home-Monitor-Review of the best programs for checking your hard drive. How to find out the condition and health of a hard drive, how to look at SMART readings (HDD, SSD) and estimate how long the drive will last How to find out whether a hard drive is working or not

Review of the best programs for checking your hard drive. How to find out the condition and health of a hard drive, how to look at SMART readings (HDD, SSD) and estimate how long the drive will last How to find out whether a hard drive is working or not

Sooner or later (it’s better, of course, if early) any user asks himself the question of how long the device installed on his computer will last. computer hard disk and is it time to look for a replacement? There is nothing surprising in this, since hard disks due to their design features, they are the least reliable among computer components. At the same time, it is on the HDD that most users store the lion's share of a wide variety of information: documents, pictures, various software, etc., as a result of which an unexpected failure of the disk is always a tragedy. Of course, often information on seemingly “dead” hard drives can be restored, but it is possible that this operation will cost you a pretty penny, and will cost you a lot of nerves. Therefore, it is much more effective to try to prevent data loss.
How? It’s very simple... Firstly, do not forget about regular data backups, and secondly, monitor the condition of the disks using specialized utilities. We will consider several programs of this kind from the perspective of the tasks being solved in this article.

Control of SMART parameters and temperature

All modern HDDs and even solid state drives (SSDs) support S.M.A.R.T technology. ( from English Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology), which was developed by major hard drive manufacturers to increase the reliability of their products. This technology is based on continuous monitoring and assessment of the condition of the hard drive using built-in self-diagnosis equipment (special sensors), and its main purpose is the timely detection of possible failure of the drive.

Real-time HDD status monitoring

A number of information and diagnostic solutions for diagnosing and testing hardware, as well as special monitoring utilities, use S.M.A.R.T technology. to monitor the current status of various vital parameters that describe the reliability and performance of hard drives. They read the relevant parameters directly from the sensors and thermal sensors that all modern hard drives are equipped with, analyze the received data and display them in the form of a short tabular report with a list of attributes. At the same time, some of the utilities ( Hard Drive Inspector, HDDlife, Crystal Disk Info, etc.) is not limited to displaying a table of attributes (the meanings of which are unclear to untrained users) and additionally displays brief information about the state of the disk in a more understandable form.

Diagnosing the condition of a hard drive using this kind of utility is as easy as shelling pears - just read the brief basic information about installed HDDs: basic data about drives in Hard Drive Inspector, a certain conditional percentage of hard drive health in HDDlife, and the “Technical Condition” indicator in Crystal Disk Info ( Fig. 1), etc. Any of these programs provides the minimum necessary information about each of the HDDs installed on the computer: data about the hard drive model, its volume, operating temperature, operating time, as well as the level of reliability and performance. This information makes it possible to draw certain conclusions about the performance of the media.

Rice. 1. Brief information about the “health” of the working HDD

You should configure the monitoring utility to launch simultaneously with the start operating system, adjust the time interval between checks of S.M.A.R.T. attributes, and also enable the display of the temperature and “health level” of hard drives in the system tray. After this, to monitor the status of the disks, the user will only need to glance from time to time at the indicator in the system tray, where it will be displayed brief information about the state of the drives available in the system: their level of “health” and temperature (Fig. 2). By the way, working temperature- this is no less important an indicator than a conditional indicator of the health of the HDD, because hard drives can suddenly fail due to simple overheating. Therefore if HDD heats up above 50 °C, it would be wiser to provide it with additional cooling.

Rice. 2.Display HDD Status
in the system tray with the HDDlife program

It is worth noting that a number of such utilities provide integration with Windows Explorer, due to which a green icon is displayed on the icons of local drives if they are working properly, and if problems arise, the icon turns red. So you are unlikely to forget about the health of your hard drives. With such constant monitoring, you will not be able to miss the moment when some problems begin to arise with the disk, because if the utility detects critical changes in S.M.A.R.T. attributes. and/or temperature, it will carefully notify the user about this (with a message on the screen, a sound message, etc. - Fig. 3). Thanks to this, it will be possible to copy data from the dangerous media in advance.

Rice. 3. Example of a message about the need to immediately replace the disk

Using S.M.A.R.T. monitoring solutions in practice to monitor the status of hard drives is completely easy, because all such utilities work in background and require a minimum of hardware resources, so their functioning will in no way interfere with the main workflow.

Control of S.M.A.R.T. attributes

Advanced users, of course, are unlikely to limit themselves to assessing the condition of hard drives by viewing a brief verdict from one of the utilities presented above. This is understandable, because according to the decoding of the S.M.A.R.T. attributes. You can identify the cause of failures and, if necessary, take precautionary measures. True, to independently control S.M.A.R.T. attributes, you will need to at least briefly become familiar with S.M.A.R.T technology.

Hard drives that support this technology include intelligent self-diagnostic procedures so they can “report” their current status. This diagnostic information is provided as a collection of attributes, that is, specific characteristics of the hard drive used to analyze its performance and reliability.

B O Most of the important attributes have the same meaning for drives from all manufacturers. The values ​​of these attributes when normal operation disk may vary at some intervals. For any parameter, the manufacturer has determined a certain minimum safe value that cannot be exceeded under normal operating conditions. Unambiguously determine critically important and critically unimportant S.M.A.R.T parameters for diagnostics. problematic. Each of the attributes has its own information value and indicates one or another aspect of the work of the medium. However, first of all you should pay attention to the following attributes:

  • Raw Read Error Rate - frequency of errors in reading data from the disk caused by the fault of the equipment;
  • Spin Up Time - average spin-up time of the disk spindle;
  • Reallocated Sector Count - number of sector reassignment operations;
  • Seek Error Rate - frequency of occurrence of positioning errors;
  • Spin Retry Count - the number of repeated attempts to spin up disks to operating speed if the first attempt fails;
  • Current Pending Sector Count - the number of unstable sectors (that is, sectors awaiting the reassignment procedure);
  • Offline Scan Uncorrectable Count - the total number of uncorrected errors during sector read/write operations.

