It says the hard drive is damaged, what should I do? Recovering a laptop hard drive

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Often faulty hard The laptop disk can restore its functionality. This is true when failures occur file system, surface defect. If the cause of the failure is abnormal operation of the mechanical part - the engine, the head unit, then it is unlikely that you will be able to repair the laptop’s hard drive yourself.

How to cure a HDD if the file system fails

The simplest program that can restore a hard drive with a faulty file system is CHKDSK, which is natively present in any version of the Microsoft OS. To run the utility:

Go to the properties of the desired section by clicking on it right click;
Go to the “Service” tab;
Click on the button prompting you to check;
In the next window, set the parameters by checking the boxes that allow errors to be corrected automatically.

You can run the application from the command line by entering chkdsk c: /f (if the “C” partition is system). If you are scanning a system partition, it will only be possible upon restart, and Windows will notify you about it.

Recovering laptop HDD with Victoria program

If the laptop constantly freezes even when loading the OS, then the media is probably damaged and it makes sense to immediately turn to the Victoria application to test and repair the hard drive. In the presence of large quantity bad sectors The device may not boot at all, making it impossible to cure the device in a running OS. Therefore, you can proceed as follows:

Create a CD with Victoria to boot or a flash drive;
Boot the system from it;
Test on bad blocks HDD;
Get rid of bad sectors in DOS mode.

It’s unlikely to work under Windows, but when the HDD is damaged, you can test the hard drive in this way.

Launch Victoria in DOS mode

Victoria is free program, so the ISO CD image is available on the official website.

From this image you can create bootable media and restore the hard drive if it is damaged. Further:

Boot your device from bootable media(if the laptop is new, then be sure to disable Secure Boot in the UEFI BIOS);
When the first Choose menu window appears, do not touch anything, wait a couple of seconds.

In the next window, select vcr35r from partition 0 using the arrow keys on your keyboard (the mouse will not work).

In the next menu, press Enter, highlighting the second item Victoria 3.5 Russian for Notebook.

This way you can open Victoria and restore the HDD, if it is damaged, in DOS mode, booting from the created CD.

How to work with Victoria

In the main program window that opens, you can press F1 to open help or P to select the hard drive.

You can exit the Help window by pressing any key. Let's continue working:

The most important line here is Reallocated Sector Count at number 5. It indicates the number of reassigned blocks to sectors of the backup track. Their number is finite and reserve sectors may run out. Then there will be nowhere to reassign bad sectors - information will begin to be lost. Therefore, if the number opposite this line is highlighted in red, then the condition of the hard drive is very bad- it is clearly damaged.

Fixing bad sectors

Open the scanning menu and make the necessary settings. To recover your hard drive:

Press F4, a menu will open.
The first two points - Start LBA with a zero value and leave the End LBA number unchanged. These are the addresses of the sectors of the beginning and end of testing, that is, the HDD will be tested from beginning to end.
Leave the next item for selecting the reading mode also unchanged - this should be linear reading, the most accurate and fastest test.
The next Victoria setting is the most important. This is the choice of how to fix bad blocks. For simple test you need to select the Ignore Bad Blocks mode. To automatically correct all detected bad blocks, select the BB = Advanced REMAP mode.
Next, select Change end of test and press Enter, scanning will begin.

When selecting BB mode = Advanced REMAP program writes to a bad sector and if this succeeds, the sector is removed from the list of bad blocks - it was successfully cured. Otherwise, the diseased sector is replaced by a healthy one from a special reserve track.

Problems with hard drives on your computers always arise spontaneously. Main indicator possible problems with HDD - time! Yes, time is not only a “doctor”, but also an absolute destroyer!

Signs indicating problems with “tin” are very banal.
Firstly, these are strange sounds that occur while your hard drive is running: squeaks, clanks and other sound effects.
Secondly, this is the heating of the surface of the hard drive case: as you know, a normal HDD does not heat up at all (well, at most its surface is slightly warm).
Thirdly, frequent crashes of the operating system: this indicates great amount damaged sectors of your hard drive (clusters).

