A hard drive is an extremely important hardware component of a PC. Therefore, the user may need to solve problems associated with testing the hard drive for errors, as well as correcting them. What tools can be involved? What errors in the hard drive can be called the most common?
What kind of hard drive problems may occur?
Before considering how to test a hard drive, we will examine what may be the reason for the corresponding check. What problems may arise in his work?
It should be noted that the PC hard drive is a device that is characterized by a fairly high sensitivity to external influences. Shaking, dropping the hard drive (even to the smallest degree of impact on it) can lead to damage to various components that are included in the structure of the hard drive. It is worth noting that modern media models are sufficiently protected from the influence of such factors: for example, they usually have the function of stopping the rotation of the rotor during a sharp mechanical impact on the disk. But it can not always work perfectly. Find out this, as well as check the state of the hard drive in general, will help the program that allows you to test your computer’s hard drive. What errors can the corresponding software identify?
Among them - the presence of bad sectors on the surface of the disk plates. That is, those on which data cannot be recorded. In some cases, bad sectors do not allow reading files already written to disk.
Correcting the corresponding sections of the hard drive is extremely difficult. It is easier to configure the hard drive so that the bad sectors present on the surface of its wafers are not used at all. Instead, in turn, the backup sectors, which are on most modern hard drives, can be involved.
The next common type of problem with a hard drive is placing files on it with errors. In this case, we are talking more about problems in software maintenance of the hard drive using the operating system or application programs that have the corresponding purpose. In turn, file system errors are completely fixable. But to detect them, you may need a special program. By the way, the built-in Windows tools also allow testing the hard disk for errors in the file system. But in some cases, a deeper analysis of the file system through specialized solutions may be required.
What can they be? How to test a hard drive with their help?
Symptoms of Hard Drive Problems
However, before trying to apply any of the appropriate solutions, you can try to diagnose the problem based on the behavior of the computer, in order to subsequently select the optimal program.
The fact that the PC operating system starts to work with noticeable braking, takes a long time to load, processes even small files with significant delays, says, most likely, that bad sectors have appeared on the hard drive in an amount that impedes the stable operation of the OS.
If there is no decrease in the speed of the operating system and file processing, but the programs spontaneously close, they freeze or work unstably, there are probably errors at the disk file system level.
In many cases, the occurrence of problems in the hard drive due to the actions of a computer virus. Therefore, before using this or that software tool for testing a hard disk, as well as correcting detected errors, it is recommended that you scan your computer with an available antivirus program. It is highly desirable that the antivirus databases in it be the latest. As soon as all found viruses are deleted from the PC, you can already start scanning the hard drive. Consider what means can be used.
File System Error Correction: Using Windows Tools
How to test the PC hard drive for errors in the file system? For these purposes, as a rule, it is enough to apply the built-in Windows solutions. They are in almost all modern versions of this operating system for desktops and laptops. The main one will be Disk Check or Chkdsk.
This solution can be used both through the graphical interfaces of the operating system, and through the command line. The first option, as a rule, is simpler for a novice user, while the second may require higher qualifications in terms of using Windows diagnostic tools .
To use the utility in question, you need to go to the "Computer" section, then right-click on the hard drive icon. There may be several, in this case, it makes sense to check each in turn. After right-clicking on the hard drive icon in the menu that opens, select the “Properties” option. In the window that appears, go to the "Service" tab. Then click on the “Run Test” button and follow the instructions.
In some versions of Windows, the utility in question is not configured to test logical drives that host OS system files. But for this case, the “Disk Check” program provides an option: initiating testing of the hard drive during subsequent loading of the operating system. You can select it and restart Windows immediately: the system itself must ask the user for permission to check the disk on which the system files are located.
So, now we know how to test a hard drive using the popular built-in Windows tool - the Chkdsk program. This solution allows you to quite effectively fix file system errors. But what if the alleged failure of the hard drive is associated with the appearance of bad sectors on it? How to test a laptop or desktop hard drive for appropriate damage?
For this purpose, the widest range of solutions can be involved. The most popular of them include programs such as:
- Data Liferguard Diagnistic.
- HDD scan.
- Ashampoo HDD Control.
- Victoria HDD.
- AIDA64 (formerly Everest).
- MHDD.
We study their features.
Winchester Testing: Data Lifequard Diagnostic
This program was developed by the Western Digital brand, which is one of the most famous world manufacturers of hard drives. How to test the hard drive for errors using this software?
The corresponding program works in several modes. The most informative from the point of view of reflecting information about errors on the disk can be called the extended test mode - Extended Test. In particular, it can be used to find damaged sectors on the surface of hard drive plates. If they are detected, the program will prompt the user to use an algorithm by which bad sectors will be excluded from those used by the hard drive to write and read files.
Winchester Testing: HDD Scan
Another popular solution for checking disks is the HDD Scan program. How to test the hard drive of a laptop or desktop computer using it?
