Checking the disk for errors using built-in and third-party software. How to check your hard drive without booting windows

Check Disk Utility or chkdsk.exe is a tool in Windows 10 that examines disk corruption. This tool turns on automatically when your computer encounters a sudden shutdown or detects a corrupted file system. In a few cases, it is recommended to run this tool, but in other cases, Windows itself launches it, depending on the nature of the errors. CHKDSK scans the disk space and verifies that the integrity of the file system has not been compromised - and if it finds any logical errors, it corrects them. Let's see how to use the CHKDSK tool to check and repair hard drive in Windows 10/8/7.

Checking errors and repairing bad sectors on the disk

What exactly does this tool check for? Everything is very simple, it checks in 5 stages: checking the underlying structure of the file system, checking file name associations, checking security descriptors, looking for bad clusters in the data user files, search for damaged and free clusters. The format of the commands specified on the command line is similar to chkdsk[Disk:] [options] and looks like chkdsk c: /f /r /x. Note that local drive C: is listed if you need to check completely HDD, then remove C: and the command will look like this chkdsk /f /r /x. If you need to check and restore a flash drive, then specify the volume letter instead of C:. Let's take a closer look at the advanced options that can greatly help fix errors on your hard drive.

• Open a command prompt as administrator and enter the command chkdsk C: /f /r /x to scan your hard drive for errors and press Enter.

1. C - Local disk or the volume you want to check. If you want to check the entire hard drive for errors, then simply issue the command chkdsk /f /r /x
2. /f- Corrects errors that it finds.
3. /r- Looking for bad sectors and restores them.
4. /x- Dismounts the volume before checking it, if necessary.
5. I brought more significant teams into one at once, but you can look additional commands typing at the command line chkdsk /?.

It is generally accepted that the speed of a computer depends on what equipment is installed on it. When talking about processor power or quantity random access memory, it's easy to lose sight of how the hard drive itself directly affects performance.

Checking the status of the hard drive

The speed of processing actions with files and even the performance of programs depends on how well the hard drive functions. It is also important to carry out regular checks of the hard drive to ensure the safety of all necessary information: having learned about problems in the system, you can immediately backups files while the disk is still running.

You can identify surface problems using Windows or using third party programs.

Checking the disk status through Explorer

The fastest and easiest way to check the disk is through the Windows scan function. To do this, take the following steps:

Alternatively, you can run the check via the command line:

Such diagnostics will not only report on the condition of your hard drive, but if problems are detected, it will immediately try to fix them.

If the procedure does not start under the pretext that the hard drive is busy, you can select the check option the next time you restart the computer.

Why your hard drive may be slow

If the scan reveals no damage and your hard drive is still slow, the problem may be that you haven't defragmented it for a long time. Disk defragmentation is carried out as follows:

These steps can significantly speed up the response of your hard drive, especially if it has a lot of files.

In addition, in Windows 10, file indexing can slow down disk speed.

File indexing is necessary to use search, but it significantly slows down the speed of the hard drive and the system as a whole, since for each existing file a separate path is added to the indexing database. Therefore, it is advisable to disable indexing. The search will still work, it will just take longer to find the requested file.

To disable indexing:

How to disable automatic hard drive checking

If the hard drive check is performed automatically when the computer starts, then you can easily disable it. To do this, just activate a certain command.

Video: checking the status of the Windows 10 hard drive

Programs for checking your hard drive

There are many programs designed to check your hard drive. Let's look at a few popular applications.

Seagate SeaTools

This free program copes with its task optimally. It can conduct a full check of your hard drive for errors, detect and fix problems. Distinctive feature Seagate SeaTools is the ability to use it before Windows boot using a specially created boot disk. Thanks to this, you can bring back to life a system that has failed due to hard drive problems. The program is universal and works with many equipment models.

HDD Regenerator

This paid program is suitable for checking your hard drive for errors and then correcting them.

HDD Regenerator not only performs a high-quality analysis of most hard drives, but is also capable of isolating and then attempting to repair damaged areas of the drive. The analysis function is also available in a free trial version.

Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic

This program only supports hard disks, released by the company Western Digital. In addition to high-quality and free analysis, it also has the ability to isolate damaged sectors.

This allows you to avoid re-writing files to these sectors in the future. Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic has a feature full formatting, after which it will not be possible to recover deleted files, so be careful when working with this program.

CrystalDiskInfo

One of the best programs for checking the status of a hard drive. Regardless of whether you are using an external hard drive or it is connected to your computer standard methods, - this program may be useful to you. It conducts a detailed analysis of all connected drives and provides the result in the form of a detailed, informative summary. Thus, you can find out all the necessary information: from the disk firmware version to system errors that arose during diagnosis.

