Program for fixing bad sectors. Bad sectors on the hard drive
If the computer suddenly starts to freeze, or when it boots, a check for hard mistakes disk (HDD), or data has stopped being copied normally from the HDD - all this may indicate the presence of bad sectors that need to be eliminated.
Around HDD magnetic This method creates special, logically marked areas, or rings, called tracks, divided into clusters and sectors. Information on the disk is written to sectors of 512 or 4096 bytes, but is actually stored in clusters ranging in size from 1 to 128 sectors.
A broken (damaged, faulty, bad) sector on a HDD is a place that has lost its writing or reading potential, and the operating system (OS) cannot find data in it or write information to it.
Bad sectors occur either due to physical damage to the disk surface or due to software errors and are corrected using system utilities, in particular, "Chkdsk".
These utilities recover logical sectors by matching them to an index in the MFT (master file table) file, and mark physical sectors so that they are not used by the system.
Before using the chkdsk utility, you must close all running programs, because The utility will not be able to recover damaged sectors when they are used by the system.
Step 1. To do this, you need to press “Win” on the keyboard, and hold it down, “R” (Win is located between Ctrl and Alt on the left), and in the “Run” window that starts, type “taskmgr” and click “OK”.
Step 2. In the opened “Dispatcher” Windows tasks» Go to the “Applications” tab and close all applications running in the operating system one by one, selecting them with the mouse button and clicking “End task”.
Step 4. In the window that appears, click on the “Service” tab and in the “Error-Checking” segment, click the “Check Now” button.
Step 5. The Check Disk dialog box will appear on the screen. If you need to check and fix only bad sectors, disable the “Automatically fix errors” checkbox file system"(top point).
Step 6. Click the “Start” button to begin the process of checking and fixing bad sectors.
Step 7 If the HDD being checked is boot disk for the OS, “Chkdsk” will offer to perform the selected procedures the next time it starts. Click “Yes” as the answer.
The next time the system boots, a blue window with a countdown (timer) will appear. There is no need to press any buttons during this time. As soon as the countdown reaches zero, the disk check will begin. After it is completed, the computer will reboot on its own.
When "chkdsk" completes the task of repairing bad sectors hard drive, it will create a report about it. A code of "0" means that no errors were found during the disk scan, and a code of "1" means that errors were found and corrected.
Important! If the disk check process fails, it means that there is a problem with the disk and it is important to create it to protect the data backup copy. In Windows XP and Windows 7, there is a utility built into the operating system called NTBackup for these purposes.
Fixing bad sectors in Windows 8 and Windows 10
Step 1. Open File Explorer Windows combination Win+E, right-click on the icon of the required HDD, and click “Properties”.
Step 2. Go to the "Tools" tab and click "Verify" (you may need to enter administrator account information at this step).
Step 3. The error checking scanner will tell you whether the hard drive has bad sectors or not. If no errors are found, the application will still allow you to run a search for errors on the disk. Click “Scan drive”.
Step 4. You will be able to use the disk during the test. If errors are found, they can be corrected. At the end of the disk scan, the system will issue a report on the results. Click "Close".
Reference! Despite the fact that Windows 8 and 10 allow you to use OS applications while the utility is running, this is not recommended to avoid interrupting the scanning process.
If the HDD has physical wear on its sections, there are “unstable” sectors, etc., the OS may “freeze” when the above-mentioned utilities are running. Forcibly interrupting their work can damage OS system files.
Important! Damage system files OS requires latest download successful configuration OS (using the F8 button) or Windows recovery from the installation disk.
Despite the fact that there are no physical bad sectors, except for markings with using chkdsk, it is possible to reassign them (in English remap) or cut them off.
Determining the location and volume of bad sectors using the Victoria program.
Step 1. Install and run the Victoria program under account administrator. Select the Standard tab in the window. If there are several HDDs in the system, select the required one with the mouse on the right side of the window.
Step 2. To determine the location of bad sectors on the HDD, go to the “Tests” tab and click “Start”.
The example shows that from block No.771093375 there are:
- “candidates” with a read delay of 600 ms, there are 190 of them in the example;
- There are 8 bad sectors (Err) in the example. Just below the counter shows the figure 376507 MB (376 GB).
