Checking the status of the hard drive. How to find out the status of your hard drive

Hello.

Forewarned is forearmed! This rule comes in handy when working with hard drives. If you know in advance that such and such hard drive is likely to fail - then the risk of data loss will be minimal.

Of course, no one will give a 100% guarantee, but with a high degree of probability, some programs can analyze S.M.A.R.T. readings. (a set of software and hardware that monitors the condition of the hard drive) and draw conclusions on how long it will last.

In general, to implement such hard checks There are dozens of programs on the disk, but in this article I wanted to focus on some of the most visual and easy to use. So…

How to find out the status of your hard drive

HDDlife

(By the way, in addition to HDD, it also supports SSD drives)

One of best programs for continuous monitoring of the hard drive condition. It will help you recognize the threat in time and replace the hard drive. Most of all, it captivates with its clarity: after launch and analysis, HDDlife presents the report in a very convenient form: you are shown the percentage of the “health” of the disk and its performance (the best indicator, of course, is 100%).

If your performance is above 70%, this indicates the good condition of your disks. For example, after a couple of years of work (quite active by the way), the program analyzed and concluded: that given hard the disk is approximately 92% healthy (which means that it should last, unless force majeure occurs, at least as long).

After launch, the program minimizes to the tray next to the clock and you can always monitor the status of your hard drive. If any problem is detected (for example, the disk temperature is high, or there is too little space left on the hard drive), the program will notify you with a pop-up window. Example below.

HDDLIFE alerts you when your hard drive is running out of space. Windows 8.1.

If the program analyzes and gives you a window like the one in the screenshot below, I advise you not to delay making a backup copy (and replacing the HDD).

HDDLIFE - the data on your hard drive is in danger, the faster you copy it to other media, the better!

Hard Disk Sentinel

This utility can compete with HDDlife - it monitors the disk status just as well. What is most captivating about this program is how informative it is and how easy it is to work with. Those. it will be useful for both a novice user and an already experienced one.

After launching Hard Disk Sentinel and analyzing the system, you will see the main window of the program: on the left you will see hard drives(including external HDDs), and their status will be displayed in the right window.

By the way, quite interesting feature, by predicting the performance of the disk, by how long it will serve you: for example, in the screenshot below, the forecast is more than 1000 days (that’s about 3 years!).

State hard drive EXCELLENT. No problematic or weak sectors were found. No speed or data transmission errors were detected.
No action needs to be taken.

By the way, the program implements enough useful feature: you can set the threshold for the critical temperature of the hard drive, upon reaching which, Hard Disk Sentinel will notify you that it has been exceeded!

Hard Disk Sentinel: disk temperature (including the maximum for the entire time the disk was used).

Ashampoo HDD Control

An excellent utility for monitoring the status of hard drives. The monitor built into the program allows you to find out in advance about the first problems with the disk (by the way, the program can even notify you about this by e-mail).

Also, in addition to the main functions, a number of auxiliary ones are built into the program:

Disk defragmentation;

Testing;

Cleaning the disk from garbage and temporary files (always relevant);

Deleting the history of visiting sites on the Internet (useful if you are not alone at the computer and do not want anyone to know what you are doing);

There are also built-in utilities for reducing disk noise, adjusting power, etc.

Screenshot of the Ashampoo HDD Control 2 window: from hard drive everything is in order, condition 99%, performance 100%, temperature 41 degrees. (it is desirable that the temperature be less than 40 degrees, but the program considers that everything is in order for this disk model).

By the way, the program is completely in Russian, intuitively thought out - even a novice PC user can figure it out. Pay special attention to the temperature and status indicators in the main program window. If the program produces errors or the condition is assessed as extremely low (+ in addition there is a grinding or noise coming from the HDD), I recommend that you first copy all the data to other media, and then start dealing with the disk.

Hard Drive Inspector

A distinctive feature of this program is:

1. Minimalism and simplicity: there is nothing superfluous in the program. It gives three indicators in percentage terms: reliability, performance and absence of errors;

Hard Drive Inspector - monitoring the condition of the hard drive.