As you can see, friends, there are quite a few reasons. How to solve a problem? There are two solutions:

buy a new hard drive;
try to “cure” the old one.

Let's consider option number two, that is, let's try to restore the damaged sectors of our HDD drive. So!

Recovering damaged hard drive sectors

First, you should know the reasons that are the catalyst for the occurrence bad sectors on HDD:

improper shutdown of the computer;
viruses and Trojans;
incorrect removal of programs and games.

These reasons are the most common. Of course, your hard drive will not immediately show its “disease”, because bad sectors accumulate over quite a long time (six months to a year). But the time will definitely come and your “hardness” will give you an unpleasant surprise! And to prevent this from happening, you should check your HDD from time to time for the number of damaged sectors and “heal” these same bad sectors.

How to do it? There is nothing complicated in the procedure, since it is as simple as three pennies. Go to “Start - My Computer”. Place the cursor on any local disk and right-click. A menu will appear in which you select the last line “Properties”. By clicking on “Properties”, you open the “Properties: system disk (drive letter)” window. There, in this window, you see several active tabs - click on the “Service” tab. You see: three sections have appeared and in each section there is active buttons? In the “Check the disk (Check the volume for errors)” section, click on the “Check the volume” button, and then check the “Check and repair bad sectors” and “Automatically” system errors».

Next, click on “Launch” and wait for the process to complete. Warning: Troubleshooting process hard drive can take a very long time! This directly depends on the condition and “age” of your hard drive. Therefore, do not panic if your disk is being “treated” for several hours in a row: this is normal for old or heavily damaged HDDs. Attention: if your broken disk (for example, C) is in this moment busy with work, the OS will prompt you to check sectors the next time the system boots. We agree, click “Ok” and restart the system. That's it: now your disk has begun to “heal”. All you have to do is wait for the process to complete. After this, we check the disk for adequacy: we try to launch programs and applications, and monitor the speed and quality of execution. But still, it should be taken into account that the old hard drive will sooner or later be covered with a “copper basin”! Therefore, if your HDD is old, be prepared to replace it. Good luck!

One day it may turn out that a PC or laptop refuses to start the Windows operating system or freezes during important and urgent work. Hard drive errors when Windows work- not the last reason for computer failure. However, any problem can be corrected if you know what its cause is.

The essence of the disk problem

Whether it is a traditional hard drive or a newfangled SSD drive, a critical error appears anywhere on it. Disk error - physically or software damaged sectors, system infection Windows viruses, failures in PC components (from parts of the drive itself to components of the computer motherboard). The user's task is to figure out what caused the errors on the disk.

How to fix hard drive problems detected by Windows

Hard drive problems are unspecified errors on it that are not signed with a numeric code (for example, error 11). First of all, the media from which it is proposed to copy valuable data is indicated.

Windows warns you that your data could be seriously damaged

Action plan:

Urgent copying of important files to another storage device: flash drives, disks, memory cards, placing some of these files on cloud Internet services.
Checking the disk for bad sectors.
Antivirus scanning.
Checking the CMOS/BIOS settings on your computer.
PC maintenance: checking the integrity of the cables, external inspection of PC components and cleaning them.
If you find faults that you could not fix on your own, take your PC or laptop in for repair.

The last two points will not be considered - this is the task of specialists at computer service centers.

Backing up files in Windows 7

Do the following.

Click "Start" and search bar main Windows menu enter the word "archiving". Launch the Backup and Restore application. Click on the first option offered - this is the backup wizard
Start setting up your archiving program. Click "Customize" backup».
Get started setting up your backup
Select the disk or partition where backups will be created. External drives and flash drives or large-capacity memory cards (from ten gigabytes) are best suited.
Select another, healthy and working disk
Click on "Give Windows a choice." However, if you have clearly decided what you need first of all, choose independent option.
If you give the system a choice, Windows will copy the contents of all custom folders default
Select system folders user files and/or the contents of copied disks - except for the disk on which the copy will be created.
Select everything you want to copy except the destination drive
Windows will ask for confirmation and display the categories of files being sent to backup storage.
After this, the system will ask you to double-check the settings and start copying

To restore files from a backup, do the following:

The process will start. After the copying is complete, check if everything has been restored.

