Unstable operation of a computer is often associated with errors in the HDD file system. To deal with this problem, you need to check for errors on your hard drive. Among other things, it would be nice to know about the state of the hard drive if, while the PC is running, it makes strange sounds, such as clicks or rattles. If information about a damaged hard disk is obtained in advance, you can save all user data until the device fails.
Victoria
First of all, you need a specialized program. Victoria is considered one of the best and most reliable. It can be used to check the hard disk for errors on any operating system. Whether you have Windows 7 installed, XP or 8, Victoria will run stably under each.
The application is absolutely free and can be downloaded from the developer's website. Moreover, it is distributed in two versions. The first is the standard binary packages for running on the OS. The second is an ISO image to run without having to boot the operating system. This comes in handy when Windows refuses to work due to HDD errors.
If the HDD has a capacity of about 700 GB, it will take at least one to two hours for errors. Windows 7 will do this built-in much faster. However, the quality of testing and the amount of data obtained with the help of Victoria will be disproportionately higher.
Testing
Download the app first. It comes in an archive. Extract it to any empty directory and double click on the executable. If the work is performed in Windows 7 or 8, you need to right-click on the exe-file, and then select "run with administrator rights" in the inscription.
Error checking should start with a few preparatory steps. After starting the program, go to the "Standart" tab. In the right part of it you will be able to see all the drives in the computer. Select the HDD you want to test. Then click on the "Passport" button. If nothing happens, the name and model of the hard drive will be displayed at the bottom of the window.
After that, go to the tab with the name "SMART" and click on the inscription "GetSMART". If the status next to the button changes, then everything has been done correctly. Usually the word "GOOD" is displayed in this area, but "BAD" may also appear. In both the first and second cases, the sensor data was read correctly.
Possible mistakes
It happens that the HDD controller operates in AHCI mode. In this case, reading the SMART attributes will not work in any way, therefore the hard disk cannot be checked for errors. The program will send the message "Error reading SMART" to the log. Also, next to the button, which is responsible for reading data from the sensors, "Non ATA" will be highlighted, and the area itself under the text will be highlighted in red.
To enable Victoria to work with the hard drive, you need to change the BIOS settings. To enter them, you should press the "DEL" button several times at a time when the very first messages appear on the screen when the computer boots. The way to run the BIOS setup utility may differ for different motherboard models. If the "DEL" key does not lead to a positive result, you should familiarize yourself with the information that is easy to find on the developer's website.
After entering BIOS, go to Config (maybe Advanced) - Serial ATA - Controller Mode and then change the setting to Compatibility. Remember that after completing the hard disk check, the settings should be returned to their original state.
Continue checking
After correct reading of the SMART information, go to the "Test" tab and click on the "Start" inscription. This will start checking for errors on the hard drive. In the main program area, rectangles that were previously monochromatic will be painted in different colors. On the right, the total number of sectors sorted by access time will be written.
The main attention should be paid to the numbers near the blue and red markers. They mark dead or broken sectors. That is, those that cannot be accessed, or they take a very long time to read. Thus, when accessing them, the computer seems to freeze.
Recovery
To try to repair bad sectors, the hard disk error check must be run again, but now the switch on the bottom right must be set to "remap". The program will mark the "bad" as non-working, entering their addresses into a special area on the HDD.
Be carefull! If bad sectors began to appear on the hard disk, it is most likely that the drive will continue to "crumble" after recovery. It is advisable to replace it or at least make a backup copy of all important data by copying them outside the HDD.
Built-in tools
The tools built into the OS can also check the hard disk for errors. Windows 8 allows you to launch it with a few clicks.
- First open File Explorer by clicking on the "My Computer" icon.
- Then right-click on any section and select "Properties".
- Go to the tab with the name "Service", and in it click on the words "Check".
Checking the hard disk for errors via the command line
The command line is a powerful tool that is used by many system administrators when solving various system problems. Its main advantage is the launch of testing even when the graphical shell refuses to start. In this case, it is worth using with command line support "by pressing the F8 key during Windows startup, but even before the logo is displayed on the screen.
If the standard mode works fine, follow these steps to start the test:
- Press the combination "Windows + R" on your computer keyboard.
- In the entry line of the window that opens, type "cmd.exe" and click on the "OK" button.
- The command line will appear on the screen. To start the check, write "chkdskX: / f / r" into it. Instead of the letter "X", press the one that is used in the operating system to designate the partition that requires testing.
- After the OS has been entered, it may not be possible to carry out the procedure without a mandatory restart of the PC. When the message appears, just press the "Y" key and restart your computer. After that, checking for errors on the hard disk will start automatically.
Remember: while checking the HDD, you should wait until it is complete. Disabling this process should be done only by means built into the program. If you cannot stop the procedure in any way, do not try to interrupt it by turning off the computer or pressing "RESET". These actions can lead to additional errors and data corruption on the hard drive. The most dangerous thing is the impossibility of recovering information after an incorrect shutdown.
