CrystalDiskInfo program: diagnostics of hard drives and management of their individual functions. CrystalDiskInfo what is this program and is it needed? Checking crystal hard drive
As you know, any hardware installed in computers is subject to aging or wear. And they are no exception. Despite the apparent problems of a physical nature, quite often you can encounter some types of software failures, as a result of which so-called uncorrectable sector errors appear on disks (CrystalDiskInfo - a utility for testing HDDs - marks them in the ID list, assigning the value “C6”). Even when conducting a series of tests on the surface of the hard drive, errors can be attributed specifically to physical damage, although in fact this is not the case. Simply, if it is impossible to record or test such areas, programs mark them as faulty. However, such problems can be corrected, of course, only on the condition that the hard drive has not really begun to “crumble” or has not been subjected to physical impact (shocks, falls, dust and moisture, overheating, etc.).
What are Uncorrectable Hard Drive Sector Errors?
To begin with, we should provide some theoretical information about possible situations associated with the occurrence of such equipment malfunctions. We will not consider the physical nature of the appearance of uncorrectable sector errors on hard drives for now, but will focus on understanding how such failures are recognized and interpreted by verification tools. In principle, if we do not take into account surface damage, it can be argued that all major failures are associated with violations of the logical structure of hard drives, called the file system. Indeed, check programs identify bad areas with BAD sectors and issue error notifications only because they cannot read them. As is probably already clear, this may not necessarily be physical damage to the plates. Most often, this situation can occur, say, when there is a sudden power outage or an incorrect shutdown of the computer.
A little theory about bad sectors
As for the uncorrectable sector errors on the disk themselves, there should be no particular reason for panic when they are identified. But here you need to make a difference between unstable sectors and supposedly fatal errors.
As already mentioned, in the above application the second parameter corresponds to “C6”. But the first ones are marked as “C5”. If only the second value increases with increasing quantity, it is not a fact that the hard drive has begun to “crumble.” If the value of the “C6” parameter or both increases at the same time, it is necessary to urgently take action and first try to at least create backup copies of the necessary files or, if possible, copy them to removable media.
In addition, it is worth paying attention to the fact that many hard drive manufacturers, in order to avoid such situations, create special reserve areas on hard drives in advance. When uncorrectable sector errors are detected on a hard disk, the treatment consists of reassigning the address of the bad memory cell, assigning it one of the reserved values.
Symptoms of HDD errors
But not all users monitor the condition of their hard drive and regularly check it for errors. In most cases, active actions are taken already in the most extreme situations. Therefore, you should initially pay attention to the operation of the HDD. But how can you identify that there may be errors and failures on the disk?
Most often, the presence of malfunctions can be determined by constant freezing or decreased performance, by the appearance of frequent spontaneous reboots and the appearance of blue screens of death, by the inability to boot when turning on or restarting the computer, etc.
The simplest check of an inactive logical partition
Now let's look at the main methods for eliminating problems that have arisen. The most primitive solution is to check for unstable sectors and uncorrectable sector errors in relation to logical partitions, since they are not virtual, but are created on the main media (only in a different area of the disk).
To do this, you can use the standard disk check, called from the properties section in Explorer. In the seventh version of Windows and below, you must manually specify automatic correction of bad sectors or conduct a surface test. This is not required in higher versions.
How to check the system partition?
As for the system partition, everything is not so simple. It will not be possible to detect irreparable sector errors using the above method (the system will simply issue a notification that scanning the currently active volume is impossible). However, as an additional notification, you may be prompted to perform a scan the next time you turn on the computer. It is advisable to agree with this and reboot. Upon restart, testing will be activated without user intervention. But you can also perform the check without rebooting.
To do this, you will need to call the command line (required as an administrator) and set the command chkdsk /x/f/r in it, in which the “/x” attribute is responsible for preliminary disabling the active volume, and the other two are intended for finding and eliminating critical errors and failures to restore damaged sectors. Again, if the check turns out to be impossible and you are asked to perform it at restart, you should agree.
How to fix uncorrectable sector errors in Victoria HDD?
However, the system’s own tools, as is rightly believed, are far from perfect, therefore, to obtain the most effective result, you should use third-party software products, among which the leader (recognized by all experts) is the Victoria HDD application, which can work both under Windows and in DOS - mode, which is more preferable.
In the utility itself, the search for uncorrectable sector errors, as well as unstable areas, is based on four tests:
- Ignore (preliminary check for the presence of failed or ignored sectors when reading);
- Remap (address reassignment for identified cells);
- Erase (erasing faulty addresses of damaged sectors or resetting them to zero);
- Restore (recovery).
Note: The zeroing test should only be used in the most extreme cases, as further writing to such sectors will subsequently be impossible.
It goes without saying that you can use other software products like Ashampoo HDD Control, HDDScan, Data LifeGuard Diagnostic and others. But the first program above is by far the best (this is not discussed).