Typically S.M.A.R.T. attributes are displayed in tabular form indicating the attribute name (Attribute), its identifier (ID) and three values: current (Value), minimum threshold (Threshold) and the lowest attribute value for the entire operating time of the drive (Worst), as well as the absolute value of the attribute (Raw). Each attribute has a current value, which can be any number from 1 to 100, 200, or 253 (there are no general standards for upper bounds on attribute values). The Value and Worst values ​​for a completely new hard drive are the same (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Attributes of S.M.A.R.T. with a new HDD

Shown in Fig. 4 information allows us to conclude that for a theoretically serviceable hard drive, the current (Value) and worst (Worst) values ​​should be as close as possible to each other, and the Raw value for most parameters (with the exception of the parameters: Power-On Time, HDA Temperature and some others ) should approach zero. The current value may change over time, which in most cases reflects deterioration of the hard drive parameters described by the attribute. This can be seen in Fig. 5, which presents fragments of the S.M.A.R.T attribute table. for the same disk - data were obtained with an interval of six months. As you can see, in the more recent version of S.M.A.R.T. the frequency of errors when reading data from the disk (Raw Read Error Rate), the origin of which is determined by the hardware of the disk, and the frequency of errors when positioning the magnetic head unit (Seek Error Rate) have increased, which may indicate overheating of the hard drive and its unstable position in the basket . If the current value of any attribute approaches or becomes less than the threshold value, then the hard drive is considered unreliable and should be replaced urgently. For example, a drop in the value of the Spin-Up Time attribute (average spin-up time of the disk spindle) below a critical value, as a rule, indicates complete wear of the mechanics, as a result of which the disk is no longer able to maintain the rotation speed specified by the manufacturer. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the condition of the HDD and periodically (for example, once every 2-3 months) carry out S.M.A.R.T diagnostics. and save the received information in text file. In the future, these data can be compared with current ones and certain conclusions can be drawn about the development of the situation.

Rice. 5. S.M.A.R.T. attribute tables obtained at six-month intervals
(more latest version S.M.A.R.T. at the bottom)

When viewing S.M.A.R.T. attributes, you should first of all pay attention to critical parameters, as well as parameters highlighted by indicators other than the base color (usually blue or green). Depending on the current state of the attribute in the S.M.A.R.T. utility output. in the table it is usually marked in one color or another, which makes it easier to understand the situation. In particular, in the Hard Drive Inspector program, the color indicator can have green, yellow-green, yellow, orange or red - green and yellow-green colors indicate that everything is normal (the attribute value has not changed or changed insignificantly), and yellow, orange and red colors signal danger (the worst color is red, which indicates that the attribute value has reached its critical value). If any of the critical parameters are marked with a red icon, then you need to urgently replace the hard drive.

In the Hard Drive Inspector program, let's look at the table of S.M.A.R.T. attributes of the same drive, which we briefly assessed using monitoring utilities earlier. From Fig. 6 it can be seen that the values ​​of all attributes are normal and all parameters are marked in green. The HDDlife and Crystal Disk Info utilities will show a similar picture. True, more professional solutions for analyzing and diagnosing HDDs are not so loyal and often mark S.M.A.R.T. attributes more meticulously. For example, such well-known utilities as HD Tune Pro and HDD Scan, in our case, were suspicious of the UltraDMA CRC Errors attribute, which displays the number of errors that occur when transmitting information over the external interface (Fig. 7). The cause of such errors is usually associated with a twisted and poor-quality SATA cable, which may need to be replaced.

Rice. 6. Table of S.M.A.R.T. attributes obtained in the Hard Drive Inspector program

Rice. 7. Results of assessing the state of S.M.A.R.T. attributes
HD Tune Pro and HDD Scan utilities

For comparison, let’s take a look at the S.M.A.R.T. attributes of a very ancient, but still working HDD with periodically arising problems. It did not inspire confidence in the Crystal Disk Info program - in the “Technical Condition” indicator, the disk condition was rated as alarming, and the Reallocated Sector Count attribute was highlighted in yellow (Fig. 8). This is a very important attribute from the point of view of the “health” of the disk, indicating the number of sectors reassigned when the disk detects a read/write error; during this operation, data from the damaged sector is transferred to the reserve area. The yellow color of the indicator for the parameter indicates that there are few remaining spare sectors with which to replace the bad ones, and soon there will be nothing to reassign the newly appearing bad sectors. Let's also check how more serious solutions assess the condition of the disk, for example, the HDDScan utility widely used by professionals - but here we see exactly the same result (Fig. 9).

Rice. 8. Assessing a problematic hard drive in CrystalDiskInfo

Rice. 9. Results of S.M.A.R.T. diagnostics of HDD in HDDScan

This means that it’s clearly not worth delaying the replacement of such a hard drive, although it can still serve for some time, although the operating system given hard Of course, you cannot install the disk. It is worth noting that if there are a large number of reassigned sectors, the read/write speed drops (due to the unnecessary movements that the magnetic head has to make), and the disk begins to noticeably slow down.

Scanning the surface for bad sectors

Unfortunately, in practice, monitoring SMART parameters and temperature alone is not enough. If the slightest evidence appears that something is wrong with the disk (in the case of periodic program freezes, for example, when saving results, reading error messages appear, etc.), it is necessary to scan the disk surface for the presence of unreadable sectors. To carry out such a media check, you can use, for example, the HD Tune Pro and HDDScan utilities or diagnostic utilities from hard drive manufacturers, however, these utilities only work with their own hard drive models, and therefore we will not consider them.

When using such solutions, there is a risk of damaging data on the scanned disk. On the one hand, if the drive really turns out to be faulty, anything can happen to the information on the disk during scanning. On the other hand, we cannot exclude incorrect actions on the part of the user who mistakenly starts scanning in write mode, during which data from the hard drive is erased sector by sector with a certain signature, and based on the speed of this process, a conclusion is drawn about the state of the hard drive. Therefore, compliance with certain precautionary rules is absolutely necessary: ​​before launching the utility, you need to create a backup copy of the information and during the test, act strictly according to the instructions of the developer of the relevant software. To get more accurate results, before scanning, it is better to close all active applications and unload possible background processes. In addition, you should keep in mind that if you need to test the system HDD, you need to boot from a flash drive and start the scanning process from it, or completely remove the hard drive and connect it to another computer from which you can start testing the disk.

