The best programs for recovering bad sectors. How to recover bad sectors of a hard drive. Reasons for the appearance of physical bad sectors

If the computer suddenly starts to “freeze”, or when it starts, the error check periodically starts hard drive (HDD), or data from the HDD is no longer normally copied - all this may indicate the presence of damaged sectors on the disk that need to be fixed.

Around the HDD magnetically created special, logically marked areas, or rings, called tracks, divided into clusters and sectors. Information on the disk is recorded in sectors of 512 or 4096 bytes in size, but is actually stored in clusters ranging in size from 1 to 128 sectors.

The beaten (damaged, bad, bad) sector on the HDD is a place that has lost the potential for writing or reading, and the operating system (OS) cannot find data in it, as well as write information to it.

Bad sectors arise either due to physical damage to the surface of the disk, or due to software errors and are corrected using system utilities, in particular, Chkdsk.

These utilities restore logical sectors by matching them with the index in the MFT file (main file table), and mark the physical ones so that they are not used by the system.

Before using the chkdsk utility, you must close all running programs, as the utility will not be able to repair bad sectors when they are used by the system.

Step 1. To do this, press “Win” on the keyboard and hold it, “R” (Win is between Ctrl and Alt on the left), and in the start window “Run” type “taskmgr” by clicking “OK”.

Step 2 In the opened "Dispatcher windows tasks»Go to the“ Applications ”tab and close one by one all the applications running in the operating system, highlighting them with the mouse button and clicking“ Cancel task ”.

Step 4 In the window that appears, click on the “Service” tab and in the “Error-Checking” segment click the “Check Now” button.

Step 5 The Check Disk dialog box appears. If you need to check and eliminate only bad sectors, uncheck the box “Automatically fix errors file system"(Top item).

Step 6 Click the “Start” button to start the process of checking and fixing bad sectors.

Step 7 If the HDD being checked is boot disk for the OS, Chkdsk will offer you the execution of the selected procedures the next time it starts. Click “Yes” as the answer.

The next time the system boots up, a blue window appears with a countdown (timer). No buttons need to be pressed at this time. As soon as the countdown reaches zero, a disk check will begin. After its completion, the computer will reboot itself.

When chkdsk completes the task of recovering bad sectors of the hard drive, it will create a report about it. Code “0” means that no errors were detected during disk scanning, and code “1” means that errors were detected and they were fixed.

Important!If the process of checking the disk failed, it means that there is a problem with the disk and it is important to create data to protect the data backup. In Windows XP and Windows 7, for these purposes, there is a built-in operating system utility called NTBackup.

Eliminating bad sectors in Windows 8 and Windows 10

Step 1. Open windows Explorer Win + E combination, right-click on the icon of the desired HDD, and click "Properties".

Step 2 Go to the “Tools” tab and click “Verify” (at this step, you may need to enter administrator account information).

Step 3 The error checking scanner will report if there are bad sectors on the hard disk or not. If no errors are found, the application will still allow you to start the search for errors on the disk. Click on “Check drive” (Scan drive).

Step 4 During the check, you can use the disk. If errors are found, they can be eliminated. At the end of the disk check, the system will report on the results. Click “Close”.

Reference!Despite the fact that Windows 8 and 10 allow you to use OS applications while the utility is running, this is not recommended to avoid interrupting the verification process.

If the HDD has physical deterioration of its areas, there are “unstable” sectors, etc., the OS may “freeze” during the operation of the above utilities. Forced interruption of their work can damage the system files of the OS.

Important!Damage system files OS requires loading the last successful OS configuration (by pressing F8) or recovery windows from the installation disk.

Despite the fact that physical bad sectors are not, besides marking with chkdsk, they can be reassigned (remap in English) or cut off.

Determining the location and volume of bad sectors using the Victoria program.

Step 1. Install and run Victoria program under account administrator. Select the Standard tab in the window. If there are several HDDs in the system, select the necessary mouse in the right part of the window.

Step 2 To locate the damaged sectors on the HDD, go to the "Tests" tab and click "Start".

An example shows that from block No. 771093375 there are:

• "Candidates" in with a reading delay of 600 ms, in total there are 190 of them in the example;
• bad sectors (Err) in the example of 8 pcs. A little lower the counter shows the number 376507 MB (376 GB).