CHKDSK is a standard application for checking the hard disk for errors, detecting bad sectors on the hard disk, fixing file system errors. CHKDSK (short for Check Disk) is built into the Windows operating system.
The Chkdsk.exe program finds file system errors, bad bad sectors on the hard disk, and fixes the detected faults. If the disk check for file system errors reveals a problem, the CHKDSK check is launched when the computer is turned on.
When using Chkdsk.exe in different versions of Windows, there are some differences:
- On Windows XP, the chkdsk utility finds file system errors and repairs bad sectors on the disk.
- In Windows 10, Windows1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, with the default settings, the CHKDSK application finds file system errors, but does not fix them. To fix file system errors and check disk sectors, you must manually set certain parameters.
Problems in the Windows operating system affect its performance. Filesystem errors occur in the following situations:
- Power outage - If the computer is suddenly turned off, an unexpected system failure can occur (to prevent such situations, use a UPS - Uninterruptible Power Supply).
- In case of system infection with malicious software.
- Due to a malfunction of the computer hardware.
Bad sectors may appear on the surface of the hard disk. When checking a disk using chkdsk, bad bad sectors of the hard disk are marked as bad, the system no longer reads or writes information from bad sectors of the disk. The system will try to recover data from bad sectors (clusters, catalogs), if possible.
Chkdsk disk check runs in two modes:
- in the graphical interface by means of the system;
- using the command line.
If the computer does not boot due to problems, you can check the hard drive using the Windows installation DVD. After booting from removable media, in the system recovery options, select the command line to run a disk check for errors.
In this tutorial, I'll show you how to use the CHKDSK app using the Windows 10 operating system as an example.
CHKDSK check to troubleshoot file system problems in the GUI
The easiest way to check the file system for errors is to run the CHKDSK program in the graphical interface using the system tools.
Follow these steps:
- Launch File Explorer.
- Right-click on the local drive you want to check.
- In the "Properties: Local Disk (X :)" window enter the "Service" tab.
- In the "Check for errors" section, click on the "Check" button.
- In the Error Checking (Local Disk (X :)) window that opens, select Check Disk, despite the fact that the operating system says that no errors were found when checking the disk.
In Windows 7, additional check options are available; to run them, you need to check the boxes next to the items:
- Automatically fix system errors.
- Check and repair bad sectors.
- The scanning process begins, which will take some time. The check time depends on the size of the local disk and the amount of data on the disk.
During file system error checking, the state is scanned:
- The basic structure of the file system is checked.
- File name associations are checked.
- Security descriptors are checked.
- The USN journal is checked.
- After the completion of the verification process, information about its result will open. In this case, the disk was successfully checked, no errors were found. If errors are found, you will be prompted to fix them.
For details, click on the Show Details link.
In the Event Viewer snap-in, click Details.
In the "Event Properties" window, in the "General" and "Details" tabs, detailed information about the result of the disk check is available.
The information obtained about checking the disk for file system errors can be copied into Notepad or another text editor for further study.
How to run CHKDSK (check disk) in command line
The chkdsk command to check the hard disk with the specified parameters is executed from the command line:
- Run Command Prompt as Administrator. Read How To Find Command Prompt On Windows
- To check the system partition (system disk) in the command line interpreter window, enter the command:
- Press the Enter key.
- A message appears in the Command Prompt window stating that the CHKDSK command could not be executed because the specified volume is in use by a system process. To start checking the system disk after rebooting the system, press the "Y" key, and then press the "Enter" key.
- During the system reboot, the system disk will be checked and restored.
An example command pattern looks like this: ["chkdsk" (application name)], space, [letter of the scanned drive with a colon ("c:", "d:", "f:", etc.), path, or filename], space, [command parameters].
Command parameters have the following meanings:
- / F - checks the file system and automatically fixes found errors.
- / R - performing a search for bad sectors on the disk, restoring the contents (the command requires a mandatory key / F, for example: "chkdsk C: / F / R").
- / V - display full paths of files, display names of files on the disk, in the NTFS file system - display messages about cleaning.
- / X - unmount the disk before checking, the descriptors of this disk will not be checked (the mandatory / F switch must be set, example of the command: "chkdsk C: / F / X").
- / I - Performs less stringent checks on index entries, CHKDSK performs faster but less thorough checks.
- / C - skip checking cycles inside the folder structure.
- / L: size - resize the log to the size specified in kilobytes.
- / B - reset the scan results, re-scan the previously found bad sectors of the hard disk (the / R key is required, example of the command: "chkdsk C: / F / R / B").
In most cases, it is enough to use the F and R flags to check the file system and fix bad sectors on the hard disk.
