It would seem that it can be more reliable in terms of storing valuable information than an electronic device in the form of a traditional storage device (HDD)? Perhaps you, dear user, will think about the “newly made receiver” - a solid-state hard drive. However, despite the high technological effectiveness of the latter, the risk of data loss still remains great. However, when the user knows how to check the hard drive for operability, and at the same time periodically monitors its working condition, the degree of reliability and comfortable use of any hard drive increases significantly. If you want to understand how to put all this into practice, to find out what to be careful of and how to avoid unforeseen operational situations, we invite you to familiarize yourself with the material in this article. Believe me, a few minutes of reading will eventually turn into some life experience that will help you avoid many errors in the future, including data loss.
What makes a hard drive operational: a structural introduction
The mechanical type of drives, and this article will focus on such hard drives, is a storage device that consists of several main parts:
- Hermoblock - case frame HDD.
- A circuit board is a hard disk controller (usually green, located at the bottom of the device).
- The head block is a mechanical module through which the process of reading and writing data to the hard drive takes place.
- A magnetic disk (damn it) - this is the area of the HDD on which information is stored.
- Spindle electric drive - a device that makes the plates rotate at a given speed.
It should be noted that, depending on the modification of the hard drive, the number of read heads and magnetic disks may be different. Of course, the more memory components in the device, the higher the capacitive values of the HDD.
How good is your hard drive?
Follow the instructions below and you will get a practical answer to your question: “How to check if the hard drive is working?” So:
- Download and install the Victoria utility on your computer.
- Run the specified software with administrator privileges.
- After opening the program window, activate the Smart tab.
- Next, click on the Get Smart button.
- If the GOOD value is displayed in a nearby check-box, you can easily breathe - your hard drive is in perfect order!
However, in order to perform a full scan of your media, you must use the TEST tab. After using the Start button you start this utility, you will need to wait for the end of the test process. It is worth noting that the presence of red and blue sectors is not a good sign at all, such graphical indicators indicate that the accumulative region has damaged or bad sectors. However, the program under consideration for checking the operability of the hard disk also has some recovery tools.
Digital Winchester Repair - How?
Upon completion of the test analysis process (using the Victoria utility), select the Remap item and restart the test with the same Start key. The program will "try" to fix all detected errors and restore bad sectors.
By the way, depending on the physical capacity of your drive, the duration of the running process also varies. It may well turn out that a lot of time will be required. Therefore, be patient and expect - there are miracles, and you will have time to make sure of this more than once!
Simple and effective Windows Restorer: the standard HDD “cure” method
There is no access to the Internet, and you do not have the opportunity to install the aforementioned software, and the difficult question "how to check if the hard drive is working" is waiting to be resolved? Not a problem! Follow simple guidelines:
- Go to the start menu.
- Then left-click on the item "This computer."
- Point the marker at the desired section of the hard drive and press the right button of the manipulator.
- From the drop-down list, select "Properties".
- Go to the "Service" tab.
- Activate the "Check" button.
- Before starting the “Restore Hard Drive Health” process, check the boxes next to two items in the next window.
In some cases, for example, when you want to analyze the status of a system partition (C :), you will need to reboot the OS. The subsequent recovery steps will be displayed on the monitor screen in the form of command lines and changing digital values - be sure to wait for the running verification process to complete!
To summarize
Well, how to check the hard drive for working, now you know. However, do not forget that timely preventive maintenance of the hard drive favorably affects the long-term operational life of this product. Perform HDD defragmentation once every two weeks, clean the hard drive of digital junk and do not forget about the general process of optimizing your OS. That's all. Correct operation of your drive and many years of service!