You can also see that from the 376 GB point you can cut off everything HDD space to its end, cutting off the bad sectors grouped here in one place.
Reference! In the presented example, the start of hard disk scanning (Start LBA) is set manually from block No.750000000. When conducting a test scan of “your” HDD, this value does not need to be set.
The HDD shown in the example has an exact capacity of 465 GB, and the calculation of the cut volume will look like this: 465-376=89 GB. In this case, it is better to cut off the disk volume with a margin - for example, 100 GB, for the possible appearance of additional bad sectors in this area.
Trimming HDD using AOMEI Partition Assistant
To increase the speed of trimming bad sectors on the HDD to “acceptable”, it is desirable that it does not contain partitions at this time. Important data from the disk must be copied, if possible, before starting the procedure.
Step 1. Install and run the program. In the main window, select required HDD and click “Delete partition”.
Step 2. Select the “Quickly delete partition” option and click “OK”.
Step 3. Click "Apply".
Step 4. In the next window, click “Go” (you may need to restart the OS). The partition removal process will begin.
Step 5. An unallocated area (Unallocated) will appear in place of the disk. Select it and click “Create partition”.
Step 6. In the window that appears, click the “Advanced” button.
Step 7 In "How to create" select "Primary partition". When creating a disk, move the slider with the mouse by a certain amount, leaving an undistributed area where the bad sectors will be located.
Click OK.
Reference! The program has right and left sliders (delimiters). The delimiter that is required in the specific case of trimming the hard drive is used. In the example presented, the right slider is shifted to the left by 100 GB.
Step 8 Click "Apply".
Step 9 Click "Go".
Step 10 Click "Yes".
The process of creating a partition on the HDD will begin.
As a result, a partition will be created on the HDD, at the end of which there is unallocated space (Unallocated area) with bad sectors.
Using the Remap function in Victoria
If the bad sectors marked in the program are not grouped nearby, but are distributed throughout the HDD, the remap function present in Victoria can help.
The remap function repeatedly writes to the problem sector, and if these attempts are unsuccessful, the sector is replaced by assigning its address to a healthy sector taken from a special place on the HDD.
Reference! In this technical situation, it is necessary to create bootable usb drive(flash drive) containing the Victoria program, and after booting from a USB drive via DOS, it will get rid of bad sectors on the HDD.
In the video below you can see how these steps can be implemented in practice.
Video - Trimming a hard drive from bad sectors REMAP, Treating BAD sectors of HDD
Checking the HDD for bad sectors
After treating bad sectors, you can find out whether there are still . To do this, you need to manually run the “Chkdsk” check.
Press “Win+R” on the keyboard, and in the “Run” window that opens, type: chkdskH:/F/R, and “OK”.
Reference! Instead of “H” you need to type the letter of the person being checked hard section disk. The /F flag starts fixing file system errors, and the /R flag starts searching for bad sectors.
If no bad sectors are detected, at the end of the work “chkdsk” will display in a special window information about 0 KB located in bad sectors.
Physical damage to the HDD is often caused by defects in its manufacturing, overheating, scratches due to impacts, dust, etc. Software (logical) bad sectors are caused by a software conflict, viruses, sudden termination of a program or OS, including due to power problems.
Eliminating situations that could cause damage to HDD sectors will allow you to maintain the integrity of important data and avoid purchasing a new HDD if its physical resource is exhausted.
Video - How to remove bad sectors on a hard drive
You are reading this article because your HDD is experiencing problems or you accidentally came across a title that interested you. In either of the two cases, it will be useful to know what hard check disk for bad sectors and how to do it. As usual, let's start with terminology. A disk sector is a unit of information storage, the smallest possible. A damaged sector is one that is unreadable due to the fact that it contains a faulty cluster (cell). By the way, on the Internet you can also come across the terminology – bad sector or block. Speaking about bad sectors, we immediately note that there are two types: physical and logical, they arise for the following reasons.
Physical bad block – cannot be restored:
- moisture/dust ingress - led to clogging;
contact of the HDD head with a moving pancake and, as a result, damage; - With regards to SSDs, wear and/or overheating of the microcircuit, as well as moisture ingress may be the cause;
- Factory defects are also possible, especially among inexpensive and little-known manufacturers.