The application in question also contains several tests. Among those that may be useful to us, the Surface Tests test. He, like the previous solution, allows you to analyze the surface of the disk plates for damaged sectors. It is noteworthy that the program in question allows us to detect not only bad sectors, but also those that have problems with reading and writing. So, HDD Scan can identify areas on the surface of the platter of the hard disk where read speeds can be ten times lower than normal values. In practice, this may mean, as in the case of bad sectors, it is desirable to exclude the corresponding sections from those used by the hard drive to write files.
Disk Testing: Ashampoo
Another popular program is Ashampoo HDD Control. How to test a hard drive for errors with its help?
It is worth noting that the application in question contains a fairly large number of tools for checking the hard drive, as well as working with detected disk problems. Of these, you can use, for example, the option to test the surface of the device plates - Test Surface.
According to the results of the corresponding test, the program shows sectors that have high readings, as well as bad sectors.
Victoria HDD
The next popular hard drive test solution is Victoria HDD. It can be noted that this program allows you to both test the hard drive on Windows 7 (8 or any other), and to check the hard drive through the DOS command line.
This feature increases the versatility of the solution in question. In addition, the corresponding software has very good functionality.
So, the program allows you to test the hard drive for bad sectors, reassign their use, classify portions of the hard drive surface into various categories depending on the speed of reading files from them.
If you are using the English graphical version of the program in question, you must run it, then go to the Tests tab. It has tests of the surface of the platter of the hard disk. If necessary, you can configure the program to detect bad sectors:
- ignoring the problem (with its subsequent reflection in the test results);
- reassignment of sectors;
- sector deletion;
- restoration of damaged parts of the disk.
If necessary, you can use each of these modes of operation of the program in turn.
Hard Drive Testing: AIDA64 Software
Many users are interested in the question of how to test a hard drive with Everest. Now on various portals on the Internet old versions of the corresponding software are available. The fact is that in the latest modifications the program is called differently, its name sounds like AIDA64.
It is worth noting that this type of software is one of the most functional solutions in terms of testing hardware performance. So, for example, using the program in question, you can test the speed of the hard disk, and not only. Using it, you can also measure the performance of RAM, processor, flash drives.
The functionality of the program includes various stress tests, which involve checking in the maximum load on hardware mode . Appropriate type tests can also be carried out for the computer's hard drive.
Check disk for errors: MHDD program
According to experts in IT, the MHDD program is one of the most functional solutions for checking hard drives for errors. Considering which program to test the hard drive with, experts can opt for the MHDD solution because:
- it includes a qualitative test of the surface of the plates of hard drives;
- it can be launched in a bootable format - for example, from a USB flash drive, which allows testing the hard drive before installing any operating system on it;
- the program includes a large number of useful tests, as well as disk repair tools;
- appropriate software for free.
Of course, the solution in question can also work from the operating system. How exactly it is better to use it depends on the nature of the problem with the disks, on the hardware configuration on a particular PC, on the specifics of the operating system used, if it is pre-installed on the computer.
MHDD program: testing the disk
Consider a number of practical nuances of using the corresponding popular program. We agree that the user has a need to use the boot version of this software. To do this, it is necessary to manufacture a device with which the program will be launched, for example, a USB flash drive or a CD.
After the device is ready, the BIOS needs to configure the boot from it. By the way, the question of how to test a hard drive through BIOS is also asked by many users. Computer manufacturers may well implement the necessary options in the appropriate software interfaces to verify the health of hard drives.
When working with the MHDD program, one should take into account the nuance: the solution in question does not work with hard drives that are connected to the computer in Slave mode. If so, the disks must be reconnected, and only then initiate their testing.
After starting the program installed on a bootable USB flash drive or CD, you must select the specific drive that will be tested. Then, enter the SCAN command at the command prompt, which initiates media verification. If you do not need to set any additional scanning parameters, you need to press F4 to start the corresponding test.
But specify additional parameters may still be required. For example, if we talk about the Start LBA option, it is used to specify specific blocks on the hard drive with which the program should check the disk. In turn, the End LBA option is intended to specify those blocks that are checked at the end of disk testing. However, by default, the program checks the entire surface of the hard drive plates.
How to test a hard drive for errors and then reassigning bad sectors using the interfaces of the MHDD program? Very simple: the Remap option is used for this. If you select the Erase Delays parameter, the program will ignore bad sectors, which will speed up the disk scan if there are a lot of bad sectors on its surface.
The MHDD disk scanning program works quite informatively: the sectors being checked are displayed in real time on the user's screen. In a separate section of the interface of the corresponding software, the number of different blocks is counted.
Summary
You can check the status of the hard drive using both the built-in Windows tools and using special programs. In this case, the tools of the first type are designed mainly to correct errors in the file system, the second - to identify and adjust bad sectors in accessible ways.
Specialized programs for hard drive diagnostics can be delivered in both graphical and console versions. Some of the appropriate solutions can be used in a boot modification: its use is possible even if the operating system is not installed on the computer.
It can be noted: how to test an external hard drive practically does not differ from the procedure for testing the built-in hard drive. For this, the same solutions can be applied, the main thing is to correctly connect them to the PC. But this is possible only if the computer supports those communication interfaces through which it is supposed to connect an external hard drive.