Program Overview

Presently Victoria HDD is one of the best hard drive recovery software. Victoria is necessary first of all for IT-specialists or advanced users involved in computer repair. The program is able to raise the hard drive to a healthy state, help evaluate the performance of hard drives, solve problems with " beaten"sectors.

System requirements

• System: Windows 10, Windows 8 (8.1), Vista, Windows XP or Windows 7 (32-bit / 64-bit).

Program features

	Reading a hard drive passportand providing detailed information about it. You can view the S.M.A.R.T disk parameters, evaluate its status by scales and by status.
	Support five test modeshard disk surface.
	Plotting the Disk Surface: complete and approximate.
	Troubleshooting a hard drive failure.Victoria will allow you to evaluate broken sectors. Typically, such failures occur due to distortion in the reception and transmission of various kinds of information.
	Cleaning up the hard drive.You can easily format the disk.
	Display of unstable areas of the disk(bad sectors) indicating the exact address of each bad sector and writing them to a separate file in the program folder.
	Hiding defects. Through the program, you can hide defects, bad sectors on the hard disk surface by one of three possible tests for errors by selecting the "Remap" option.
	Performance measurement.Victoria can measure HDD performance (estimate the speed of positioned heads) by graph or numerical indicators.

• Added "QUICK" button to quickly scan HDD or SSD for bad sectors. Scan time: 2 to 3 minutes.
• The log now displays more detailed information.
• Added new S.M.A.R.T attributes for SSD drives.
• Increased font size in HEX viewer.
• Improved program performance.
• Fixed many bugs.

Program screenshots

The HDD Scan program is designed to check hard drives under Windows 2000 and Windows XP. In this article, I will consider HDD Scan v2.6 - the latest released version at the time of writing the review. (By the time this article was published, version 2.7 was already available.)

The main features of the program:

• Viewing S.M.A.R.T.
• Checking the disk surface in three modes: Verify, Read, Erase.
• Controlling the noise characteristics of a hard drive.
• Starting and stopping the spindle motor.

The HDD Scan program does not require installation and takes about 350 KB of disk space.

This program is absolutely free. You can download it from the site HDDGURU.COM. Interface

The program interface is made entirely in English. However, the program is very easy to use even for novice users.

Rice. 1. HDDScan interface.

Hard drive selection

In the drop-down menu located in the section source disk, you can select the hard drive with which the program will work. Below is the basic information about the selected hard drive: model ( Model), firmware version ( Firmware), serial number ( Serial) and the number of available physical sectors ( LBA).

View S.M.A.R.T.

To view S.M.A.R.T. button must be pressed S.M.A.R.T. located at the top of the program window.

Rice. 2. View S.M.A.R.T.

Description of the table columns:

• attribute- attribute number.
• Description- attribute name.
• value- attribute value. It can range from 1 to 255 (the higher the number, the better).
• Worst- the lowest attribute value ever.
• RAW- attribute value in hexadecimal system (except for temperature (Temperature), the value of which is indicated by the program in degrees Celsius).
• Treshold- the threshold value of the attribute. Used for comparison with the value of the parameter (Value).

The color of the indicator indicates the state of the attribute:

• Green - the attribute is normal.
• Yellow - attribute deviation from the norm.
• Red - a strong deviation of the attribute from the norm.

In this case, the received information is automatically saved to the SMART.txt file located in the directory with the program.

Disc Surface Check

Surface check options are under process.

• Start LBA and End LBA- the sector from which the check starts and the sector on which the check stops. If you want to check the entire disk, you do not need to change this setting.
• command- select the type of check ( Verify- verification, read- full reading of sectors, Erase- writing to all sectors of zeros). Selecting the Erase option will result in the complete loss of all data on the disk!
• Start and stop- start and stop the test.
• block size- the number of sectors in one block. The default is 256 sectors (it is not recommended to change).

During the disk check, the elapsed time (Process time), the current sector (Current LBA) and the read speed (Kbytes / s) are indicated.

Rice. 3. The result of checking the disk surface.

In the tab Map is a disk map. On the left is a pointer, which shows the colors of the rectangles on the map, depending on the access time. Blue rectangle ( bads) shows bad blocks (bad sectors). To the right of the colored rectangles is the number of sectors with the same access time found during the disk check.