It can also be seen that from the point of 376 GB you can cut the entire space of the HDD to its end, cutting off the bad sectors, grouped here in one place.

Reference!In the presented example, the beginning of the hard disk scan (Start LBA) was set manually from block No. 750,000,000. When conducting a test scan of “your” HDD, you do not need to set this value.

The HDD shown in the example has an exact volume of 465 GB, and the calculation of the cut-off volume will look like this: 465-376 \u003d 89 GB. In this case, it is better to cut off the volume of the disk with a margin - for example, 100 GB, for the possible appearance of additional bad sectors in this area.

Trimming HDD with AOMEI Partition Assistant

To increase the speed of trimming bad sectors on the HDD to “acceptable”, it is desirable that it does not contain partitions at this time. Important data from the disk must be copied before starting the procedure.

Step 1. Install and run the program. In the main window, select the desired HDD and click "Delete Partition".

Step 2 Select the option “Quickly delete a partition” and press “OK”.

Step 3 Click "Apply."

Step 4 In the next window, click "Go" (may require restarting the OS). The process of deleting the partition will begin.

Step 5 An unallocated area (Unallocated) will appear at the disk location. Select it and click Create Partition.

Step 6 In the window that appears, click the "Advanced" button.

Step 7 In “How to create” select “Primary section”. When creating a disk, move the slider with the mouse by a certain amount, leaving an unallocated area where the bad sectors will be.

Click OK.

Reference! The program has right and left sliders (delimiters). The delimiter that is required in the particular case of hard disk trimming is used. In the presented example, the right slider is shifted to the left by 100 GB.

Step 8 Click "Apply."

Step 9 Click "Go."

Step 10 Click "Yes."

The process of creating a partition on the HDD will begin.

As a result, a partition will be created on the HDD at the end of which there is an unallocated space (Unoccupied area) with bad sectors.

Using the Remap Function in Victoria

If the bad sectors marked in the program are not grouped nearby, but distributed throughout the HDD, the remap feature present in Victoria can help.

The remap function repeatedly writes to the problem sector, and if these attempts are unsuccessful, the sector is replaced by assigning its address to a healthy sector, taken from a special place on the HDD.

Reference!In this technical situation, it is necessary to create a bootable USB drive (flash drive) containing the Victoria program, and after booting from the USB drive through DOS, it will get rid of bad sectors on the HDD.

In the video below you can see how these actions can be implemented in practice.

Video - Hard disk trimming from bad sectors REMAP, Treatment of HDD BAD sectors

Check HDD for bad sectors

After the treatment of bad sectors, you can find out if there are more on the disk. To do this, manually run the “Chkdsk” check.

Press “Win \u200b\u200b+ R” on the keyboard, and in the “Run” window that opens, type: chkdskH: / F / R, and “OK”.

Reference!Instead of “H”, you need to type the letter of the hard disk partition being checked. The / F flag launches file system error corrections, and the / R flag starts searching for bad sectors.

If the bad sectors are not detected, at the end of work, chkdsk will display information on 0 KB in the bad sectors in a special window.

Physical damage to the HDD is often caused by violations of its production, overheating, scratches due to shock, dust, etc. Software (logical) bad sectors are caused by conflict software, viruses, sudden termination of a program or OS, including due to power problems.

Elimination of situations that may cause damage to the HDD sectors will help to maintain the integrity of important data, and to avoid buying a new HDD in case of exhaustion of its physical resource.

Video - How to remove bad sectors on the hard drive

No matter how good your quality hDD, sooner or later problems may arise with him. Incorrect removal of programs, viruses and malicious applications, wear and tear - all this can lead to damage to the “hard drive” and the appearance of the so-called. The latter do not make themselves felt immediately, most likely months will pass before you notice the problem.

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What are bad sectors?

For a more understandable definition of a bad sector, it will not be superfluous to understand the design of your hard drive. In general, it consists of rotating magnetic disks, which are divided into tracks, and these same tracks, in turn, are divided into sectors. They enter any information that you copy to your hard drive. Disk sectors have one unpleasant property - they deteriorate over time and you lose access to them. And this process is accelerated by incorrect work with the computer.