As an example, using HD Tune Pro, we will check the surface of the HDD for bad sectors, which did not inspire confidence in the Crystal Disk Info utility above. In this program, to start the scanning process, just select required disk, activate tab Error Scan and click on the button Start. After this, the utility will begin sequential scanning of the disk, reading sector by sector and marking sectors on the disk map with multi-colored squares. The color of the squares, depending on the situation, can be green (normal sectors) or red (bad blocks) or will have some shade intermediate between these colors. As we see from Fig. 10, in our case the utility did not find full-fledged bad blocks, but nevertheless there is a significant number of sectors with one or another read delay (judging by their color). In addition to this, in the middle part of the disk there is a small block of sectors, the color of which is close to red - these sectors have not yet been recognized as bad by the utility, but they are already close to this and will move into the bad category in the very near future.

Rice. 10. Scanning the surface for bad sectors in HD Tune Pro

Testing a media for bad sectors in the HDDScan program is more difficult and even more dangerous, since if the mode is incorrectly selected, the information on the disk will be irretrievably lost. The first step to start scanning is to create a new task by clicking on the button New Task and selecting the command from the list Suface Tests. Then you need to make sure that the mode is selected Read- this mode is installed by default and when used, the hard disk surface is tested by reading (that is, without deleting data). After this press the button Add Test(Fig. 11) and double-click on the created task RD-Read. Now in the window that opens you can observe the disk scanning process on a graph (Graph) or on a map (Map) - fig. 12. Upon completion of the process, we will get approximately the same results as those demonstrated above by the HD Tune Pro utility, but with a clearer interpretation: there are no bad sectors (they are marked in blue), but there are three sectors with a response time of more than 500 ms (marked in red color), which pose a real danger. As for the six orange sectors (response time from 150 to 500 ms), this can be considered within normal limits, since such a response delay is often caused by temporary interference in the form, for example, of running background programs.

Rice. 11. Start testing the disk in the HDDScan program

Rice. 12. Results of disk scanning in Read mode using HDDScan

In addition, it should be noted that if there are a small number of bad blocks, you can try to improve the condition of the hard drive by removing bad sectors by scanning the disk surface in linear recording mode (Erase) using the HDDScan program. After such an operation, the disk can still be used for some time, but, of course, not as a system disk. However, you should not hope for a miracle, since the HDD has already begun to crumble, and there are no guarantees that in the near future the number of defects will not increase and the drive will not completely fail.

Programs for S.M.A.R.T. monitoring and HDD testing

HD Tune Pro 5.00 and HD Tune 2.55

Developer: EFD Software

Distribution size: HD Tune Pro - 1.5 MB; HD Tune - 628 KB

Work under control: Windows XP/Server 2003/Vista/7

Distribution method: HD Tune Pro - shareware (15-day demo version); HD Tune - freeware (http://www.hdtune.com/download.html)

Price: HD Tune Pro - $34.95; HD Tune - free (for non-commercial use only)

HD Tune is a convenient utility for diagnostics and HDD testing/SSD (see table), as well as memory cards, USB drives and a number of other data storage devices. The program displays detailed information about the drive (firmware version, serial number, disk capacity, buffer size and data transfer mode) and allows you to set the device status using S.M.A.R.T data. and temperature monitoring. In addition, it can be used to test the disk surface for errors and evaluate the device's performance by running a series of tests (sequential and random data read/write speed tests, file performance test, cache test and a number of Extra tests). The utility can also be used to configure AAM and securely delete data. The program is presented in two editions: commercial HD Tune Pro and free lightweight HD Tune. In the HD Tune edition, you can only view detailed information about the disk and the S.M.A.R.T. attribute table, as well as scan the disk for errors and test for speed in read mode (Low level benchmark - read).

The Health tab is responsible for monitoring S.M.A.R.T. attributes in the program - data from sensors is read after a set period of time, the results are displayed in a table. For any attribute, you can view the history of its changes in numerical form and on a graph. Monitoring data is automatically recorded in the log, but no user notifications are provided for critical changes in parameters.

As for scanning the disk surface for bad sectors, the tab is responsible for this operation Error Scan. Scanning can be quick (Quick scan) and deep - with a quick scan, not the entire disk is scanned, but only some part of it (the scanning area is determined through the Start and End fields). Damaged sectors are displayed on the disk map as red blocks.

HDDScan 3.3

Developer: Artem Rubtsov

Distribution size: 3.64 MB

Work under control: Windows 2000(SP4)/XP(SP2/SP3)/Server 2003/Vista/7

Distribution method: freeware (http://hddscan.com/download/HDDScan-3.3.zip)

Price: for free

HDDScan is a utility for low-level diagnostics of hard drives, solid-state drives and Flash drives with a USB interface. The main purpose of this program is to test disks for the presence of bad blocks and bad sectors. The utility can also be used to view the contents of S.M.A.R.T., monitor the temperature and change some hard settings disk: noise management (AAM), power management (APM), forced start/stop of the drive spindle, etc. The program works without installation and can be launched from portable media, such as a flash drive.

HDDScan displays S.M.A.R.T. attributes and temperature monitoring on demand. S.M.A.R.T report contains information about the performance and “health” of the drive in the form of a standard attribute table; the drive temperature is displayed in the system tray and in a special information window. Reports can be printed or saved as an MHT file. S.M.A.R.T. tests are possible.