Click the link that appears to view a list of files and folders from the previous copy

Checking the disk using the Windows 7 command line

Disk scan identifies logically or physically problematic sectors of the hard drive or SSD drive, which is the main one in the computer. Do the following:

If you still don’t trust standard disk checking tools, use the Victoria program. The Victoria version for Windows is almost identical to the version for DOS - with one exception: after downloading it, you can immediately run it to check the disk running another working system Windows without resorting to other disks, including removable ones.

Also get a new disk - in case the old one has outlived its usefulness.

Checking your PC for viruses

Boot viruses spoil boot entry and the NTFS(5) file table, with which Windows 7 works. Because of this, valuable data that is not easy to recover with special utilities, as well as the system itself, “fly”.

As an example, use the Dr. utility. Web CureIt, which allows you to quickly check your hard drive for malicious code.

The application takes up more than 100 MB - due to the extensive antivirus database of all times. After two days of work, this database is considered outdated - viruses appear almost hourly.

If an error appears when starting Windows

The computer refuses to boot from the hard drive, reporting an error reading system Windows files.

To try to resolve the hard drive read error, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

Professional way To eliminate such an error - a third-party utility for checking the disk from the boot Windows media or another operating system (if there is a version of this utility for it).

Checking the disk using built-in tools hides some details, although its use is not useless.

What makes no sense to do:

restore the Windows system to an earlier date;
run automatic recovery;
launch safe mode Windows.

Setting up the BIOS to boot your PC from a flash drive or external drive

Change to BIOS priority booting the PC from different drives. Do the following (the Award BIOS version is taken as an example).

When you turn on the computer, after the manufacturer's logo appears (or immediately below it), a prompt line to enter the BIOS will appear - press this key.
Press the key indicated at the end of the list of devices scanned when turning on the PC
After entering BIOS Setup, select “Integrated Peripherals”.
To enter component management, select Integrated Peripherals
Check if the USB port controller is active.
USB Controller Enabled means that the USB controller is enabled
If USB support is enabled, exit this submenu using the Esc key. If disabled, enable USB support using the Page Up\Down keys (the meanings of all keys for managing BIOS settings are revealed below), then exit by pressing Esc.
Mainly BIOS menu select "Advanced" BIOS settings».
Go to the advanced BIOS settings to control how your PC boots from different media types
Enter the priority menu hard drives and turn on the flash drive as the first boot disk.
To configure the system, the boot order from media must be changed
Use the "+" or "Page UP/Down" key to assign the flash drive first boot device.
The first place in the boot list should be a flash drive.
Exit this submenu by pressing Esc and set USB drives as the first device to be launched.
Set the USB-HDD parameter in the First Boot Device section (First boot from a USB drive)
Exit all submenus to the main BIOS menu and press F10 to save the settings.
When a message appears asking the BIOS to save settings, press Y and Enter
Give the command “Y” - “Enter”, the computer will restart.

Now, when you restart the PC, it will first poll the ports for the presence of a flash drive or removable hard drive (HDD/SSD) - and only then try to start Windows from the built-in disk.

Checking a hard drive from a flash drive running the Victoria program

For example, we took a ready-made flash drive with Victoria under DOS and a laptop with a faulty disk. Do the following.