How to disable check disk in CHKDSK at Windows startup
In some cases, the disk check is launched when the computer is turned on, before the Windows operating system boots. In most cases, you need to wait until the end of the check; a restart will not follow.
Constant disk check every time the system starts, signals the presence of problems and the need to eliminate them. Perhaps you should consider replacing your hard drive. There are programs, for example, that constantly monitor the health of your computer's disks.
To disable the launch of Chkdsk at Windows startup, you can use 2 methods: change the values in the operating system registry, or use the command line.
Disable check disk on the command line:
- Run Command Prompt as Administrator.
- In the command line interpreter window, enter the command ("C:" is the name of the drive on which you want to disable the start of the disk check at system boot), and then press the "Enter" key:
- If you need to disable scanning on multiple disks, add the appropriate drive letters separated by spaces to the command, for example, "chkntfs / x with: d:".
- Using the "chkntfs / d" command, you can restore the original settings.
You can turn off automatic disk check when loading the operating system in the following way:
- Launch Registry Editor (type "regedit" in the search box, run the command).
- Follow the path:
- Click on the Session Manager parameter.
- Find the parameter "BootExecute", click on it with the left mouse button.
- The default value is displayed in the Edit Multiline window.
- To disable check disk during Windows startup, add the parameter before the asterisk:
- To disable scanning on several partitions, add drive letters separated by a space. Example for "C:" and "D:" drives:
Conclusions of the article
The system application CHKDSK, built into the Windows operating system, is used to check the file system for errors and to detect bad sectors on the computer's hard drive. Using the utility, you can correct system errors and eliminate the negative impact (disable writing and reading) on the system due to the presence of bad sectors of the hard disk.
Often, users are faced with situations where Windows starts to work incorrectly.
Loads slowly, produces incomprehensible messages. Reacts slowly to actions. Files suddenly disappear.
All this can be the result of errors in the disk file system and physical damage to the surface, the appearance of poorly readable and bad blocks of sectors. Bad (unreadable) blocks are also called Bad blocks.
To eliminate such manifestations, you need to check the disks for errors.
In the arsenal of Microsoft Windows maintenance tools, there is the Check disk utility, designed specifically for checking and fixing errors on disks.
Sometimes the Windows system, when it detects problems on any disk or when a new disk (for example, a flash drive) is connected, launches Check Disk itself at startup.
Some uninformed users get scared when they see a blue screen with the Check Disk utility running.
Some people confuse the launch of Check Disk with the blue screen of death BSOD.
If Check Disk has started, you need to let it run, if you do not want it to start at every Windows boot.
If you want to check the disks, first of all, you need to check the system disk, usually this is the "C" drive, but not necessarily.
To check the system disk, the error correction utility cannot be run under the Windows operating system. You can only assign a task to check the disk, which will be executed on the next boot in DOS mode.
If error correction is not specified during the check, then the system disk will be checked, and the results can be viewed by going to Control Panel> Administration> Event Viewer> Application.
The rest of the disks can be checked with a loaded Windows operating system.
There are several ways to set up a check or run Check disk.
First way (usual, with a graphical interface):
* With the left mouse button, double-click to open "My Computer";
* Right-click on the icon of the disk to be checked and select "Properties" in the drop-down menu;
* In the "Properties" window, select the "Service" tab and left-click "Run check";
* In the "Check disk ..." window, check the boxes. If you do not need to check and restore damaged sectors, of course we do not tick the box. The option to check and repair bad sectors significantly slows down the check process, especially on large disks. However, this option is useful, but necessary for hard drives with a long service life;
* If the disk is a system disk, a task will be created to check the disk at the next reboot, about which a corresponding warning window will be displayed;
* If the disk is not a system disk, a disk check will be performed;
After checking the system disk in DOS mode, a report is displayed.
If errors are found, notes about them and their corrections will be added. Sometimes there are quite a few entries. This indicates that the condition of your disk is not good (I recommend copying the data you need to another medium in order to avoid losing it).
Perhaps, as the system specialists say, he "began to crumble", and a more thorough check should be done using special programs.
Second way (in DOS mode):
* Press the start button and select "Run" in the menu (see the note at the end of the article);
* In the window, type the command chkdsk c: / f, in which: chkdsk is the command to run the Check Disk disk check utility, c: is the disk to be checked (if you need to check another disk, for example "D", then we put d:, / f is the parameter setting error correction;
* After typing the command chkdsk c: / f press the Enter key;
* If the disk is systemic and the f parameter is applied, then, as in the first method, we receive a message about the impossibility of checking and a proposal to set a check at the next reboot, to which we answer by typing Y and pressing the Enter key, if we agree with the offer. The black DOS window disappears, the job is created.
* If the disk is not a system disk, a disk check is performed and the black DOS window disappears.
Third way (in command line mode):
* Press the start button and select "Run" in the menu;
* We type the command cmd, press Enter, a DOS window opens;
* We type the command chkdsk c: (where c: is the disk to be checked) and press Enter. The disk is checked and the results of the check are issued.
