Hard disk, also known as hard drive and HDD, is designed for long-term storage of information. The capacity of modern disks reaches hundreds of gigabytes, they can accommodate a very large amount of data. Therefore, a disk breakdown becomes a very unpleasant surprise for the user.
It is necessary
utilities for checking and restoring the disk
Instructions
Step 1
Hard disk failures should be divided into mechanical and software. The first, as a rule, occur with a strong push or impact of a working computer. Desktop hard drives are less secure than laptop hard drives, so they can easily fail when struck. Self-repair of mechanical damage to the hard drive does not make sense. Firstly, it is very complex, requires appropriate knowledge and skills, and is produced in a special room with dust-free air. Secondly, even after repairing a disk, you cannot be sure of its reliability. If the disc contains important information, take it to a data recovery workshop. If there is no valuable information, it is easier to replace the hard drive with a new one.
Step 2
Software problems are more common than mechanical ones and consist in the loss of service information, boot record, etc. This is usually caused by a power outage. In a modern hard drive, the bulk of the microprograms that control it is not in ROM (read only memory), but on the disk itself. In the event that after a failure the computer does not see the disk, it must be formatted with the Diskedit program, erasing all the information.
Step 3
The Diskedit utility works from under DOS, which creates certain difficulties. In particular, you will need a bootable floppy disk created in Windows 98 or Windows ME. It is not necessary to install these systems; search the internet for the floppy image. Boot under DOS, run the utility. Read about the intricacies of working with it in the relevant articles.
Step 4
Low-level formatting can restore disk functionality after severe failures. To execute it, you need an appropriate utility, it can be found on the hard drive manufacturer's website. Low-level formatting is also done under DOS. Run the utility downloaded from the manufacturer's website, find the desired item in its options - low level format, zero writes or something similar. Start formatting, after its completion the disk should work.
Step 5
You can check the still working disk using the free HDDScan utility. It will show the number of bad and bad sectors of the disk, you can estimate whether it is possible to store important data on this disk.
