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Program for external hard drive. Programs for hard drive recovery: review of the best

If the HDD makes strange sounds or there are problems with writing and reading information, you should use one of the programs to check the hard drive for errors. Depending on the task (checking the disk surface for damage, searching for bad sectors, correcting errors, etc.), different software may be useful.

You can quickly check the disk for errors using standard system tools, but to restore the hard drive you will need special third-party programs. Having learned how to check the health of a hard drive using various utilities, a user of any level will be able to cope with any problems that may arise.

CheckDisk System Service is the simplest hard drive diagnostic program that can't find complex errors or fix bad sectors, but is useful for fixing basic problems. It is available on all versions of Windows OS and can be used to check drives of any type. All users need to know how to check a hard drive for errors with this tool.

The graphical interface version of the utility is most convenient for novice users. You can launch it through the disk management menu, which can be accessed in two ways:

in Windows XP/Vista/7 - select “Manage” in the context menu of “My Computer”, then go to the desired menu;
in Windows 8/10 - press the Win+X combination and select the appropriate item.

In the window that opens, select the device that needs analysis, right-click on it and select “Properties” from the drop-down menu. By going to the “Service” tab, you need to run the hard drive diagnostic program.

The system will check and automatically correct errors if the disk is in this moment not busy with reading or writing processes. Otherwise, the program will offer to test after rebooting the PC. If necessary, in the scan results window you can see detailed information about the HDD status.

The GUI version does not always help, since it is sometimes necessary to check the status of the hard disk safe mode or without starting the operating system at all. In such cases, the console comes to the rescue; you can launch it before the system starts using a boot disk.

Once you open the recovery console, you need to run the chkdsk /f command, which will check all connected drives. In some cases, this will help fix the error. However, in most situations, if a HDD failure has made it impossible to start the system, a more in-depth check of the hard drive’s condition will be required.

To take advantage console command from inside the system you need:

run command line(via Win+X or by entering cmd in the Run window);
enter the chkdsk command indicating the letter of the partition being checked and additional flags;
Confirm the operation by pressing Y.

Checking the HDD via the command line will be a little faster than using the GUI version of the program; the results will be shown here in the console.

The Linux system also has standard tools - hdparm and smartctl, launched from the console.

Simple programs for quickly checking HDD

If standard utilities are not suitable, hard drive diagnostics can be carried out using simple third-party programs. They allow you to obtain more information about the health status of the HDD, but in case of serious problems they will not be suitable, since they cannot be used to fix the damage.

HDDScan is a free program that performs analysis in two modes:

according to S.M.A.R.T. indicators;
linear processing.

The tool evaluates the read and write speed of various sectors, marking the “slow” cells. During the analysis, the program ensures that the tested hard drives do not overheat; at the end of processing, the user is presented with a full report.

HDDScan good versatility. The utility allows you to check disks for errors, regardless of the type of device: you can use it to check how external hard disk, and analyze a RAID array, SSD drive or memory card.

Crystal Disk Mark has only one function - it evaluates the read and write speed. Despite this, it is often used, since it is still possible to check the hard drive for serviceability using just two indicators.

The test uses different algorithms, one of which is sequential recording mode. The program gradually fills all the space on the drive with blocks of a size specified by the user, after which it cleans the HDD. The same technique is used by hard drive manufacturers to check product quality. Its disadvantage is that it accelerates the wear of SSD drives.

CrystalDiskInfo And DiskCheckup They are similar in their set of functions, differing only in the interface. They check the status of the hard drive using S.M.A.R.T. algorithms and compile a history of checks, which allows you to track the dynamics of changes. CrystalDiskInfo has more options for visualizing history. For example, you can create a graph, not just get a written report.

Another feature of these programs is a convenient notification system. In-depth hard drive tests usually take a long time. If the user needs to step away from the computer, he can enable notifications of critical HDD errors via E-Mail.

Programs from hard drive manufacturers

Some HDD manufacturers have developed their own utilities for analyzing the status of the hard drive. They are intended for use with devices of the same name; diagnosing a hard drive from another company is possible with their help, but this must be done carefully. Unlike more simple programs, these utilities have versions on different languages, including in Russian. Which program is better to analyze the HDD status?

The proprietary program from Seagate exists in two versions: a standard version for running under Windows and a DOS version in ISO image format, from which you can make a bootable USB flash drive. It is recommended to use the second option, since the check in this case will be more accurate and efficient.

SeaTools uses part of the S.M.A.R.T indicators. to test the hard drive without giving away details about each item. Three tests can be performed:

short self-test of HDD;
short rapid test;
a long-term check in which all sectors are read sequentially.