СrystalDiskInfo

A simple but reliable utility for monitoring the status of hard drives. Moreover, it works even in cases where many other utilities refuse, crashing with errors.

The program supports several languages, does not have many settings, and is designed in a minimalist style. At the same time, it has quite rare functions, for example, reducing the disk noise level, temperature control, etc.

What is also very convenient is a graphical display of the situation:

Blue color (as in the screenshot below): everything is ok;

Yellow color: alarm, measures need to be taken;

Red: you need to take immediate action (if you still have time);

Gray: the program was unable to determine the readings.

CrystalDiskInfo 2.7.0 - screenshot of the main program window.

HD Tune

This program will be more useful experienced users: who, in addition to a graphical display of the “health” of the disk, also need high-quality disk tests, in which they can familiarize themselves in detail with all the characteristics and parameters. It should also be noted that the program, in addition to HDD, also supports new-fangled SSD drives.

HD Tune offers a rather interesting feature to quickly check a disk for errors: a 500 GB disk is checked in about 2-3 minutes!

HD TUNE: quick search disk errors. Red squares are not allowed on a new disk.

Also very necessary information- This is a test of disk read and write speed.

HD Tune - checking disk speed.

Well, we can’t help but note the tab with detailed information about the HDD. This is useful when you need to know, for example, supported functions, buffer/cluster size or disk rotation speed, etc.

HD Tune - detailed information about the hard drive.

In general, there are at least as many similar utilities that can be cited. I think that these will be more than enough for most...

And lastly: don't forget to do backups, even if the disk condition is rated as excellent at 100% (at least the most important and valuable data)!

Good luck...

If the HDD makes strange sounds or there are problems with writing and reading information, you should use one of the programs to check the hard drive for errors. Depending on the task (checking the disk surface for damage, searching for bad sectors, correcting errors, etc.), different software may be useful.

You can quickly check the disk for errors using standard system tools, but to restore the hard drive you will need special third-party programs. After learning how to check the health of your hard drive using various utilities, a user of any level will be able to cope with the problems that arise.

CheckDisk System Service is the simplest hard drive diagnostic program that can't find complex errors or fix bad sectors, but is useful for fixing basic problems. It is available on all versions of Windows OS and can be used to check drives of any type. All users need to know how to check a hard drive for errors with this tool.

The graphical interface version of the utility is most convenient for novice users. You can launch it through the disk management menu, which can be accessed in two ways:

in Windows XP/Vista/7 - select “Manage” in the context menu of “My Computer”, then go to the desired menu;
in Windows 8/10 - press the Win+X combination and select the appropriate item.

In the window that opens, select the device that needs analysis and click on it right click mouse and select “Properties” from the drop-down menu. By going to the “Service” tab, you need to run the hard drive diagnostic program.

The system will check and automatically correct errors if the disk is in at the moment not busy with reading or writing processes. Otherwise, the program will offer to test after rebooting the PC. If necessary, in the scan results window you can see detailed information about the HDD status.

The GUI version does not always help, since it is sometimes necessary to check the status of the hard disk safe mode or without starting the operating system at all. In such cases, the console comes to the rescue; you can launch it before the system starts using boot disk.

Once you open the recovery console, you need to run the chkdsk /f command, which will check all connected drives. In some cases, this will help fix the error. However, in most situations, if a HDD failure has made it impossible to start the system, a more in-depth check of the hard drive’s condition will be required.

To take advantage console command from inside the system you need:

launch the command line (via Win+X or by entering cmd in the “Run” window);
enter the chkdsk command indicating the letter of the partition being checked and additional flags;
Confirm the operation by pressing Y.

Checking the HDD via the command line will be a little faster than when using the GUI version of the program; the results will be shown here in the console.

The Linux system also has standard tools - hdparm and smartctl, launched from the console.

Simple programs for quickly checking HDD

If standard utilities are not suitable, hard drive diagnostics can be carried out using simple third party programs. They allow you to obtain more information about the health status of the HDD, but in case of serious problems they will not be suitable, since they cannot be used to fix the damage.

HDDScan is a free program that performs analysis in two modes:

according to S.M.A.R.T. indicators;
linear processing.