The disk surface is checked in one of four modes: Verify (linear verification mode), Read (linear reading), Erase (linear writing) and Butterfly Read (Butterfly reading mode). To check a disk for the presence of bad blocks, a test in Read mode is usually used, which tests the surface without deleting data (the conclusion about the condition of the drive is made based on the speed of sector-by-sector data reading). When testing in linear recording mode (Erase), the information on the disk is overwritten, but this test can somewhat heal the disk, ridding it of bad sectors. In any of the modes, you can test the entire disk or a specific fragment of it (the scanning area is determined by indicating the initial and final logical sectors - Start LBA and End LBA, respectively). Test results are presented in the form of a report (Report tab) and displayed on a Graph and a disk map (Map), indicating, among other things, the number of bad sectors (Bads) and sectors whose response time during testing took more than 500 ms (marked in red ).

Hard Drive Inspector 4.13

Developer: AltrixSoft

Distribution size: 2.64 MB

Work under control: Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista/7

Distribution method: shareware (14-day demo version - http://www.altrixsoft.com/ru/download/)

Price: Hard Drive Inspector Professional - 600 rub.; Hard Drive Inspector for Notebooks - 800 rub.

Hard Drive Inspector is a convenient solution for S.M.A.R.T. monitoring of external and internal HDDs. IN this moment the program is offered on the market in two editions: the basic Hard Drive Inspector Professional and the portable Hard Drive Inspector for Notebooks; the latter includes all the functionality of the Professional version, and at the same time takes into account the specifics of monitoring laptop hard drives. Theoretically, there is also an SSD version, but it is distributed only in OEM supplies.

The program provides automatic check S.M.A.R.T. attributes at specified intervals and upon completion issues its verdict regarding the state of the drive, displaying the values ​​of certain conditional indicators: “reliability”, “performance” and “no errors” along with numerical value temperature and temperature diagram. Technical data about the disk model, its capacity, total free space and operating time in hours (days) is also provided. In advanced mode, you can view information about disk parameters (buffer size, firmware name, etc.) and the S.M.A.R.T attribute table. There are various options for informing the user in the event of critical changes on the disk. Additionally, the utility can be used to reduce the noise level produced by hard drives and reduce HDD power consumption.

HDDlife 4.0

Developer: BinarySense Ltd

Distribution size: 8.45 MB

Work under control: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7/8

Distribution method: shareware (15-day demo version - http://hddlife.ru/rus/downloads.html)

Price: HDDLife - free; HDDLife Pro - 300 rub.; HDDlife for Notebooks - 500 rub.

HDDLife is a simple utility designed to monitor the status of hard drives and SSDs (from version 4.0). The program is presented in three editions: free HDDLife and two commercial ones - basic HDDLife Pro and portable HDDlife for Notebooks.

The utility monitors S.M.A.R.T. attributes and temperature at specified intervals and, based on the analysis results, issues a compact report on the condition of the disk indicating technical data about the disk model and its capacity, operating time, temperature, and also displays the conditional percentage of its health and performance, which allows Even beginners can navigate the situation. More experienced users can additionally look at the table of S.M.A.R.T. attributes. In case of problems with hard drive it is possible to configure notifications; You can configure the program so that if the disk is in normal condition, the scan results will not be displayed. It is possible to control the HDD noise level and power consumption.

CrystalDiskInfo 5.4.2

Developer: Hiyohiyo

Distribution size: 1.79 MB

Work under control: Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008/7/8/2012

Distribution method: freeware (http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html)

Price: for free

CrystalDiskInfo is a simple utility for S.M.A.R.T. monitoring the status of hard drives (including many external HDDs) and SSD. Despite being free, the program has all the necessary functionality to monitor the status of disks.

Disk monitoring is performed automatically after a specified number of minutes or on demand. At the end of the test, the temperature of the monitored devices is displayed in the system tray; detailed information about the HDD indicating the values ​​of S.M.A.R.T. parameters, temperature and the program’s verdict on the state of the devices is available in the main window of the utility. There is functionality for setting threshold values ​​for some parameters and automatically notifying the user if they are exceeded. Noise level management (AAM) and power management (APM) are possible.

Unfortunately, a considerable part of modern HDDs work normally for a little more than a year, then various kinds of problems begin, which over time can lead to data loss. This prospect can be completely avoided if you carefully monitor the condition of the hard drive, for example, using the utilities discussed in the article. However, you should also not forget about regular backup of valuable data, since monitoring utilities, as a rule, successfully predict disk failure due to mechanical faults (according to Seagate statistics, about 60% of HDDs fail due to mechanical components), but they are not able to predict the death of a drive due to problems with electronic components disk.

CrystalDiskInfo is a free program for servicing computer HDDs and SSDs with ATA (PATA, SATA), USB and IEEE1394 connection interfaces. If something strange happens to your hard drive, do not be lazy to download CrystalDiskInfo in Russian for your computer for free using the link from the site https://site without registration and SMS. The advantages of the utility include: displaying detailed, reliable information about the status, powerful monitoring and verification tools, as well as effective tools for changing hard drive settings. If problems are detected, Crystal Disk Info displays a warning and sends an email to the user.

Before a large number of bad sectors appear, read and write errors, unpleasant noise, temperatures rise, performance decreases, it makes sense useful program CrystalDiskInfo free download for a computer with an operating system Microsoft system Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 (32-bit and 64-bit). The utility is quickly installed on your computer and uninstalled correctly, without “keeping track” in the system registry. When you start the program, it checks the status of the hard drive of your computer or laptop; this takes some time.

Checking, monitoring, analysis, graphs and changing settings

When checking, the utility displays detailed information, including external HDD USB and IEEE1394. Displayed: firmware version, AAM*/APM** data, interface type, spindle speed, buffer size, operating life, number of bad sectors, temperature and even a graph of temperature dynamics over time, as well as other technical characteristics. S.M.A.R.T*** parameters are monitored, including: number of read errors, overall performance, start-stops and other data. CrystalDiskInfo dynamically tracks changes in a large amount of data from drives in the system, keeps a log and allows you to beautifully display this in the form of graphs. This format allows you to clearly see the overall health picture of the computer’s disk subsystem.

