Disk recovery software. Three best programs to repair and restore hard drives. Video: HDD - "treating" bad sectors

HDD (HDD) - the most fragile element of a computer, and it is on it that your information is stored. And a situation may arise when "bad" sectors appear on the hard disk

I present to you a program for hard drive recovery. (hard disk recovery software)

HDD Regenerator - a program that performs hard drive recovery ( program to restore the hard disk). Knows how to restore "broken" sectors, don't hide them, but directly restore! The peculiarity of the work is the use of a special method of remagnetizing an unreadable sector, which allows, in many cases, to return it. To achieve the desired result, a special bootable disk / flash drive is used, which is created after starting the program. Intuitive interface in Russian.

• Key features:
  
• The ability to detect and fix bad sectors.
• The program ignores the file system, scanning the disk at the physical level, as a result of this, it is possible to work with any file system, also with unformatted and unpartitioned hard disks.
• Possibility of "direct" work directly from the OS (WinXP and older)
• Ability to create bootable disks and flash drives.

Distinctive features of the version:
Languages: russian English
Year of issue:2011

Archive size:2,5mb

It is advisable to use the program by booting the computer from a USB flash drive created after installation HDD Regenerator,but you can try reestablish hDD and throughWindows interface. Let's take a closer look at this option:

Brief instructions for use:

After downloading the archive with the program, open it. Run the fileHDD.Regenerator.v2011.exe,after installation, a shortcut to the program will appear on the desktop and an Internet page will open. We close the page and launch the shortcut. The program window will open:

If you want to run a scan and hard drive recovery directly in the Operating System - press the topmost button. A window for selecting drives appears:

At the bottom of the window, select the disk and click - "Start process" ... A warning will appear stating that the disk is in use and a proposal - for correct operation, close all programs that can use it:

We find programs that use your hard drive (antivirus for example, etc.) and turn them off ... Click - "Repeat".If we get a warning again, it means we missed something, for example, Windows 7 fast search indexing may use the disk that you want to check and repair ... However, even if you could not disable all services and programs using the disk, everything you can also use the recovery tool. Click - "Cancel"... The command line console will open:

1. scanning and viewing bad sectors.

2. scan ( with \\ without restoration eat-i).

3. view version.

4. viewing scan statistics.

We select the number we need on the keyboard and press Enter,for example - a number 2 , the scanning process will start:

At the bottom of the window, you can see the number of "broken" sectors (bad sectors) - B and the number of remanufactured (recovered) - R.

But, I repeat once again, for the maximum use of the program's functions, it is better to restore the hard disk using a bootable USB flash drive, or a CD-DVD disk that can be created after installation.

A hard drive is one of the most important and valuable parts of any computer or laptop for the user. After all, it is on it that all information is stored. In addition, the stability of the operating system and all programs depends on the failure-free operation of the HDD, because they are loaded from it.

There are tons of examples when a hard drive starts to fail. This happens both after its physical damage, and simply from old age or active use for a long period of time.

In order to prevent the final breakdown of such an important component of the PC, it is very important to notice the malfunctions in its work in time and use one of the utilities that help identify problems in the computer's operation and then fix them.

What is hard drive recovery?

Any HDD malfunction not only leads to malfunctions of the entire computer, but also threatens the loss of all stored information. Moreover, if the hard drive breaks down, very often the data itself does not disappear, but it is simply impossible to read it from the damaged media.

However, even after the appearance of "broken" sectors and clusters, due to the appearance of which most problems arise with access to the stored information, you can try to fix all errors and restore the PC to work. This process is called hard drive recovery.

Very often, problems with a hard drive can be solved without contacting specialized service centers. If the media is not mechanically damaged, you can try to restore it using special utilities. Such programs are needed for testing partitions and working with HDD. They allow you to detect and correct errors in bad sectors, bring the partition table and file system structures back to life.

As a result of an incorrect shutdown, user error, a malfunction of the OS or a virus picked up, one or more partitions of the hard drive may "disappear" on your computer. They are also sometimes shown by the system as unformatted. In this case, or if you cannot access one of the folders or certain files, try to "revive" the HDD using special utilities. But what is the best hard drive recovery software for this?

To answer this question, you should familiarize yourself with the best utilities that can solve many problems associated with hard drive malfunctions.

Program overview

There is a huge amount of software, thanks to which it is not difficult to bring a damaged or failed HDD back to life.

Here is a list of the most popular ones:

Also among the advantages of Victoria are its absolutely free distribution, high speed, the ability to run without installation, small size, support for a large number of all kinds of tests and run in AHCI mode, which saves the user from having to make changes to the BIOS before starting the program.

Photo: checking for errors and broken clusters

The disadvantages of this product include a sharp decrease in performance when running multiple copies of the utility at the same time, closed source and a large number of errors during testing Random seek.

It includes many additional features, ranging from data backup and ending with the ability to store information on the "cloud" - a separate server on the worldwide network. The only drawback is the low speed when scanning large hard drives.

It is difficult to say which of the above utilities is the most optimal for extracting data in each case. After all, for most users, the best hard drive recovery software is the one that helped save your HDD, right? For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that data recovery specialists very often use a whole set of software, including not one, but several of the above products. Nevertheless, most often users choose Victoria, it is free and easy to understand in the interface.

How to recover MBR?

MBR is the short name for Master Boot Record in various operating systems. If several operating systems were installed on the computer, then this entry may be "overwritten" when you reinstall one of them.

To restore the MBR and bring your PC back to life, just follow a few simple steps:

• take the distribution kit of the "operating system" that you want to use as the main one;
• boot with it and select "System Restore";
• after scanning and determining the configuration of the PC, a list of OS installed on the hard disk will appear on the screen, from which you will have to select the desired system;
• in the recovery tools, select "Command Prompt";
• after starting the command line, go to the optical disc with the distribution kit;
• now it remains to find and copy the original MBR to the hard drive. Typically, the master boot record is located in a folder called "boot".

After that, it remains to restart the computer and you can start working.

Seagate Hard Drive File System Recovery Software

It is advisable to test HDDs of some manufacturers and bring them back to life with the help of special utilities created specifically to work with the products of this brand. These hard drives include models from Seagate.

Photo: Seagate File Recovey interface

There are several options for software that allows you to recover information from carriers of a given brand. One of the best solutions in this area today is the utility Seagate File Recovey... It is easy to use and supports most effective tests.

Another important advantage of this software is the ability to work with both Seagate products and media from other manufacturers.

Purpose of the program

Functional Seagate File Recovey allows you to use this software to scan the hard drive, fix errors on it and restore information.

And also for solving a number of other tasks:

• the ability to scan not only hard drives, but also other media: memory cards, flash drives, and so on;
• a preview of all data that can be recovered;
• even allows you to read compressed or encrypted information.

Video: Diagnostics and HDD recovery

Program description

Thanks to the user-friendly interface, even a novice user can easily understand the capabilities of Seagate's professional recovery utilities package.

First of all, this software package attracts with its step-by-step mode, in which it is clearly and clearly shown which action must be performed as follows:

• after starting the program, it will offer to scan the hard drive and test it for errors and bad sectors;
• then you can analyze the test results and decide on further actions - perform a deeper check, read the report on corrected errors, or start data recovery;
• before you start extracting information from a damaged media, you can view all the files that have been lost, and select from them extremely important information that you want to "get".

Among the huge number of programs for recovering hard disk partitions and "rescue" lost information, there are several utilities that have proven themselves excellent. It is them that most experts advise to download. But what kind of utility to choose is up to the user himself.

Before restoring your hard drive, make sure that there is no important information on it. Let's take a WD or Seagate device as an example. If they have surface defects, then even reading the data often degrades their performance, so folders and files after recovery are often inaccessible. To save data, it is customary to first make a sector-by-sector HDD image with a special program.

It is better to run applications to troubleshoot from another computer, connecting a damaged hard drive as a backup, or boot from a recovery flash drive.

Working with HDDScan

A modern hard drive is a very reliable device, so if there was no fall, the likelihood that the disk is physically damaged is extremely small. Diagnostic utilities, when checking the hard disk, take sectors with an incorrectly written checksum for bad blocks. This is often due to a drop in power supply while recording to HDD, Seagate USB drive, WD, etc., or in general due to poor quality of power supply. But it can be treated even though the disc behaves like a dead disc. Let's start HDDScan first in test mode to determine the number of bad sectors:

1. In the main window of the program, click the New Task button, it calls the rest of the available commands;
2. Select the Suface Tests command;
   
3. In the new window, select the Read test method, leaving all user data intact;
4. Click Add Test to start testing the hard drive.