The tool evaluates the read and write speed of various sectors, marking the “slow” cells. During the analysis, the program ensures that the tested hard drives do not overheat; at the end of processing, the user is presented with a full report.

HDDScan good versatility. The utility allows you to check disks for errors, regardless of the type of device: you can use it to check how external hard disk, and analyze a RAID array, SSD drive or memory card.

Crystal Disk Mark has only one function - it evaluates the read and write speed. Despite this, it is often used, since it is still possible to check the hard drive for serviceability using just two indicators.

Used for the test different algorithms, one of which is sequential recording mode. The program gradually fills all the space on the drive with blocks of a size specified by the user, after which it cleans the HDD. The same technique is used by hard drive manufacturers to check product quality. Its disadvantage is that it accelerates the wear of SSD drives.

CrystalDiskInfo And DiskCheckup They are similar in their set of functions, differing only in the interface. They check the status of the hard drive using S.M.A.R.T. algorithms and compile a history of checks, which allows you to track the dynamics of changes. CrystalDiskInfo has more options for visualizing history. For example, you can create a graph, not just get a written report.

Another feature of these programs is a convenient notification system. In-depth hard drive tests usually take a long time. If the user needs to step away from the computer, they can turn on notifications about critical errors HDD by E-Mail.

Programs from hard drive manufacturers

Some HDD manufacturers have developed their own utilities for analyzing the status of the hard drive. They are intended for use with devices of the same name; diagnosing a hard drive from another company is possible with their help, but this must be done carefully. Unlike simpler programs, these utilities have versions on different languages, including in Russian. Which program is better to analyze the HDD status?

The proprietary program from Seagate exists in two versions: a standard version for running under Windows and a DOS version in ISO image format, from which you can make bootable USB flash drive. It is recommended to use the second option, since the check in this case will be more accurate and efficient.

SeaTools uses part of the S.M.A.R.T indicators. For hard testing disk, without giving out details about each item. Three tests can be performed:

short self-test of HDD;
short rapid test;
a long-term check in which all sectors are read sequentially.

As the scan progresses, the program automatically corrects any errors found.

Owners of hard drives from WD should know how to check the performance of hard drives using proprietary software from this manufacturer. The range of its capabilities is similar to that of the program from Seagate, but is somewhat expanded and allows for deeper work with the affected device.

There are two additional functions:

deep disk formatting - the program writes zeros to all sectors, irreversibly destroying information;
blocking access to bad sectors - the program marks bad blocks, preventing the writing of new information to them.

Unlike SeaTools, this program for diagnostics, the HDD can be freely used with devices from any manufacturer to check the hard drive for errors - no problems were identified with this.

Deep testing software

If you need not only checking your hard drive for errors, but also correcting bad sectors, you cannot do without a complex software, which carries out the most in-depth analysis of the HDD state.

Victoria HDD

According to many users, Victoria HDD is the best software for detecting hard drive problems. The program gained this reputation due to its wide range of functions.

Victoria exists in two versions:

with a graphical shell for use from inside Windows;
with a DOS shell to create a boot disk.

It's better to use the second version. Diagnostics of the HDD outside the system allows you to achieve better results, so it is always recommended to follow the principle “if possible, test the disk from the boot disk.” As a last resort, you can use a LiveCD of another OS, for example, Linux distribution like Ubuntu.

Victoria HDD has a variety of functions:

fast and full check disk;
reassignment of bad sectors and their restoration;
checking the status of contacts in the IDE or SATA cable;
equipment performance analysis;
viewing S.M.A.R.T. indicators.

When checking, you need to pay attention to the access time to sectors. It should not exceed 200-600 ms. You can also see the temperature of the disk during operation, but this is not so important.

HDD Regenerator

HDD Regenerator is a program for professional hard recovery disk. It not only marks bad sectors as unused, but also tries to revive them. For this, not the standard deep formatting method is used, but its own algorithm based on transmitting signals to the sector different levels. Despite its professional level, inexperienced users can also use this software, since testing a hard drive with its help is not difficult thanks to its convenient Russian-language interface.