Logical bad sectors - can be fixed, since part of the hard drive does not work correctly:
- incorrect shutdown power supply / power cable while data is being written to HDD, so the operation cannot be completed and is aborted;
- virus attack;
- malicious software.
So, when accessing them, the OS cannot read the information and displays an error code, in result Windows will report that the sector is damaged and cannot be further used for storage. The problem of logical bad sectors is solved by low-level formatting, using built-in Windows utilities and third-party software. Below are more details about each possibility.
Built-in tools
Examination HDD hard disk to bad sectors, as already mentioned, is carried out in a number of ways, let's start with the built-in Windows tools 7.
CHKDSK
Before using check disk, let's use disk check - many have probably already used this service.
If the check indicates errors, it will immediately offer to correct them.
Now let's use a deeper check using the check disk command, which literally translates to disk check:
The chkdsk command has a number of parameters, such as:
- “/F” - check for errors and fix them automatically;
- “/V” - during disk scanning, display the full paths and names of files stored on the disk, also for disks with NTFS partitions;
- “/R” - searches for bad sectors and restores the contents, used with “/F”;
- "/X" - dismounts the volume before checking if necessary, used with "/F". As well as a number of other parameters.
Checking the flash drive for bad sectors is also carried out, let’s use the “/F” and “/R” keys:
Third party software
Today there is a lot of software that allows you to check the hard drive for the presence bad sectors, but we will look at proven software. Check program external hard HDD to bad sectors, is performed using the same means as regular disk. All instructions indicated are suitable for all types of memory, both stationary and connected via USB port.
Victoria HDD
Program Victoria HDD is one of, dare we say, legendary.
Designed to check the disk; shows full information: model, functions, size and much more. It also performs a surface test to determine the presence/absence of bad sectors. Let's check a hard drive or SSD disk for bad sectors in Windows 7 with Victoria. First, you need to download the installation package from our resource, the fact is that it is not possible to download from the official website, since support is more limited this product is not implemented.
Use only proven resources; I would like to note that no installation is required and no additional components should also not be part of the archive. After successfully downloading the software, let's proceed to use.
Wait for the result and look at the performance indicators of the screw, so if “GOOD” is highlighted green, then there is no point in worrying about the operation of the device, but if “BAD” is indicated, then it is worth taking action, but more on that later.
In addition, pay attention to the “Health” column, translated from English as health, and in general, the number of dots and their color will say a lot. It is also worth paying attention to the “VAL” parameter - the higher the number, the better, then “Wrst” or “Worst” - displays the lowest attribute value for the entire time of operation. The “Tresh” parameter is a threshold value for “Val”, and one of the most important “Raw” - displays a quantitative indicator, as in the example indicated by field ID 5 “RAW” - Reallocated sector count indicates the number of rejected and reassigned from the reserve area disk sectors - in in this case 1. If the number were much higher, you would start to worry.
Let's go to the “Tests” tab → click “Start” → wait for the result.
HDDScan
Another program for checking bad sectors of an SD card and any media is HDDScan. You can download it from the official website.
No installation required, but executable file open on behalf of the machine administrator.
By the way, by clicking on the same button with the image of a screw → “Identity Info”, you can get the full identification information about the device.
Next about the tests, select “Butterfly Read”. 
Here the data will be read into the internal buffer and transmitted through the interface, saving it in a temporary software buffer. Thus, the total indicators of data transfer time and block recording are measured, and readiness is determined after each write, according to the results. Testing is also sequential, from minimal to maximum block.
As for the two remaining tests, they work as follows:
- “Read” - measures the total indicators of disk readiness time and information transfer for each block with results. Testing is also sequential, from the minimum to the maximum block.
- “Erase” - here the total block record and information transfer time are measured, and displays the readiness for each record with the results. Testing is also sequential, from the minimum to the maximum block.
HDD REGENERATOR
Checking a disk for bad sectors in Windows 7 is also done using HDD REGENERATOR software. I would like to immediately note that it is paid and on English language. Free demo version available on the official website
Next, follow the screenshots step by step to install. 
Let's start checking:
At the top of the window, click on the long active text “Click here to repair...”, in the program status bar we see information that this copy is not registered and that only 1 sector can be restored. 