There will be people who want to download CrystalDiskInfo for free without registration and SMS, without leaving the https://site, also because the utility allows you not only to diagnose the hard drive, but also to take care of its health. Changing the AAM and APM settings allows you to control performance parameters and the corresponding amount of acoustic noise produced, as well as power consumption parameters. If necessary, it is possible to reset the bad sector counters. In the "Tools" menu there is a link to the system "Disk Management", where all the necessary transformations are done with them: create a partition, expand or shrink partitions, etc.

Interface and functionality of CrystalDiskInfo

The nice, modern interface supports many localizations, as well as themes (skins), three of which are available immediately after launch. Positive reviews and comments from users are caused by an intuitive display of the status in color: blue (or green) - good, yellow - warning, red - problems/alarm, gray - no information.

This small, free, open-source utility source code, is being developed by Japanese programmer Noriyuki Miyazaki (known as Hiyohiyo), so in Europe and America many people find the menus and settings confusing. The Japanese do not share this opinion. Unfortunately, there are no hints or explanations about the importance of parameters unfamiliar to the average computer user, and to figure it out, sometimes you have to refer to the help section.

Rich functionality allow CrystalDiskInfo to compete not only with free, but also with paid programs. According to reviews and comments from many users around the world, it is definitely worth downloading CrystalDiskInfo for Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP (32-bit and 64-bit) for free in Russian. Among the competitors, it is worth noting the paid programs HDDlife Professional and Hard Drive Inspector and the free Active@ Hard Disk Monitor with Russian language support, as well as paid HD Tune Pro on English language. As for the functionality of Crystal Disk Info, you definitely need to know about the following advantages of this utility:

  • high data reliability,
  • correct interaction with S.M.A.R.T technology,
  • monitoring of more than 25 parameters,
  • data on current operating modes in real time,
  • temperature and S.M.A.R.T data control,
  • displaying disk temperatures in the system tray,
  • prompt e-mail notification about problems,
  • ability to change AAM/APM settings,
  • control of speed and amount of acoustic noise,
  • settings to save energy consumption,
  • no conflicts with latest versions SSD drives,
  • work with external HDDs USB interfaces and IEEE 1394,
  • compatible with a wide range of equipment****.

reference Information

* Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM) - control of the track search time parameter, in this case, the faster the block of magnetic heads moves along the radius during search, the more noise.

** Advanced Power Management (APM) - energy management.

*** Self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology (S.M.A.R.T.) - an internal self-diagnosis and self-monitoring system using hardware built into the disk with the ability to generate reports and predict the breakdown period.

**** A comprehensive list of compatible equipment is located on the official crystalmark website in the info domain.

Download the latest version of CrystalDiskInfo in Russian

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If the HDD makes strange sounds or there are problems with writing and reading information, you should use one of the programs for hard checks disk for errors. Depending on the task (checking the disk surface for damage, searching bad sectors, error correction, etc.) various software may be useful.

You can quickly check the disk for errors using standard system tools, but to restore the hard drive you will need special third party programs. Having learned how to check the health of a hard drive using various utilities, a user of any level will be able to cope with any problems that may arise.

CheckDisk System Service is the simplest hard drive diagnostic program that can't find complex errors or fix bad sectors, but is useful for fixing basic problems. It is available on all versions of Windows OS and can be used to check drives of any type. All users need to know how to check a hard drive for errors with this tool.

The graphical interface version of the utility is most convenient for novice users. You can launch it through the disk management menu, which can be accessed in two ways:

  1. in Windows XP/Vista/7 - select “Management” in context menu“My computer”, then go to the desired menu;
  2. in Windows 8/10 - press the Win+X combination and select the appropriate item.

In the window that opens, select the device that needs analysis, right-click on it and select “Properties” from the drop-down menu. By going to the “Service” tab, you need to run the hard drive diagnostic program.

The system will check and automatically correct errors if the disk is not currently busy with read or write processes. Otherwise, the program will offer to test after rebooting the PC. If necessary, in the scan results window you can see detailed information about the status of the HDD.

The GUI version does not always help, since checking the status of the hard drive is sometimes required from safe mode or without starting the operating system at all. In such cases, the console comes to the rescue; you can launch it before the system starts using boot disk.

Once you open the recovery console, you need to run the chkdsk /f command, which will check all connected drives. In some cases, this will help fix the error. However, in most situations, if a HDD failure has made it impossible to start the system, a more in-depth check of the hard drive’s condition will be required.

To take advantage console command from inside the system you need:

  • launch the command line (via Win+X or by entering cmd in the “Run” window);
  • enter the chkdsk command indicating the letter of the partition being checked and additional flags;
  • Confirm the operation by pressing Y.

Checking the HDD via the command line will be a little faster than using the GUI version of the program; the results will be shown here in the console.

Linux systems also have standard tools— hdparm and smartctl, launched from the console.

Simple programs for quickly checking HDD

If standard utilities are not suitable, hard drive diagnostics can be carried out using simple third-party programs. They allow you to obtain more information about the health status of the HDD, but in case of serious problems they will not be suitable, since they cannot be used to fix the damage.

HDDScan is a free program that performs analysis in two modes:

  • according to S.M.A.R.T. indicators;
  • linear processing.


The tool evaluates the read and write speed of various sectors, marking the “slow” cells. During the analysis, the program ensures that the tested hard drives do not overheat; at the end of processing, the user is presented with a full report.

HDDScan good versatility. The utility allows you to check disks for errors, regardless of the type of device: you can use it to check how external hard disk, and analyze a RAID array, SSD drive or memory card.

Crystal Disk Mark has only one function - it evaluates the read and write speed. Despite this, it is often used, since it is still possible to check the hard drive for serviceability using just two indicators.

The test uses different algorithms, one of which is sequential recording mode. The program gradually fills all the space on the drive with blocks of a size specified by the user, after which it cleans the HDD. The same technique is used by hard drive manufacturers to check product quality. Its disadvantage is that it accelerates the wear of SSD drives.