The existence of several bad sectors without application special programs you probably won’t know. They practically do not affect the operation of the computer and become a real problem only in large numbers.

Computer crashes when trying to access any files, long copying from one partition to another, errors and PC reboots - all this may be the result of a large number of bad blocks on your “screw”. Some of them can be corrected, and some can not be treated. According to this criterion and the nature of the damage, all bad sectors can be divided into two types: physical and logical.

• Physical problems are the result of damage (for example,), dust entering the hard drive, and normal wear and tear. The main thing to understand is that in such cases, which can no longer be restored. Even ordinary data recovery from such sectors will become a miracle;
• Logical bads also appear under the influence of viruses, file system errors, and incorrect writing of information to disk (for example, a sudden shutdown of a computer during file copying or other active work). In such cases, it is not the magnetic coating of the sector that is damaged, but its data. Such bad sectors are subject to treatment and can be corrected using a variety of programs in ordinary home conditions.

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Programs for recovering bad sectors of the hard drive

Microsoft provides a built-in utility chkdsk for working with hard drives. By default, the utility checks only for file system errors, but if you add a key / fthen chkdsk will check the drive for bad blocks and try to fix them automatically. Of course there are many alternative solutions from third-party manufacturers to check the hard drive and fix bad sectors that can easily be found on the Internet. Let's talk about the most popular of them in a bit more detail:

• - Probably the most popular program for testing hard drives and recovering bad sectors on the hard drive. It can be used not only for treatment, but also for testing equipment. As the developers themselves note, when interacting with the hard drive, it ignores the file system and works at the level of input-output ports. This property provides the most effective and high-quality work. In addition, there are two versions of the program, one of which works directly from under Windows, and the other from under DOS. The latter is more universal, but also recommended for experienced users.
• - Another popular program that works with equipment through the controller ports. It also has two versions (Windows and DOS), both of which are completely free. It has a very fast speed of work, which does not affect its quality. In addition, it gives full statistics on your device: the number of on and off cycles, the number of spindle revolutions, etc. For a minus, you can count the unfriendly program interface, which will become a problem for inexperienced users.
• - A unique program that, according to developers, can even restore physical damage. The point is that often physically damaged sectors have irregular magnetization, which eliminates this program. The rest of the set of features and capabilities is similar to the above utilities.

Read about ways to fix HDD errorsIs it possible to restore bad sectors and how to do it. Consider how to recover data from problem disks. Bad sectors and other hard drive malfunctions can result in the loss of all information. We will talk about possible methods for fixing such errors and methods for recovering data from problematic disks in our article.

The most popular representatives of the team of computer devices are stationary personal computers and laptops, including their various modifications (netbooks, ultrabooks, transformer notebooks, etc.). A complex combination of the most powerful computer processors, modern high-level memory elements, ultra-fast graphics accelerators, data warehouses of significant volumes and other essential elements allows them, rightfully, to occupy a leading place among other types of computer devices.

The presence of modern versions of personal computers and laptops implies the mandatory use of software to maintain a high level of performance, management and control over all processes. The most common program that fully meets the stated requirements can be safely called the operating system Windows from corporation Microsoft.

Mandatory application of modern developments in the field of computer programming, the highest speed characteristics of processing a huge data array, a high level of system functionality, multitasking and unification of the internal shell of an operating system suitable for the joint use of third-party programs and applications, friendly user interface and a number of other advantages helped to get the system Windows the extraordinary popularity, distribution and recognition of users around the world.

The combination of an advanced operating system and modern elements of the internal content of personal computers and laptops helps users to cope with any highly costly tasks, to carry out the simultaneous execution of many tasks without a general loss of productivity and data processing speed.

One of the main elements of computer devices, which is responsible for the management and safe storage of all user information and the operating system Windowsacts data warehouse. In its quality, users can use various storage devices: internal and external hard disk drives HDDsolid state drives SSD, combined hybrid hard drives that combine the elements of the two previous types of drives, and other types of devices.

Despite the fast-growing industry solid state drives, they have a number of significant drawbacks that significantly reduce their distribution. Therefore, the most popular and widespread use have received, and continue to hold, hard drives HDD, proven as low-cost and high-capacity storage devices that meet the needs of the consumer and corporate segments, and with a high degree of reliability.