In addition, this program has the following useful features:

• temperature display - the ability to monitor the temperature of the hard drive in real time (data is displayed in the lower right corner of the screen);
• managing hard disk settings, regulating its volume and speed of interaction with the disk;
• resetting the counters of damaged disk segments to zero;
• Displays the lifespan of the disk and the number of times the computer has been started.

CrystalDiskInfo does not correct disk errors, but is suitable for detailed diagnostics.

Diagnosis of the condition of the hard drive can be carried out using both system methods and special programs. Keep an eye out for errors on your disks, and then you will never lose important files due to technical malfunctions.

Because of high price on solid state drives, all users are forced to use regular hard drives. And in most cases, after many years of using a hard drive, no one pays attention to its condition. A state of hard The disk becomes of interest to users only when problems begin. Therefore, it is worth checking the hard drive for errors at any suspicion.

In this article we will look at how to check the status of a Windows 10 hard drive using built-in tools. operating system and actually chose for you best programs For hard checks disk for errors. Before choosing a program, you should evaluate the pros and cons of programs for checking the status of the hard drive.

operating room Windows system allows you to check your hard drive using built-in tools. The built-in tool for checking your hard drive for errors is called Check Disk in Windows 10.

How to run Chkdsk program

Chkdsk via command line

1. Run Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. To start checking the specified hard drive for errors, use the command: chkdsk F:
3. To fix errors in hard drive partitions, use the command: chkdsk F: /f /r /x

Programs for checking the status of the hard drive

All programs from our article can be found in the table below. If you want to get acquainted with programs for checking the status of the Windows 10 hard drive, then read the article further.

The best programs to check your hard drive

As in all cases, it is possible to use both built-in operating system tools and third party programs to check the status of the hard drive. Here we have collected for you the best programs for checking your hard drive.

Victoria HDD

Victoria HDD is the most popular program to check the hard drive for errors. It has really great capabilities and even allows you to correct errors. It is possible to download the Russian version of the program on the Internet.

How to work with the Victoria HDD program

1. Open the tab Standard and select the desired drive.
2. Next go to the section SMART and look at the background testing result.
3. In chapter Tests check the option Ignore to run simple testing.
4. Next you will see sectors of different colors; to correct errors, run the test again with the parameter Remap.

HDDScan

HDDScan is a small free utility that allows you to check your hard drive for errors. It only allows you to check drives for errors, but you won’t be able to correct these errors right away, which is the main disadvantage.

Instructions on how to use HDDScan

1. From the list of tests, select SMART and look at the background scan results.
2. For a full check, click the round button on the right and select the item in the list Surface test.
3. Check the option read and start testing.

CrystalDiskInfo

CrystalDiskInfo is a powerful status checker hard drives for errors. All data is displayed in a detailed report. The program is able to find sector errors and immediately suggests ways to eliminate them.

Hetman Partition Recovery

Hetman Partition Recovery program allows you to recover data from damaged logical partitions, and also allows you to recover damaged files. Well, of course, it is possible to check the status of the hard drive.

HD Tube Pro

HD Tube Pro powerful a tool that allows you to check the status of your computer’s hard drive and more. It is possible to check not only HDD drives, but also SSD drives. The program also eliminates software errors that have arisen.

Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostic

The free Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostic can do a standard and time-consuming test. It has a simple interface, but the downside is the lack of Russian interface language.

conclusions

In this article, we looked at the best programs for checking the status of a hard drive and how to actually check the status of a Windows 10 hard drive. If you don’t know English well, choose programs to check your hard drive in Russian.

Write to us in the comments whether you have checked your disk for errors.

The HDDScan program is designed for testing drives with SATA interfaces, IDE, SCSI, USB, FireWire (IEEE 1394). Allows you to read SMART parameters for some external drives(USB, FireWire), view information about defects in SCSI disks, contains a built-in disk temperature monitor, allows you to manage additional parameters drive operation such as AAM, APM, PM and, of course, check the disk for reading and writing the surface.

Working with the program

Let's look at the application of the program using the example of testing the SAMSUNG HM502JX drive - this is a 2.5" format drive and USB interface 2.0 and USB controller JM20329. And so, our disk is connected to the computer. Launch HDDScan, select our drive in the Select Drive list.
When you click on the SMART button under the disk selection window, the program reads the S.M.A.R.T. report. from disk. Let's look at him.

Now is the time to check the surface of the disc. When you click on the round button with the image of a disk, a menu appears with tests and additional features programs.