Insert the USB flash drive and restart the PC. Should come out boot menu with Victoria.
In the window that appears, select Victoria
Victoria app can offer different versions- select the version for laptops.
In the Victoria for Notebook section, select the second option
If you want to familiarize yourself with Victoria's functionality, read the key help by pressing F1.
First, find out how to run different functions Victoria program by pressing F1
To exit the help, press the X key or any other key that is not in the list.
To exit the help, press X and go to Check Disk
From the main menu, press F2 to display disk information. If this does not happen, press the P key to select the channel IDE interface, on which the disk “sits”. All modern PCs are equipped with hard drives SATA drives.
In the window that appears, select Ext. PCI ATA/SATA and press Enter
After selecting the channel type, enter its number, for example, 1. If there are no other hard drives, the following numbers will be empty, there is no point in entering them.
Busy channels in the program are immediately visible - enter the channel number of your disk and press Enter
Wait until Victoria detects the disk on channel 1.
A message indicating successful channel detection will appear at the bottom
If your disk turns out to be IDE-based, go back to the interface selection submenu and select one of the options Primary/Secondary Master/Slave (English: “Primary/Secondary Main/Auxiliary disk”) - check on the disk itself what position it is in switch. IDE is obsolete - modern SATA-based drives do not require switching. The Primary Master mode is taken as an example.
Select the mode with the cursor keys and confirm the selection with the Enter key
The disk details will appear at the bottom. Press F2 to display information.
The channel port number is attached to the disk information
Initialization (passport data) of the disk shows that its recognition by the Victoria application has been completed.
After the disk is fully initialized, you can start checking it
Press F4 - the disk scanning menu will appear. Here LBA is a disk sector (512 bytes). We multiply the number of LBA sectors by 512, divide by 1024 3 - we get the size in gigabytes. The size of the disk area being scanned in Victoria for DOS should not exceed 1024 GB. If the size is more than 1 TB, calculate the beginning (Start LBA) and end (EndLBA) and scan the disk in several stages.
Check that the disk size does not exceed 1 TB
Press the spacebar and enter an integer number in gigabytes or percentage - this will determine the location of the last sector in the scanned area. The scanning start point is also changeable - similarly calculate the size in gigabytes. When you're finished typing, press Enter.
Enter the last gigabyte that will end the scanned disk area
The size of the scanned disk area will be recalculated into the number of LBA sectors. Go to linear reading. Do not change this reading algorithm to another (random and “floating” reads will take longer and wear out the already old disk more).
Select the program's linear disk scanning mode
Go to the next item and select “BB (Bad Blocks) Advanced Remap”. Options are selected using the left/right cursor keys or the space bar.
Select the BB Advanced Remap option - it will use sectors from the spare area
Don’t rush to set the “Erase 256 sect.” algorithm. (“Erasing 256 adjacent sectors”) - in place of one problematic sector, 128 KB of data on the disk will be erased. In this case, the size of the destroyed information will be multiplied by the number of “broken” sectors - depending on the proximity of each of these sectors to each other throughout the scanned area of the disk. Try other sector recovery options first! Press "Enter" to start scanning.

That's it, the process has begun, the Victoria application will notify you of completion with the sound of a beep on the computer. When bad sectors are found, “remapping” (reassignment of sectors) will be automatically performed.

Replacing bad sectors with with the help of Victoria-one of the effective ways to temporarily fix a hard drive

The future operation of the disk can be predicted based on SMART monitoring data. Press F9. The status will be indicated at the top. If it is “Good”, there is still a reserve for replacing bad sectors. The status has changed - the disk will be replaced with a new one. If it is not possible to replace the disk, try to programmatically trim it, excluding the bad sectors from the cropped area (often they are close to each other, many of them in a row), but this is for those who like difficulties.

The Good status indicates that the disk is in good condition.

Other ways to check the disk

There are several options:

using other applications recorded on a flash drive in a similar way (DOS boot loader);
scandisk.exe utility launched through DOS using the appropriate commands;
team Windows string XP running from LiveCD/DVD;
connecting the problematic drive to another computer via a free cable.

