Hard Drive Diagnostic Tools: A Review of the Best

Processes for diagnosing hard disks (HDD) orremovable hard drives are almost the most important to ensure the operation of the entire computer system and proper storage of information without losing data in unforeseen situations. Monitoring of the HDD should be done regularly. Let's consider, what programs for diagnostics of a hard disk today exist and on what they are capable.

What is the diagnosis of hard disks

To begin with, let us dwell on some of the mostimportant aspects. Control and diagnostics of the hard disk include several basic processes. The most significant here are the following: preliminary collection of information about the status of the hard drive (monitoring), hard drive verification (scanning), error correction and data recovery (if the program fails to fix errors programmatically).

In principle, the utility programs themselvesDiagnosis of the hard disk must be divided into its direct functions (informers, scanners, "doctors" and rehabilitators). More about them will be said a little later, although today there are many software packages combining all these functions.

The most common problems in the operation of HDD

In considering the issue of what constitutesthe best programs for diagnosing a hard disk, it is worth dwelling on the most common problems and errors that they can correct.

First of all, the most common aresystem errors that can occur when the operating system itself fails, incorrect application shutdown, improper copying or moving to other areas of HDD files and folders, sudden power outages, etc. In principle, most of these problems detect and eliminate programs to diagnose the hard drive.

Another thing is when the user is faced withsituation of physical damage to the hard drive surface. Here the problem is much more complicated. Software can transfer information to another area and the partition is sometimes possible, but the damaged areas are, alas, not subject to recovery. If they are very many, in the worst case you will have to change the hard drive. Of course, you can try to restore some information yourself, but in particularly difficult cases, say, after a temperature jump, when the Winchester has melted, such a procedure without the intervention of experts will simply be impossible.

Preview information

Now let's focus on specializedutilities that allow you to collect and view complete information about the status, operation and main characteristics of the hard drive. According to experts and users, the most popular are utilities such as Everest, CPU-Z, CrystalDiscInfo, etc.

Any program for diagnosing hard disks suchorientation allows you to view the full report, and it will indicate much more information than in the standard reports of Windows OS, although with the use of such tools, you can still see something.

Incidentally, it is incorrect to assume that applicationsFor monitoring, fix any errors or malfunctions. They were originally created only to view all the parameters of the equipment, and certainly not to affect their configuration. In this respect, you can manage some parameters of the HDD only using the CrystalDiscInfo utility.

However, some parameters can be viewedand adjust even when accessing the BIOS before starting the system directly. But even there the information is far from complete, and the change of parameters will concern, say, a fan or something else. But here some adjustments of controllers of hard drives sometimes it is necessary to apply.

HDD check by means of Windows OS

As for the "operating systems" of the Windows family, there is a minimal set for checking the hard drive for errors, as well as for fixing them. But this only applies to system errors.

In terms of monitoring, information can be viewed,calling the "Properties" menu from the context menu when right clicking on the "My Computer" icon. For more information, see the DirectX dialog box, which is called from the command line or the "Run" menu with the dxdiag command. In any case, the information contained in these reports can not be compared with the fact that free utilities are offered.

In Windows, a "native" diagnostic programhard drives is called very simply. To do this, in the standard "Explorer" on the disk or partition, the right click is made, and the "Properties" line is again selected from the drop-down menu. On the "General" tab (or "Service") there is a special button "Execute check".

In the appeared menu it is possible to tickopposite the line of automatic error correction. If this is not done, the system will simply display a message stating that errors have been detected and need to be corrected. In some cases, even problems with automatic error correction can not be eliminated, and with each subsequent loading of the "OSes" there will be an obsessive message that one of the disks requires verification. Agree, rather inconvenient, especially since even a given test of the hard drive surface takes a lot of time. It is better to use special programs for diagnosing a hard disk with advanced features. By the way, and the effect of their application will affect immediately. Any user can see the result even with an inexperienced look, so to speak.

Hard disk diagnostics: programs for testing HDD on broken sectors

Naturally, among the software formonitoring the work or basic parameters of any type of hard drive, you can find a lot of paid, shareware or absolutely free utilities. What is most interesting, as practice shows, free applications are often not inferior to licensed software and cope with the functions assigned to them quite effectively.

Among all the variety of separately worth highlightingutilities such as Norton Disc Doctor, HDD Scan, Hard Disc Sentinel, the same application CrystalDiscInfo, as well as CheckDisc or something else like that. For Western Digital's hard drives, a special utility called Data Lifeguard Diagnostics, designed specifically for WD hard drives, is perfect.

Interestingly, some utilities are supplied even in the form of portable versions and take up only a few megabytes of space.