Taking into account the widest popularity and a significant number of storage devices used, the question often arises of the problem of the occurrence of bad sectors and the search for possible ways to fix detected hard drive errors HDD. To preserve user information and prevent its premature loss, an important requirement is the mandatory support of the used hard drive in good working order. And if you have problems with its structure, software or hardware, you need to take care of transferring user data to a working information storage device, or recover lost data if bad sectors on the hard drive lead to its breakdown. Further in our article we will try to consider possible ways solutions to the problems presented.

Hard Drive Overview HDD

Before proceeding with the description of the solution to the above problems, it is worthwhile to dwell on the hard disk device for a full understanding of the principles of the device, the correct diagnosis of the problem and the choice of methods for eliminating it.

The hard disk is a mechanical storage device, which makes it the most vulnerable element of a personal computer, due to the presence of moving parts. The main components of the hard drive are the electronics control board, the read head unit and hard aluminum or glass plates coated with a ferromagnetic layer, onto which all information is directly recorded.

IN hard drives, depending on the declared memory size, one or several plates located on one axis are used. Due to the high speed of rotation of the drum, the reading heads, in the process of writing or reading information from the hard disk, do not touch the surface of the plates, due to which a high level of durability of the disk as a whole is achieved. And upon completion, they move to the parking zone for a safe location.

The case of the hard drive is a hermetically sealed container, in which the ingress of foreign elements and particles is excluded and the overall security of the device is achieved.

The principle of storing information on the hard drive HDD

Based on the knowledge gained about the hard disk device described in the previous section, it is known that all information is stored on hard plates in a sealed disk enclosure.

The process of writing and reading information implies the presence of a strictly structured disk space with certain elements disk sharing. Therefore, the internal organization of the surface of the disk plates has a special marking, in cooperation with which, information is recorded and stored on the device. In accordance with the marking, the surface of the storage plates is divided into tracks, which, in turn, are divided into sectors (the minimum area of \u200b\u200bdisk memory used to store information). The size of the sector, as the minimum basic unit of information recording, is 512 bytes. But depending on the selected file system used when formatting hard disk sectors can be combined into clusters, which, in turn, will be used as a unit of memory for recording and storing data. A cluster can consist of several physical sectors, the final size of which depends on the total number of combined sectors, and can reach sixty-four kilobytes.

When recording information, the system determines the size of the recorded file and places its contents in the required number of clusters. The location of the recorded clusters on the surface of the disc may be different. Depending on the size of the source file, the load on the hard disk, and a number of other factors, clusters containing the data of one file can be located either next to each other, or they can be distributed over the entire surface of the storage plate of the drive. In other words, the source file will be split into separate parts during recording and fragmented onto the hard disk. Which ultimately can increase the reading time of the file with the disk head, because it will need to find all the fragments of the file when accessing it. And in case of damage to the sector, part or all of the information may be lost, since the sector is the main element responsible for data storage.

What does the concept of broken sectors mean?

As already described earlier in the previous section, the design feature of a hard disk drive is the presence of sectors (or clusters) that are used for recording and storage various information. If, for various reasons, a sector is damaged, then, with a high degree of probability, all the information recorded on it will be corrupted, and it is not always possible to restore it, depending on the degree and type of damage. Therefore, the sectors that have received damage are usually called broken sectors (names are also common Bad Sectors, bad or faulty), and to store any data in them is already impossible.

In the window command line with administrator privileges enter the application launch command Chkdsk:

In this example, the logical partition errors will be checked and corrected. C:.

The application allows you to use many different flags aimed at performing the corresponding tasks. However, to troubleshoot a hard drive, only two of them are used:

/ f - the use of this flag instructs the application to check the hard disk for errors and fix them;

/ r - this flag is used in conjunction with the flag / f and forces the application to search for damaged sectors of the hard drive and restore their contents.

Learn in more detail how to check the hard disk for errors and possible methods for fixing them in the operating system Windows on our video channel in the manual: How to check the hard drive for errors and fix errors in Windows 10, 8, 7.

In the second case, you can perform actions to search for bad sectors and correct errors from the file explorer Windows. Open the file explorer in any way convenient for you, for example, by double-clicking the shortcut This computer on the desktop. In section Devices and drives click right click mouse over the desired drive. In a popup context menu Choose a section Properties.