Program features:

ensuring data safety - it works only in read mode;
support for different file systems;
the ability to scan the disk surface;
real-time monitoring.

The program is not suitable for everyone, since you can check your hard drive for functionality for free, but you will have to pay $90 for the sector recovery function.

If you don’t want to pay, you can use TestDisk - free program, which can restore the partition table, boot sectors and MFT. It also detects bad sectors, can recover deleted information and fix errors file system. The only drawback is the lack of a graphical interface; you have to work from the console.

If, after checking the HDD and correcting all problems, the computer does not stop working incorrectly, it is worth checking the registry. Perhaps the failures are caused not by equipment failure, but by internal errors systems.

1. How to check your hard drive?
2. Checking utilities systemic hard disk
3. Other ways to check the hard drive for damage
4. Disk analysis using the command line

A computer's hard drive is the main block of its memory, the part responsible for storing, distributing and moving information. Like any physical media, a hard drive has the ability to fail and become damaged, which is critically unacceptable in cases where vital information is stored on it. important information. Checking your hard drive for functionality is the first thing you need to know how to do when buying a computer. We will help you understand the intricacies of this process.

How to check your hard drive?

The first thing we need to do is copy the existing important files to another physical medium, be it Flash card or third party HDD. If your SDD or HDD makes strange sounds, clicks, or simply raises doubts about its performance, you can resort to various methods check it before taking it to a specialized service center. There are a great many different applications for checking the disk for bad sectors, compatibility of software, hardware, etc. Where to start checking?

Utilities for checking the system hard drive

Microsoft is famous for its large toolkit for working with various system components, and one of them is the standard built-in CHKDSK program for checking and repairing bad sectors. In this case, we can check the disk without installing third party applications. If the disk file system has errors, chkdsk is our assistant in finding and eliminating them.

Main functions of the built-in utility:

Finding and fixing errors in NTFS/FAT file systems
Identification of physically damaged bad sectors
Checking third party media ( USB flash drives, SD cards, etc.) for malfunctions

Starting a system scan is very simple: open the standard “Run” window in the “Start” menu on “Windows”, or, if you do not have basic skills in interacting with the command line, find the menu we need through “Explorer”. To do this:

Find the “My Computer” section in Explorer;
Right-click on the media that requires verification
Open the section “Properties->Service”;
Click the top button “Run check”. This command works only with administrator rights;

Reboot the computer during the scan Windows disk automatically searches for problems and fixes problems found;
If there are no problems, the disk will be checked without fixing, but if there are problems, be prepared for the fact that checking the disk will take quite a long time;
The system checks third-party physical media immediately, without rebooting.

Note that the built-in Windows tool performs only a superficial check, and is far from accurately detecting problems with media. To conduct a more thorough and in-depth analysis, you will need to download and install third-party utilities, the most popular of which we will consider below.

Other ways to check your hard drive for damage

Useful utility utilities for checking disk health and troubleshooting:

Seagate Seatools – no less useful utility, which, however, does not have the versatility of the previous one, and is compatible only in the case of Seagate hard drives; for other models, the analysis will be fragmentary or completely erroneous. Using Stools is quite simple - you select items for diagnostics, and the program performs automatic testing. If the analysis is completed successfully, PASS will be displayed, in other cases you will see the message FAIL. Issues such as:

HDD file system errors;
Problems in Windows boot loader disk MBR;
Hardware conflict and Windows driver incompatibility;
Availability of Bad Sectors;
The presence of Trojans, viruses and other applications that disrupt the operation of the disk.

In many cases, Seagate Tools automatically fixes problems found; in rare cases, it requires user intervention. It is worth noting that you will need to be patient before checking and correcting errors. Painstaking hard analysis disk is not a momentary matter, and the duration of the process increases in proportion to the volume of recorded memory.

Disk analysis using the command line

This is how you can verify that your hard drive is working using simple combinations. The disc should be checked when you first purchased it. new computer, as well as after errors in installing programs or moving a large number of files. If you rarely use your computer, it is worth turning it on sometimes to overclock the physical media - each hard drive has a certain write-overwrite resource, and the method of writing data to a large media does not provide for static conditions.