As the scan progresses, the program automatically corrects any errors found.

Owners of WD hard drives should know how to check performance hard drives using proprietary software from this manufacturer. The range of its capabilities is similar to that of the program from Seagate, but is somewhat expanded and allows for more in-depth work with the affected device.

There are two additional functions:

deep disk formatting - the program writes zeros to all sectors, permanently destroying information;
blocking access to bad sectors - the program marks bad blocks, excluding recording new information in them.

Unlike SeaTools, this HDD diagnostic program can be freely used with devices from any manufacturer to check the hard drive for errors - no problems were identified with this.

Deep testing software

If you need not only checking the hard drive for errors, but also correcting bad sectors, you cannot do without sophisticated software that carries out the most in-depth analysis of the HDD state.

Victoria HDD

According to many users, Victoria HDD is the best software for detecting hard drive problems. The program gained this reputation due to its wide range of functions.

Victoria exists in two versions:

with a graphical shell for use from inside Windows;
with a DOS shell to create a boot disk.

It's better to use the second version. HDD diagnostics outside the system allows you to achieve best results, so it is always recommended to follow the principle “if possible, test the disk from the boot disk.” As a last resort, you can use a LiveCD of another OS, for example, a Linux distribution like Ubuntu.

Victoria HDD has a variety of functions:

quick and complete disk scan;
reassignment of bad sectors and their restoration;
checking the status of contacts in the IDE or SATA cable;
equipment performance analysis;
viewing S.M.A.R.T. indicators.

When checking, you need to pay attention to the access time to sectors. It should not exceed 200-600 ms. You can also view the temperature of the disk during operation, but this is not so important.

HDD Regenerator

HDD Regenerator is a program for professional hard drive recovery. It not only marks bad sectors as unused, but also tries to revive them. For this, not the standard deep formatting method is used, but its own algorithm based on transmitting signals to the sector different levels. Despite its professional level, inexperienced users can also use this software, since testing a hard drive with its help is not difficult thanks to its convenient Russian-language interface.

Program features:

ensuring data safety - it works only in read mode;
support for different file systems;
the ability to scan the disk surface;
real-time monitoring.

The program is not suitable for everyone, since you can check your hard drive for functionality for free, but you will have to pay $90 for the sector recovery function.

If you don't want to pay, you can use TestDisk, a free program that can restore the partition table, boot sectors and MFT. It also detects bad sectors, can recover deleted information and fix file system errors. The only drawback is the lack GUI, you have to work from the console.

If, after checking the HDD and correcting all problems, the computer does not stop working incorrectly, it is worth checking the registry. Perhaps the failures are caused not by hardware failure, but by internal system errors.

Often the standard tools offered by the system are not enough to work with the hard drive. And therefore we have to resort to more effective solutions that allow us to obtain detailed information about the HDD and its partitions. The solutions discussed in this article will allow you to familiarize yourself with the operations applied to the drive and its volumes.

Thanks to its tools, AOMEI Partition Assistant is one of the best programs of a kind. Wide functionality will allow you to efficient setup hard disk volumes. In addition, the program makes it possible to check a specific section for errors. One of interesting features– this is transferring the OS with all installed software to another hard drive or SSD.

Writing an image file to a USB device is also supported. The interface is endowed with a pleasant graphical shell. Despite a large number of useful functions, the program is available for free use, which makes it even more popular. At the same time, it is possible to download the Russian version.

MiniTool Partition Wizard

This software has powerful functionality that allows you to merge, split, copy partitions, and a number of other functions. MiniTool Partition Wizard is completely free and available for non-commercial use only. The program provides the ability to change the disk label, and when creating a partition, the cluster size.

The surface test operation allows you to detect bad sectors on the HDD. The ability to convert is limited to only two formats: FAT and NTFS. All tools for working with disk volumes are placed in a very convenient way, so even an inexperienced user will not get confused.

EaseUS Partition Master

A program that opens up many possibilities when working with a hard drive. Among the main ones: disk cloning and importing the OS from HDD to SSD or vice versa. Partition Master allows you to copy an entire partition - this function is suitable if you need to create a backup copy of one partition to another.

The program has a convenient interface in which all operations are located in the left block - this allows you to quickly find the function you need. The peculiarity of EaseUS Partition Master is that it can be used to hide a specific volume by deleting a letter on it. Creating a bootable OS is another interesting and useful tool.

Eassos PartitionGuru

Convenience of working with Eassos PartitionGuru is achieved primarily due to its simple design. All tools are located on the top panel. Distinctive feature lies in the ability to build a virtual RAID array. To do this, the user just needs to connect drives to the PC, from which the program itself will construct a RAID.