* To close the window, type the command exit and press Enter.
If you add the / f parameter to the chkdsk command, as in the previous method, you will receive a warning about the impossibility of verification and a proposal to set the verification at the next Windows startup.
Check Disk utility parameter list:
* / f - Enable disk error correction.
* / v - Shows the names of the scanned folders and files
* / r - Finds bad sectors and, if readable, recovers the data written in them.
* / x - Can only be used with NTFS file system. At the beginning of work, detaches the volume. The / x option enables the functions of the / f option.
* / i - Can only be used with NTFS file system. Checks indexes less carefully, which reduces time.
* / c - Can only be used with NTFS file system. Ignores folder loop checking in chkdsk, which reduces scan time.
* / l [: size] - Can only be used with NTFS file system. Determines the size of the log.
* /? - Displays help for the utility.
Many experts do not recommend using the Check Disk utility too often due to the danger of system and data damage. Frequent checks are generally not needed. Once every six months and in case of malfunctions, it will be quite enough.
Note: On Vista and Windows 7, there is no Run command on the Start menu by default. To make it appear, you need to do the following:
* Right-click on the "Start" button of the desktop and select "Properties" from the list.
* In the window that opens, on the "Start" tab, click "Configure".
* In the list of the next window, find the "Run" command and put a checkmark in front of it.
* Clicking "OK" to close the windows.
aass, did not use. But I note that Victoria and MHDD are proven tools for serious diagnostics.
And SMART information is able to track Windows 7. It will warn you if anything.
aass
Vadim Sterkin, Thanks for the answer and for the topic!
I agree with the assessment of Victoria and MHDD programs, I myself use Victoria for serious diagnostics, but I try to test other programs, everything is learned in comparison.)
Dmitriy
when checking the hard disk with the standard program on windows 7 it is written that bad clusters were found in null.sys ... what is this driver?
Dmitriy
Vadim Sterkin,
thanks ... because of it the system may slow down?
Sanyok
Hello.
Launched (hypothetically) the C: drive check from the graphical interface with parameters similar to your screen. I pressed the "Schedule disk check" button. I changed my mind. How can I cancel this one-time check of the system disk before the system reboot?
I myself assume that it may be entered into the Task Scheduler. " But I want to know for sure. I see no point in experimenting. Since, after once such a check was performed successfully (in practical reality), it would have been entered into the "Scheduler" even as a one-time check, and should, in theory, be preserved. After all, tasks from the "Scheduler" do not have properties for self-deletion (I think so). But I did not find any traces in the "Planner". In the internet and on the forum, as you yourself probably know, I did not receive an answer.
Simply put, I want to know where this mythical "Schedule of checks" is located and what methods and methods Windows 7 offers to correct it. And it turns out like this - click, and ala-ulyu ...
Sanyok
Yeah…
There was a schedule, but everything came out. This is some kind of black and white graffiti, with a register. Straight "Battleship Potemkin".
(Yes, I googled, but the truth is slightly different request). Thank you.
It turns out to be planned - to poke two ticks in the schedule, and cancel - go to the registry. They are wise here. Well, okay, there is nothing to do - unsubscribe in the forum.
By the way, does it make sense to put the second (lower) daw if the system is on an SSD? After all, as far as my knowledge is enough, the SSD controller itself periodically (when idle) scans the memory for faulty cells.
And this second jackdaw, by definition, is designed to check for broken cells on the surface of the HDD.
Sanyok
Sanyok,
You turn on your TV with the remote control and set the wake-up timer. The next morning, you wake up to the music of your favorite music channel. And life flows smoothly and measuredly. But at one point it dawns on you - after all, tomorrow is Sunday. It doesn't matter - you tell yourself. With a slight movement of your hand and a screwdriver, without disconnecting the TV from the network, you remove the back cover, quickly replace a couple of resistances on the board and you're done. You can sleep well tomorrow until lunchtime.
Do you feel what I mean?
Vadim Sterkin: Sanyok, what do you mean wise? You do not be smart yourself by pressing all sorts of incomprehensible buttons, and everything will be fine :)
It's really funny, but of course, definitely truth.
Yes, just not quite out of place. I do not see anything unpredictable and completely incomprehensible in checking the disk. And the conversation was about the fact that if we have already laid a graphical opportunity to schedule such a task, then be so kind as to provide the same opportunity to disable it, and not through one place (registry). Either remove the graphics when planning (do planning only through CMD), or lay the option to disable this task using the graphical interface. As an engineer, in my technical practice and in the practice of the interface of various industrial programs and IT, this is the first time I come across such a thing. And in Windows as well.
This is what I wanted to convey when I said - "Namudrili."
Faced with a question, I drew attention to the fact that this function causes complaints from the user, in terms of frequent independent launches. But let's not talk about that. As unrelated to the topic.
