Program for recovering hdd drives. Hard drive recovery programs

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 surface of the HDD (this should not happen under normal conditions);
Frequent errors when working and starting the 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. They are often caused by dropping a hard drive 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 associated with software failures, 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 a bootable USB 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, but the checksums remain 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. A special message will inform you about this, and further restoration will become impossible.

After successfully recovering bad sectors on your hard drive, it is recommended to conduct a full check of the 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 to you.

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

There are many examples when a hard drive begins to fail. This happens both after its physical damage, and simply from old age or active use over 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 failures in its operation 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 malfunction of the HDD not only leads to malfunctions of the entire computer, but also threatens the loss of all stored information. Moreover, when a hard drive breaks down, very often the data itself does not go anywhere, but it is simply impossible to read it from the damaged media.

However, even after the appearance of “broken” sectors and clusters, the appearance of which causes most problems with access to stored information, you can try to correct all the errors and return the PC to functionality. 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 does not have mechanical damage, you can try to restore it using special utilities. Such programs are needed for testing partitions and working with HDDs. They allow you to detect and correct errors in damaged sectors, bring the partition table and file system structures back to life.

As a result of an incorrect shutdown, user error, OS malfunction, or a virus on your computer, one or more hard drive partitions may disappear. 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 which hard drive recovery program is best for this?

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

Program overview

There is a huge amount of software that makes it easy 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 various tests and launch in AHCI mode, which eliminates the need for the user to make changes to the BIOS before launching the program.

Photo: checking for errors and broken clusters

The disadvantages of this product include a sharp decrease in performance when several copies of the utility are launched simultaneously, closed sources and a large number of errors during testing Random Seek.

It includes many additional features, ranging from data backup to the ability to store information on the “cloud” - a separate server on the World Wide Web. The only disadvantage worth noting is the low speed when scanning large hard drives.

It is difficult to say which of the above utilities is the most optimal for retrieving data in each specific case. After all, for most users, the best hard drive recovery program is the one that helped save your HDD, right? To be fair, it should be noted that specialists in the field of data recovery very often use a whole set of software, including not one, but several of the above products. Nevertheless, users most often choose Victoria; it is free and has a clear interface.

How to restore MBR?

MBR is the short name for Master Boot Record in various operating systems. If several operating systems were installed on your computer, 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 using it and select “System Restore”;
after scanning and determining the PC configuration, a list of operating systems installed on the hard drive will appear on the screen, from which you will only have to select the desired system;
in recovery tools, select “Command Line”;
after launching the command line, go to the optical disk with the distribution;
Now all that remains is to find and copy the original MBR to the hard drive. Typically the master boot record is located in a folder called "boot".

After this, all that remains is to restart the computer and you can get to work.

Seagate hard drive file system recovery program

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

Photo: Seagate File Recovey interface

There are several software options that allow you to recover information from media of this brand. One of the best solutions in this area at the moment is the utility Seagate File Recovery. 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 Recovery allows you to use this software to scan your hard drive, fix errors on it and restore information.

And also to solve a number of other problems:

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

Video: Diagnosis and recovery of HDD

Program description

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

First of all, this software package attracts with its step-by-step mode, which clearly and clearly shows what action needs to be performed next:

after launching 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 more in-depth scan, read the report on corrected errors, or begin data recovery;
Before you start retrieving information from damaged media, you can view all the files that were lost and select from them extremely important information that you want to “get.”

Among the huge number of programs for recovering hard drive partitions and “rescuing” lost information, there are several utilities that have proven themselves to be excellent. These are what most experts recommend downloading. But it is up to the user to decide which utility to choose.

In this category it is difficult to give an unambiguous conclusion, since it is impossible to say what will help restore a hard drive without conducting detailed diagnostics. We do not advise ordinary users to try to revive the device in order to avoid negative consequences. Before starting such work, you need to study the computer’s HDD, understand its algorithms, learn how to navigate the command line, etc. Simply put, it is better to leave the matter to the professionals. Moreover, data cannot be saved from formatted disks and other media after a complete rewrite.

We recommend periodically, if you suspect a malfunction of the hard drive (files disappear or take a long time to open, Winsows XP-10 runs chkdsk before each system boot, etc.) check its surface and SMART using HDDScan. The utility can be downloaded for free; you only need to have a minimal understanding of English. She reads all the important information of the hard.

To restore data, use Hetman Partition Recovery– it will pull out as much information as possible, even if the volume is no longer displayed correctly in Explorer. A step-by-step wizard will help you complete the procedure quickly and easily. Zero Assumption Recovery or Acronis Recovery Expert from the Acronis Disk Director suite will help you troubleshoot partition structure problems. We also recommend the effective Seagate File Recovery tool, but pay attention to its feature - it is compatible exclusively with Seagate hard disk.