The wait will probably be long - small 250GB WD, Seagate USB drives will be tested for about 45 minutes. The scan progress can be seen in the Test Manager window by double-clicking to open RD-Read.

At the end of testing, you can see all the bad sectors found on the HDD of the computer. They are marked in red and blue. If there are any, most likely their structure is logical and they can be cured at home.

Again, the process will be accompanied by a complete erasure of all information from Seagate. So if you haven't backed up important data to an external USB drive yet, it's time to start doing so so that no new deleted data appears on your device.

The sector with such defects cannot be read and can only be restored by forced writing of zeros. This is possible in the Erase mode. HDDScan completely fills the Seagate disk with zeros, reads the information and compares it with the checksum. If after that no errors are observed when accessing the bad sector, then WD will restore its operability and the system will be able to fully use it again if all deleted data is then written to the drive. This mode is launched in the same way:

1. The Suface Test window opens;
2. The Erase method is selected;
3. Scanning starts with the Add Test button.

After that, with a high probability, all logical sectors on the device can be cured of read errors at home, and folders with information can be safely stored on the device. Physically damaged media as a result of a fall cannot be fixed by any program.

We use the advanced features of Victoria

Many people think that this free application is the best utility for resuscitating WD and Seagate HDDs that have deleted sectors. Therefore, it is worth figuring out how to carry out the hard drive recovery process using Victoria. It can be run from under Windows, but in this case the probability of successful treatment of bad sectors is greatly reduced.

This mode is more suitable for testing a hard drive.... But if you run Victoria from a bootable USB flash drive or disk, then it will most likely be able to restore or extend the life of even a completely killed Seagate HDD. In addition, a flash drive is very convenient for working with a laptop if it stops loading due to bad sectors.

The program for Windows and for installation on a USB flash drive is downloaded from the developer's website. An ISO image on a USB flash drive can be deployed using the UltraISO utility.

Testing the hard drive with Victoria

How to fix broken sectors with Victoria

The WD and Seagate hard drive recovery application works most efficiently in DOS mode, so it is best to boot the device from a previously created bootable USB flash drive with this program.

Remember to change the BIOS configuration accordingly before doing this, or use the laptop's boot menu to select the flash drive as the boot device.

Thereafter:

1. The program is loaded from the flash drive, for which in the start window select Victoria Russian for Desktop;
2. In the main window of the program, select the required disk by pressing the Latin P and moving with the "up and down" keys;
3. Confirm the selection of HDD with the Enter key;
4. Then enter the hard disk number (in the program it is called the channel number).

Press F4 to configure scan settings.

One of the biggest annoyances for PC owners can be hard disk sector corruption. Such sectors are called "broken", and the hard disk itself with such damage is said to have started to "crumble".

The ability to turn on / off the computer directly depends on the location of such damage. If the sectors where the operating system files are located are out of order, then the PC will not turn on. If we are talking about sectors where other files are located, then the user will have the opportunity to boot the machine. Depending on this feature, a method is chosen to eliminate the bad sectors of the hard disk.

What to do

With this type of damage, you need to open "My Computer" and select the desired drive with the right mouse button. Next, from the options offered, select "Properties", then "Service" and "Check". Check the box "Automatically fix system errors" and "Check and repair bad sectors". By clicking "Start", the user starts checking the hard disk for damage. After that, it is instructed to restart the PC.

In the second case, you should have a disk with a virtual operating system or a Windows installation disk at hand. To start the computer, insert the disc into the drive and turn on the machine normally. All further actions are similar to those described in the previous paragraph. When working with the installation disc, a menu will appear with the option to select the "Restore System" command. As a result, the hard disk will be checked for bad sectors, and the damage found will be repaired.

Special programs

You can also check and repair your hard drive using a program launched through the recovery console. The Recovery Console itself can be launched without a boot disk. To do this, press the F8 key and select Safe Mode that supports the command line. After the console is loaded, the partition with Windows installed on it is selected. It is necessary to ensure that the partition matches the disk, after which the administrator password is entered. After the appropriate prompt appears in the line, the disk name, route and file name are entered. By pressing "Enter" the user starts the recovery process.