And so, of course, thanks for the comments. Everything is clear to me here.
About the bottom jackdaw:
To perform a thorough disk check, select the "Check and repair bad sectors" option. In this mode, the scan program tries to find and fix physical errors on the hard drive itself, which can take much longer.
Nothing is said about the file system. Rather about physical disabilities. Some of us are wrong. Or I didn’t understand something.
And further in the text:
To check for both file and physical errors, select both options: Automatically fix system errors and Check and repair bad sectors.
Please comment. I would like to be clear on the issue.
In order not to press "all sorts of incomprehensible buttons", and everything was fine. :-)
Vyacheslav
I am very surprised by the possibility of checking and repairing a disk under Windows 8. Changing the partition size upward using Acronis Disk Director 11 ended with errors. I wanted to increase the size of the system disk at the expense of empty space on the adjacent partition by 200 GB. As a result, this program reports that everything is OK, and the size of the disk in the explorer has not changed. I performed a disk check using OS tools - it was said that there were errors and it was necessary to reboot. After the reboot, nothing has changed and there was a request to reboot to fix it. As you might guess, this did not help either. As a result, we have lost 200 GB despite the fact that Acronis says everything is ok, and the system is not able to fix the errors found. Sadness. Do you need to format?
Vyacheslav
Vadim Sterkin,
In fact, under Windows 7, a similar operation was always performed without problems. I always perform the task of expanding / narrowing the partition in 2 stages: first, we cut off a piece of space from the section to be compressed and transfer it to the "unallocated space" status from the required end of the partition, and then we expand another partition using this space (I do everything manually in 2 reboots in case of "mistakes", since Acronis performs a group of operations very strangely (there is a sad experience under Windows XP). So, if under Windows 7, after checking the disk, everything returned to normal and the free space did not disappear so easily, then under Windows 8 Acronis completed the first stage successfully, and when the second was executed, it broke off with errors, although then it reports that "everything is fine." The problem was eventually solved by booting from the Live CD from Acronis. It is a pity that it is impossible to do this under Windows 8. And I was counting on the "improved checking and correction of file system errors" promoted in the media. Of course, it is very difficult to believe that checking and background diagnostics of FS problems is working correctly. It is very confusing that the time to check one partition under Windows 7 and under Windows 8 differs by orders of magnitude for the better for the latter. Are all problems so easily and quickly fixed? Maybe most of them are simply not noticed by Windows 8, or even worse - ignored?
Vyacheslav
Vadim Sterkin,
Well, what option does windows 8 have to expand the partition size? I saw the Disk Management snap-in. Well, I did not see how it is possible to cut the size of a logical volume from the desired end using "standard means". There it is also impossible to move a section within the unallocated space. If there is an analogue that I missed, tell me. Along the way, you did not quite understand correctly what I had under the phrase “the sad experience was under Windows XP”. And it was like this: after a reboot, this operation was performed and at that moment the electricity went out. Thus, I lost 2 partitions, although, in theory, there could be 3 options: the second partition would be lost, from which space was taken away due to the incomplete operation of moving the NTFS service zones, or only the system partition would be lost (although this is unlikely), or both partitions would be in order, and between them - some area of unallocated space. But I was very “lucky”. Let's skip the topic of uninterruptible power supplies and it turns out that Acronis is a respected company, and sometimes it's dangerous to use their products in the absence of alternatives from the OS. And then another "surprise" emerged. And here, even with the power supply, everything is in order. But as I already noted, the last problem was solved by booting from the Live CD from Acronis and the classic disk check, and not over-optimized from Windows 8, the advantages of which I have not yet felt. It seems to be there, but there is no sense. Or I was not using the Check Disk tool like this. Unfortunately, this kind of "optimization" causes more questions and mistrust in me than answers.
Vyacheslav
Vadim Sterkin,
Irina
Run Windows hard drive diagnostics (chkdsk). There were no messages, but after that it turned out that there was no free space. Although before the check, less than 50% of the disk was full. And now it is busy showing 931 GB. Is it that all the free space was broken? The disk is six months old.
I forgot to say after that I checked with Victoria and said that there weren't even any errors.
Irina
This is not my case. This is not about the system drive. And about the external drive. Already found out - the system marked all free space as bad blocks. Now I'm trying to find out if this is a failure or the screw has ordered a long life.
Sergei
Vadim, I have such a problem: After running the chkdsk disk check utility, if both checkboxes are installed, it asks to reboot and a check is performed, I don’t know what to call it, but it looks like MS-DOS - lines on a black background are running fast. After the next reboot, I look at the information in the Windows Logs - Application, text in English, "there are many letters", but the meaning can be understood from a single sentence: "Windows has checked the file system and found no problems". At the same time, a few lines above, I am kindly informed that, they say, "Cleaning up 31 unused security descriptors". Sometimes it is not "31 unused security descriptors" that are cleared, but more or, conversely, less. That is, something is still not entirely in order, and the program corrects it a little. Like, in general, everything is fine, but the Bug is dead. So, as long as I run this chkdsk, so much it requires a reboot to fix these errors, nothing else is found. Previously, on another machine in Windows XP, this rarely happened, but now it happens over and over again.
The SSD disk is about a quarter busy. The system is legal Windows 7 x64 Professional is automatically updated. If you do not run the disk check, then there is no reason for concern, everything works fine, does not glitch, does not crash. So, in connection with this, the question - maybe you don't need to spoil your mood. On the Microsoft website, I did not find a solution to the problem of these file system errors, and are they errors?
far_town2 Kulyasov
Are there any methods to check the sufficiency of the power supply? And can freezes / errors occur due to its insufficient power in games?
Every user knows and is sure to get into situations when something breaks in the computer, does not work correctly or does not work well. There is nothing whiter than annoying technology, which now and then freezes or for some unknown reason controls itself. Of course, all parts can break, but mechanical parts still preserved in modern computers are especially susceptible to destruction. This includes the hard drive.
This review will consider more than theory. The authors had at hand a faulty disk, the operating system of which was loaded for about 20 minutes. It was decided to fix this and it was quite successful!
What could go wrong
In order to prevent breakdowns and fix the hard drive in time, or at least save the necessary information, you need to regularly monitor the condition. To do this, it is recommended to carefully monitor the "health" of your computer. Here are the points to watch out for:
- watch out for bugs. Technology, like man, tends to be wrong. There was one incident with the hard drive - it's okay, but if errors appear constantly, you need to urgently contact the master.
- friction or beating. Since the reading is carried out with the help of the head, there is a chance that it will move and begin to spoil the main disk with information. If you hear a suspicious knock on the system unit, it may well mean that there is a problem with the hard drive.
- analyze the work. If your computer did not save the file or a recently saved document suddenly disappeared, you need to go to the wizard. If the long-term memory of the computer is not working well, the hard drive is the culprit.
- recognition. The computer did not see the disc? Bad, most likely, this is a problem with the disk, and not with the software, although this may be the case. Try to put the part in a different system unit. If it works, everything is in order.
- crashes. Are you trying to upload a document and the technician is stubbornly unwilling to do so? Long-term memory file loading problems come from breakdowns of the same part.
- long loading. If you open each photo for half an hour, you cannot delete a light-weight text document, then this is also a problem with the hard disk.
It is not necessary to sit at the system unit all the time the computer is running and listen to how the problematic part “is doing” there. It is enough just to periodically listen and carefully monitor the state of the entire computer, then everything will be in order.
How to check your hard drive for TOC errors
In general, if your hard drive is fine and does not need emergency assistance, you can do a preventative error check. This will speed up your computer and save your nerves. Let's look at the flow of this useful procedure under the Windows 7 operating system.
- in order for the computer not only to find problems, but also to fix them, you need to tick the box "Automatically fix system errors".
- if you want to try to restore the physical structure of the disk itself, you need to select the "Check and repair bad sectors" function. Please note that this procedure will take a lot of time.
- have doubts? Select both options and carry out prophylaxis.
Another little tip. If you decide to "heal" a disk that is systemic for your computer, do it immediately before shutting down.
In order for any technique to work well, and it was easy for you to handle it, you need to monitor and look after. Moreover, when it comes to a device that is much more complicated than a stove and it is sometimes quite difficult to figure it out on your own. Carry out preventive work, and if necessary, call the wizard and then with your computer, which means that everything will be fine with your data.
HDD Regenerator
This program is best downloaded from the portal (softportal.com). Launch the installer.
If you leave the checkbox in the last window, the program will start immediately. Let's not delay and get started.
And what is that Full Version menu? It turns out that the program is paid, and our compatriot demands $ 90 per key. In addition, when removed, it behaves worse than a virus. Requires a reboot of the operating system and takes a long time to think.
R.tester
- Right-click on any logical drive you want to check.
- In the menu that opens, click on the "Properties" line.
- In the upper part of the properties window, click LMB on the "Service" tab.
- Click on the "Check" button.
- Here put both checkboxes in the checkboxes and click on the "Start" inscription.
If the selected partition is not a system partition, the disk will be checked for errors immediately. If you want to check the C: drive, the OS will display a notification that the operation cannot be performed at this time. Do not think of this behavior as a crash. Since the partition contains all the system data, it cannot be disabled while Windows is running.
Just click on the "scan schedule" button and restart your computer. After turning on the PC, a disk check for errors will begin even before the operating system is loaded.
Command line
To run the chkdsk utility from the command line, follow these steps.
- Right-click on the desktop and select "Create shortcut" from the context menu.
- In the window that appears, you will be prompted to select an executable file, but the easiest way is to just enter "cmd" into the input line and click "OK".
- Now right-click on the just created shortcut and select the line "run as Administrator". A command prompt will open.
- Enter: chkdsk [partition letter]: / f / r.
As with running from a graphical shell, checking the disk for errors will notify you that the program cannot be executed if you specify the system partition. At the same time, a question will appear on the screen: "Should I complete the task after restarting the PC?" Press the Y key to answer in the affirmative, or N if you do not want to check the HDD.
If the OS won't boot
If Windows refuses to start because of a problem with the file system, you can run a hard disk check for errors from the Recovery Console. Open the BIOS by pressing the DEL key on the startup screen of your computer. Set the laser drive as the First Boot Device. Insert the Windows Installer disc.
After booting from DVD, a language selection window will open. At the bottom of it will be the "System Restore" item. Remember that when errors occur on the HDD, it is pointless to roll back to early recovery points, overwriting data can lead to even more problems.
In the window that offers a choice of recovery options, click on the "Command Prompt" button. The command syntax remains unchanged - chkdsk [drive letter]: / f / r. In this case, the disk check will start immediately without rebooting.
Third party software
If the chkdsk utility does not lead to a positive result, and critical errors due to HDD continue to occur, you should perform a more thorough check using special programs. Hard drive manufacturers themselves produce special tools for testing their equipment. In addition to this software, Victoria and MHDD applications can be used.
Be smart! A third-party application should only check the disk for errors after backing up all important data. Moreover, you need to save copies of the data in external storage.
Let's make an explanation. "Bad sectors" are areas of the disk that cannot be read from. Their very appearance is a bad sign, but acceptable, but the constant increase in their number suggests that the disk is most likely no longer a tenant. We need to think about replacing it, and not to delay the decision for a long time.
So, the chkdsk program will check the disk, the check time depends on the size of the disk and the number of files on it. The system disk will only be checked after a reboot. We'll have to be patient and wait until the end of the work. When finished, a report will be displayed.
If you cannot log into the system, then you will need to use the recovery tools and run the program from there.
Windows standard check
Another way to check a disk is to use the OS built-in check. For this you need:
If the selected hard drive is used by any program, then to check it must be stopped. Click the "Disable" button and the test will continue. The check time depends on the size of the disk and its fullness.
To check the system partition in this way, the system will display a message that testing will continue after a reboot. Agree with this, after restarting the computer, wait until the check is finished.
With all due respect to Microsoft, only third-party programs can provide detailed information about disk health. If you need laptop repair, in Lyubertsy there is a good workshop where they can check your hard drive too. Moreover, they will do this using third-party programs, which we will discuss below.
Ashampoo HDD Control 2
This program is paid, but a free trial period will give you the opportunity to test the drive. The program is multifunctional, with its help you can perform many actions with the disk, including defragmentation, cleaning the disk, etc. Now we are interested in the "Test" and surface check modes.
To run the check, you must:
To determine the state of the disc surface, go to the "Control" tab and click on the "Surface testing" section.
The progress of testing can be observed in the window that opens. Color coding is used to indicate the condition of the surface of the disc:
- Blue - the sector is not checked.
- Green - no errors.
- Red - bad sector.
If the disk is large, then the check may take a long time.
HDDScan
A popular program for obtaining information about the disk, checking it and fixing errors. To start testing you need:
To view the state of the disc, go to the "Map" tab, where all information about the disc surface will be located. Sectors are marked with squares of different colors. They mean:
Victoria
Perhaps the most popular utility for determining the health of a hard drive. It can be started both from Windows and from bootable media if it is not possible to start the operating system. Let's consider working with a program running from Windows.
After starting in the main window of the program, you will see several tabs, the most important of them:
In order to start the check, you must press the "Start" button and wait until the end of the work. First of all, you need to pay attention to the column of multi-colored rectangles with numbers next to them. Information about the read speed from the disk sectors is displayed with the help of color coding. Ideally, values should be near rectangles with different shades of gray.
The numbers next to the green or orange rectangles show the number of sectors that take more time to read. The red rectangle shows that there are sectors on the disk, information from which can be read, but this takes a lot of time.
Most likely, these "red" sectors are bad candidates. You should remember their number, and after a while, re-scan. An increase in their number indicates degradation of the disk surface. Moreover, areas that are marked in blue may soon appear.
You can try to restore these "broken" sectors. To do this, set the "Remap" mode and start the scan again. If possible, the program will repair these areas of the disk. If the "blue" blocks remain, you should think about replacing the hard drive.