Even if the hard drive is fully operational and the manufacturer is reliable, it is recommended to always save copies of the most important files on third-party media. Although you can use some programs to recover lost or damaged files, this method is not absolute, and even a computer service center will not always help you recover erased data from physically damaged media.

Hello admin! I read several articles on your website about the Victoria program and a question arose. What, the latest operating system from Microsoft - Windows 10 - is so flawed and does not have a built-in hard drive diagnostic tool? Is it really not possible for it to determine the state of the hard drive on which it is installed and is it necessary to download third-party programs? I have new laptop with Windows 10 and if such a tool exists, then please tell us about it in your articles. I also wanted to ask. In one of your comments, you said that it is useless to run the hard drive status check utility built into Windows 10 - CHKDSK to find and fix bad sectors (bad blocks). Why? After all, on all sites like yours it is written that chkdsk, launched with the /R parameter, can fix bad blocks!

How to find out the status of your hard drive using built-in tools in Windows 10

Hello friends! There are about a dozen articles on this topic on our website, but what’s interesting is that I didn’t tell you about this method, but it nevertheless exists.

In fact, you can find out the status of the hard drive in Windows 10 using built-in tools, but these tools will simply tell you: “Yes, the condition of the disk is good” or “The condition of the disk is bad,” but how bad is it and is it worth urgently copying data from HDD and replace it, or you can wait at least until tomorrow, that’s what they won’t tell you. Why?

In simple words, the operating system simply reads the self-diagnosis readings of the hard drive (S.M.A.R.T.) and if it is GOOD (good), then the system tells us so - “The disk is working fine.” If the S.M.A.R.T status of the hard drive is BAD (bad), then the system will indicate that the disk is faulty. But in life everything is relative and very often the HDD is on the verge of failure, and Windows still shows us that the disk is working fine.

In short, if you want to accurately diagnose a hard drive, then you can’t do without special programs and even chkdsk won't help you. I will try to prove this to you in today's article.

To find out the status of your hard drive in Windows 10 using built-in tools, you need to go to« Control Panel»

"Security and Service Center"

"Service"

As you can see, Windows 10 evaluates the condition of the hard drive as normal: All drives are working fine. OK.

But in fact, if you now run special program for diagnostics hard drives, then you will see that the status of the hard drive is C (Alarm!) and it is full of unstable sectors that the built-in firmware of the hard drive could not correct.

The Victoria program will say the same thing.

How else can you find out the status of your hard drive using the built-in tools of Windows 10 or how to use the disk check utility (chkdsk). Running disk check from the GUI

Windows 10 has a verification utility disk chkdsk and you can run it directly in the graphical interface or using the command line. After checking, the utility will issue a full report on the state of the file system of your operating system installed.

Note: On many sites you may read that the chkdsk utility, run with the /R parameter, can fix bad sectors (bad blocks), but in fact this is not the case. Bad sectors can be reassigned to good sectors from backup tracks only by the technical control firmware built into the hard drive. disk status. What the chkdsk utility does is fix file errors. NTFS systems or FAT32 and it is best to use the utilitychkdsk to fix file system errors, not to diagnose the condition of the hard drive. Let me explain a little.
You all know that the minimum unit of information on a hard disk is a sector, the volume available to the user is 512 bytes. When formatting a hard drive into a file system, all sectors are combined into clusters (one cluster is placed on several sectors); accordingly, a cluster is the minimum area of the file system. So here it is, utility chkdsk does not work with hard disk sectors, but at a higher level - with clusters. In turn, the Victoria and MHDD programs are used to check hard disk sectors, not clusters; therefore, they do not treat the file system.

Go to the Computer window and right-click on the drive (C:), select “Properties”

Go to the “Service” tab and click on the “Check” button

"Check disk"

The disk is being checked for errors.

The disk has been successfully verified. No errors found.

Click on "Show details"

The Event Viewer window opens. You can view the scan results on the “Details” tab or click double click left mouse on the “Details” link

You began to hear extraneous creaks in system unit? Has the system performance somehow dropped completely intolerably, although the processor and memory should not allow this to happen? Well, it's time to check the hard drive. Find out how to do this in our article.