Video: checking and trimming “broken” space

Error 11 when writing or unpacking data

The “11th error” has nothing to do with damaged sectors on the disk. 90% of this software problem. It occurs when installing unverified programs that have installation sources that were compiled by the developers with some omissions. The message is generated by the system library unarc.dll, which is responsible for unpacking content for any installed program and is one of the components of the “ Windows Installer».

Error code 11 can be replaced by any code from 1 to 10

Some users, not understanding the problem with the source code of the installed program, update or replace this file (it “lies” in the C:\Windows\System32 directory) with any version of it from the Internet. As a result, Windows may report that some files have been replaced with unknown versions, and require you to insert an installation DVD or flash drive to restore them.

The solutions to the problem are as follows:

try not to allow Russian names of files and folders in installed applications. For example, instead of the \Truckers-2 folder, when installing the game “Truckers-2”, the \Rig&Roll folder is created. If, after all, the directory name is written in Cyrillic, it means the game is from a dubious source, download the licensed one (hacking the version does not matter, as long as it is file structure, as in the licensed source);
There is not enough disk space (in any of its partitions) for the program to be installed. Clean the disk from unnecessary programs, documents and other content;
error unpacking archives downloaded from the Internet. Install several archivers (for example, WinRar, WinZip, 7zip and several others);
disable your antivirus and Windows firewall- sometimes they become an obstacle, especially if any application or game requires crack (activator with key selection).

Other hard drive errors

They may be:

3f1 (the error is inherent in HP laptops);
300 (boot record not detected);
3f0 (no boot disk);
301 (SMART disk health diagnostic error), etc.

Video: checking partition C: and flash drives for errors in Windows 7/8/10

Restoring the functionality of a PC or laptop in the event of disk failures is not a problem if you act wisely and consistently. May you be lucky!

IN modern computer There are only two types of units with moving parts left: cooling system fans and hard drives - “hard drives”. The presence of plates and a block of magnetic heads in the hard drive, which rotate at enormous speed, makes this device very vulnerable to mechanical stress, as a result of which errors and fatal damage may occur on the disk. How to test a disk in a timely manner, detect errors and in what cases they can be corrected, and when it’s time to go to the store for a new hard disk - important question. Take it seriously, because money cannot buy missing data.

Hard drive malfunctions and troubleshooting at home

A lot of thick books have been written about hard drive reading errors, there are a dozen specialized forums, and even a specialty has appeared as a “data rescue service engineer.” In order not to get lost in this ocean of information, let us firmly understand one thing: there are two types of errors that arise - software and hardware (“hardware”).

Hardware errors occur for several reasons:

physical damage to the surfaces of the hard drive due to impact or movement with high acceleration;
malfunction computer unit power supply, due to which the increased voltage burns out electronic components controller;
banal age, because the hard drive is in constant motion, and the life of bearings, motors and solenoids is limited.

Errors of this type cannot be eliminated at home. All we can do is track their occurrence in time and try to save the data before the disk completely fails.

But software errors can be corrected at home, and you don’t have to be an engineer or a computer guru. The nature of these errors is almost always related to a deferred write failure. The whole point is that operating system, and the hard drive controller use cache memory. Before reaching the magnetic surface, your data ends up in the cache, because its speed is several orders of magnitude higher than the speed of magnetic recording. Once the cache is full, it is paged out to magnetic disk. And if before the cache is written, your electricity is turned off and there is no UPS, then the controller will already reserve space on the disk for data, but will not have time to write it. As a result, we will get errors in the file system and directory system. In the worst case, so-called SoftBads are formed - disk sectors that are problematic according to the logic of the controller, but are physically perfectly functional.

UPS - source uninterruptible power supply- helps to avoid hardware failures when sudden shutdown electricity. At a minimum, it gives time to shut down the computer correctly.

Types of disk errors encountered in Windows 7

The most unpleasant, but at the same time the most easily eliminated errors are problems with boot sector disk (MBR) and errors in accessing the hidden system partition. The reason for their occurrence lies in incorrect installation of the operating system, use software for hard drive management or incorrect drive connection. The latter happens if the disk is often removed from the computer for use as removable storage.