The available sector editor allows you to search for the desired sectors, and hexadecimal values are displayed in the right block of the panel. Unfortunately, the software is supplied in an English trial version.

Macrorit Disk Partition Expert

A pleasant interface displays functionality, which is divided into sections. The program allows you to scan your PC for bad sectors, and you can configure the disk space to be scanned. Conversion of NTFS and FAT formats is available.

Macrorit Disk Partition Expert is free to use, but only in the English version. The software is suitable for people who need to quickly set up a hard drive, but for more efficient work It is recommended to use analogues.

WonderShare Disk Manager

Program for implementation various operations With hard drive, allowing high-quality data recovery. Compared to other similar software, Macrorit Disk Partition Expert allows you to deeply scan partitions for lost information.

You can trim and merge hard disk volumes without losing files stored on it. Other tools will allow you to hide the partition if necessary or convert the file system.

Acronis Disk Director

Acronis Disk Director is one of the most powerful programs with a set of functions and operations for managing hard disk partitions and more. Thanks to the capabilities of this software from Acronis, users can recover lost or deleted data. Among other things, it is possible to defragment the volume and also check it for file system errors.

Using mirror technology allows you to save a backup copy of a partition selected by the user. Acronis Disk Director offers the use of a disk editor, which makes it possible to find a lost cluster, taking into account the fact that the execution environment for this operation displays hexadecimal values. The program can be safely used to carry out the most efficient work with the HDD.

Partition Magic

A program that allows you to perform basic operations with a hard drive. The interface is largely reminiscent of the standard Windows Explorer application. At the same time, among the tools located in the graphical shell, it is easy to find what you need. The advantageous feature of Partition Magic is that it allows you to select multiple active partitions, each of which has its own separate OS.

You can also use file system conversion services, two of which are supported: NTFS and FAT. You can resize the volume and merge partitions without losing data.

Paragon Partition Manager

Paragon Partition Manager pleases users with an interesting set of functions and purposes for their use. One of them is connecting a virtual disk image. Among them, image files are supported, VMware and other virtual machines.

A noteworthy feature is that it allows you to convert HFS+ file system formats to NTFS and vice versa. Other operations are basic for partitions: trimming and expanding. A large number of settings provided by the program will allow you to customize all the functionality to your liking.

The software solutions considered have unique potential, each in its own way. The powerful tools of the developed software make it possible to save disk space and prolong the life of the hard drive. And the function of checking the HDD for errors allows you to prevent critical errors in the operation of the drive.

Naturally, accidental and intentional deletion of files destroys previously recorded information, which can be restored 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? This is where hard drive recovery programs come to the rescue. You can download mostly simple utilities for free. However, even they help, as they say, to bring the disk to life. Let's look at the most popular ones, including both free and paid utilities.

How does the process of deleting files from a hard drive work?

Before considering the main topic, let’s make a short digression into the theoretical part and see how information is deleted. In Windows systems, there are two ways: deleting to the Recycle Bin and without it. In the first case, the files are simply moved to a reserved area on the hard drive, so restoring them from the Recycle Bin is as easy as shelling pears.

In the second case, the first character in the name changes to unreadable ($). If during work in the clusters where such a file is located, no overwriting was performed, the information can also be restored.

The situation is worse with quick or complete formatting of disks and partitions, as well as with situations when the hard drive begins to “crumble” or is simply subject to physical damage. Many users mistakenly believe that it is impossible to recover files in this case, saying that only professional experts can do this. Nothing like this! If you use, for example, the same programs to restore Seagate Barracuda hard drives, which at one time had many problems, anyone, even an untrained user, can carry out this process. And it’s completely elementary.

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

In the case of a quick format of the hard drive, the partition tables are overwritten, and with a full format, the disk surface is also checked and bad sectors are then corrected. In this case, we are not talking about factory low-level formatting at all.

This is precisely what allows many developers to create programs for restoring hard drives, which seem to perform the reverse process. This gives the same recovery effect. But first things first.

The best hard drive recovery programs

As for the most famous utilities today, a sample 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, lead full list impossible, because today there are no such software products you can find hundreds. But let’s look at the above utilities in a little more detail.

Victoria HDD

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

The program has five levels of hard drive testing, is capable of identifying and displaying faulty areas, eliminating 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 flash drives 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 capable of recovering 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 for restoring bad sectors and, as the developers themselves say, even for resuscitating the surface of the hard drive.