This is quite an important matter. In addition to the reduction in performance, although this is also important, we're talking about about your data. You don't want to one day be left without all your data simply because your drive decided to fail? Here. Therefore, it is important to check the condition of the disc and its health level more often.

Correcting errors in a timely manner also helps increase the lifespan of the disk. Whether it's a regular hard drive or an SSD, file system errors wear it out at a rapid pace, so it's important to keep it in good condition. Otherwise, the data will be lost even faster.

If you understand the importance of this event, then let's get started.

Checking using standard Windows tools

This is the simplest method and can give you quite a lot of information about the hard drive and even try to fix some errors.

Read interesting information and reliable advice in the article -

Command line

If the previous use case standard tools Windows is not very efficient, then the command line method can try to supplement it. Its essence is that it is launched from the bootable installation media of the system, that is, the system itself is not running and cannot block some of the requirements of the verification program.

Important! This method has one disadvantage: it requires installation media, and it is desirable that he be with that Windows version that is installed on your computer.

Create bootable media and insert it into the drive or USB port. In your computer's BIOS, select to boot from this media. Wait for the operating environment to load.
When the program reaches the window labeled “Start installation,” press the Windows key combination + F10.
Enter the following command in the console window that opens: chkdsk /f. Press Enter.
The scan will start. The program will display the results right there in command line. She will immediately try to correct all the errors found.

Simple third party software

Let's look at a few programs that will help you identify most problems with your hard drive without going into too much detail about the process.

HDDScan

Using this program, you can understand in which sectors the writing and reading speed is high, and in which - not. The program is completely universal; with its help you can diagnose anything, as long as it is an information storage device.

The principle of working with her is extremely simple: you start scanning and wait for her report on the work done, from which it is quite possible to draw some conclusions.

Crystal Disk Mark

A more narrowly focused utility, although it essentially also monitors speed. The program can’t do anything else, but based on the writing and reading speeds, you can quite understand what’s happening with the disk and how much longer it will last.

Important! It is strictly forbidden to use this program if you want to check the SSD drive. His death when using this software will be even closer: this program fills the entire space with some data, and although it is weightless and deleted without a trace, for the SSD this is also wear and tear.

More complex software

If neither standard verification tools nor simple programs If you are not satisfied, then you can move on to more complex verification programs. So let's begin.

Victoria HDD

The most common program for troubleshooting hard drive problems.

Its advantages are that there is both a quick and a deep scan of the disk, and also that it monitors its temperature. This is also an important indicator, but it does not affect wear as much.

HDD Regenerator

Pro tool in our article. Corrects everything it finds in its path. Its huge competitive advantage is Russification. It is therefore very easy to use, despite the impressive range of functions.

The principle of its operation is much more complex than that of other programs, and these differences clearly benefited the program. She manages to restore what others could not do. Also, unlike other programs, it does not destroy your files that were in the sectors it corrects, but preserves them culturally. Well, not life, but a fairy tale.

The program has two versions - graphical and console. If you are not very knowledgeable about this topic, use the graphical one with the Russian language, everything is intuitive there. In the console, its capabilities are much wider, because pressure and prohibitions from operating system less.

Let's look at the graphical interface.

Note! However, this program has one significant drawback - it is paid, and the trial only allows for verification. Well, that’s good too.

Programs from hard drive manufacturers

Who, besides the manufacturers themselves, can know better how to work with hard drives? Some of these programs work only with disks of a certain brand, some - with all. Experiment.
Let's begin.

SeaTools

Essentially a simple program:

Data Lifeguard Diagnostics

This is the name of the verification program from the manufacturer WD. The functionality is approximately similar to the previous program, but has a number of advantages.

firstly, it can be used with any disk. This is a huge plus, despite the prevalence of discs of this brand;
secondly, she knows how to destroy information;
thirdly, it can simply cut off dead sectors so that the disk runs longer at the same speed, albeit with a slightly smaller volume. Definitely an extremely useful feature.

All options are in context menus. That is, to start scanning a specific disk, you just need to right-click on it (in the program interface, of course) and select the desired action. That's all the work.