Or, having selected a disk, click on the main menu bar in the tab Computer the button Properties.

In the opened window of the properties of the local disk, go to the tab Serviceand then in the section Check for errors press the button Check.

A check for detection and elimination will be started. hard errors disk, the result of which will be the complete elimination of diagnosed problems.

Using disk formatting

Sometimes, if we are not talking about a system drive, you can use the method of fully formatting a logical drive. Such a process performed by operating system tools Windows provides a comprehensive check of the surface of the hard disk and excludes detected bad sectors from the trusted storage area. Entering into the service information of the disk a mark about specific bad sectors, Windows further does not allow their use for recording new data. Formatting system disk possibly together with reinstalling the operating system Windows, which can also be done if the computer’s performance has slowed down significantly, there are frequent system problems, and you have enough knowledge to complete the process of reinstalling the system.

Open file explorer Windows and find the drive you want to format. Right-click on it, and in the pop-up context menu, select the section Format.

In the local disk formatting options window, specify the appropriate settings and click To begin to start the process. When formatting is complete, logical drive errors will be fixed. However, all information located in this section will be erased. Therefore, this method can be used when the disk does not store important data or if it has been transferred (copied) to another medium.

Information recovery methods

If the number of bad sectors has become critical, as a result of which access to the disk is lost, it is not readable or inoperative, then users can try to recover the information located on such disks by contacting a specialized laboratory, using free software or using a professional data recovery program.

Contact a specialized laboratory

Specialized laboratories for recovering deleted data from damaged media have expensive equipment, sterile cabinets and specialists of sufficient professional level to repair drives and restore user information.

The use of modern hardware tools for data recovery allows laboratory specialists to extract information from damaged hard drives, overcoming the presence of bad sectors, and recover it.

However, with all the advantages, seeking help from a specialized laboratory has a number of significant drawbacks that significantly reduce the effect of its use.

Laboratory specialists do not give any guarantees that as a result of their actions, user information will be restored, as well as the total cost of laboratory services will require significant financial costs from users. And even with a negative result, users will in any case be forced to pay for laboratory services.

Therefore, you should contact the data recovery laboratory only if it is not possible to restore information in other ways, and its recovery is worth any cost.

Free software application

Using free data recovery software is not a reasonable decision, since this type of program has serious limitations. And with the described type of problems (the presence of bad and damaged sectors of the hard drive), such programs have practically no chance to restore user information.

Freeware programs have reduced, significantly limited in their capabilities, internal functionality, and they also implement the principle of limiting the final restored files by the final number or total occupied volume. These types of programs are suitable only as a one-time tool for recovering one or more files. To solve more global problems, users need to pay attention to professional programs to recover files. One of these programs that has received well-deserved recognition from users and many positive reviewsis from the company Hetman software.

Using Professional Data Recovery Software

Professional recovery programs have a wide range of internal tools aimed at troubleshooting, detection and safe recovery of all possible information.

In the international computer information network the Internet various types of software for recovering deleted data are available for users to download and install. However best solution will turn its attention to a truly successful product, which has an unusually high final percentage of recovery of finished and working files, -.

The program takes a leading position in the company's line of programs Hetman software, and besides standard features (file recovery after: regular and irrecoverable deletion, disk formatting, malicious exposure viral programs, system or hardware failure, etc.), has the ability to recover almost any data from damaged, inaccessible or completely non-working hard drives. Regardless of the type of damage, the number of bad sectors and the overall performance of the hard drive, the program successfully analyzes and restores any information in almost full volume.

Download the installation file from the official website of the company and run its execution. Master step by step installation will help determine initial settings and safely install the program on a computer or laptop. When finished, click Done to exit the setup program.

Now the program is installed and ready for future use. Launch, for example, by double-clicking the program shortcut on the desktop, or in another convenient way. Upon initial launch, the program will perform a basic scan of the system, search for all connected devices and display them in the center panel of the window.

To safely recover information, double-click on the selected local disk or an entire physical disk, and activate the launch of the file recovery wizard. In the window that opens, users will need to select the type of analysis that the wizard will need to use to search and restore files. Two types of analysis are available to choose from: Quick scan and Full analysis. The first type of analysis will be able to recover files after the usual and irrevocable methods of deletion. Therefore, you must choose Full analysis, which fully utilizes the capabilities of the program and restores all possible information, regardless of how it is lost.