Thus, when checking the "C" partition of the hard drive, you need to start the system recovery console and issue the chkdsk c: / f / r command. It is easy to prevent such a nuisance in the future - for this you need to acquire special programs, for example, MHDD. Such

In this article, we will talk about bad sectors on the hard diskwhat they are and how to treat them. But first, let's find out where they come from?

Everyone knows that the hard drive consists of clusters are miniature cells. Each of the clusters is a logical storage of information, where files are constantly written. The combination of all clusters ensures the correct operation of the entire computer.

Bad block or bad sector - This is an unreadable disk sector that contains bad memory cells.

Such a hard disk is no longer suitable for working with the operating system, but you can try to use it as an external storage device, like a "large flash drive". If you use such a hard disk for storing data, it is advisable to cut off the place where the bad blocks are located using a hard disk program. For example, Acronis DiskDirector.

Bad sector on the hard disk

The most common the reason for the appearance of bad sectors - this is the natural wear and tear of the drive, i.e. if the hard disk has been working for many years, then simply due to the large number of write and read cycles to one sector or another, the hard disk begins to slowly but surely fail. As a rule, this is more than 10,000 hours of work. This increase in the access time to the sector is manifested, that is, for a new serviceable cell it is on the order of 10-15 ms, then indicators of more than 150 ms indicate a strong wear of the drive. If one sector fails, others will soon begin to fail, which means that you should think about replacing the hard drive, or at least copy the information you need.

Why bad sectors appear - we figured it out, now we will discuss how to identify them.

Victoria

Maybe you already know about the program Victoria is a program specially created for deep diagnostics of the hard drive. Victoria is available in 2 versions: with a graphical shell and without it (DOS version).

Received Smart in Victoria program

This is already a proven hard drive, and its main parameters are shown here, i.e. data SMART... During the surface test, the response time to the request for each sector can be obtained. The time is indicated from 5 milliseconds to 1.5 seconds and higher, the less - the better, the faster our hard drive reacts.

As for Smart, here you can be guided by the number of "", the more, the better. Judging by the quantity " Hardware ECC recovered"- it's time to change the hard drive.

• 1 Raw read error rate 100 253 6 0
• 3 Spin-up time 97 97 0 0
• 4 Number of spin-up times 94 94 20 6522
• 5 Reallocated sector count 100 100 36 0
• 7 Seek error rate 87 60 30 564751929
• 9 Power-on time 83 83 0 14937
• 10 Spin-up retries 100 100 97 0
• 12 Start / stop count 94 94 20 6273
• 187 Reported UNC error 1 1 0 103
• 189 High Fly writes 100 100 0 0
• 190 Airflow temperature 55 48 45 45 ° C / 113 ° F
• 194 HDA Temperature 45 52 0 45 ° C / 113 ° F
• 195 Hardware ECC recovered 80 64 0 100816244
• 197 Current pending sectors 100 100 0 0
• 198 Offline scan UNC sectors 100 100 0 0
• 199 Ultra DMA CRC errors 200 200 0 1
• 200 Write error rate 100 253 0 0
• 202 DAM errors count 100 253 0 0

Victoria also knows how to do many other operations with HDD, up to closing sectors.

With this function, bad sectors can be closedhowever, this will only slightly delay the failure.

You can download the Victoria program on the website, it is free and does not require installation on a computer.

If, for some reason, you did not like Victoria, then there is always an alternative, and many others, such as: Active boot disk, HDD Regenerator, R-Studio etc.

Broken sectors are not treated, but closed, and their disk space will be assigned to workers.

Recovering HDD with Victoria

No matter how high quality your hard drive is, sooner or later problems may arise with it. Incorrect removal of programs, viruses and malicious applications, wear and tear - all this can lead to a breakdown of the "hard drive" and the appearance of the so-called. The latter do not make themselves felt instantly, most likely months will pass before you notice the problem.

What are bad sectors?

For a more understandable definition of a broken sector, it will not be superfluous to understand the design of your hard drive. In general, it consists of rotating magnetic disks, which are divided into tracks, and these very tracks, in turn, are divided into sectors. They also record any information that you copy to your hard drive. Disk sectors have one unpleasant property - they deteriorate over time and you lose access to them. And this process is accelerated by improper work with a computer.

Freezing of the computer when trying to access any files, long copying from one partition to another, errors and restarting the PC - all this may be the result of a large number of bad blocks on your "screw". Some of them can be corrected, and some cannot be treated. By this sign and by the nature of the damage, all broken sectors can be divided into two types: physical and logical.

