Good day!
How many things could be corrected if we knew in advance what awaits us ...
And if in life it is almost impossible to predict some events, then in the case of a hard disk - some of the problems, nevertheless, can be predicted and foreseen!
To do this, there are special utilities that can find out and analyze the SMART * readings of the disk (show them to you, if necessary), and on the basis of this data assess the health of your disk, along the way calculating how many years it will still be able to serve.
The information is extremely useful, in addition, such utilities can monitor your disk online, and as soon as the first signs of unstable work appear, notify you right there. Accordingly, you will have time to make a backup in time and take action (although a backup should always be done, even when everything is fine ☺).
And so, I will consider in the article several methods (and several utilities) for analyzing the state of the HDD and SSD.
* Note:
S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) is a special technology for assessing the state of a hard disk by an integrated hardware self-diagnosis / self-monitoring system. The main task is to determine the likelihood of a device failure, preventing data loss.
Perhaps this is one of the most popular questions asked by all users who first encounter problems with a hard drive (or are thinking about the safety of storing their data). Everyone is interested in the time that the disk will work until it completely "stops". Let's try to predict ...
Therefore, in the first part of the article, I decided to show a couple of utilities that can get all the readings from the disk and analyze them independently, and give you only the finished result (in the second part of the article, I will give utilities for viewing SMART readings for independent analysis).
Method number 1 - using Hard Disk Sentinel
One of the best utilities for monitoring the status of computer disks (both hard drives (HDD) and "newfangled" SSDs). What impresses the most about the program is that it will independently analyze all the data received about the state of the disk and show you a ready-made result (very convenient for novice users).
In order not to be unfounded, I will immediately show the main window of the program, which appears after the first launch (the analysis of the disk will be done immediately automatically). The health and performance of the disk is estimated as 100% (ideally, it should be), the time that the disk will still work in normal mode is estimated by the program at about 1000 days (~ 3 years).
What's with the disk according to Hard Disk Sentinel
In addition, the program allows you to monitor the temperature: both current and average and maximum during the day, week, month. If the temperature goes beyond the "normality" - the program will warn you about this (which is also very convenient).
Also, Hard Disk Sentinel allows you to view SMART readings (however, to evaluate them, you need to understand the disks well), get complete information about the hard disk (model, serial number, manufacturer, etc.), see what the hard disk is loaded with (i.e. . get performance information).
In general, in my humble opinion, Hard Disk Sentinel is one of the best utilities for monitoring the status of disks in the system. It should be added that there are several versions of the programs: professional and standard (for the professional version with extended functionality, there is a portable version of the program that does not need to be installed (for example, you can even run it from a USB flash drive)).
Hard Disk Sentinel works in all popular Windows (7, 8, 10 - 32 | 64 bits), supports the Russian language in full.
Method # 2 - using HDDlife
This program is similar to the first one, it also clearly shows the current state of the disk: its health and performance (in percentage terms), its temperature, the amount of time worked (in months). In the upper part of the window, based on all this data, HDDlife shows the final summary for your disk, for example, in my case "ALL RIGHT" (which means that everything is in order with the disk).
By the way, the program can work online, monitoring the state of your disk, and in case something goes wrong (at the first signs of problems) - immediately notify you about it.
As an example, the screenshot below shows an SSD drive received a warning: its health is still within acceptable limits, but reliability and performance are below average. In this case, you should not trust the disk with any important data, and, if possible, you need to prepare for its replacement.
By the way, in the main window of the program, next to the amount of disk time worked, there is a link "Disk tincture" (allows you to change some of the parameters you want). Opening it, you can control the balance between noise / performance), very useful with disks that make a lot of noise), and adjust the power consumption settings (useful for laptops that run out of battery quickly).
Add-on: HDDlife works on both PCs and laptops. Supports HDD and SSD drives. There are portable versions of the program that do not need installation. It can be configured so that the program runs along with your Windows. HDDlife works in Windows: XP, 7, 8, 10 (32 | 64 bits).
How to view your SMART reading
If the previous utilities independently assessed the state of the disk based on SMART data, then the utilities below will give you more freedom and data for self-analysis. In the reports it will be possible to find a fairly large set of parameters, on the basis of which it will be possible to roughly assess the state of the disk and make a forecast for its further work.
Method number 1 - using СrystalDiskInfo
СrystalDiskInfo
An excellent free utility for viewing the status and SMART readings of a hard drive (SSD drives are also supported). What the utility wins over - it provides you with complete information about the temperature, technical condition of the disk, its characteristics, etc. that "and for beginners who need a hint).
For example, if something is wrong with the temperature, then you will see a red indicator on it, i.e. СrystalDiskInfo will inform you about it.