Windows malfunctions, an emergency shutdown of the computer's power, experiments with disk space management software, the consequences of viruses - these and other problems can lead to the automatic launch of the standard Windows utility Chkdsk, designed to fix errors in the file system of hard drives. Incorrectly terminated work of the operating system with files leads to the appearance of errors in the file system, and sometimes to its damage altogether. In case of emergency, the Chkdsk utility automatically turns on before Windows starts, scans disk partitions and fixes errors. However, the fact that there are problems with the file system may not make itself felt in any way during normal use of the computer and only show up when trying to manage disk space. So, for example, trying to shrink a disk partition using standard Windows tools, we may receive the following notification: “It is possible that the volume selected for compression is damaged. Use Chkdsk to troubleshoot and then try shrinking the volume again. "
In this case, the disc check does not start automatically. How to start Chkdsk manually in Windows 7, 8.1 and 10? How can I use Chkdsk to fix disk errors if this particular problem is causing the operating system to fail to boot?
Inside Windows, the Chkdsk utility can be run in several ways.
1. Launching Chkdsk using the Windows GUI
To run Chkdsk, in the system explorer on drive C, right-click and open "Properties".
In the window of the opened properties of the disk partition, go to the "Service" tab, and in it click the "Check" button (or "Run check" for Windows 7).
In versions of Windows 8.1 and 10, if everything is in order with the file system of the disk, in the window that appears next, we will see a notification that verification is not required. But if you want to check the disk using the Chkdsk utility, you can start by clicking "Check Disk".
If the system suspects the existence of file system errors, this window will contain a button for starting a disk check and repair.
For Chkdsk to work with respect to drive C, you must restart your computer. This can be done immediately, or you can postpone the start of the scan until the next reboot.
After restarting the computer, we will be able to observe the work of Chkdsk.
In Windows 7, the launch of Chkdsk is slightly different: to the pre-installed automatic error correction option, you can add another possible option - check and repair bad sectors of the hard disk. When activating this option, it is worth considering that in this case, the work of Chkdsk may take longer.
As with Windows 8.1 and 10, in version 7, the system C drive cannot be checked under a running operating system. To start the scan, you need to restart your computer. Click "Schedule disk check".
When checking a non-system partition of a disk, if it is used by some programs, the situation is simpler than with the system partition. In the window with the notification that the disk is currently in use, you just need to click the "Disconnect" button to, accordingly, disable this section for the duration of the check.
2. Launching Chkdsk from the command line
To start Chkdsk using the command line, first, respectively, run the latter.
In the command line, enter a command of the type:
In this command, instead of drive C, each time we substitute the letter of the desired partition on which verification is required. If Chkdsk needs to check the system C partition, as with the graphical interface, a computer restart will be required. After a message appears in the command line about the impossibility of locking the specified disk, you need to enter "Y", then restart the computer.
In addition to the / f parameter, which is responsible for fixing disk errors, Chkdsk can be run with the / r parameter, which is designed to find bad sectors and recover data. As a result of Chkdsk's work with this parameter, hard disk clusters with unreadable sectors will be listed as damaged (bad blocks) with the transfer of their functions to a new cluster. Therefore, it is recommended to run Chkdsk with the / r parameter only when the usual error correction - running the utility with the / f parameter - did not bring the desired results. Using the example of the same drive C, the command will look like this:
3. Running Chkdsk in non-bootable Windows
If Windows freezes at a certain stage of the boot, one of the possible causes of this problem is file system errors. In this case, you need to start Chkdsk by booting from the rescue media. As such, you can use a regular installation media with versions of Windows 7, 8.1 or 10. With it, we will run the Chkdsk utility inside the command line. At the first stage of starting the system installation process, press the command line launch keys - Shift + F10.
In the command line that opens, before running the Chkdsk command, you need to specify what letters are used to define the disk partitions. It's easy to do this with notepad. Run it with the command:
Click the notepad menu "File", then - "Open".
In the explorer that opens, we remember the new designations of the disks. As a rule, in Windows 8.1 and 10, the partition of the C drive (as it is inside a working operating system) is listed as D, since the letter C is given to the first technical section of the system. And all other sections are offset by one letter of the alphabet.
Having decided on the letters of the disk partitions, close the notebook, then, returning to the command line, enter a command of this type:
As with working with Chkdsk inside Windows, you must first try to fix disk errors by running the utility with the / f parameter. And only if the problem is not solved, only then we run the command with the / r parameter, as indicated in the previous paragraph of the article.
For cases of inability to boot Windows, you can pre-burn an emergency Live-disc with a selection of various tools to restore the operating system. These include, for example, the WinPE-based AdminPE. Its image for burning to disk or USB flash drive can be downloaded from the official website of the Adminpe.Ru project. With AdminPE, you can start a command prompt and enter the Chkdsk startup commands discussed above. But in this Live-disk, the Chkdsk utility has its own interface and is launched using a script. The shortcut for launching the utility has been moved directly to the desktop.
In the drop-down list for checking the disk, select the desired disk partition. Next, activate the checkboxes for recovering damaged sectors and forcibly disconnecting the partition (volume). Launches the check.