• Physical problems are the result of damage (for example), dust getting inside the hard drive, and normal wear and tear of the equipment. The main thing is to understand that in such cases, which can no longer be restored. Even normal data recovery from such sectors will be a miracle;
• Logical badges appear under the influence of viruses, file system errors and incorrect writing of information to the disk (for example, a sudden shutdown of the computer while copying files or other active work). In such cases, it is not the sector's magnetic coating that is damaged, but its data. Such broken sectors are subject to treatment and can be corrected using a variety of programs at normal home conditions.

Programs for recovering bad sectors of the hard drive

Microsoft provides a built-in utility chkdsk to work with hard drives. By default, the utility only checks for file system errors, but if you add the key / fthen chkdsk will check the disk for bad blocks and try to fix them automatically. Of course, there are many alternative solutions from third-party manufacturers for checking the hard drive and fixing bad sectors that can be easily found on the Internet. Let's talk a little more about the most popular of them:

• Victoria - probably the most popular program for testing hard drives and recovering bad sectors on a hard drive. It can be used not only for treatment, but also for testing equipment. As the developers themselves note, when interacting with the hard drive, it ignores the file system and works at the level of I / O ports. This property ensures the most efficient and quality work. In addition, there are two versions of the program, one of which works directly from under Windows, and the other from under DOS. The latter is more versatile, but it is also recommended for experienced users.
• MHDD Is another popular program that works with equipment through controller ports. It also has two versions (Windows and DOS), both of which are completely free. It features a very fast speed of work, which does not affect its quality in any way. In addition, it provides complete statistics on your device: the number of on and off cycles, the number of spindle revolutions, etc. As a minus, you can count the unfriendly program interface, which will become a problem for inexperienced users.
• HDD Regenerator - a unique program that, according to the developers, can even repair physical damage. The point is that often physically damaged sectors have incorrect magnetization, which is eliminated by this program. The rest of the set of characteristics and capabilities is similar to the above utilities.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the main danger of hard drives breakdown is not in them themselves, but in the information that is stored on them. For example, if your video card is out of order, you can simply replace it. If your hard drive is out of order, then along with it all the materials that are often so important to us will disappear. Therefore, even if you do not notice signs of poor performance of your hard drive, test it from time to time. After all, trouble is much easier to prevent than to fix.

A hard drive is a fragile device. Bad sectors are damaged cells for storing information on a hard disk. After some time using the hard disk, a problem with bad sectors may occur. Therefore, it is so important to deal with the restoration of broken sectors from time to time.

This is easily done using various programs, but first you need to determine if there are bad sectors. About this, as well as how to recover the boot sector of a hard drive, see our article.

How to repair damaged disk sectors

There are many ways to recover bad disk boot sectors. Let's consider several of these methods in detail.

How to restore sectors via Windows

If it is possible to enter the OS, then restoring the hard drive will not require much effort. To do this, open the context menu of the hard disk and select the "Properties" item.

In the new window that opens, select the "Service" tab, where we click on the "Check" item. We put a tick in front of the items "Automatically fix system errors" and "check and repair bad sectors." After that, we run the check.

If the disk is a system disk, then a reboot will occur and the verification process will begin. If the disk is not a system disk, then the check will pass without rebooting.

The system itself will find all errors and carry out recovery. Then it will display statistics of the work done.

But sometimes it happens that the OS does not boot due to bad sectors.

How to recover bad sectors if the OS does not start

If Windows does not start, then you can take a disk with a virtual system and load the virtual OS. In it, all actions to restore the hard drive are performed in the same way as in the previous section.

If you do not have a virtual OS disk, then the Windows installation disk will help. After downloading it, you must select "System Restore". The recovery console will appear, where you need to select a local disk with your OS. This is usually the C: drive.

After rebooting, the console will appear, where you need to enter the command "CHKDSK [drive:]", where:

• / F is a disk check and error correction,
• / R is a search and repair for bad sectors.

After that press "Enter" and wait for the recovery to start. Then we exit the console and restart the computer. Everything is ready.

How to recover sectors using programs

To recover bad sectors on your hard drive, there are many programs that can be easily downloaded from the Internet. Let's consider their principle of operation using the example of the HDD Regenerator program.

The program restores bad sectors by remagnetizing them again. This is achieved by creating a virtual flash drive.

After installation, launch the program. In the window that opens, several options will appear in Russian. You can recover bad sectors both in the operating system itself and using a flash drive or a regular disk from the console.

The program will check the bad sectors (broken) and restore them. For the most effective use of the program, it is better to use a bootable USB flash drive or disk that is created after installing the program.

In this article, we will tell you about recovering bad sectors of a hard drive and the reasons for their appearance. Step-by-step instructions will help you prepare for this procedure and cope with it yourself.

What are broken 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 for reading and writing information. When storing data, the heads magnetize certain areas of the disk, divided into tracks and smaller components - sectors. It is in them that the units of information are stored. If the sector becomes unavailable for reading, it is called "broken".

Several signs indicate the appearance of such a problem:

• squeaks, grinding, tapping when the disc is working;
• heating of the HDD surface (in a normal state this should not happen);
• frequent errors when working and starting the operating system.

Typical reasons

The main reasons for the appearance of broken segments of the hard drive are:

Also, malfunctions of the hard drive may appear due to mechanical damage. They are often caused by dropping the hard disk or computer, damaging the magnetic surface (for example, during transportation). Non-working parts also appear due to factory defects. In this case, they may not appear immediately, but “fall down” over time, rapidly increasing their number to a critical level.

Important! If you suspect mechanical damage or marriage, you should immediately contact a specialist or exchange the hard drive under warranty.

Recovering bad HDD sectors with Victoria

If the appearance of broken segments is associated with software failures, then they can be restored using specialized software. One of such programs for recovering bad sectors of hdd is Victoria. The utility is available in two versions - for Windows and DOS. The most effective recovery will be through DOS, since when the OS is running, some sectors may be busy, which means they are not available for scanning.

Scanning

To get started, we need to do a little preparation. First, you will need a disk with a program image recorded on it or a bootable USB flash drive. If everyone can cope with recording an image, then it can be difficult to create a USB flash drive.

Let's dwell on this step in more detail:

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 the files necessary for the utility to work, it is recommended to allocate a separate folder for them.

Let's start the scanning process:

Here we need the item "Reallocated sector count", which displays the number of fragments in the reserve zone, as well as "Current pending sectors"where the parts that cannot be read are displayed. If their number is not very high, then the disk should be recovered.

Hard drive recovery

Let's see exactly how this process takes place. Problem segments can be roughly divided into two types. The first ones are not readable due to the mismatch of the information stored in them and its checksums.

This error occurs during a power outage, when new data has already been written and the checksums remain old. They simply cease to be recognized and are restored quite easily - by formatting them and writing the correct amounts.

The second type occurs as a result of mechanical damage. In this case, recovery is more difficult, but still possible. The resumption of the performance 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 - "curing" bad sectors

First, let's try to fix the bad sectors by erasing the information stored in them:

• press F4 and get to the check menu;
• in the menu for selecting operations with unreadable sectors, specify "BB: Erase 256 sect" and press "Enter".

A long process of scanning and restoring bad sectors of the HDD will start. If the program finds a bad sector, it will try to erase it, thereby correcting the error. If a mechanical defect is present, an error will be reported. In any case, you need to wait until the check is complete and then separately fix the sectors with physical faults.

For this:

Now the restore operation will work on a different principle, trying not to erase the bad sectors, but to replace them with space from the spare area.

Important! If there are a lot of such sectors, then the spare space may run out. This will be announced by a special message, and further recovery will become impossible.

After successfully recovering bad sectors on the hard drive, it is recommended to perform a full check of the file system for errors.

This can be done using the CHKDSK utility or in the following way:

Attention! For the system not only to find, but also to fix the problems, before starting the scan, select "Automatically fix system errors."

One of the biggest annoyances for PC owners can be hard disk sector corruption. Such sectors are given the name "broken", and they say about the hard disk itself with such damage ...

Naturally, accidental and deliberate deletion of files destroys previously recorded information that can be recovered using special utilities. But you can also find cases of quick or complete formatting of hard drives, when data is believed to be deleted irrevocably, not to mention damage to the hard drives themselves. What to do in this case? Here programs for hard drive recovery come to the rescue. You can download basically the simplest utilities for free. However, even they help, as they say, bring the disc to life. Consider the most popular, including both freeware and paid utilities.

How is the process of deleting files from the hard drive?