The main window of the program can be conditionally divided into 4 zones (see the screenshot above):
- "1" - all your physical disks installed in the computer (laptop) are listed here. Next to each is shown its temperature, technical condition, and the number of sections on it (for example, "C: D: E: F:");
- "2" - the current temperature of the disk and its technical condition are shown here (the program makes an analysis based on all the data received from the disk);
- "3" - disk data: serial number, manufacturer, interface, rotation speed, etc .;
- "4" - readings SMART. By the way, what the program bribes with - you don't need to know what this or that parameter means - if something is wrong with any item, the program will mark it yellow or red and notify you about it.
As an example to the above, I will give a screenshot showing two disks: on the left - with which everything is fine, on the right - which has problems with reassigned sectors (technical condition - anxiety!).
As a reference (about reassigned sectors):
when the hard drive detects, for example, a write error, it transfers data to a specially designated spare area (and this sector will be considered "reassigned"). Therefore, bad blocks cannot be seen on modern hard drives - they are hidden in reassigned sectors. This process is called remapping and the reassigned sector is remap.
The higher the value of the remapped sectors, the worse the surface condition of the disks. Field "raw value" contains the total number of reassigned sectors.
By the way, for many disk manufacturers, even one reassigned sector is already a warranty case!
To the utility CrystalDiskInfo monitored online the status of your hard disk - in the "Service" menu, put two checkmarks: "Agent start" and "Autostart"(see screenshot below).
Then you will see the program icon with temperature next to the clock in the tray. In general, you can now be more calm about the state of the disk ☺ ...
Method number 2 - with the help of Victoria
Victoria- one of the most famous programs for working with hard drives. The main purpose of the program is to assess the technical condition of the drive, and to replace the damaged sectors with backup workers.
The utility is free and allows you to work from both Windows and DOS (which in many cases shows much more accurate data about the state of the disk).
Of the minuses: working with Victoria is quite difficult, at least I highly do not recommend pressing buttons in it at random (you can easily destroy all the data on the disk). I have one fairly large article on my blog, where it is analyzed in detail how to check the disk using Victoria (including finding out the SMART readings - an example in the screenshot below (in which Victoria pointed out a possible temperature problem)).
Instructions for working with Victoria:
SMART tab || utility Victoria
On this I will round off, good luck to everyone!
Additions on the topic are welcome ☺
Today I will tell you how to find out the number of hard drives installed on our computer. This information will come in handy when we talk about things like backing up data.
As you know, there are often multiple volumes on a computer. For example, C and D. But in most cases these are two logical drives on which the only physical drive installed on the computer is partitioned.
But it also happens that several physical drives are installed on a computer, each of which can be labeled with one letter or, in turn, can be split into several local drives.
It would seem, what's the difference, a logical disk or a physical one. For the system, after all, everything is one.
For the system, of course, yes, but not for you and your hardware.
For example, you have a computer that has two disks - C and D (there can be much more of them, this is not essential). If you have one physical disk installed, partitioned into two logical volumes, then in the event of a failure of the physical drive, all the logical volumes into which your disk is partitioned will become inaccessible to you.
If volumes C and D are separate physical disks, then failure of one volume does not damage the other.
So how do you determine the number of hard drives on your computer?
Everything is very simple. Click "Start" and right-click on "Computer". In the context menu that appears, select the "Control" item.
This window will open:
Here you need to select the "Disk Management" section. The display will show information about the physical drives and the logical volumes on which they are partitioned. The following illustration shows an example of one hard disk partitioned into two logical ones. There are also two hidden sections for system needs.
And here we see two hard drives at once:
Now you know how to determine the number of hard drives on your computer. If you are ready to move on, follow the publications.
There are many situations when a computer user needs to get information about installed hard drives. This can be done in various ways - by means of the operating system, using third-party applications and without all this. Let's consider the issue in more detail.
Windows operating systems provide all the necessary tools to obtain various information about the hard disk. Let's start with the simplest.
Device Manager
The Device Manager application displays a list of all devices built into the motherboard and externally connected to the computer, including hard drives. With the help of this system program, you can quickly find out the model of the installed hard drive, which will subsequently allow you to get more detailed information about it:
- To launch "Device Manager", right-click on the "My Computer" or "This Computer" icon and select "Properties". In the upper left corner of the window that opens, find and click on the "Device Manager" item.
- A list with different categories of devices will be displayed on the screen. We are interested in the "Disk devices" section. Expand it.
- After the last step, the screen will display the model names of the hard drives connected to the computer.
To get all other information about the hard drive, simply enter its model name into the search box of any search engine. In the very first lines of the search result, there will be links that can be used to obtain detailed information on a particular model of the hard drive.
Computer Management System Application
Using the "Computer Management" system application, you can determine not only the name of the hard drive, but also its total volume, the number and name of partitions (local disks):
- Open Control Panel from the Start menu or otherwise.
- Go to the "System and Security" subsection, then click on the "Administration" element.