• Surface test – disk surface tests
• S.M.A.R.T. – reads a smart report, seen in the illustration above
• S.M.A.R.T. offline tests – launching tests built into the drive; contains sub-items Short, Extended, Conveyance
• Temperature monitor – reads the disk temperature
• Features – allows you to manage additional disk parameters such as power consumption time, operating noise, we will consider this item later
• Identity info – displays information about supported ATA standard parameters
• Skin selection – allows you to change appearance programs
• Build command line – allows you to create a command line to run the program in background and setting the required parameters of the selected drive
• About – information about the program

• Start LBA – starting address of the test
• End LBA – the end address of the test, if you need to check only part of the disk surface
• Block size – number of sectors written or read at a time, can be 256, 16384 or 65536 sectors
• Verify – checking a sector without reading data from it
• Read – checking the sector and reading its contents
• Erase – writing data blocks filled with sector number (erases user data completely)
• Butterfly read – reads blocks in pairs: one from the beginning, one from the end of the test area - block 0, block n, block 1, block n-1, etc.

The Report tab contains information about the current test, addresses of bad blocks and blocks with a reading time greater than 50ms.

• short – scans a small part of the surface, sectors in the pending-list (candidates for replacement), main disk nodes. Lasts about one to two minutes
• extended – checks the main nodes and completely scans the surface, can last from half an hour to several hours depending on the disk capacity
• conveyance – checks the main components and logs of the drive, which may indicate improper operation of the drive.

• Automatic acoustic management – ​​allows you to regulate the noise of the drive due to the speed of head positioning; reducing the speed reduces noise, but slightly reduces performance; 0 - maximum speed, 254 - minimum
• Advanced power management – ​​allows you to reduce the disk rotation speed or completely stop it when there is no access, thereby reducing power consumption
• Power management – ​​disk stop timer when there are no accesses, set in seconds; after this time, the platters stop and spin up again when the disk is accessed
• Spindown/spinup – forced stop/spin up of the disk.

If you encounter errors in applications or operating system (especially in tasks related to writing or reading information on the disk), then there is a high probability that there are various annoying errors on the disk. They may occur due to improper shutdown (system failure or sudden power outage), physical damage disk (shocks, falls, vibrations, etc.), improper operation or too long a period of use. In this case, it is recommended to check the disk for errors. The check may not fix the problem itself, but it will help you navigate the diagnosis of the problem and move in the right direction in trying to return your computer to working condition.

Note: All actions in this instruction are performed on behalf of the Administrator. If your Account does not have the appropriate rights, you will need a password for the Administrator profile.

How to check a disk for errors in Windows 10 via Command Line

You need to run the utility chkdsk. It can check the disk for errors and fix them if necessary. The same procedure starts automatically along with Windows if the system itself detects problems with the partition. You can initiate the scan manually if necessary.

note: team chkdsk Only supports drives formatted in NTFS or FAT32 format. ReFS does not need to be checked at all, since it file system has its own integrity checking mechanisms.

Please note again: If the system is currently using a disk that is being scanned, errors will not be corrected. In this case, Windows will prompt you to schedule an automatic fix after the next reboot.

If Windows finds errors but can't fix them, try using the Check Disk command offline. In this case, the system disables access to the disk for other programs and tries to correct its operation. After the procedure is completed, the disk is activated again and applications will be able to read and write information to it. To check offline on the command line you need to use the command chkdskX:/f/OfflineScanAndFix. In this case X: is the disk that needs to be checked.

To display additional arguments for chkdsk(more steps), enter chkdsk /? . Command line will display a list of available commands.

How to run disk diagnostics in Windows 10

Another option is to use a storage diagnostic utility. In the command line running as Administrator, enter the following command:

stordiag.exe -collectEtw -checkfsconsistency -out X:\XXXX.

Instead of X:\XXXX Enter the location where the system will save the scan results. Please note that after this Windows commands will check all connected drives, so the process may take a little longer. Just be patient and wait for the message that the drive diagnostics have completed successfully.

It must be said that this method only collects information about the status and is unlikely to help the average user fix problems with the disk. However, for a specialist, the collected information can provide a lot of useful information. The diagnostic utility collects information about the results of the test chkdsk and any errors detected, registry files associated with the drives, and the Windows Event Viewer log.

How to Check Hard Drive Errors Using PowerShell

The more modern PowerShell utility uses a separate command to run disk error checking.

When checking a disk for errors, you may need a command that will disable communication between the drive and applications (offline mode), which is why programs will not be able to write information to it. The team is responsible for this procedure Repair-Volume-DriveLetterC-OfflineScanAndFix. Again, instead WITH you must enter the letter of the drive you need.

Checking disk errors in Windows 10 through Explorer

If Command Prompt and PowerShell are not suitable for you, you can use more in a simple way check the disk for errors. IN Windows Explorer All the necessary mechanisms are already built in with a friendly user interface.

How to check a disk for errors through the Control Panel

In the classic control panel Windows yet for a long time You'll find options and tools that aren't found in the more modern Settings app. Checking the disk status is one of them.

If, after checking and correcting errors, you continue to observe problems with your computer, then it makes sense to think about troubleshooting elsewhere, or try to replace the media with another one.