Applies here latest technology 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 confusion among many. In addition, the technology itself looks almost unrealistic, because some people cannot imagine how a surface can be remagnetized using software. Nevertheless, everyone who has encountered it expresses only admiration - the application is able to revive even completely “dead” disks.

Acronis Recovery Expert and Active Partition Recovery Pro

Here are two representatives of the family of HDD recovery utilities. 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 which you can fix many problems if starting the operating system from a problematic hard drive is impossible.

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

Hetman Partition Recovery

Another USB device or memory card and the information stored on it 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 “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 designed primarily for restoring FAT and NTFS file systems, although it can also be used for Linux. For Windows system users, it is perfect.

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

Conclusion

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

To work with hard disk partitions (dividing into partitions or combining them into one), the Windows 10 operating system has a built-in utility “ Disk management" Its use, in my opinion, is preferable to installing any third-party tools. You can read how to split a hard drive using Ten’s own means or, conversely, combine its partitions in separate articles on this site: divide And combine. But sometimes situations arise when it is quite difficult to do without third-party tools.

This article was written in response to questions from site readers who had problems dividing a hard drive or merging its volumes. The Disk Management utility built into Windows 10, despite all its advantages, has its drawbacks: sometimes it does not allow you to create a partition of the required size, sometimes it does not allow you to split your hard drive at all, sometimes it is not possible to combine the necessary volumes into one. In these problematic situations(and only in them!) I recommend using a third-party one, even if free program for managing hard disk partitions in the "top ten". It is worth remembering that using any third-party tool to manage the operating system can be potentially dangerous. I am not inclined to dramatize the situation, but I believe that I am obliged to warn about it, even if the probability possible problems is one chance in ten thousand. Therefore, whenever possible, it is better to still use the Disk Management utility built into Windows 10, developed by Microsoft.

When I was preparing this article, I spent several hours of time to find a truly completely free, reliable and reputable program for dividing a hard drive into partitions(or their combinations). There are a lot of outright lies and dubious programs of unknown origin in this area. A separate point in my search was the question that what was found software it was not only free, but also had a Russian-language interface and it also turned out completely compatible with Windows 10. The last question is far from idle - the fact is that on the Internet you can find information about how some disk partitioning programs created for Windows 7 or 8 ruined the hard drives of Windows 10 users.

So, as a result of a long and thorough search, I finally found and tried the program myself AOMEI Partition Assistant. In general, its full version, the Professional Edition, costs from $59 and much more. But don’t let this scare you, because the functionality of its free Standard Edition branch is quite enough to:

Divide the hard drive into partitions
Merge hard drive volumes into one partition

In general, the presence of a paid version speaks only in favor of this software. After all, this indicates the seriousness of the intentions of its authors. Those who create programs for money probably make decent solutions for free, albeit with somewhat limited functionality (especially since it’s quite enough for us). Another proof of the authority of AOMEI Partition Assistant, in my opinion, is the presence of an article about it in Wikipedia. By the way, if you doubt the reliability and safety of a particular program, always check through a search engine whether Wikipedia writes about it. This, of course, is not a 100% guarantee, but still, since this electronic encyclopedia strives for maximum objectivity, in articles about software there you can find information about the possible “pitfalls” of a particular program. It is there, on Wikipedia, that it is better to take a link to the official website of the program. The fact is that the first places in search engines are often not the official websites of certain programs.

On the official site AOMEI Tech I found it right away section dedicated to the Partition Assistant program. Let's go down a little on this page to the second screen. There for download free version of the program we need to manage the hard drive, find the item Partition Assistant Standard Edition and (of course) click “Download”. Don't be alarmed that the site is English language, the program itself has an official Russian-language localization. Please note that there are several options for downloading this program for different needs on the page - for free home use, choose the version Standard Edition.

The installation process of the program is not at all complicated. First, you are asked to select a language, then traditionally accept the usage agreement, and, if necessary, select the folder where the program will be stored - that’s basically all. After installation, the program will automatically start if last stage Leave a tick on the “Run this program” item.

I will not consider all options for using AOMEI Partition Assistant to manage a hard drive. I will only examine in detail the question of how this can free program to split your hard drive into several partitions in Windows 10. Everything else (including merging volumes) is done by analogy.

Dividing a hard drive into partitions using the free AOMEI Partition Assistant program in Windows 10

When the program starts, all the physical hard drives installed on your computer or laptop, as well as the partitions that exist on them, will be displayed at the bottom. In order to divide a disk into several volumes, you first need to “pinch off” a piece of space from an existing partition. To do this, stand on the donor volume and, right-clicking on it, select “ Resize partition».