CrystalDiskInfo And DiskCheckup They are similar in their set of functions, differing only in the interface. They check the status of the hard drive using S.M.A.R.T. algorithms and compile a history of checks, which allows you to track the dynamics of changes. CrystalDiskInfo has more options for visualizing history. For example, you can create a graph, not just get a written report.

Another feature of these programs is a convenient notification system. In-depth hard drive tests usually take a long time. If the user needs to step away from the computer, they can turn on notifications about critical errors HDD by E-Mail.

Programs from hard drive manufacturers

Some HDD manufacturers have developed their own utilities for analyzing the status of the hard drive. They are intended for use with devices of the same name; diagnosing a hard drive from another company is possible with their help, but this must be done carefully. Unlike more simple programs, these utilities have versions on different languages, including in Russian. Which program is better to analyze the HDD status?

The proprietary program from Seagate exists in two versions: a standard version for running under Windows and a DOS version in ISO image format, from which you can make bootable USB flash drive. It is recommended to use the second option, since the check in this case will be more accurate and efficient.

SeaTools uses part of the S.M.A.R.T indicators. to test the hard drive without giving away details about each item. Three tests can be performed:

  1. short self-test of HDD;
  2. short rapid test;
  3. a long-term check in which all sectors are read sequentially.

As the scan progresses, the program automatically corrects any errors found.

Owners of hard drives from WD should know how to check the performance of hard drives using proprietary software from this manufacturer. The range of its capabilities is similar to that of the program from Seagate, but is somewhat expanded and allows for more in-depth work with the affected device.

There are two additional functions:

  1. deep disk formatting - the program writes zeros to all sectors, permanently destroying information;
  2. blocking access to bad sectors - the program marks bad blocks, preventing the writing of new information to them.

Unlike SeaTools, this HDD diagnostic program can be freely used with devices from any manufacturer to check the hard drive for errors - no problems were identified with this.

Deep testing software

If you need not only checking your hard drive for errors, but also correcting bad sectors, you cannot do without a complex software, which carries out the most in-depth analysis of the HDD state.

Victoria HDD

According to many users, Victoria HDD is the best software for detecting hard drive problems. The program gained this reputation due to its wide range of functions.

Victoria exists in two versions:

  • with a graphical shell for use from inside Windows;
  • with a DOS shell to create a boot disk.

It's better to use the second version. Diagnostics of the HDD outside the system allows you to achieve better results, so it is always recommended to follow the principle “if possible, test the disk from the boot disk.” As a last resort, you can use a LiveCD of another OS, for example, Linux distribution like Ubuntu.

Victoria HDD has a variety of functions:

  • quick and complete disk scan;
  • reassignment of bad sectors and their restoration;
  • checking the status of contacts in the IDE or SATA cable;
  • equipment performance analysis;
  • viewing S.M.A.R.T. indicators.

When checking, you need to pay attention to the access time to sectors. It should not exceed 200-600 ms. You can also view the temperature of the disk during operation, but this is not so important.

HDD Regenerator

HDD Regenerator is a program for professional hard recovery disk. It not only marks bad sectors as unused, but also tries to revive them. For this, not the standard deep formatting method is used, but its own algorithm based on transmitting signals to the sector different levels. Despite its professional level, inexperienced users can also use this software, since testing a hard drive with its help is not difficult thanks to its convenient Russian-language interface.

Program features:

  • ensuring data safety - it works only in read mode;
  • support for different file systems;
  • the ability to scan the disk surface;
  • real-time monitoring.

The program is not suitable for everyone, since you can check your hard drive for functionality for free, but you will have to pay $90 for the sector recovery function.

If you don’t want to pay, you can use TestDisk - free program, which can restore the partition table, boot sectors and MFT. It also detects bad sectors, can recover deleted information and fix file system errors. The only drawback is the lack GUI, you have to work from the console.

If after HDD checks and if all problems are corrected, the computer has not stopped working incorrectly, it is worth checking the registry. Perhaps the failures are caused not by hardware failure, but by internal system errors.

Hello.

Forewarned is forearmed! This rule comes in handy when working with hard drives. If you know in advance that such and such a hard drive will most likely fail, then the risk of data loss will be minimal.

Of course, no one will give a 100% guarantee, but with a high degree of probability, some programs can analyze S.M.A.R.T. readings. (a set of software and hardware that monitors the condition of the hard drive) and draw conclusions on how long it will last.

In general, there are dozens of programs to perform such a hard drive check, but in this article I wanted to focus on some of the most visual and easy to use. So…

How to find out the status of your hard drive

HDDlife

(By the way, in addition to HDD, it also supports SSD drives)

One of best programs for continuous monitoring of the hard drive condition. It will help you recognize the threat in time and replace the hard drive. Most of all, it captivates with its clarity: after launching and analysis, HDDlife presents the report in a very convenient form: you are shown the percentage of the “health” of the disk and its performance (the best indicator, of course, is 100%).

If your indicators are above 70%, this indicates good condition your disks. For example, after a couple of years of work (quite active by the way), the program analyzed and concluded: that this hard drive is about 92% healthy (which means that it should last, unless force majeure occurs, at least the same amount) .

After launch, the program minimizes to the tray next to the clock and you can always monitor the status of your hard drive. If any problem is detected (for example, the disk temperature is high, or there is too little space left on the hard drive), the program will notify you with a pop-up window. Example below.

HDDLIFE alerts you when your hard drive is running out of space. Windows 8.1.

If the program analyzes and gives you a window like the one in the screenshot below, I advise you not to delay making a backup copy (and replacing the HDD).

HDDLIFE - the data on your hard drive is in danger, the faster you copy it to other media, the better!

Hard Disk Sentinel

This utility can compete with HDDlife - it monitors the disk status just as well. What captivates us most about this program is how informative it is and how easy it is to work with. Those. it will be useful for both a novice user and an already experienced one.

After launching Hard Disk Sentinel and analyzing the system, you will see the main program window: hard drives (including external HDDs) will be presented on the left, and their status will be displayed in the right window.