Users in real time will be able to track the analysis process and monitor its execution in the window of the file recovery wizard by the status indicator. The final completion time directly depends on the volume of the hard disk, the degree of damage to the data and the drive as a whole, the selected type of analysis and a number of other additional criteria, and may take from several minutes to several hours. Wait until the analysis is complete and click Done.

All found files will be displayed in the program window. Using the preview function, users can familiarize themselves with the contents of each specific file in the corresponding section. Having selected the necessary files and placing them in the section Recovery list (by simply dragging and dropping the file) click Restore on the main panel of the program window.

The file recovery wizard promptly prompts users to decide on the method of saving the selected files: saving to a hard disk or other drive at the user's request, writing data to an optical disk, creating a virtual image ISO or upload data by FTP protocol. Having chosen one of the proposed options, users will need to specify several additional parameters, for example, select the name of the folder to save and specify the path to it, and save the data that is searched.

Now user files are saved on the specified media type and are available for viewing and subsequent use.

You can familiarize yourself with a more detailed description of the features of recovering files from a hard drive with bad sectors and ways to minimize the risk of information loss during its recovery on our video channel in the manual: How to recover files from beaten drive?.

Conclusion

Any information that users use daily requires a secure and voluminous data warehouse. And hard drives HDD fully meet the stated criteria. They have the largest amount of disk space for recording and storing data, have a high speed of information processing and are quite reliable and durable. However, for various reasons, bad sectors can appear on hard disks, which, subsequently, can lead to the loss of all data stored on the disk.

But knowing the possible causes of damage, you can avoid their occurrence and extend the life of the hard drives, as well as protect yourself from the subsequent expenditure of effort and money aimed at restoring information or acquiring a new drive for storing data.

Use of additional data protection elements (e.g. backup), and the use of professional file recovery software (for example,) will significantly increase the level of data security and help to return them in case of unexpected loss.

· The system slows down, even if it has just been installed.

· When running on Windows, BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) appears.

· The system does not start at all.

· It does not go out to install the operating system.

· Inability to work with the disk, because the files do not open

· When working with external hard drives, files cannot be opened.

Sector bits (BADs) are sectors located on the surface of a hard drive that are poorly read or not read at all.

As a rule, the reason why the hard drive starts to work badly is bad sectors.

There are 2 types of damaged sectors - some arise as a result of physical impact on the surface of the hard disk (surface scratches), others as a result of software errors, they are called logical bad sectors.

Only “Logical” broken sectors can be corrected. In order to fix such blocks, it is necessary to overwrite them with zeros (the so-called low-level formatting), and in the future, you can continue to work with such sectors.

Reasons for the appearance of bad (BAD) sectors

The reasons why the “Logical” bad sectors could appear are a sector of the hard drive that does not work properly, namely it does not respond to system requests (cannot be read or cannot write data to itself). When the system works with such a sector, the system tries to access this block to obtain data for information processing, but the sector does not respond or answers incorrectly, in this case the system marks such a block as not working (broken) and in the future will not drawn.

The reasons why the “Physical” bad sectors could appear are the surface of the hard drive, which the head could touch and cause a slight light scratch (this can happen if the drive being in use is shaken or hit), the surface could also be damaged by dust or moisture that got inside the drive. In the case of SSD drives, bad sectors can appear as a result of wear, overheating of chips or moisture. Bad sectors that were discovered after such a physical impact cannot be fixed.

Ways to fix bad sectors

In order to fix bad (BAD) sectors on your PC or laptop and restore the hard drive to normal operation, you need to use third-party programs.

You might also have heard about utilities built into Windows that supposedly can help fix such blocks, but the maximum that they can do is mark sectors like non-working and no longer access them. I also do not recommend using any programs that offer to fix bad (BAD) sectors from under the Windows OS. This type of program works with a hard disk accessing it while fixing blocks, so using such programs gives little guarantee that the bad sector will be fixed.

Consider 2 programs that are most likely to be able to fix bad sectors and restore the functionality of your hard drive.