Rice. 4. Text report of surface inspection.

In the tab report the text report on check is located. It indicates information about sectors with an access time of more than 50 ms (green, orange and red rectangles), as well as bad blocks.

Rice. 5. Graph of reading speed.

On the tab graph there is a graph of disk read speed. On the X axis are sector numbers, on the Y axis - reading speed.

Noise control

On the tab IDE Features, in the upper left section, you can change the noise level emitted by the hard drive. You can do this only if this possibility is allowed by the manufacturer (a green indicator is displayed and the inscription Enabled to his left). It should be noted that noise reduction entails a decrease in the speed of the hard drive.

Rice. 6. Controlling the noise characteristics of the hard drive and the start/stop of the spindle motor.

Starting and stopping the spindle motor

On the tab IDE Features, In chapter Spindle Start/Stop you can start and stop the spindle motor of the hard drive. It is not recommended to stop the spindle motor on the system drive. Conclusion

This article discussed the main features of the HDD Scan program. This program has some other features, but they are not so important and are practically not used.

HDD Scan is a convenient and functional program in its class.

The process of checking a hard disk for bad sectors is a search for erroneous entries and bad sectors located on the drive.

Some of these problems can cause information to be lost - in most cases, beyond recovery.

Therefore, every user should be aware of their appearance - both in order to try to fix errors on the disk, and to back up important information to another location.

The principle of the formation of bad sectors

Over time, the owner of almost every HDD has to face problem sectors.

The principle of their appearance is as follows:

• During the production of disks, sectors are created, with the help of the magnetization of which information can be written to the drive.

• Reading and writing information to (especially if the disk is hit or dropped), and sometimes also the influence of computer viruses, lead to a gradual deterioration in the state of its structure.
• On the surface of magnetic disks, bad sectors begin to appear - areas in which information is stored incorrectly or is not recorded at all.

You can fix bad sectors, but the system does not automatically perform such actions - the user will have to manually run the check and fix.

If there are few bad sectors, they are replaced by spare areas.

When bad HDD blocks appear, their addresses are reassigned to sectors from the reserve, and no data loss occurs.

Signs of a Problem

Among the main signs that problem sectors have appeared on the disk and their recovery is required, it is worth noting the following:

• computer freezes during the loading of the operating system;
• failure to start the OS - in most cases, the download only reaches a certain point (for example, to the Windows logo or the inscription "Welcome") and stops;
• unreasonable and frequent reboots of the computer;
• errors in the system, expressed in the impossibility of launching applications, closing windows and slowing down the response to user actions.

The list of utilities that can be used to solve the problem is quite large.

They are divided into two main groups- those that are already built into the operating system (for example, in Windows), and applications from other manufacturers.

The latter can also be conditionally divided into paid programs and free versions that are more popular among domestic users.

Using Windows Tools

To fix errors and bad sectors, Windows already contains .

The advantages of using it include the ability to restore areas damaged during operation or as a result of system infection with viruses.

Another plus- the ability to start in two ways, in normal mode or.

The utility is able to check any physical and logical drives, however, there are slight differences in working with inactive and system areas.

So, the steps for checking and restoring a regular partition (which does not contain system control files and the OS itself) will be as follows:

1 Goes to the window "My computer".

2 Right-click to open properties of the selected drive.

3 The tab is selected "Service".

4 Pressed check disk button.

5 Put a check mark next to the item for checking bad sectors.

Checking system volumes on which Windows is installed is performed differently.

The beginning of the utility launch coincides with the actions for a regular partition, but when you try to check the disk, an inscription about the impossibility and a suggestion to do this after a reboot will appear on the screen.

After the reboot, the system does not boot - instead, the HDD system partition is checked, the progress of which can be found from the information displayed on the screen.

And you can run Hitachi Drive Fitness Test not only from Windows, but also in mode if problems with the drive have already led to the inability to boot the system.

Seagate Seatools

Seatools is a free application that whose capabilities include:

• detection of violations of the HDD structure, including bad sectors and write or read errors;
• fixing bad sectors or overwriting them with zeros so that the system ignores damaged areas in the future;
• Windows OS problems;
• damage to the system bootloader;

The application works most effectively with Seagate drives.

The average time to fix detected errors (together with the verification process), depending on the size of the partition, can be up to 4 hours.

The advantages of the program include its free distribution and the provision of a detailed report.

HDD Health

The free HDD Health program is distinguished by the possibility of obtaining while checking bad sectors the following information:

• HDD manufacturer and firmware;
• current storage temperature;
• the general state of the device structure, including whole and bad sectors;
• a number of other useful features.

The utility is distributed free of charge by Panterasoft.

At the same time, the evaluation of the disk condition is carried out only by S.M.A.R.T indicators and is less effective than checking the disk with other applications.

In the article you will find a guide to using chkdsk, links to programs that allow you to comprehensively test your hard drive, as well as instructions for them. In addition, the article describes how to check hard disk partitions using the built-in Windows tools.

On this page

Windows Disk Check Utility (chkdsk)

Windows has its own disk check utility. It can be run from the GUI or from the command line.

Running Check Disk from the GUI

Open the window My computer, right-click on the disk or partition you want to check and select from the context menu Properties. In the disk properties window, go to the tab Service and press the button Run a check.

In the next window, click the button launch.

Checking the non-system partition will start immediately. If you are checking system partition Windows 7, you may see a message that it can't run now.

This is normal because the system partition is being used by the operating system. Click the button Disk check schedule. To start the scan, you must restart your computer. After restarting the computer, a disk check will be performed before the operating system starts.

Running check disk from the command line

The following is an example of running a partition check C from the command line.

Chkdsk c: /f /r

Note. Command Prompt must be run with administrator rights.

In Windows 7, just like checking the system partition from the GUI, after executing this command, you will see a message that the check could not be completed.

Enter Y and restart your computer to start checking.

Additional information about the command line options of the utility chkdsk you can get it by running it with the key /? or on this page.

Run a disk check if the system does not boot

If the operating system does not boot due to disk errors, a disk check can be performed using the Windows installation disk.

Windows 7, 8.1, 10

1. Boot into Recovery Environment and Open Command Prompt (instructions for Windows 8 and later, Windows 7)
2. At the command prompt, type chkdsk c: /r

Windows XP

If the problem occurs in Windows XP, use the Recovery Console. After booting from the installation disk into the console, run the command

Chkdsk c: /r

For more information about the Recovery Console, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

• Installing and Using the Recovery Console in Windows XP
• Enable automatic administrator logon when using the Recovery Console

Diagnostics of the hard drive by third-party programs

If after checking the hard disk with the utility chkdsk you continue to experience critical errors related to the equipment, it is worth doing more thorough testing using specialized programs. As a rule, utilities of hard disk manufacturers are used for diagnostics, or programs such as Victoria or MHDD.

Attention! Before testing the hard drive using third-party programs, you must back up all data.

Hard Drive Manufacturer Utilities

The diagnostic utilities may be on the CD that came with the hard drive. In any case, they can be downloaded from the hard drive manufacturer's website. Links to some manufacturer's download pages are provided below.

• western digital: Data Lifeguard Tools (you must select the disk model).
• Seagate: SeaTools.
• Hitachi: Drive Fitness Test.
• Samsung: Shdiag .

Diagnostic tools from other manufacturers can be found on their websites.

Victoria

program Victoria, designed for deep testing of the condition of the hard drive, can be found at this link on the site hdd-911.com.

• Excerpts from the official documentation of the Victoria hard drive test

MHDD

The MHDD program is also able to comprehensively test the hard drive and fix errors on it. You can download it from this link from the site MHDD.ru.

Additional information can be found at the following links:

The disk is in perfect order - what's next?

If there are no errors detected on the hard drive, it is most likely not the cause of critical errors. It is possible that the problem lies in faulty RAM or the power supply has insufficient power to ensure the operation of all devices. You can check the RAM and drivers as described in the articles linked below.

You can mark fragments of text that are interesting to you, which will be available via a unique link in the browser's address bar.

about the author

Interested in your opinion about these programs:

PC-3000 DiskAnalyzer, Ver1.02 Diagnostic utility for all types of drives (ATA-8, SATA, USB, SCSI, Flash, SSD), Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 S.M.A.R.T. Vision, Ver4.1 S.M.A.R.T utility. HDD Diagnostics IDE (ATA-8, SATA, USB, SCSI, Flash, SSD), Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 http://www.acelab.ru/dep.pc/resource.php

aass, did not use. But I note that Victoria and MHDD are proven tools for serious diagnostics.

And SMART information is able to track Windows 7. It will warn you if something happens.

aass

Vadim Sterkin Thanks for the reply and for the thread!
I agree with the assessment of Victoria and MHDD programs, I myself use Victoria for serious diagnostics, but I try to test other programs as well, everything is known in comparison.)

Dmitriy

when checking the hard disk with a standard program on windows 7, it says that bad clusters were found in null.sys ... what kind of driver is this?

Dmitriy

Vadim Sterkin,

thanks ... because of it the system can slow down?

Sanyok

Hello.
Launched (hypothetically) a check of the C: drive from the graphical interface with the parameters similar to your screen. Clicked the "Schedule disk check" button. Changed my mind. How can I cancel this one-time check of the system disk before rebooting the system?
I myself assume that it is probably entered in the Task Scheduler. But I want to know for sure. I don't see the point in experimenting. Since, after such a check was successfully completed once (in practical reality), it would be entered into the "Scheduler" even as a one-time one, and should, in theory, be saved. After all, tasks from the "Scheduler" do not have properties for self-deletion (I think so). But I did not find any traces in the "Scheduler". On the Internet and on the forum, as you yourself probably know, I did not receive an answer.

Simply put, I want to know where this mythical “Check Schedule” is located and what methods and methods the seventh Windows offers to correct it. And it turns out like this - click, and ala-ulu ...

Sanyok

Yeah…
There was a schedule, but the whole thing came out. This is some kind of black-and-white graffiti, with a registry. Straight "Battleship Potemkin".
(Yes, I googled, but the truth is slightly different). Thank you.
It turns out to be planned - two ticks to poke in the schedule, and cancel - climb into the registry. They messed up here. Well, okay, there is nothing to do - unsubscribe in the forum.

Yes, by the way, does it make sense to put the second (lower) daw if the system is on an SSD? After all, as far as my knowledge is enough, the SSD controller itself periodically (when idle) scans the memory for faulty cells.
And this second checkbox, by definition, is designed to check for broken cells on the HDD surface.

Sanyok

Sanyok,

You turn on your TV with the remote control and set the wake-up timer. The next morning you wake up to the music of your favorite music channel. And life flows smoothly and measuredly. But at one fine moment it dawns on you - after all, tomorrow is Sunday. No problem, you tell yourself. With a slight movement of your hand and a screwdriver, without disconnecting the TV from the mains, you remove the back cover, quickly replace a couple of resistances on the board, and you're done. Tomorrow you can sleep peacefully until noon.
Do you feel what I mean?

Vadim Sterkin: Sanya, what does it mean to be smart? You don’t get smart yourself by pressing all sorts of incomprehensible buttons, and everything will be fine :)

It's really funny, but of course, definitely truth.
Yes, just not quite right. I don’t see anything unpredictable and completely incomprehensible in the disk check. And the conversation was about the fact that if you already laid a graphical opportunity to schedule such a task, then be kind enough to provide the same opportunity to disable it, and not through one place (registry). Either remove the graphics when scheduling (do scheduling only through CMD), or provide the ability to disable this task using the graphical interface. As an engineer, in my technical practice and in the practice of the interface of various industrial programs and IT, I encounter this for the first time. Yes, and in Windows as well.
That's what I wanted to convey when I said - "We made it."
Faced with a question, I noticed that this function causes complaints from the user, in terms of frequent independent launches. But we won't talk about that. As irrelevant to the topic.
And, of course, thanks for the comments. Here everything is clear to me.

Regarding the bottom daw:

To perform a thorough check of the disk, select the Scan for and repair bad sectors option. In this mode, the scan program attempts to find and fix physical errors on the hard drive itself, which can take much longer to complete.

Nothing is said about the file system. More like a physical handicap. One of us is wrong. Or I didn't understand something.
And further down the line:

To check for both file and physical errors, select both options: Automatically fix system errors and Scan for and repair bad sectors.

Please comment. I want clarity on the issue.
In order not to press "all sorts of incomprehensible buttons", and everything was fine. :-)

Vyacheslav

I am very surprised by the ability to check and restore a disk under Windows 8. Changing the size of a partition in the direction of increasing using the Acronis Disk Director 11 program ended with errors. I wanted to increase the size of the system disk due to the empty space on the neighboring partition by 200 GB. As a result, this program reports that everything is OK, and the size of the disk in Explorer has not changed. I checked the disk using the OS tools - it was said that there were errors and it was necessary to reboot. After the reboot, nothing has changed and there was a requirement to reboot to fix it. As you can already guess, this also did not help again. As a result, we have lost 200 GB, despite the fact that Acronis says everything is OK, and the system is not able to fix the errors found. Sadness. Need to format?

Vyacheslav

Vadim Sterkin,

In fact, under Windows 7, a similar operation was always performed without problems. I always perform the task of expanding / narrowing the partition in 2 stages: first, we cut off a piece of space from the compressed partition and transfer it to the “unallocated space” status from the required end of the partition, and then we expand another partition using this space (I do everything manually in 2 reboots in case of “jambs”, because Acronis performs a group of operations in a very strange way (I have a sad experience under Windows XP). So, if under Windows 7 after checking the disk, everything returned to normal and the free space did not disappear so easily, then under Windows 8 Acronis completed the first stage successfully, and when the second one was executed, it broke off with errors, although then it reports that “everything is fine”. The problem was eventually solved by booting from the Live CD from Acronis. It is a pity that under Windows 8 it is impossible to do this. And I was counting on the “improved checking and correction of file system errors” promoted in the media. Of course, it is very difficult to believe that the check and background diagnostics of file system problems are working correctly. It is very embarrassing that the time for checking one partition under Windows 7 and under Windows 8 differs by orders of magnitude for the better for the latter. Are all problems so easily and quickly fixed? Maybe most of them Windows 8 simply does not notice or, even worse, ignores?

Vyacheslav

Vadim Sterkin,

Well, what option is available in windows 8 to expand the partition size? I saw the Disk Management snap-in. Well, I didn’t see how it is possible to cut the size of a logical volume from the desired end using “standard means”. There's also no way to move a partition within unallocated space. If there is an analog that I missed, tell me. Along the way, you did not quite understand what I meant by the phrase "the sad experience was under Windows XP." And it was like this: after a reboot, this operation was performed and at that moment the electricity went out. Thus, I lost 2 partitions, although, in theory, there could be 3 options: the second partition would be lost, from which space was taken away due to the incomplete operation of moving the NTFS service areas, or only the system partition would be lost (although this is unlikely), or both partitions would be in order, and between them - some area of ​​unallocated space. But I was very lucky. Let's omit the topic of uninterruptible power supplies and it turns out that Acronis is a respected company, and sometimes it is dangerous to use their products somehow in the absence of alternatives from the OS. And then another "surprise" surfaced. And here even with the power supply everything is in order. But as I already noted, the last problem was solved by booting from the Live CD from Acronis and the classic disk check, and not the super-optimized one from Windows 8, the benefits of which I have not yet felt. It's like it's there, but it doesn't make any sense. Or I used the check disk tool wrong. Such “optimization” causes me so far, unfortunately, more questions and mistrust than answers.

Vyacheslav

Vadim Sterkin,

Irina

Run Windows hard drive diagnostics (chkdsk). There were no messages, but after it turned out that there was no free space. Although less than 50% of the disk was filled before the check. And now busy shows 931 GB. Is it that all the free space was broken? The disk is six months old.

I forgot to say after that I checked with Victoria and said that there weren’t even any errors.

Irina

I don't have that case. This is not about the system drive. And about the external drive. Already found out - the system marked all the free space as bad blocks. Now I'm trying to find out if it's a failure or the screw died for a long time.

Sergei

Vadim, I have this problem: After running the chkdsk check disk utility, if both checkboxes are installed, it asks you to reboot and a check is performed, I don’t know what to call it, but it looks like MS-DOS - lines run quickly on a black background. After the next reboot, I look at the information in the Windows Logs - Application, the text is in English, “many letters”, but the meaning can be understood from a single sentence: “Windows has checked the file system and found no problems”. At the same time, a few lines above, I am kindly informed that, they say, “Cleaning up 31 unused security descriptors”. Sometimes it is not "31 unused security descriptors" that is cleared, but more or, conversely, less. That is, something is still not quite right, and the program corrects it a little. Like, in general, everything is fine, but the Bug is dead. So, how much I run this chkdsk, so much it requires a reboot to fix these errors, nothing else is found. Previously, on another machine in Windows XP, this rarely happened, but now time after time.
The SSD drive is about a quarter occupied. System legal Windows 7 x64 Professional is automatically updated. If you do not run a disk check, then there is no reason to worry, everything is working fine, not buggy, not crashing. So in connection with this question - maybe you don’t need to spoil your mood. I did not find a solution to the problem of these file system errors on the Microsoft website, and are they errors?

far_town2 Kulyasov

Is there any way to check if the power supply is sufficient? And can freezes / errors occur in games due to its insufficient power?

Sometimes when using a computer, you may notice problems with the hard drive. This can manifest itself in slowing down the speed of opening files, in increasing the volume of the HDD itself, in the periodic occurrence of BSOD or other errors. Ultimately, this situation can lead to the loss of valuable data or to a complete crash of the operating system. Let's analyze the main ways to diagnose problems connected to a PC with Windows 7 OS disk drive.

There are several ways to diagnose a hard drive in Windows 7. There are specialized software solutions; you can also check using standard operating system tools. We will talk about specific methods of action to solve the problem below.

Method 1: Seagate SeaTools

SeaTools is a free program from Seagate that allows you to scan your storage device for problems and fix them if possible. Its installation on a computer is standard and intuitive, and therefore does not require additional description.

1. Launch SeaTools. When you first start the program will automatically search for supported drives.



2. Then the license agreement window will open. To continue working with the program, click on the button "I accept".



3. The main SeaTools window opens and should display the hard disk drives connected to the PC. All basic information about them is displayed here:
   • Serial number;
   • Model number;
   • Firmware version;
   • Drive status (ready or not ready for testing).



4. If in a column "Drive Status" status is set opposite the desired hard disk "Ready to test", this means that the media can be scanned. To start the specified procedure, check the box to the left of its serial number. After that the button "Basic Tests" at the top of the window becomes active. When you click on this element, a menu of three items opens:
   • Information about the drive;
   • Short universal;
   • Long lasting universal.

   Click on the first of these positions.



5. Following this, immediately after a short wait, a window appears with information about the hard drive. Here are displayed the data about the hard drive that we saw in the main window of the program, and in addition the following:
   • Manufacturer's name;
   • Disk volume;
   • Hours worked by him;
   • His temperature;
   • Support for certain technologies, etc.



6. In order to find out more detailed information about the disk, you need to check the box next to it again in the main program window, click the button "Basic Tests", but this time choose the option "Short Universal".



7. Testing starts. It is divided into three stages:
   • External scanning;
   • Internal scanning;
   • Random read.

   The name of the current stage is displayed in the column "Drive Status". In column "Test Status" the progress of the current operation is shown graphically and as a percentage.



8. After the test is completed, if no problems were detected by the application, in the column "Drive Status" the inscription is displayed "Short Universal - Passed". If there are errors, they are reported.



9. If you need even more in-depth diagnostics, then for this you should use SeaTools to perform a long universal test. Check the box next to the name of the drive, click the button "Basic Tests" and choose "Long Universal".



10. The long universal test starts. Its dynamics, like the previous scan, is displayed in the column "Test Status", but in time it lasts much longer and can take several hours.



11. After the end of the test, the result will be displayed in the program window. In case of successful completion and no errors in the column "Drive Status" an inscription will appear "Long Universal - Passed".

As you can see, Seagate SeaTools is a fairly convenient and, most importantly, free tool for diagnosing a computer hard drive. It offers several options for checking by depth level at once. The time spent on the test will depend on the thoroughness of the scan.

Method 2: Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic

The Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic program will be most relevant for checking hard drives manufactured by Western Digital, but it can also be used to diagnose drives from other manufacturers. The functionality of this tool makes it possible to view information about the HDD and scan its sectors. As a bonus, the program can permanently erase any information from the hard drive without the possibility of recovering it.

1. After a simple installation procedure, run Lifeguard Diagnostic on the computer. The license agreement window will open. About parameter "I accept this License Agreement" set a note. Next click Next.



2. The program window will open. It will display the following information about the disk drives connected to the computer:
   • Disk number in the system;
   • Model;
   • Serial number;
   • Volume;
   • SMART status.



3. In order to start testing, select the name of the target disk and click on the icon next to the name "Click to run test".



4. A window will open that will offer several verification options. To get started, select Quick test. Press to start the procedure. Start.



5. A window will open where it will be proposed to close all other programs that are running on the PC for the purity of the test. Quit working in applications, then click OK in this window. You don't have to worry about wasted time, as the test won't take much of it.



6. The testing procedure will begin, the dynamics of which can be observed in a separate window thanks to the dynamic indicator.



7. After the procedure is completed, if everything ended successfully and no problems were identified, a green checkmark will be displayed in the same window. In case of problems, the mark will be red. Click to close the window Close.



8. The mark will also appear in the test list window. To start the next type of test, select the item Extended test and press Start.



9. Again, a window will appear asking you to complete other programs. Do it and press OK.



10. The scanning procedure is launched, which will take the user a much longer period of time than the previous test.



11. After its completion, as in the previous case, a mark will be displayed on successful completion or, conversely, on the presence of problems. Click Close to close the testing window. On this, the hard drive diagnostics in Lifeguard Diagnostic can be considered completed.

Method 3: HDD Scan

HDD Scan is a simple and free software that copes with all its tasks: checking sectors and performing hard drive tests. True, its purpose is not to correct errors - only to search for them on the device. But the program supports not only standard hard drives, but also SSDs, and even flash drives.

1. This application is good because it does not require installation. Just run HDD Scan on PC. A window will open displaying the make and model name of your hard drive. The firmware version and the capacity of the storage medium are also indicated here.



2. If several drives are connected to the computer, then in this case you can select the option that you want to check from the drop-down list. After that, to start the diagnostics, press the button "TEST".



3. Next, an additional menu opens with verification options. Choose an option Verify.



4. After that, the settings window will immediately open, where the number of the first HDD sector from which the check will begin, the total number of sectors and size will be indicated. You can change this information if you wish, but it is not recommended to do so. To start testing directly, click on the arrow to the right of the settings.



5. Testing in mode Verify will be launched. You can see its progress by clicking on the triangle at the bottom of the window.



6. The interface area will open, which will contain the name of the test and indicate the percentage of its completion.



7. In order to view in more detail how the procedure proceeds, right-click on the name of this test. Select an option from the context menu "Show Detail".



8. A window will open with detailed information about the procedure. On the process map, problem disk sectors with a response exceeding 500 ms and from 150 to 500 ms will be marked in red and orange, respectively, and bad sectors in dark blue, indicating the number of such elements.



9. After testing is completed, the indicator in an additional window should display the value "one hundred%". In the right part of the same window, detailed statistics on the response time of hard disk sectors will be shown.



10. When returning to the main window, the status of the completed task should be "Finished".



11. To start the next test, select the desired disk again, click the button test, but this time click on the item Read in the menu that appears.



12. As in the previous case, a window will open indicating the range of scanned sectors of the drive. For the sake of completeness of the text, these settings should be left unchanged. To activate the task, click the arrow to the right of the sector scan range options.



13. The disk will be tested for reading. You can also follow its dynamics by opening the bottom area of ​​the program window.



14. During the procedure or after its completion, when the status of the task changes to "Finished", you can use the context menu by selecting the item "Show Detail", as described earlier, go to the detailed scan results window.



15. After that, in a separate window in the tab map you can view the details of HDD sector response time for reading.



16. To run the latest hard drive diagnostics in HDD Scan, press the button again test, but now we choose the option Butterfly.



17. As in the previous cases, the sector test range settings window opens. Without changing the data in it, click on the arrow on the right.



18. The test is running Butterfly, which consists in checking the disk for reading data using queries. The dynamics of the procedure, as always, can be monitored using the informer at the bottom of the main HDD Scan window. After completing the test, if you wish, you can view its detailed results in a separate window in the same way that was used for other types of testing in this program.

This method has the advantage over using the previous program in that it does not require the mandatory termination of running applications, although this is also recommended for greater diagnostic accuracy.

Method 4: CrystalDiskInfo

As you can see, in Windows 7 it is possible to diagnose the hard drive both using third-party programs and using the built-in system utility. Of course, the use of third-party software provides a more in-depth and diverse picture of the state of the hard drive than the use of standard technologies that can only detect errors. But to use Check Disk, you do not need to download or install anything, and in addition, the in-system utility will try to fix errors if they are found.