A new window will appear in which you need to indicate what size you want to keep existing one. All remaining space will be freed up for the new partition. I left the C drive with 150 GB. Click OK.

Now we see that we have free space labeled " Unoccupied" We need to create a new partition (volume) on it. To do this, right-click on it again and select the item “ Creating a section».

The pop-up window appears again. We leave everything in it as default and click OK.

After this, a new section will appear on the program screen. It would seem that you can rejoice. But it was not there. Turns out, no changes have been made to the hard drive itself yet! For the operation to be completed, you need to click the button at the top. Apply».

Typically, you will need to restart your computer to complete the operation. This is exactly what the new window in the AOMEI Partition Assistant program tells us. Click “Go” on it. It is better to leave the checkbox next to the “Check partitions before execution” item. This will allow the program to check the partitions for errors before dividing.

After this, a new window will appear again warning you to restart your computer. We agree and click “Yes”.

After the reboot, the actual physical division of the hard drive into two partitions begins. It occurs before the Windows 10 operating system boots in PreOS mode.

Personally, this process took me only a couple of minutes. Most likely, the fact is that on the shared hard drive I had nothing except the clean installed Windows 10 and several programs. Therefore, it did not take much time to move files. If the computer is weak and there is a lot of information on the disk, then the division process may take much longer. My computer rebooted twice and then started up normally. After this, a new section appeared in Explorer, and the existing one became smaller.

Let me remind you that, by analogy with this instruction in Windows 10, using the free AOMEI Partition Assistant program, you can combine hard drive partitions.

I foresee a question from some meticulous readers of my site about why I reviewed only one free program for managing hard drive partitions on the “ten”. Will explain. The fact is that the rest of the programs I studied did not various reasons were not satisfied: some of them did not have the Russian language (and for many this is important), for others the functionality in the free version was too severely limited, others raised doubts in terms of security for the operating system and compatibility with Windows 10. In addition , I absolutely see no point in looking for something else to solve fairly rare problems. I believe that the software reviewed copes with the assigned tasks with a bang and has undoubted advantages over all others free programs which I have studied. So why then bother yourself and others with unnecessary information?)

Creating, deleting and formatting computer disk partitions is only part of the possibilities hard drive management applications. Today, they make it possible to securely perform operations that previously required data deletion or other mind-boggling combinations.

Many of the tasks performed through the Partition Manager can, in theory, be accomplished using Windows' built-in Disk Management tool. However, it is not as intuitive as the programs discussed here.

A good disk management application consists of several modules. They are used to create, delete and format partitions. Apart from these functions, they also have functions for copying and moving partitions, creating images and backups.

Additional modules support system migration, merging and splitting partitions. Supports various partition schemes, dynamic disks, RAID configurations, various file systems and boot records.

Attention! Whenever you work with hard drive partitions, you need to plan everything carefully, back up your data, and make sure you select the correct hard drive or partition before pressing Enter.

Attention! All operations carried out on partitions are fraught with risks. The editors recommend extreme caution and are not responsible for possible loss of data or other damage incurred by readers.

EaseUS Partition Master Disk Management

One of the most popular programs for managing hard drive partitions in Windows. Ensures the allocation of new partitions without data loss.

Benefits of EaseUS Partition Master

Easy conversion of partition type, primary to logical and vice versa
Recovers deleted or non-existent partitions
Supported hard drive capacity up to 8 TB

Flaws

Inability to transfer data from HDD to SSD in the free version

License: freeware
Price: free

AOMEI Partition Assistant Disk Management

Also popular. Creates, divides, connects, copies hard drive partitions, changing their size, while saving files. System transfer is possible.

Benefits of AOMEI Partition Assistant

Convenient wizards for every operation
Supports all the most popular file systems
Displays accurate information about supported media
Allows you to create boot disk CD with application

License: freeware
Price: free

Disk Management in GParted

A tool for managing computer hard drive partitions. Distributed as an ISO file. Install it on a flash drive or burn it to a CD and start your computer from it.

Benefits of GParted

Does not require installation and does not take up disk space
Attractive free offer for companies
Wide range of partition management capabilities for almost any file system

Flaws

Mastery takes time
Only available via Live CD

License: freeware
Price: free

MiniTool Partition Wizard

Performs all operations with hard disk partitions and also hides it. Copying the contents of the disk and changing the file system.

Advantages of MiniTool Partition Wizard

Lots of tools, including disk cleaning and checking
Convenient visual wizard for each operation
Allows you to convert NTFS to FAT32 without formatting, change the disk type from MBR to GPT

License: freeware
Price: free