Disk read error when booting Windows 7

Among all the mistakes, this is the worst. It occurs immediately after turning on the computer and passing the tests, but before loading the OS. But there will be no download; instead, we will see a disk read error on the screen.

Correcting this error using the operating system is impossible, since the system will not boot. We will need an OS emergency recovery disk, or even better, a flash drive. Before starting treatment, a few words about how such errors occur.

On every computer with the Windows 7 operating system, the hard drive contains an MBR (Master Boot Record) - the master boot record. There is located small program, which starts further loading of the operating system. Starting from operating version 7 Windows systems, boot files located on a separate disk partition, hidden from the user. It is to this that the MBR transfers control.

Thus, if the MBR is damaged, we see a “disk read error” on the screen. If the hidden system partition is damaged or contains errors, the error will be slightly different.

Both options can be a consequence of both actions malware, and unqualified user intervention. The latter most often happens either when using disk partitioning programs (Partition Magic, Paragon Partition Manager), or when trying to install a second operating system, and a lower version. For example, when Windows installation XP on a computer with Windows 7.

An attempt to install a lower version of an OS on a computer than the one already installed will, with 100% probability, result in the impossibility of booting from the hard drive, since the MBR will be corrupted.

Restoring the disk's functionality in both cases will occur according to a similar algorithm. We will need Windows distribution 7 or an emergency recovery disk of the same system. It is better to create a disaster recovery disk in advance, label it and keep it handy. To do this you need from the website Microsoft download and install Media utility Creation Tool, which, after launch, will automatically download from the network necessary components and will create bootable media.

MBR recovery

Recovering an active partition (hidden system drive)

Almost certainly, while playing with a disk partitioning program, you assigned the status “active” to some partition, which automatically removed this status from our system partition. Bring everything back in the program with a beautiful graphical interface You can do it in a couple of mouse clicks. The only problem is that the program, along with the operating system, remained on that disk, which now does not load. And again the command line will come to our aid.

Repairing Windows bootmgr and boot store configuration files (BCD)

In rare cases, along with the MBR, the playful hands of the experimental user (this is not about you and me, old man?) demolish the operating system boot loader and boot storage configuration files, i.e. everything that is in root directory hidden system partition. Or rather, it was lying there. Fortunately, Microsoft employees have foreseen this development scenario. The emergency recovery disk includes utilities that will allow you to cure the system partition. Let's get started:

Disk Error 11 in Windows 7

This error usually occurs when there are problems with the cable that connects the hard drive, or with the hard drive controller on the board. Physical damage to the disk surface is also possible. The main symptom is that the speed of disk operations drops to indecent levels. When copying large groups of files, the process may freeze for 10–15 seconds.

When viewing the event log, the controller to which the patient disk is connected produces error 11. Then it gets worse: the computer suddenly begins to freeze and reboot, and not the first time. The algorithm for solving the problem in this case is as follows:

Open the computer case and inspect the integrity SATA connectors on motherboard and hard drive controller board.
We inspect the computer's power supply - it should not be hot or have a burning smell.
If knowledge allows and there are instruments, we measure the voltages of the +12V and +5V lines on the computer that is turned on. A deviation of 1–1.5V is already a reason to sound the alarm. The power supply needs to be replaced.
SATA cables must be firmly held by the connector and not dangle.
Checking the surface of the hard drive standard means operating system:
- open “My Computer” on the desktop and in the file explorer we see a window with a list of disks;
- select the disk that needs checking with the right mouse button, call context menu and open “Properties”;
- go to the “Service” tab and select the “Run check” action in the disk check section;
- enable the checkboxes “Automatically correct system errors” and “Scan and repair damaged sectors”;
- Click the “Launch” button and wait for the test results.
Using the Victoria for Windows program, we conduct an extended SMART test and a drive speed test over the entire surface:
- download the program from the network;
- run from an administrator account or with administrator rights;
- select the disk to check and press the red “Pass” button;
- Go to the “Smart” tab and click the “Get Smart” button. The program will display the Smart attribute table. For each attribute we are interested in the extreme right column tables - “Health”. If the value is in the red zone, then the condition of the disk is critical and needs to be replaced;
- To conduct a surface test, go to the Test tab, select the reading test (read) and click the Start button. We are waiting for the test to finish. The presence of deep dips in the reading graph means damage to the surface and the presence of reassigned sectors;
The presence of 5–10 orange or red sectors in the “legend” indicates that the hard drive has physical surface damage. It's time to buy new disk and transfer important data to it.

It should be noted that despite the high variability of the causes of the error, in most cases it warns of physical damage hard drive or its wear. In this case, performing surface tests with high load on a hard drive can provoke an avalanche-like formation of “bad” sectors and even make the disk unreadable. Be sure to back up important files before testing.

Video: checking the hard drive with Victoria

Windows has detected a hard drive problem

This is the message the user sees most often. It appears after each incorrectly completed work session (the computer rebooted due to an error, a power outage, or the owner simply pulled the cord out of the outlet instead of shutting down normally). Even kicks on the body of the system unit standing under the table do not leave a mark. The case is inexpensive, there is no vibration isolation from the hard drive, and all shocks are transferred to the patient. And in modern HDDs, the recording density is such that even a slight touch of the heads to the surface of the disks - in normal mode, the heads fly above the surface on a cushion of air - leads to micro-scratches of the surface. Areas are formed to which the controller can no longer write data.

This is even more true for laptop disks. The recording density in them is higher than in desktop ones, the mechanics are lighter and have less strength. Impatient owners fold up the laptop and begin moving it without waiting for the system to fall asleep and the hard drive spindle to stop.

In such cases, deferred write errors (rewriting the disk cache onto the magnetic surface of the disk) 100% occur, and the next time you boot, the operating system displays a message about problems. In addition, each such error changes SMART attributes hard drive, and when their number exceeds a threshold value, the system signals a critical disk error.

If you see a window with the error “Windows has detected a hard drive problem”:

A damaged drive can be used as external storage for low-value data: movies, music, audiobooks - things you don’t mind losing. A complete failure of such a disk can occur at any time.

A hard drive is a complex electronic-mechanical device, and it is the mechanical component that makes it so vulnerable. That's why Account in popular cloud service (Google Drive, DropBox, YandexDisk) and regularly copying important data there will allow you to sleep peacefully and not tear your hair out if your equipment fails. And the future belongs to solid-state drives (SSD), their price has already dropped enough to install such a drive as a system drive.

You have become familiar with the most common cases of hard disk errors in Windows 7. Various file system damages are left “overboard” and are not visible. logical drives and file directories. Recovering such errors requires special software and a thorough knowledge base. For the average user, in this case, the most reasonable thing is to turn to specialists. If their verdict is “it’s time for the disk to be scrapped,” then don’t wait until the last minute to buy a new drive and transfer data. After all, a fatal failure can occur at any moment, and you will be left with nothing.

Read, How to fix the error: “The disk structure is damaged. Reading is impossible,” as well as the reasons for its occurrence. How to recover data from a disk if the error cannot be corrected. Don't have access to your hard drive, memory card or USB flash drive? Are you getting an error when accessing the disk? Read how to fix the error: “The disk structure is damaged. Reading is impossible."

Ways to solve the problem:

You may encounter Windows reluctance to grant access to your hard drive. The system may freeze while Explorer is accessing the device, or simply shut down the Explorer program. These symptoms indicate that the storage device is damaged and requires replacement, or that an important device is damaged. system information, such as MFT or partition table.

Often such errors appear on removable media such as memory cards and USB flash drives however, you may encounter this error on a magnetic hard drive or SSD drive. Let's look at what to do to overcome the problem and recover data from an inaccessible device.