Before considering the main topic, let's make a small digression into the theoretical part and see how information is removed. There are two ways in Windows systems: deleting to the Trash and without it. In the first case, the files are simply moved to the area reserved on the hard drive, so it is easy to restore them from the "Recycle Bin".

In the second case, it occurs when the first character in the name changes to unreadable ($). If in the process of working in the clusters where such a file is located, the overwriting was not performed, the information can also be restored.

The situation is worse with fast or full formatting of disks and partitions, as well as with situations when the hard drive starts to "crumble" or is simply physically damaged. Many users mistakenly believe that it is impossible to recover files in this case, they say, only professional experts can do it. Nothing like this! If you use, for example, the same programs for recovering Seagate Barracuda hard drives, with which there were many problems at one time, anyone, even an unprepared user, can carry out such a process. Moreover, it is completely elementary.

Programs for recovering hard drives after formatting: can it be done?

In the case of a quick formatting of the hard drive, the partition tables are overwritten, and with a complete format, the disk surface is also checked, followed by the correction of bad sectors. At the same time, we are not talking about factory low-level formatting at all.

This is what allows many developers to create programs for recovering hard drives, which, as it were, perform the opposite process. This gives the very effect of restoration. But first things first.

The best hard drive recovery programs

As for the most famous utilities today, an approximate list might look like this:

• Victoria HDD;
• R.Saver and R-Studio;
• HDD Regenerator;
• Acronis Recovery Expert and Active Partition Recovery Pro;
• Hetman Partition Recovery;
• Zero Assumption Recovery.

Naturally, it is impossible to give a complete list, since today there are hundreds of such software products. But let's dwell on the above utilities in more detail.

Victoria HDD

If we consider the most popular programs for recovering hard drives and disk partitions, of course, the leadership belongs to one of the most powerful utilities of our time called Victoria HDD, developed by Sergey Kazansky.

The program has five levels of testing the hard drive, is capable of identifying and displaying bad areas, fixing errors, plotting surface condition graphs, measuring performance, etc. The operating modes also look interesting. The application can be run in a regular graphical shell, or you can use a somewhat unusual DOS mode. By the way, it is with such a test that the most powerful effect is achieved.

R.Saver and R-Studio

These two programs for recovering hard drives from a USB flash drive work just fine and are very similar to each other. They can even be used as portable versions.

The main advantage of these utilities is that they support almost all file systems known today and are able to recover data on any type of media, including even formatted or damaged memory cards.

HDD Regenerator

This utility is relatively new among all programs. It is designed specifically to restore bad sectors and, as the developers themselves say, even to reanimate the surface of the hard drive.

It uses the latest technology of the so-called magnetization reversal, which allows you to completely restore the hard drive and the information that was previously recorded on it. It works, however, only in DOS mode, which causes some bewilderment among many. In addition, the technology itself looks almost unrealistic, because some do not imagine how the surface magnetization reversal can be programmed. Nevertheless, everyone who came across it, express only admiration - the application is able to reanimate even completely "dead" disks.

Acronis Recovery Expert and Active Partition Recovery Pro

Before us are two representatives of the family of utilities for HDD recovery. The peculiarity of these applications is that they support a large number of file systems and hard drives.

In addition, they provide a mode for creating bootable media, with the help of which you can fix many problems if it is impossible to start the operating system from the problematic hard drive.

True, the first utility is paid, the second is not. But the second application is also interesting because it can be run from both DOS and Windows.

Hetman Partition Recovery

Another USB device or memory stick and the information stored on them is interesting because it can work with all types of virtual partitions. It goes without saying that data can be recovered even after full formatting.

But the most important thing is that the program can work both in manual mode and in the “Wizard” mode, which allows any user to automate the entire recovery process.

Zero Assumption Recovery

Finally, one more small and fairly simple application, abbreviated as ZAR. This program is intended mainly for recovering FAT and NTFS file systems, although it can be used for Linux as well. For Windows users, it is perfect.

But here it is worth considering that in this case we are talking exclusively about restoring information (even from bad sectors). In this case, the program on the hard disk itself does not make any corrections after analysis.

Conclusion

Of course, only the most basic programs were considered here.When choosing a program, one should be guided by the situation itself, that is, choose which operation should be applied (restoring information or eliminating failures on the hard drive itself), and only then make a decision about using this or that utility.