All utilities of this type have a fairly simpleand user-friendly interface, in which you just need to select the correct disk and set several parameters for scanning and fixing errors. In principle, the same Disc Doctor "grandfather" Norton allows you to specify the disk or partition, as well as use the parameters of checking the hard drive for broken sectors and automatic error correction. Separately in advanced settings, you can set Surface Test.

HDD check for physical damage

Unfortunately, physical damage to the surfaceHDD or removable hard drive is a very common problem. It can be connected with dust, overheating, short circuit in electrical circuits, etc.

Check the physical condition of the hard drivequite simply. You just need to turn to the appropriate programs and applications for help, which in a few minutes will detect problems, if any.

The principles of fixing HDD errors in physically damaged sectors

In principle, testing the surface of disks canproduce some standard utility for HDD or an external hard disk diagnostics program. The point is not this. The main thing is that such utilities can overwrite the information (checksums) from the damaged sectors in the spare areas of the disk. Thus, an interesting effect is achieved. In fact, the logical address of the sector does not change, although in fact the physical location on the hard drive is completely different. In general, almost all applications of this type use this principle. In addition, most of them are designed for completely different file systems and partition table formats.

Victoria: program for diagnosing the hard drive

Separately it is necessary to dwell on the unique in itsthe Victoria program. It has truly the most powerful capabilities in its field. However, some experts recommend using a version that works on the basis of DOS. Well, in some cases this is a justified step.

The application itself was developed by the Belarusianprogrammer S.O. Kazantsev and has established itself in the computer world at a very high level. Not surprisingly, in the West, it is now used very often. I must say that this utility is a multifunctional package that combines the capabilities of monitoring and testing of any type of hard drives and any manufacturer, the ability to automatically correct errors and restore data even with very significant damage to hard drives.

Although for an uninitiated user thissoftware package and may seem a bit overloaded with features and settings, but professionals evaluate it to their true worth. Perhaps, today nothing better has been created, because the program itself can be classified as All-In-One ("all-in-one").

Recovering data from corrupted HDD

Of course, you can restore data using the utility Victoria, but few ordinary users will deal with it. In this case, you should advise something simpler.

For example, the best hard disk data recovery programs include many powerful utilities. You can use applications such as HDD Regenerator.

As the developers of this package themselves say, theyhave found a unique way of using certain algorithms of signal sequences that, in a literal sense, can restore physically damaged sectors of hard drives not simply rewriting information in other sections, but using the method of magnetization reversal. This also achieves the effect when the information from the damaged area does not disappear anywhere, but is read after recovery.

Naturally, if the winchester flewreading heads or a spindle, no even the most modern programs will help. However, in most cases, software and, as you can see, even physical problems can be fixed.

Advanced BIOS settings

As for the advanced settings, many programs for diagnosing hard disks sometimes may give out errors during the analysis of the hard drive or simply not see it.

In this case, you need to change the SATA-controller parameter in the BIOS, most often just change from AHCI to IDE. This should help.

The most common myths and misconceptions

Very often, inexperienced users,using diagnostic programs or for the first time viewing the parameters of the hard drive or fan in the BIOS, a panic arises, saying that the temperature is too high (for example, 40 degrees), the hard drive will "fly" in this mode of operation. Nothing like this! For almost all hard drives, the optimum operating temperature range is between 35 and 45 degrees Celsius. Even the value of 50 degrees for many hard drives is not critical. Worse, when the temperature drops below 25 degrees, then the probability of hard drive failure is much higher. However, this is extremely rare, except when working in the cold (I think, it's unlikely that someone will have the mind to do this).

Diagnosis of the hard disk. Which program is better?

So, although briefly, we have considered the question thatThe same is a hard disk diagnostics. The program (which is better - to solve the user), designed for analysis, test and error correction, in principle, can be any. What to use - a specialized or narrowly focused product? The answer to this question depends on what exactly this or that application should be able to do. Some prefer separate programs, some are inclined to use packages that combine all the possibilities for working with HDD.

For inexperienced users suitable unpretentiousfree utilities, especially since even portable versions of "weigh" not so much and have the functions of "smart" scanning S.M.A.R.T. without compromising the system. But for professionals the best in their field, of course, is the program Victoria. This is not discussed.

Conclusion

In general, if you deal with testingwinchesters and monitoring their condition, in the end, you can add only one thing: in order to prevent the emergence of catastrophic situations, you should regularly use at least some program to diagnose hard disks. In some cases, even a simple cleaning of the computer from dust with a conventional vacuum cleaner (of course, without fanaticism) will help. As the statistics show, those who at least once a month conducts a hard drive check and monitor the overall condition of the computer or laptop, the percentage of HDD outage is much lower than that of users who never think about it, but try to correct the situation when all will reach almost to the extreme.