Let's talk a little about each utility that we think is worthy.

HDD Capacity Restore Tool saves when the disk volume suddenly “decreases” from hundreds of GB to several MB. The application is fairly simple, effective, and can restore hard drive capacity after a failure or if the laptop manufacturer initially “cut off” part of it for the needs of the subsystem.

Low Level Format Tool– a good thing for flash drives and disks, the information on which is not needed. It will not be possible to restore data after it. The main function of this program is the so-called. “low-level formatting” - rewriting both normal and damaged areas with zeros. This helps permanently erase files and improve hard drive speed by eliminating fragmentation for new data.

Program HDD Regenerator is mercilessly criticized by experts, but for “semi-pros” it is useful because it turns resuscitation of damaged partitions into an easy task. You boot from the disk/flash drive, select the drive, ask the tool to scan and restore it, and calmly drink tea. It will “cure” boot sectors and “logical problems”. This type of damage removal will not do any harm 100%; the utility itself is easy to use, but expensive.

The cohort of professional solutions consists of a trio , . The last two are extremely popular. Initially they were created for DOS, but alternative developers were able to port applications to Win, depriving only some of the “branded goodies”.

The capabilities of the +- products are the same: “low-level formatting” and re-partitioning of bad sectors (Advanced Remap). To put it simply, setting a mark about the impossibility of writing to a bad block. This will not help against a large number of “bad” devices, but if there are several dozen of them, you will extend the life of the drive.

The operating algorithms of the utilities are similar. It is better to keep on your computer due to the ease of selecting a disk, its interface is simpler than that of. But the trouble is that both projects have stopped - support for the latest hard drives can only be found in . The high speed of the programs also distinguishes them favorably from HDD Regenerator.

Summarizing the above, we note once again that it is better for beginners not to “play hard”. If problems are detected, simply restore individual files (images, audio, video, etc.) using the program Hetman Partition Recovery and take the “screw” to the workshop. If you can’t “make friends” with the solution from Hetman, the free but less effective 7-data recovery suite and minitool power data recovery will come to the rescue.

Advanced users will appreciate it LLF Tool, Capacity Restore Tool, HDD Regenerator or its cheaper analogue DRevitalize, Windows version of the popular DOS utility Victoria.

The choice of the pros is clear - these are bootable , or – a project that continues to develop in contrast to its famous “colleagues”. Updates appear regularly on the official website; developers enthusiastically continue to improve the tool and add support for new drive models.

Important things depend on the condition of the hard drive - the operation of the operating system and the safety of user files. Problems such as file system errors and bad sectors can lead to the loss of personal information, failures to load the OS and complete failure of the drive.

The ability to recover an HDD depends on the type of bad blocks. Physical damage cannot be repaired, while logical errors must be corrected. To do this, you will need a special program that works 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 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 resolve errors is to use the chkdsk program built into Windows. 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 at the physical level, even if this is stated by the manufacturer. No software can restore the surface of a disk. Therefore, in case of physical damage, it is necessary to replace the old HDD with a new one as quickly as possible before it stops functioning.

Looking for a hard drive data recovery program? Don't know how to recover a deleted hard drive partition? Do you want to recover data lost after formatting or deleting a logical partition? Is your information inaccessible after a virus attack or file system failure?

Download for free
Size: 13MB

Hetman Partition Recovery™ 2.8

The program recovers data from hard and external drives, as well as any other devices running FAT, NTFS file systems. The utility combines a set of algorithms that restore the name, attributes, file contents and the original directory structure of the disk.

In addition to existing ones, the utility finds all previously created disk partitions and displays them to the user for further analysis and search for deleted information. Supporting FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS used in Windows, the program corrects any errors in the logical structure of the hard drive and returns its contents faster than you can count to three.

$150 Price: RUB 2,999

Video

The tool is extremely easy to use. A step-by-step “Helper” and an interface in Russian allow you to quickly and safely complete the task. Get familiar with the main features and interface by watching the video.

Purpose

Hetman Partition Recovery is the flagship product. The innovative algorithm used by the company allows you to find and restore in full almost all files in the vast majority of cases.

Recovers any files deleted from a hard or USB drive, memory card or any other media device, regardless of memory size and manufacturer. The software will successfully return data lost from personal computers, laptops, digital cameras and other gadgets. Low-level internal content search algorithms will return documents in the most complex cases.

Recovers information from formatted, deleted partitions or disks after changing the file system from FAT to NTFS (and vice versa). Hetman Partition Recovery finds and analyzes any data stored on the disk. Even if the file tables are empty or completely missing, the utility will restore what was lost, using algorithms to search for information based on the “signatures” of the beginning and end of the document.

