As you know, any "iron" equipment installed in computers is subject to aging or wear. And hard drives are no exception. Despite the seemingly physical problems, quite often you can find some types of software failures, as a result of which the so-called unrecoverable sector errors appear on the disks (CrystalDiskInfo, a utility for testing HDDs, marks them in the ID list, assigning the value “C6”). Even when conducting a series of tests on the surface of the hard drive, errors can be attributed specifically to physical damage, although in fact this is not so. It's just that programs, when it is impossible to record or test such areas, mark them as bad. However, it is possible to fix such problems, of course, only if the hard drive really has not started to “crumble” or has not been subjected to physical impact (shock, fall, dust and moisture, overheating, etc.).
What are fatal hard disk sector errors?
First, some theoretical information about possible situations related to the appearance of such malfunctions in the operation of equipment should be given. The physical nature of the appearance of fatal errors in the hard disk sectors will not be considered yet, but we will focus on understanding how such failures are recognized and interpreted by verification tools. In principle, if you do not take into account surface damage, it can be argued that all major failures are associated with violations of the logical structure of hard drives, called the file system. Indeed, verification programs identify bad areas with BAD sectors with error notifications only because they cannot read them. As already, probably, it is clear that it is not necessary at all that it may be physical damage to the plates. Most often, such a situation can be observed, say, during a sudden power outage or a computer shutting down incorrectly.
A bit of theory about bad sectors
As for the fatal sector errors on the disk itself, there should not be a special reason for panic when they are detected. But here you need to make the difference between unstable sectors and supposedly fatal errors.
As already mentioned, in the above application, the parameter “C6” corresponds to the second. But the first ones are marked as “C5”. If there is an increase in only the second value with an increase in the quantity, it is not a fact that the Winchester began to “crumble”. If you increase the value of the "C6" parameter or both at the same time, you must urgently take measures and first try to create at least backup copies of the necessary files or, if possible, copy them to removable media.
In addition, it is worth paying attention to the fact that many manufacturers of hard drives in order to avoid such situations in advance create special backup areas on hard drives. When identifying fatal sector errors on the hard drive, the cure is to reassign the address of the failed memory cell by assigning it one of the reserved values.
Symptoms of HDD Errors
But not all users monitor the status of the hard drive and regularly check it for errors. In most cases, action is already taken in the most extreme situations. Therefore, you should initially pay attention to the operation of the HDD. But how to detect that errors and crashes may be present on the disk?
Most often, the presence of malfunctions can be determined by constantly freezing the operating system or reducing performance, by the appearance of frequent spontaneous reboots and the appearance of blue death screens, by the inability to boot when you turn on or restart the computer, etc.
The simplest check for an inactive logical partition
Now we will dwell on the basic methods of eliminating the problems that have arisen. The most primitive solution is to check for unstable sectors and fatal sector errors as applied to logical partitions, since they are not virtual, but are created on the main medium (only in another area of the disk).
To do this, you can use the standard disk check, called from the properties section in the "Explorer". In the seventh version of Windows and below, you need to specify automatic correction of bad sectors or conducting a surface test manually. In versions above, this is not required.
How to check the system partition?
As for the system partition, it is not so simple. It will not be possible to detect fatal sector errors by the above method (the system will simply issue a notification that verification of the currently active volume is not possible). However, as an additional notification, a proposal may be issued to conduct a check the next time you turn on the computer. It is advisable to accept this and perform a reboot. Upon restart, testing will be activated without user intervention. But even without a reboot, you can also check.
To do this, you need to call the command line (required on behalf of the administrator) and set the chkdsk / x / f / r command in it, in which the “/ x” attribute is responsible for preliminary disconnecting the active volume, and the other two are designed to find and eliminate critical errors and disaster recovery failures. Again, if the check proves impossible, and you are prompted to perform it at restart, you should agree.
How to fix fatal sector errors in Victoria HDD?
However, the system’s own means, as it is not unreasonably considered, are far from perfect, therefore, to obtain the most effective result, you should use third-party software products, among which the leader (this is recognized by all experts) is the Victoria HDD application, which can work both from under Windows and in DOS -mode, which is more preferable.
In the utility itself, the search for fatal sector errors, as well as unstable areas, is based on four tests:
- Ignore (preliminary check for bad or ignored sectors when reading);
- Remap (reassignment of addresses for identified cells);
- Erase (erasing bad addresses of bad sectors or zeroing);
- Restore
Note: the test with zeroing should be used only in the most extreme cases, since further data recording in such sectors will subsequently be impossible.
It goes without saying that you can use other software products like Ashampoo HDD Control, HDDScan, Data LifeGuard Diagnostic and others. But the first program above is certainly the best (this is not discussed).
Winchester recovery: is it possible?
Finally, questions related to the restoration of the hard drive look completely natural, but not with the help of physical repair, but with software methods. Until recently, these did not exist. However, with the advent of a small program called HDD Regenerator, everything changed.
It is believed that this utility is capable of producing the so-called magnetization reversal of the surface of the hard drive, which allows you to restore not only the performance of the HDD, but also all the information stored on it. Of course, skeptics about its use lead to many counterarguments, nevertheless, this does not prevent many from using it and, it must be said, is not without success. The application runs exclusively in DOS mode and has only an English interface (these are the two main disadvantages of the program). On the other hand, in Windows, it is generally not recommended to run a hard disk scan at all, and on the other hand, even with a minimum knowledge of English, it will not be difficult to deal with the utility (especially since all operations are as automated as possible).
Finally, if nothing helps at all, you can try to perform low-level formatting using the HDD Low Level Format program, but this will destroy absolutely all the data, and you will have to reinstall the operating system, although if the hard drive really started to “crumble”, there’s no point in that .
What is the result?
How can we conclude from the foregoing, even damage to the surface is not a special problem, since modern computer technology has reached the level that hard drive recovery is completely elementary. As for the preferred tools, of course, it is best to give preference to the Victoria HDD program (if there are software failures). If its application of the result with a non-working hard disk does not give a result, then nothing but the HDD Regenerator application will help (and then, depending on how serious the identified problems are).