By the way, there is a rather interesting function for predicting the performance of the disk, according to how long it will serve you: for example, in the screenshot below the forecast is more than 1000 days (that’s about 3 years!).

State hard drive EXCELLENT. No problematic or weak sectors were found. No speed or data transmission errors were detected.
No action needs to be taken.

By the way, the program implements enough useful feature: you can set the threshold for the critical temperature of the hard drive, upon reaching which, Hard Disk Sentinel will notify you that it has been exceeded!

Hard Disk Sentinel: disk temperature (including the maximum for the entire time the disk was used).

Ashampoo HDD Control

An excellent utility for monitoring the status of hard drives. The monitor built into the program allows you to find out in advance about the first problems with the disk (by the way, the program can even notify you about this by e-mail).

Also, in addition to the main functions, a number of auxiliary ones are built into the program:

Disk Defragmenter;

Testing;

Cleaning the disk from garbage and temporary files (always relevant);

Deleting the history of visiting sites on the Internet (useful if you are not alone at the computer and do not want anyone to know what you are doing);

There are also built-in utilities for reducing disk noise, adjusting power, etc.

Screenshot of the Ashampoo HDD Control 2 window: everything is fine with the hard drive, condition 99%, performance 100%, temperature 41 degrees. (it is desirable that the temperature be less than 40 degrees, but the program believes that for this disk model everything is in order).

By the way, the program is completely in Russian, intuitively thought out - even a novice PC user can figure it out. Pay special attention to the temperature and status indicators in the main program window. If the program produces errors or the condition is assessed as extremely low (+ in addition there is a grinding or noise coming from the HDD), I recommend that you first copy all the data to other media, and then start dealing with the disk.

Hard Drive Inspector

A distinctive feature of this program is:

1. Minimalism and simplicity: there is nothing superfluous in the program. It gives three indicators in percentage terms: reliability, performance and absence of errors;

Hard Drive Inspector - monitoring the condition of the hard drive.

СrystalDiskInfo

A simple but reliable utility for monitoring the status of hard drives. Moreover, it works even in cases where many other utilities refuse, crashing with errors.

The program supports several languages, is not full of settings, and is designed in a minimalist style. At the same time, it has quite rare functions, for example, reducing the noise level of the disk, temperature control, etc.

What is also very convenient is a graphical display of the situation:

Blue color (as in the screenshot below): everything is ok;

Yellow color: alarm, measures need to be taken;

Red: you need to take immediate action (if you still have time);

Gray: the program was unable to determine the readings.

CrystalDiskInfo 2.7.0 - screenshot of the main program window.

HD Tune

This program will be useful to more experienced users: who, in addition to a graphical display of the “health” of the disk, also need high-quality disk tests, in which they can familiarize themselves in detail with all the characteristics and parameters. It should also be noted that the program, in addition to HDD, also supports new-fangled SSD drives.

HD Tune offers a rather interesting feature to quickly check a disk for errors: a 500 GB disk is checked in about 2-3 minutes!

HD TUNE: quick search disk errors. Red squares are not allowed on a new disk.

Also very necessary information is checking the disk read and write speed.

HD Tune - checking disk speed.

Well, we can’t help but note the tab with detailed information about the HDD. This is useful when you need to know, for example, supported functions, buffer/cluster size or disk rotation speed, etc.

HD Tune - detailed information about the hard drive.

In general, there are at least as many similar utilities that can be cited. I think that these will be more than enough for most...

And lastly: do not forget to make backup copies, even if the disk condition is rated as 100% excellent (at least the most important and valuable data)!

Good luck...

Today we will learn how to check the hard drive of a computer or laptop for serviceability, what methods exist and what programs and utilities are best to use to diagnose the condition of the component

HOW TO CHECK THE HARD DRIVE OF YOUR COMPUTER OR LAPTOP FOR ITS SERVICEABILITY. FEATURES, METHODS, PROGRAMS AND UTILITIES


Good afternoon, today we will learn how to check HDD personal computer or laptop running operating systems Windows 7 , 8 And 10 on serviceability, and also which third-party programs better use For condition analysis component. Besides, step by step with help screenshots for clarity, let's demonstrate procedure according to careful diagnostics hard drive through various ways And utilities. In conclusion, we will tell you what tasks performs on a computer or laptop HDD computer and why you need it from time to time check Winchester on damage, which may arise in his sectors.

As we know HDD or Winchester - this is one of the key components personal computer or laptop, which is the main memory block, that is, the part responsible for storage , distribution And moving information. Winchester on a par with physical media has its own specific life time and over time it develops a property called sector damage(bad sectors), which is extremely unacceptable in cases where it stored Very important or useful information. Thus, examination hard drive on serviceability or performance- this is one of the most important procedures on diagnostics state details that should be able to do any user who owns personal computer or laptop.

HOW TO DISABLE SLEEP MODE ON A COMPUTER IN WINDOWS

So, How and with what begins checking the status of the hard drive ? Initially done on a computer or laptop backup the most important files another physical media, for example on USB flash drive , Flash card , third party HDD (SSD) Winchester or CD . We also note that if our diagnosed HDD format SDD or HDD publishes while working extraneous sounds as clicks or certain claims To performance component, then before carrying the part directly to repair, initially, so to speak, at home, it is worth using various methods for his checks with the help of third parties programs. Today there are a huge number of different utilities And applications for detailed diagnosing hard drive segments on bad sectors, which compatible with any operating system And components computer. About these programs, which help we will talk to users in our article so that install which ones are of the highest quality check And restore fragments hard drive .

1. METHODS CHECKING THE HARD DISK FOR SERVICE. BUILT-IN ANALYSIS UTILITIES

Development company “ Microsoft ”has a wide range opportunities for working with different components operating room systems. One of the most common basic or built-in programs operating system Windows considered an application CHKDSK , which serves for checks And corrections bad sectors hard drive . Program CHKDSK helps produce check hard drive without installation third party applications. In case if file system hard drive has one or another errors, That basic application will help as well will eliminate some, maybe all Problems, depending on their difficulties.