Successfully recovers files deleted using the “Shift” + “Delete” key combination, deleted by third-party software, or lost as a result of emptying the Windows Recycle Bin. Working in the “Quick Analysis” process takes only a few seconds; in the “Deep Analysis” mode, the program examines the entire surface of the hard drive and returns all available information.

Recovers information destroyed or blocked as a result of virus attacks. Viruses, Trojan horses, and other types of malicious code can intentionally destroy information or make it inaccessible by altering or deleting important system disk structures. The utility is equipped with a series of innovative algorithms that successfully extract information from infected hard drives.

Recovers information lost after system or hardware failures, physical damage, power outages or driver errors. Often, errors in the disk's system firmware (“Firmware”) lead to the deletion of important documents.

A logical drive may become damaged or inaccessible if a long-running file copy operation is interrupted by an operating system crash or power failure. The utility successfully reads information from damaged, unreadable and inaccessible disks and provides access to lost or inaccessible files.

Possibilities

This is a universal tool for successfully solving typical problems associated with data deletion; it supports both working disks and inaccessible and damaged logical partitions and returns information, no matter what causes its loss.

File formats

Returns deleted files regardless of extension:

Microsoft and Open Office text documents (DOC, DOCX, ODT, RTF, PDF, etc.);
Digital images (JPEG, PSD, EPS, TIFF, PNG, etc.);
Spreadsheets and presentations (XLS, XLSX, ODS, etc.);
Compressed archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.);
Video and audio recordings (AVI, DAT, MKV, MPG, VOB, MP3, etc.).

Recovers hard drives, external USB and SSD drives

Hetman Partition Recovery works with hard and external USB drives (IDE, ATA, SATA, SCSI, etc. interfaces are supported), as well as with any other devices connected by a USB cable to the computer.

Supports memory cards (SD, MicroSD, SDHC, Compact Flash, Memory Stick, etc.) used in MP3 players, tablets, cameras, mobile phones, smartphones, DVRs, GPS navigators.

Works with USB solid-state drives from various manufacturers (A-Data, Corsair, Goodram, HP, Kingston, LaCie, PhotoFast, PNY, SanDisk, Silicon Power, TDK, Team, Toshiba, Transcend, Verbatim, etc.).

Ease of use

The recovery process is very simple and takes place in 3 stages. By answering simple questions from the built-in “Wizard”, you will find deleted files in just a few minutes. The interface replicates the standard Windows Explorer window, which displays both existing and deleted files and folders. By moving from folder to folder and viewing the contents of the found documents, you will quickly select and save the necessary objects. Detailed documentation is fully translated into Russian.

Hard drive analysis methods

Master File Table

Documents are stored as sequences of bytes written to the hard drive one after another or randomly scattered across its surface. The logical disk driver stores records of which sectors contain information with the contents of the file in a special table. When deleting with “Shift” + “Delete” or emptying the “Recycle Bin”, the operating system marks sectors in this table as freed and available for writing new objects. The utility analyzes the contents of such a table and provides access to remote files to the user.

Disk file system structure

System errors, virus attacks, physical damage, deletion or formatting of logical drives lead to complete or partial overwriting of the Master File Table and, as a result, the loss of important documents. The program finds file tables using all the remaining system information on the disk (partition tables and their fragments, master boot record), processes and extracts the contents and service attributes of lost files.

Disk signature analysis

Often the contents of a file are saved to disk in their entirety, and the information about where it is stored is overwritten by new files. “Signature analysis” restores files based on their contents. By detecting a certain sequence of bytes on disk (for example, "49 49" or "4D 4D" for a TIFF file) indicating the beginning of the file, the program reads and displays its contents to the user. The uniqueness of the utility is that it combines all of the above recovery algorithms. The result of the work exceeds the capabilities of most specialized laboratories.

Preview and HEX editor

The trial version allows you to analyze the storage media and view the contents of files found for recovery. If the file is displayed in the preview area, it will definitely be restored in full. In addition to previewing deleted images, documents, spreadsheets, multimedia files, compressed archives, the utility includes a HEX editor. Using a HEX editor, you can see which sectors contain the contents of a remote file, as well as view service information about logical drives or the entire physical storage medium.

Hard drive recovery safety

Any operations with files (for example, creating, editing, viewing and saving) lead to changes in file table entries and to complete or partial overwriting of the contents of deleted files. If you work with a “broken” disk, every minute of work can lead to failure of the entire media and irretrievable loss of some data. Hetman Partition Recovery is designed to meet all security requirements for a professional tool for working with hard drives. The hard drive is scanned in read-only mode. The utility supports the creation and subsequent recovery of data from a virtual image, which significantly reduces the operating time of a failed disk.

Saving results

Most users have hard drives on their computers and laptops filled with valuable information: family photos, work documents, etc. When saving recovered data, you cannot use the disk from which the files were deleted. This will result in complete or partial overwriting of lost files.

It might be useful to read: