One of the most important problems that no user of modern computer systems is safe from is the deterioration of the hard drive or the loss of information stored on it. In this case, of course, some kind of program can be used to repair the hard drive (of which today you can find quite a lot). However, you should first find out exactly what task the user faces in terms of recovery. It's one thing - errors or physical damage to the hard drive, another is the loss of information on a working disk.
The main problems with hard drives
First, you should identify several key areas in the recovery of the hard drive, and only then decide on the use of system tools or third-party utilities.
Here we can distinguish several typical situations:
- physical wear or surface damage;
- format change to unreadable;
- the presence of errors and bad sectors;
- situations when the system does not see the hard drive at all;
- spontaneous or intentional deletion of information.
Based on this, a certain program for repairing a hard disk can be used (for Windows 7, for example). But what to choose as the best remedy?
Windows hard drive repair program
I would like to immediately cool the ardor of those users who, when problems arise, begin to frantically search for third-party hard drive diagnostics utilities. Windows systems themselves have a lot of tools that can cope with similar problems, unless, of course, physical damage is taken into account.
In the simplest case, the built-in program for repairing the hard disk is used in terms of scanning for chkdsk errors with the / f attribute, entered at the command line. To check the integrity of system files, use the sfc / scannow command.
A proprietary system program for repairing a hard disk can also be called from the properties menu (performing checks) with the installation of parameters for automatic error correction and recovery of bad sectors.
Of course, the built-in tools of the system often do not give the effect that the user expects, however, if there is nothing at hand, you can use them. At least there will be nothing wrong with that. At the same time, for fidelity, you can clean the disk. And this tool, unlike many specialized programs, allows you to remove even those components that may not be available in normal mode.
Key applications for testing and repair
But all this applies only to software failures. Windows can not do physical damage, regenerate the file system, or restore information in general (unless there is a backup).
To test for errors and bad sectors, it is best to use the utility of the Belarusian developer called Victoria HDD. She will not be able to fix the problem, but for an experienced user during the testing process, the HDD will provide maximum information about the problem.
If for some reason there has been a change in the format of the disk or partition to unreadable (RAW), a simple program for repairing a hard disk (in Russian, though not presented and belonging to the class of shareware) MiniTool PDR will help here. In it, you can set a full scan, and then perform full formatting with a structure change to NTFS or FAT32.
In terms of information recovery, a program for repairing a hard drive for Windows 7 in Russian under the name R.Saver is perfect. Unlike such popular utilities as Recuva, which, in fact, don’t really know much, this application is able to recover information even after formatting a disk, partition or removable media (for example, USB HDD).
Finally, the problems when the hard drive, roughly speaking, simply “crumbled”, that is, it fell into disrepair due to damage to the surface of the plates from which reading is performed, it is almost impossible to eliminate. The only solution for today is the hard drive repair program - HDD Regenerator.
It works exclusively in DOS mode. Allegedly, the application is capable of producing the so-called magnetization reversal of the surface of the HDD program-physical way. How effective this is is not known for certain, but the result (unless, of course, the Winchester has not “died” completely) sometimes stuns even the most skeptical experts.
Well, and if the system does not see the hard drive at all even at boot start, then you will have to use highly targeted programs, say, from Acronis in the form of some kind of manager or directory tool, to first make the disk visible, and then, if possible, restore the bad areas, and the information that was stored in them. Otherwise, it will fail. You may even have to rewrite the boot sectors with a few commands based on the Bootrec.exe system tool.
Comprehensive Care
It remains to add that, whatever the hard drive repair program is used, depending on the situation, it is necessary to apply complex solutions that consist in constantly checking the disk for errors, defragmenting partitions, removing computer trash, and monitoring access parameters in terms of physical access to Winchester, etc.
But if problems arise with the “screw”, first you need to find out their root cause, and then, based on the foregoing, apply one or another application to eliminate them. Naturally, it is simply impossible to mention all the programs, because even for a specific case they can be counted in a few dozen (and this is at least). But in general, it is best to use several utilities at once, since they all differ from each other both in functionality and in the algorithms used to work.