. Then we exit the console and restart the computer. All is ready.

How to recover sectors using programs

To recover bad sectors on a hard drive, there are many programs that can be easily downloaded from the Internet. Let's consider 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 recover broken 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. For the most effective use of the program, it is better to use a bootable USB flash drive or disk that is created after installing the program.

In this article, we will tell you about recovering bad sectors of a hard drive and the reasons for their appearance. Step-by-step instructions will help you prepare for this procedure and cope with it yourself.

What are broken 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 for reading and writing information. When storing data, the heads magnetize certain areas of the disk, divided into tracks and smaller components - sectors. It is in them that the units of information are stored. If the sector becomes unavailable for reading, it is called "broken".

Several signs indicate the appearance of such a problem:

  • squeaks, grinding, tapping when the disc is working;
  • heating of the HDD surface (in a normal state, this should not happen);
  • frequent errors when working and starting the operating system.

Typical Causes

The main reasons for the appearance of broken segments of the hard drive are:

Also, malfunctions of the hard drive may appear due to mechanical damage. They are often caused by dropping the hard disk or computer, damaging the magnetic surface (for example, during transportation). Non-working parts also appear due to factory defects. In this case, they may not appear immediately, but "fall down" over time, rapidly increasing their number to a critical level.

Important! If you suspect mechanical damage or marriage, you should immediately contact a specialist or exchange the hard drive under warranty.

Recovering bad HDD sectors with Victoria

If the appearance of broken segments is associated with software glitches, then they can be restored using specialized software. One of such programs for recovering bad sectors of hdd is Victoria. The utility is available in two versions - for Windows and DOS. The most effective recovery will be through DOS, since when the OS is running, some sectors may be busy, which means they are not available for scanning.


Scanning

To get started, we need to do a little preparation. First, you will need a disc with a program image recorded on it, or bootable USB drive... If everyone can cope with recording an image, then difficulties can arise with the creation of a USB flash drive.

Let's dwell on this step in more detail:

Note! The program takes up very little space, so after installing it, the drive can be used to store other information. In order not to accidentally delete the files necessary for the utility to work, it is recommended to allocate a separate folder for them.

Let's start the scanning process:


Here we need the item "Reallocated sector count", which displays the number of fragments in the reserve zone, as well as "Current pending sectors" where the parts that cannot be read are displayed. If their number is not very high, then the disk should be recovered.

Hard drive recovery

Let's see exactly how this process takes place. Problem segments can be roughly divided into two types. The first ones are not readable due to the mismatch of the information stored in them and its checksums.

This error occurs during a power outage when new data has already been written and the checksums remain old. They simply cease to be recognized and are restored quite easily - by formatting them and writing the correct amounts.

The second type occurs as a result of mechanical damage. In this case, recovery is more difficult, but still possible. The resumption of the performance of such parts is carried out through the use of reserve areas that are on each hard drive.

Let's start recovering each of these types of errors.

Video: HDD - "curing" bad sectors

First, let's try to fix the bad sectors by erasing the information stored in them:

  • press F4 and get to the check menu;
  • in the menu for selecting operations with unreadable sectors, specify "BB: Erase 256 sect" and press "Enter".

A lengthy process of scanning and restoring bad sectors of the HDD will start. If the program finds a bad sector, it will try to erase it, thereby correcting the error. If a mechanical defect is present, an error will be reported. In any case, you need to wait until the check is complete and then separately fix the sectors with physical faults.

For this:

Now the restore operation will work on a different principle, trying not to erase the bad sectors, but to replace them with space from the spare area.

Important! If there are a lot of such sectors, then the spare space may run out. This will be announced by a special message, and further recovery will become impossible.

After successfully recovering bad sectors on the hard drive, it is recommended to perform a full check of the file system for errors.

This can be done using the CHKDSK utility or in the following way:

Attention! In order for the system not only to find, but also to fix the problems, before starting the scan, select "Automatically fix system errors."

One of the biggest annoyances for PC owners can be hard drive sector corruption. Such sectors are given the name "broken", and they say about the hard disk itself with such damage ...