Apparently, almost every Windows user somehow faced the situation when, after a failure in the system during a repeated reboot, a message is displayed stating that one of the disks needs to be checked. What is most sad, the check does not always end successfully, and the message is issued again and again. Let's see how one or another program for testing hard drives is used in practice.
Errors on the hard drive and the reasons for their appearance
First, consider the main types of errors and the causes of their occurrence. Naturally, any program for testing a hard disk at the end of the test will give the corresponding result, but it is advisable to understand at least the general processes that may cause errors.
As a rule, they are divided into two main types: systemic and physical due to damage to the hard drive itself. That is why a universal program for testing a hard disk (no matter if “native” is an OS tool or a third-party application) has in its arsenal tools for conducting analysis of several types, as well as tools for restoring bad sectors. It is clear, probably, that this is done in a systematic way, since no program is able to eliminate the physical defects of a hard drive or a removable USB HDD.
Bad sectors
Now we will understand the concept of bad sectors, because basically the cause of errors comes down to their damage. The fact is that the information stored on the hard drive is recorded in a strictly defined place called the sector. Damage to such a sector causes errors.
There can be many reasons for this. For example, malfunctions can be related to the “crash” of Windows itself (unfortunately, all operating systems of this family are not ideal), overheating of the hard drive, sudden power outage, dust or, worse, mechanical damage. A sector from which information cannot be copied or overwritten is called broken.
However, it is worth noting that you can deal with this in terms of restoring bad sectors. In principle, a program for testing hard disks for bad sectors can perform not only verification, but also their recovery.
In the system plan, everything is quite simple: the right role is played by the correct checksums, which are overwritten in the damaged sector. Another thing is when there is mechanical damage to the surface of the hard drive, after which writing to such a sector becomes simply impossible. The solution here is to use a special spare area of the disk, where the correct value of the checksum is written. In fact, the logical address of such a sector remains the same, but the physical location changes, although this does not affect the reading of data absolutely.
Standard HDD Checkers in Windows
It goes without saying that Windows has its own program for testing hard drives (internal or external, logical partitions, etc.). There are several ways to call it.
The simplest method by which the "native" program for testing hard drives in Windows is called is to use the "Properties" line in the context menu, which can be accessed by right-clicking the manipulator (mouse) on the drive letter in "Explorer". On the "Service" tab is a button to start the verification process. By default, it is only proposed to fix system errors, but you can (and preferably) additionally use the automatic recovery function of damaged sectors.
Unfortunately, as practice shows, a “native” hard drive testing program does not always give the expected result. In some cases, you can use the command line or the “Run” menu to start the process with the introduction of the chkdsk command (with the letter of the drive or partition, as well as using additional parameters).
So, for example, checking the C drive with automatic error correction looks like this: chkdsk c: / f (the result will not be long in coming).
You can also use the command for checking NTFS file systems (chkntfs / xc :), and the standard check with Check Disc will be excluded.
Third party verification applications
It is best to use third-party utilities. They are much more effective. For example, the same Victoria hard drive testing program is functionally much higher than standard system tools. Among the most popular utilities, it is worth noting applications such as ScanHDD, Norton Disc Doctor and many others.
As a rule, all such utilities work in automatic mode, where user participation is minimized. In most cases, it is enough to select the initial verification parameters and start the process.
Preparing access to the BIOS (if required)
In some cases, the hard drive testing program may not detect a built-in or removable hard drive. To do this, you need to configure access to the BIOS.
For the same Victoria utility in the SATA controller mode, you need to change the value from AHCI to IDE, because in standard mode the program simply does not accept the disk.
In addition, you need to boot the system from a USB flash drive, and it is better to use the DOS version of the utility (this way you can check the disk before loading the OS).
Scanning process
If you look a little more broadly, we can say that a hard disk speed testing program may still be required, since this parameter can also affect the appearance of failures and the occurrence of errors on the hard drive.
As for the scanning process itself, the principles by which it is performed are not much different from each other. Almost all utilities hide the system processes associated with the scan from the user's eyes, showing only the progress in percentage terms.
View results and fix errors
Naturally, the program for testing WD hard drives, that any other means of verification, upon completion of the scanning process, provide detailed information about the hard drive itself, about the scan time, about the total disk size, damaged and fixed errors, etc.
Here it is worth noting some subtleties. If the hard drive itself or the removable storage medium is damaged very badly, no program for testing an external hard drive or built-in hard drive will help. Of course, some programs are able to conduct such an analysis (the same Victoria). On the other hand, if so many physical damages are detected, it is better to buy a new hard drive and copy information from the old one to it. It will be very difficult for the average user to do this, but for this there are many service centers where this process will not cause any difficulties.
Total
As you can see, we did not particularly go into the technical side of the issue of checking hard drives and limited ourselves to general issues. This is due only to the fact that the processes themselves are so complex that the average user simply does not need their understanding.
On the other hand, it can be noted that all utilities designed to scan hard drives and restore their performance are quite simple from the point of view of organizing the interface. Look, because the user does not particularly need to “bother” in terms of selecting parameters and directly starting the process of checking or correcting errors. In this regard, the only exception is professional utilities (again Victoria), which require knowledge of subtle and specific settings for use outside the Windows environment.
As practice shows, the simplest programs and applications of this type and their basic capabilities will suffice an ordinary user, as they say, with his head. In addition, many utilities of this type are absolutely free, and you can download them in a matter of minutes, after which you can install and use them as you wish.
In the end, it remains only to add that there will not even be a need to know what type of hard drive is installed in the computer system. All processes are so automated that even a person who is absolutely far from understanding all these principles of work can use such programs.