CHKDSK Firmware Functions :


– Search and correct found file errors hard systems NTFS/FAT disk;

– Identification of physically damaged bad sectors;

– Checking third-party media, for example SSD/HDD drives, USB Flash, SD cards for faults.

How to use CHKDSK? Initially the user runs file system scan, which is produced using launch standard window Execute “ located in the user menu “ Start ” working panel operating system tools Windows XP, 7 ,8 or 10 . If we don't not found on the menu " Start "command line" Execute “, then let’s use the function “ Conductor “.

Procedure for checking the system using the “Explorer” menu :

– First of all, find a section in Explorer called “My Computer”;

– Then right-click on the hard drive or its separate media (volume) that needs to be checked;

– On the “Service” tab, you must click on the “Run check” button. For reference, we note that the check is performed only if the user has administrator rights;

– After all the steps described above, the computer’s operating system is rebooted. When the computer restarts, the Windows OS disk/s are automatically checked for problems. In addition, if problems are found on the disk, the program corrects them;

– If the program does not find any problems during the verification process, then the procedure ends without correction. In addition, it is worth saying that if there are errors on the disk, correcting them can take quite a long time ( for reference: up to several hours);

– At the final stage of the scan, the program scans third-party physical media of the system, without rebooting the computer.


TO How to analyze a disk using the built-in command line? Initially the user must runcommand line. This can be done in several ways : Firstly , run the command “ Execute “, then type in the line the condition “ cmd “; Secondly , can be done launch through the menu “ Start “, then go to the “ tab All programs ", Further " Standard ” and find the utility “ Command line “.


After launch line command, write a condition in the window, for example: “ chkdsk C: /f “, which means check one or the other disk systems. To produce full hard drive scan, after standard steps, it is necessary reboot computer, then you need to wait until the system will be checked on bad sectors. For reference, we note that in order to get background information on possible parameters checks hard drive, enter the condition “ chkdsk /? “.


As we can see with the help of simple actions you can quickly enough determine serviceability, and performance of hard disk volumes And systems generally. For reference, we note that HDD costs check when we just bought new computer or laptop. Besides, examination needed even when it happened errors at installation applications or moving large amount of information in the form files. In the event that we rarely use with your computer, then recommended from time to time include, to disperse physical media, since everyone Winchester has a certain recording resource(rewrites) information and data recording method on bulk carrier does not provide static.


Built-in programs By identifying And troubleshooting, which according to default run on one operating system or another Windows perform only superficial inspection for availability bad sectors disk. Built-in utilitiesdon't stand out high accuracy in detection problems on media. As most recommend specialists in area computer equipment, to spend detailed examination with in-depth analysis hard drive is better take advantage(download And install) third party programs And utilities that are online Internet V free access.

2. PROGRAMS FOR DIAGNOSING THE CONDITION OF THE HARD DISK

So, as we said earlier except basic or built-in programs For diagnostics state hard drive that go along default in one version or another of the operating system Windows , still big today popularity deserved from users third party utilities. Third party programs or utilities capable not only of detailed diagnose volumes hard drive , but also effective fix bad sectors And errors if available.


 Popular third-party diagnostic and repair programs hard errors disk :

HDDLife : this is the one third party utility which must be installed every user has a personal computer or laptop. Program monitors the health of physical media And protects those who don't want to suddenly lose important information on the device. Main advantages utility is active indicator state hard drive. HDDLife produces performance measurement computer and detects wear and tear components in online mode.

All indicators are displayed as multi-colored stripes. So for example a strip Green colour means that with components devices are all in ok. Strip yellow color means that HDD worked part deadline his services and it should be more more closely pay attention during further operation. Red stripe programs means what is needed immediate action relatively hard drive or others system components, right up to them repairs or replacements, since there is a high probability losses important information.


Also a program that translated from English means “ Life or hard drive life “, displays temperature of physical media information. Temperature Maybe be displayed as scales or digital indicator . As we know too high operating temperature of disks quickly brings them to disrepair, so it is very important to constantly control. Utility HDDLife offered in free access as with trial(free) version, so paid, in which significantly functionality expanded.


Seagate Seatools : is also no less popular utility which is very useful for any user modern computer. However, in difference from HDDLife , Seatools - This narrow By profile program, that is, not universal and it is only compatible with hard drives trademark Seagate (for reference: 70% HDD market share today), and as for others physical media models, then them analysis maybe it's passing fragmentary or with mistakes. In order to begin use program its simple enough install, run And choose necessary points For diagnostics. Utility works completely in automatic mode. On first stage is happening error testing and then them elimination, in the presence of. In case if examination ends successfully, then at the end of the procedure in dialog box the sign “ PASS ” – no errors found, and if available problems, the inscription “ FAIL “, that is, found errors.

What problems are identified by the program? Seagate Seatools :


– Search for bad sectors and file system errors on a hard drive in HDD or SDD format;

– Problems with the operating disk bootloader Windows systems;

– Incompatibility of hardware and drivers of the Windows operating system;

– Elimination of bad sectors of the hard drive;

– Search for viruses of varying complexity and other applications that disrupt the functioning of the hard drive.


Often the program Seagate Tools finds and corrects errors And problems systems on one's own, however, sometimes cases arise when it is necessary participation user in the procedure. On a personal note, we note that upon first use utilities with the aim of checks And bug fixes systems, it's worth stocking up patience, since this process is very painstaking. For reference, we note that duration process can increase proportionally volume And busy place information on hard drive .


In conclusion, we note that even if the verified HDD is in full technical serviceability, then as recommended specialists, it's always worth it anyway keepimportant information, which stored on hard drive. Backups important files best done on third party media. For reference, we note that today there are a large number programs who are capable restore lost or damaged files, as well as fragments hard drive. However, we must understand that Not allutilities fully capable recover lost files, especially if they erased With physically damaged carrier. That's why backup is the only and true way conservation important information , which stored on hard drive.

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