Next, if a window appears with important message, translated into Russian literally sounds like this: “The system has detected SATA controller, working in AHCI mode. For better performance it is recommended to change it to compatible mode IDE (in BIOS). Reboot your computer to manually change the controller settings in system BIOS?. It's up to you here. 
In order to show the possibility of work, I will connect an external screw and click in the main window again on the active link with the text “Click here to repair...”, having already selected the connected screw:
In the results table we see the following indicators:
- “D” delays sectors – shows the sectors where the reading delay occurs or is completely erroneous.
- “B” bad - bad sectors.
- “R” is turquoise, recovered – restored.
- “N” new bad sectors appear – new bad sectors appear.
- “R” is burgundy color, bad sectors reappear - bad sectors that reappear during re-scanning.
By pressing the spacebar, we will exit to the main menu, and by pressing any key, we will exit this report. 
Now let’s select scanning with the possibility of recovery, step by step in the screenshots. 
Recovering bad sectors
So, the hard drive has been checked for bad sectors in Windows 7, and now it is necessary to restore the data. I’ll say right away that in general, complete recovery of bad sectors is possible from MS DOS with a bootable flash drive. But let us show how full version Victoria HDD can correct the situation.
As soon as the list of bad sectors is displayed, go to the “Tests” tab:
So we assigned the program an algorithm to force data to be written to the bad sector of the hard drive, and several attempts will be made. As a result, either the bad sector will become healthy, or it will be replaced by a healthy reserve one, by the way modern models There are enough of them, but if the screw begins to crumble, it’s time to take action.
Long life to your HDD!
Have a great day!
· The system slows down, even if it has just been installed.
· BSOD appears when working in Windows OS ( Blue screen of death).
· The system does not start at all.
· Can't install the operating system.
· Inability to work with the disk because the files cannot be opened
· When working with external hard drives files cannot be opened.
Sector bits (BAD) are sectors located on the surface of the hard drive that are difficult to read or not readable at all.
As a rule, the reason why a hard drive starts to perform poorly is bad sectors.
There are 2 types of bad sectors - some are caused by physical impact to the surface of the hard drive (surface scratches), others are a result of software errors, they are called logical bad sectors.
Only “Logical” bad sectors can be corrected. In order to correct such blocks, it is necessary to overwrite them with zeros (the so-called low level formatting), and in the future you can continue to work with such sectors.
Reasons for the appearance of bad (BAD) sectors
The reasons why “Logical” bad sectors could appear is a sector of the hard drive that does not work properly, namely, does not respond to system requests (it cannot be read or cannot write data to it). When the system operates with such a sector, the system tries to access this block in order to obtain data for processing information, but the sector does not respond or responds incorrectly, in this case the system marks such a block as not working (broken) and will not access it again in the future appeals.
The reasons why “Physical” bad sectors could appear is the surface of the hard drive, with which the head could come into contact and cause a small light scratch (this can happen if the drive is shaken or hit while it is in use), or the surface could be damaged by dust or moisture that got inside the drive. In the case of SSD drives, bad sectors can appear as a result of wear, overheating of the chips or moisture. Broken sectors that were discovered after such physical impact cannot be corrected.
Ways to fix bad sectors
In order to fix bad (BAD) sectors on your PC or laptop and restore normal work hard drive, you need to use third-party programs.
You may also have heard about utilities built into the Windows OS that supposedly can help fix such blocks, but the most they can do is mark such sectors as not working and not access them again. I also do not recommend using any programs that offer to fix bad (BAD) sectors under Windows. This type of program works with hard drive accessing it while fixing blocks, so using such programs does not provide much of a guarantee that the bad sector will be fixed.
Consider 2 programs that are most likely to be able to fix bad sectors and restore the functionality of your hard drive.
MHDD Program
We can also zero out all sectors that are on the surface of our hard drive. We will completely erase all information from each block, and we will be able to bring the speed as close as possible work hard drive to its factory state. In order to carry out the procedure of mashing each hard block disk, you must enter the command “Erase” in the line, agree to all warnings and wait for the end of the low-level formatting process.
Having completed the procedures described above, we can easily get rid of “Logical” bad sectors.