MHDD program

We can also zero out all sectors that are on the surface of our hard drive. We will completely erase all the information from each block, and we will be able to bring the speed of the hard drive as close as possible to the factory state. In order to complete the process of erasing each block of the hard disk, enter the command “Erase” in the line, agree with all warnings and wait for the low-level formatting process to complete.

Having done the above procedures, we can easily get rid of the "logical" bad sectors.

What to do with the "Physical" broken sectors? To do this, the manufacturer of the hard disk provided a backup space (backup sectors), which can be replaced with broken ones. Modern hard drives do Remap on their own, if suddenly such a sector appears on the surface, but sometimes they skip them, which slows down the operation of a laptop or computer drive. In this case, you can resort to the function of the program "REMAP".

The “REMAP” option, when a bad sector is detected, indicates to the hard drive that the drive should access the backup sector when reading or writing to this unit, replacing the bad sector. This method is good if there are not many bad sectors (no more than 50-70).

In order to re-partition bad sectors using the MHDD program, you need to enter the “SCAN” command, select the “Remap” item in the window that appears, and set its value to “ON”, after that click key "F 4" and observe the scanning process. We perform this procedure only after trying to zero the found sectors, so as not to mistakenly mark the “Logical” broken blocks as “Physical”.

Also, with a large number of bad sectors, the last option repair hard disk will decrease in volume. Thus, we can cut off a part of the disk on which there is a very a large number of “Physical” bad sectors, sacrificing the volume of the disk.

In order to perform this procedure, you must enter the “HPA” command and specify the values \u200b\u200bfor trimming the drive.

The first value to be specified is the end of the hard drive. Trimming the drive occurs from the end. The value should indicate 10,000 more from the number of the last broken sector, which is displayed in the status bar. In my case, this value will be equal to 380515.

Victoria program

Victoria program is similar to the previous program, but has a slightly wider functionality, you can read an article on how to use it, how to install it and how to run this program.

After installing and running the program, select the hard drive we need (if you have 2 or more).

After selecting, press the "F 4" key, in the window that appears we are interested in 2 points.

1. In the first paragraph, select "Linear reading", this configuration will alternately read and write all the blocks of the hard disk. We select it, as it will most accurately show the presence of bad sectors

2. In the second paragraph, select "BB: Erase 256 sect". Selecting this option when scanning and detecting bad sectors on the surface of the hard drive, the program will try to zero such a block. This method will fix only "Logical" bad sectors.

After selecting the necessary parameters, press "Enter" and observe the progress of the scan.

After the scan is over, but the bad sectors remain, you must use the “Remap” function.

To do this, follow the same steps, press the "F 4" key and in the field where Ignore Bad Block is installed, set "Advanced Remap". This parameter can help even if the usual Remap is powerless, this is the advantage of the Victoria program over the previous one. After selecting the desired parameter, press "Enter" and monitor the progress of the scan.

Conclusion

Having done the above operations with your damaged hard drive, you can bring it as close as possible to the factory state. The proposed programs should help you repair and restore the drive, but there are times when hard drives cannot be restored. The reason for this is the large number of “Physical” bad sectors that occupied the entire reserve space and there is nowhere to re-allocate them; in this case, you need to copy all the information to another place and replace the drive.

Program for hard recovery drive (bad sectors)

Recovery refers to several different operations: restore data, remove bad sectors, and more. If you want to restore bad sectors on the hard drive, I wrote an interesting utility for this - Disk Revival. Of course, they physically restore nothing, they simply mask the damaged areas, allowing the drive to be used further. I must say right away - the method differs from the generally accepted REMAP.

Do not even try to recover data using my utility. It is intended for a completely different one. Otherwise, the consequences can be very sad. The fact that she works only with empty space, and the busy one does not touch, already hints that she has a different purpose.

How Disk Revival is different from Victoria

A completely different principle of operation. Victoria uses REMAP (which by no means always works), and my program blocks damaged areas by writing lock files to them. Since bad areas get busy, user data is written to good and everyone is happy. True, the lock is obtained at the file system level, which is why it is impossible to format, otherwise the lock will be reset. But in general, a working option, when the remap is no longer helping, and a working computer is vital. Windows installation possible, the main thing in the process is not to accidentally format.