If there is any problem associated with the loss of information, it is necessary to determine the functionality of the device. If the device is completely broken, then it will not be possible to fix it and return data using software. But do not rush to draw conclusions before conducting comprehensive testing and diagnostics of the disk.

Disconnect and reconnect the device

In case of external media information, this process is as simple as possible. Disconnect the memory card or flash drive using safe removal devices. Swipe visual inspection USB port or card readers. If there is dust, water or burnt contacts, clean the device or use a different port or card reader for connection. Connect the flash drive or memory card again.

For built-in hard drive or SSD, the shutdown procedure is also quite simple. Disconnect your computer or laptop from power, then unscrew the screws on the cover or side panel and disconnect it. Locate the hard drive and disconnect the power and data cables from it; you may need to unscrew the hard drive from the case for ease of operation. Carefully inspect the drive and both cables for mechanical damage. The reason for the drive's inaccessibility may be a broken cable; if possible, test connecting the drive to a different cable. Both cables must be securely snapped into the drive.

Important. Operations of connecting or disconnecting a disk must be performed with the computer's power completely turned off. In the case of a laptop, you must also remove the battery.

Reinstall the device driver

Remember that updating the device driver or firmware may lead to loss of information, so make a backup copy of your data first. Also, you should not update the disk on which the operating system is installed.

To update the driver, remove the device from , to do this, right-click on the Start button and launch the application.

Expand the disk partition, then right-click on the problematic disk and click "Delete".

Wait for the disk to be removed and start searching for devices. To do this, select from the main menu Action – Update hardware configuration.

The system will detect a new device and offer to install the driver. Use the disk manufacturer's driver if the driver is working, installed Windows errors occurred.

Run CHKDSK (Check Disk)

Windows OS offers a tool to check the disk and fix logical errors and bad sectors on it. This tool is called Disk check or CHKDSK. To start, right-click on the problem disk and select Properties. Then go to the tab Service And click the Check button.

You need to run the scan from a user with administrator rights. Depending on the size and type of drive, the scan may take several hours.

As an alternative to using the built-in utility, you can use the Victoria program. For more information on how to use the program, watch the video:

Checking the disk if Windows won't boot

If errors in the operation of the system disk prevent booting Windows 10 you can run the scan using the recovery environment. After 3 unsuccessful attempts to boot the system, the computer will launch the recovery environment automatically. You can also use the disk to run recovery tools. See all the ways to enter the recovery environment in our video:

After downloading, launch the command prompt, which is located in the recovery options and enter the command:

CHKDSK /r [HERE IS THE PROBLEM DISK LETTER]:

Wait for the operation to complete and restart your computer.

Checking using Disk Manager

If the system boots successfully and crashes while Explorer is opening the My Computer folder, you can hide the problematic disk from the system. This will unlock File Explorer and you can back up the files you need.

To do this, right-click on Start and select Disk Management. You can do the same by running the DiskMgmt.msc command in the Run window.

Select the problematic partition with the right click and select “Change drive letters and paths...”, then click "Delete" and confirm. This will hide the drive from File Explorer and allow you to access your system normally. Beware of deleting a letter from the system partition, it won't work.

Recovering data from a damaged disk

If none of the methods listed above helped restore the disk to functionality, you can recover data using Hetman Partition Recovery. Launch the program and specify a physical device as the scan target. The utility will analyze the disk and display a list of files available for recovery.

You can view the contents of the files and select the ones you need to save to a working disk. When restoring data from a failed disk, it is necessary to take into account that at any moment all information from it can be completely lost. Especially for this purpose, the program has developed a function for creating a disk image. After creating the image, you can disconnect the problematic media and continue working with the virtual image without fear of complete disk failure.

To create an image, select the problem disk in the program and click the Save disk button located on the main panel. Specify the path to store the image file and wait for the operation to complete.

To connect a virtual disk to the program, click the Mount disk button and specify the path to the image file. After this, another new disk will appear in the program, and you can select it for analysis. For more information about data recovery, watch the video.