What to do with “Physical” bad sectors? For this purpose, the hard drive manufacturer provided reserve space (reserve sectors), which can be replaced with broken ones. Modern hard disks they do Remap on their own if such a sector suddenly appears on the surface, but sometimes they skip them, which is why the operation of the laptop or computer drive slows down. In this case, you can resort to the “REMAP” program function.
The “REMAP” option, when a bad sector is detected, tells the hard drive firmware that when reading or writing a given block, the drive accesses the backup sector, replacing the bad one. This method good if there are not many bad sectors (no more than 50-70).
In order to repartition bad sectors using MHDD programs, you need to enter the command “SCAN”, in the window that appears, select the item “Remap” and set its value to “ON”, after that press key “F 4” and watch the scanning process. We carry out this procedure only after we have tried to zero out the found sectors, so as not to mistakenly mark “Logical” broken blocks, as "Physical".
Also for large quantities bad sectors The last option for hard drive repair is to reduce the volume. This way we can cut off a part of the disk that has very a large number of“Physical” bad sectors, sacrificing disk space.
In order to do this procedure you must enter the command “HPA" and specify the values for trimming the drive.
The first value that needs to be specified in the future will be the end of the hard drive. The drive is trimmed from the end. The value is 10,000 more than the number of the last bad sector, which is displayed in the status line. In my case, this value will be 380515. 
Victoria program
The Victoria program is similar to the previous program, but has slightly wider functionality; you can read the article on how to use, how to install and how to run this program.
After installing and launching the program, select the hard drive we need (if you have 2 or more).
After selecting, press the “F 4” key; in the window that appears, we are interested in 2 items.
1. In the first paragraph, select “Linear reading”, this configuration will alternately read and write all blocks of the hard drive. We select it, as it will most accurately show the presence of bad sectors
2. In the second paragraph, select “BB: Erase 256 sect”. By selecting this option, when scanning and detecting bad sectors on the surface of the hard drive, the program will try to erase such a block. This method will only fix “Logical” bad sectors.
After selecting the necessary parameters, press “Enter" and monitor the progress of the scan.
After the scanning is completed, but the bad sectors remain, you need to use the “ Remap” function.
To do this, we follow the same steps, press the “F 4” key and in the field where Ignore Bad Block is installed, set “Advanced Remap”. This parameter can help even if regular Remap is powerless, this is the advantage of the Victoria program over the previous one. After selecting the desired parameter, press “Enter" and monitor the progress of the scan.
Conclusion
By performing the above operations with your damaged hard drive, you can bring it as close as possible to its factory condition. The suggested programs should help you repair and restore your drive, but there are times when hard drives cannot be restored. The reason for this is a large number of “Physical” bad sectors that have taken up all the reserve space and there is nowhere to re-partition them; in this case, it is necessary to copy all the information to another location and replace the drive.
In this article we will talk about recovering bad sectors of a hard drive and the reasons for their occurrence. Step by step instructions will help you prepare for this procedure and cope with it yourself.
What are bad sectors?
Let's take a quick look at the structure of the hard drive. It consists of several separate disks, above which there are magnetic heads designed for reading and writing information. When storing data, the heads magnetize certain areas of the disk, which is divided into tracks and smaller components - sectors. It is in them that units of information are stored. If a sector becomes unreadable, it is called “broken”.
Several signs indicate the occurrence of such a problem:
- creaks, rattles, tapping when the disk is operating;
- heating the HDD surface (in in good condition this should not happen);
- common errors during operation and startup operating system.
Typical reasons
The main reasons for the appearance of broken hard drive segments are:
Also, malfunctions in the hard drive may occur due to mechanical damage. Often leads to them fall hard disk or computer, resulting in damage to the magnetic surface (for example, during transportation). Non-working parts also appear due to manufacturing defects. In this case, they may not appear immediately, but “crumble” over time, quickly increasing their number to a critical level.
Important! If you suspect mechanical damage or defects, you should immediately contact specialists or exchange the hard drive under warranty.
Recovering bad HDD sectors using Victoria
If the appearance of broken segments is due to software glitches, then they can be restored using specialized software. One such program for recovering bad hdd sectors is Victoria. The utility is available in two versions - for Windows and DOS. Recovery via DOS will be the most effective, since when the OS is running, some sectors may be occupied and therefore unavailable for scanning.