- A new window will open with a list of system utilities. Find among them and launch the "Computer Management" application.
- Another window will open. On the left side of it, open the "Storage" section, then click on the "Disk Management" item. It should look like this:
- At the bottom of the window, the numbers of hard drives ("Disk 0", "Disk 1", "Disk 2", etc.) and the partitions on it will be presented. The image above shows information about two hard drives.
- To find out the model of the presented hard disk, you need to right-click on its name in the system (for example, "Disk 0"), then select the "Properties" item. A small window will open. The "General" tab will display the model name of the selected hard drive.
Command line
In some situations, it is impossible to determine the model of the hard drive using the two previous methods. This usually occurs when there are viruses on the computer or when some system services are disabled that are responsible for the operation of these applications. In such cases, the Windows command line (console) can help:
- To open the Windows console, press the Win + R keys at the same time, then type cmd into the window and press Enter.
- Then enter the command "wmic" into the console window, press the enter key.
- Then re-enter in the command line - "diskdrive list brief", press "Enter".
- A small list will be displayed:
- In the column "Caption" you can find out the name of the models of hard drives.
- If you need to specify the total volume of the hard drive in gigabytes, then the number (number of bytes) from the "Size" column should be divided 3 times by 1024. For example, the "ST3160215AS" disk has a capacity of 160039272960 bytes, i.e. 160039272960/1024/1024/1024 = 149.04 GB.
Programs for identifying hard drives
On the Internet, you can find a lot of applications that allow you to get a variety of information about hard drives, including such data about it, which is difficult or even impossible to obtain by means of the operating system. One of these programs is Ontrack EasyRecovery. In general, the program is designed to recover lost data from a hard disk, but with its help you can get quite detailed information.
- Open the Ontrack EasyRecovery app. On the first page, click on the "Continue" button.
- On the next page of the program, select the item "Hard disk" and click on the "Continue" button again.
- The screen will display the table "Disks and volumes found", in which you can see the model of the hard drive and the partitions present on it.
- Click on the name of the hard drive with the right mouse button, then select "Disk Information".
- A new window will open, which will list all the important data about the hard drive. For instance:
Find out the hard drive model in BIOS
If there is no operating system on the computer or it has stopped working properly for some reason, you can find out the model of the hard drive. This firmware is built into the PC motherboard, so it can work without any OS. To obtain a hard disk model using this method, follow the instructions:
- Turn off your computer.
- Turn the PC back on and immediately press the "F2" or "Delete" key. The BIOS user interface should be displayed on the computer screen. If this does not happen, you may need to press another key (you can check on the motherboard manufacturer's website).
- The hard drive model name can be found in the first tab of the BIOS interface. For instance:
- If the necessary information is absent on the main page, then it should be looked for in the "Boot", "Advanced" or other tab. Just go through all the tabs in the BIOS interface.
You can also find out which hard drive is on the computer by examining its case. Any hard drive has a sticker with the model name, volume, serial number and other information.
How to find out which hard drive is on a computer
In most cases, a common man in the street may need information about disk drive "C" when there are obvious problems with the operating system or there is a question about the need to replace it with a more capacious one. It is these situations that make most users look for an answer to the question of how to find out which hard drive is on the computer. In other cases, such a need does not arise. There is no particular difficulty here, and each user can easily do this if he knows the order of performing simple actions.
What and what is it like?
The hard disk among users has other names - hard disk drive, or abbreviated HDD, screw. This is the name of the part of the computer system unit that performs the functions of recording and rewriting information.
It is he who stores absolutely all information, there are no exceptions and the file data of the operating system. If you install the program, then all the information is saved to the hard drive, the same happens if files are recorded or copied on the computer.
HDD can be presented in two versions: external and built-in.
1. External (portable or portable) hard drive is a removable structure that is hidden in a special unit for easy portability. They have a different amount of memory and connection interface (USB 3.0 or 2.0).
2. The built-in (internal) hard disk is located directly in the operating unit of a personal computer or in a laptop. They differ in size: for a PC - 3.5 inches, and for a laptop - 2.5 inches.
All incoming information is generated on special magnetic disk drives, if you open the lid, you can clearly see it. But this kind of hard drives are gradually becoming a thing of the past, being replaced by a motherboard. It is more functional and less exposed to external damage, since it does not contain moving parts. In addition, they provide a faster and quieter operating system. But the cost of such hard boards is several times higher than magnetic ones.
How do I find out the information about the hard drive on my computer?
For many users, it remains a mystery what kind of hard drive is on their computer. Yes, in fact, they do not need to own this information. And if there are problems with the operating system, which in most cases indicates the incorrect operation of the hard drive, then the wizards carry out the diagnostics. But there are often cases when, when talking about problems that have arisen, the masters are interested in this very indicator of your PC. The very same diagnostics of Hard Disk Drive takes a lot of time, so such repairs are made quickly and cannot be done at home.
So how do you view the hard drive on your computer? There are several ways to get this information. The easiest way to find out this data, which can be used on any computer, even a non-working computer, is to remove the hard drive from the case of the system unit or laptop and get acquainted with the data of interest to us. To do this, you need to turn off the power (the battery is removed from the laptop), the cover is unscrewed (the bottom on the bottom) and the same hard drive is taken out.
If the computer can be turned on, then you can get complete information about the installed hard drive by using programs. But for each parameter, you need to perform its own set of actions.
So, to find out the volume available on your computer Hard Disk Drive, you need to right-click on the desktop icon or on the "Start" panel "My Computer". In the window that opens, select "Computer Management". In the additional utility that opens, find and click on "Storage Devices", the next step is to click on "Disk Management". The window will show the true amount of memory that your PC or laptop has on the hard drive. It will be designated as "Disk 0". For convenience, manufacturers and users use numbers rounded to the nearest thousand when denoting this indicator. So, the actual figure of 37.25 Gb corresponds to the volume of 40Gb, 60Gb - 55.88 Gb, 500 Gb - 465.65 Gb, etc.
Next to the available information about the amount of memory, there may be two more small windows. This means that your hard drive is divided into two or three logical volumes, where one, usually called "C", will perform the function of the operating system storage, and the second "D" accumulates all the information saved by the user.
To find out which model of hard drive "C" you need to perform such actions. We start all with the same double-clicking on the "My Computer" icon. We select "Computer Management". In the menu that opens, you need to find the shortcut "Device Manager". In order to view the installed disk drives, you need to activate the "Disk devices" item. Full information about the installed hard drives on your PC or laptop will open.
Special programs for testing the hard drive
You can also find out which hard drive is installed on your personal computer or laptop using special programs. Some of these are the following:
EVEREST;
AIDA64;
HDD Scan.
Such programs are designed not only to find out the brand and volume of Hard Disk Drive, but also to scan it, find bad sectors, assess the general condition of any drive, determine the maximum heating temperature, and battery consumption.
In order to download the program and run it on your PC. A menu usually appears in the window, where we find and activate the "Data storage", the utility opens a complete list of all storage devices on this PC: actual and logical, optical drives, Windows storage, etc. We are interested in an icon called "ATA" clicking on which in the main window opens full information about the hard drive: from the model to the time search indicators.
These are the main ways to find the necessary information about the installed Hard Disk Drive on your PC or laptop.
Greetings to all! Let's start with what a hard drive is. This is the disk that stores everything you have on your computer. programs, photos, music, videos, games and the operating system are also installed on the hard drive. In general, everything is stored on the hard drive. If the disk flies, then all yours will be irretrievably lost. It is almost impossible to restore them. Therefore, the disc must be handled with care not to bump the disc, especially when it is running. Hard drives come in many different form factors, well, that's the size of the drives. There are 2.5 and 3.5. Usually 2.5 is installed on laptops, but there are also collective farms such a disk on a regular computer.
There are many ways to find out which hard drive is on your computer. You can find out both through the program and without it. You can find out ssd or hdd is installed, 2.5 or 3.5 form factor and all its characteristics. Do you know what are their pros and cons? If not, go to the article and learn a lot for yourself. Well, let's start 🙂
Through computer control
To find out what kind of hard drive is installed, we need to get into computer management. But how do you get there?
To do this, look for a shortcut on the desktop "My Computer" and right-click and select "Control".
If you do not have a shortcut "My Computer" on your desktop, like me, I don’t know where it went, then this is not a problem. I have such a srach on my desktop that I just can't find it).
Then we click on the "Start" button and there will definitely be "My Computer", right-click on it and select "Control". Everything, half of the work is done. They drove on.
In the window that appears on the left, look for the tab " storage devices ", Open it and click" disk management «.
On the right side, information about the installed hard drives and CD drives on the computer will be displayed.
To find out the exact model of the installed hard disk on the computer, right-click on the disk as in the screenshot and select "Properties"
A window with information about the hard drive will open, where the model is indicated.
Now you know the name of your hard drive and to get more detailed information, for this we turn to the search engine and enter the model name there.
Go to the site and find out information about the disk. It's very simple, isn't it?)
Through the task manager
This method is also very easy to find out what kind of hard drive you have.
To do this, click on the shortcut "My Computer" with the right mouse button and click on "Device Manager."
We are looking for the "Disk devices" tab, open it and see the installed hard drives.
Using the Aida64 program
This method requires downloading and installing the Aida64 program, which you don't really want to do) because you can find out what hard drive is on your computer without unnecessary programs. But for those who are not looking for easy ways, this method is dedicated to you 🙂
But apart from this data, the processor and other components.
After starting the software, open the item in the menu "Data storage" -> "ATA".