Victoria HDD - diagnostic program
Scanning
To get started, we will need to do a little preparation. First, you will need a disk with a program image recorded on it, or bootable flash drive. If everyone can cope with recording an image, then creating a flash drive may be difficult.
Let's take a closer look at this step:
Note! The program takes up very little space, so after installing it, the drive can be used to store other information. To avoid accidentally deleting files necessary for the utility to work, it is recommended to select a separate folder for them.
Let's start the scanning process:
Here we need a point "Reallocated sector count", which displays the number of fragments located in the reserve zone, as well as « Current pending sectors", where parts that cannot be read are displayed. If their number is not very high, then the disk can be restored.
Hard drive recovery
Let's figure out exactly how this process happens. Problem segments can be roughly divided into two types. The first ones are not readable due to a mismatch between the information stored in them and its checksums.
This error occurs during a power outage, when new data has already been written, and checksums remained old. They simply cease to be recognized and are restored quite easily - by formatting them and recording the correct amounts.
The second type occurs as a result of mechanical damage. In this case, recovery is more difficult, but still possible. Restoring the functionality of such parts is carried out through the use of reserve areas that are on each hard drive.
We begin to recover each of these types of errors.
Video: HDD - “healing” bad sectors
First, let's try to fix bad sectors by erasing the information stored in them:
- press F4 and get to the verification menu;
- in the menu for selecting operations with unreadable sectors, indicate “BB: Erase 256 sect” and press “Enter”.
A long process of scanning and repairing bad sectors of the HDD will begin. If the program finds a bad sector, it will try to erase it, thereby correcting the error. If there is a mechanical defect, an error will be reported. In any case, you must wait until the check is completed and then separately correct the sectors with physical defects.
For this:
Now the recovery operation will work on a different principle, trying not to erase bad sectors, but to replace them with space from the reserve area.
Important! If there are a lot of such sectors, then the reserve space may run out. This will be reported special message, and further recovery will become impossible.
After successfully recovering bad sectors on your hard drive, it is recommended to full check file system for errors.
This can be done using the CHKDSK utility or in the following way:
Photo: checking the disk for errors
Attention! To ensure that the system not only finds, but also corrects problems, before starting the scan, select “Automatically fix system errors.”
The methods described above will help you easily deal with non-critical cases of problem sectors, find and fix them. By following our instructions exactly, any user can do this on their own, even without computer education. We hope that this information was useful for you.
From hard state important things depend on the disk - the operation of the operating system and safety user files. Issues such as file system errors and bad blocks can lead to loss of personal information, failures to load the OS and complete failure of the drive.
Opportunity HDD recovery depends on the type of bad blocks. Physical damage cannot be repaired, while logical errors must be corrected. This will require special program, working with bad sectors.
Before running the healing utility, it is necessary to carry out diagnostics. It will allow you to find out if there are problem areas and whether you need to work on them. We have already written in more detail about what bad sectors are, where they come from, and what program scans the hard drive for their presence in another article:
You can use scanners for built-in and external HDD, as well as a flash drive.
If, after checking, the presence of errors and bad sectors is discovered, and you want to eliminate them, then special software will again come to the rescue.
Method 1: Using third-party programs
Often users decide to resort to using programs that would handle errors and bad blocks at the logical level. We have already compiled a selection of such utilities, and you can familiarize yourself with them using the link below. There you will also find a link to a lesson on disk recovery.
When choosing a program for HDD treatment, approach it wisely: if used inappropriately, you can not only damage the device, but also lose important data stored on it.
Method 2: Using the built-in utility
An alternative way to troubleshoot errors is to use the built-in Windows programs chkdsk. It can scan all drives connected to the computer and fix any problems found. If you are going to fix the partition where the OS is installed, then chkdsk will start working only the next time you start the computer, or after a manual reboot.
To work with the program, it is best to use the command line.
Please note that none of the programs can fix bad sectors on physical level, even if this is stated by the manufacturer. No software can restore the surface of a disk. Therefore, in the case of physical damage needs to be replaced as soon as possible old HDD to a new one before it stops functioning.