Restoring a hard drive: is it possible?
Finally, questions related to hard drive recovery seem completely natural, but not using physical repairs, but using software methods. Until recently, these did not exist. However, with the advent of a small program called HDD Regenerator, everything changed.
It is believed that this particular utility is capable of performing the so-called magnetization reversal of the surface of a hard drive, which allows you to restore not only the functionality of the HDD, but also all the information stored on it. Of course, skeptics regarding its use cite many counterarguments, however, this does not prevent many from using it and, I must say, quite successfully. The application runs exclusively in DOS mode and has only an English-language interface (these are the two main disadvantages of the program). On the other hand, in a Windows environment, running a hard drive scan is generally not recommended at all, and on the other hand, even with minimal knowledge of English, it won’t be particularly difficult to understand the utility (especially since basically all operations are as automated as possible).
Finally, if all else fails, you can try to perform low-level formatting using the HDD Low Level Format program, but this will destroy absolutely all the data, and you will have to install the operating system again, although if the hard drive really begins to “crumble,” there is little point in this .
What's the result?
As can be concluded from all of the above, even damage to the surface is not a particular problem, since modern computer technology has reached the level where restoring a hard drive is completely elementary. As for the preferred tools, of course, it is best to give preference to the Victoria HDD program (if there are software glitches). If its application when the hard drive is not working does not give any results, then nothing other than the HDD Regenerator application will help (and that depends on how serious the identified problems turn out to be).
CrystalDiskInfo is a free program for servicing computer HDDs and SSDs with ATA (PATA, SATA), USB and IEEE1394 connection interfaces. If something strange happens to your hard drive, do not be lazy to download CrystalDiskInfo in Russian for your computer for free using the link from the site https://site without registration and SMS. The advantages of the utility include: displaying detailed, reliable information about the status, powerful monitoring and verification tools, as well as effective tools for changing hard drive settings. If problems are detected, Crystal Disk Info displays a warning and sends an email to the user.
Before a large number of bad sectors appear, read and write errors, unpleasant noise, the temperature rises, and performance decreases, it makes sense to download the useful CrystalDiskInfo program for free for a computer with the Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 (32- bit and 64-bit). The utility is quickly installed on your computer and uninstalled correctly, without being tracked in the system registry. When you start the program, it checks the status of the hard drive of your computer or laptop; this takes some time.
Checking, monitoring, analysis, graphs and changing settings
When checking, the utility displays detailed information, including information about external HDD USB and IEEE1394. Displayed: firmware version, AAM*/APM** data, interface type, spindle speed, buffer size, operating life, number of bad sectors, temperature and even a graph of temperature dynamics over time, as well as other technical characteristics. S.M.A.R.T*** parameters are monitored, including: number of read errors, overall performance, start-stops and other data. CrystalDiskInfo dynamically tracks changes in a large amount of data from drives in the system, keeps a log and allows you to beautifully display this in the form of graphs. This format allows you to clearly see the overall health picture of the computer’s disk subsystem.
There will be people who want to download CrystalDiskInfo for free without registration and SMS, without leaving the https://site, also because the utility allows you not only to diagnose the hard drive, but also to take care of its health. Changing the AAM and APM settings allows you to control performance parameters and the corresponding amount of acoustic noise produced, as well as power consumption parameters. If necessary, it is possible to reset the bad sector counters. In the "Tools" menu there is a link to the system "Disk Management", where all the necessary transformations are done with them: create a partition, expand or shrink partitions, etc.
Interface and functionality of CrystalDiskInfo
The nice, modern interface supports many localizations, as well as themes (skins), three of which are available immediately after launch. Positive reviews and comments from users are caused by an intuitive display of the status in color: blue (or green) - good, yellow - warning, red - problems/alarm, gray - no information.
This small, free, open-source utility, developed by Japanese programmer Noriyuki Miyazaki (known as Hiyohiyo), is why many in Europe and America find the menus and settings confusing. The Japanese do not share this opinion. Unfortunately, there are no hints or explanations about the importance of parameters unfamiliar to the average computer user, and to figure it out, sometimes you have to refer to the help section.
Rich functionality allows CrystalDiskInfo to compete not only with free, but also with paid programs. According to reviews and comments from many users around the world, it is definitely worth downloading CrystalDiskInfo for Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP (32-bit and 64-bit) for free in Russian. Among the competitors, it is worth noting the paid programs HDDlife Professional and Hard Drive Inspector and the free Active@ Hard Disk Monitor with Russian language support, as well as the paid HD Tune Pro in English. As for the functionality of Crystal Disk Info, you definitely need to know about the following advantages of this utility:
- high data reliability,
- correct interaction with S.M.A.R.T technology,
- monitoring of more than 25 parameters,
- data on current operating modes in real time,
- temperature and S.M.A.R.T data control,
- displaying disk temperatures in the system tray,
- prompt e-mail notification of problems,
- ability to change AAM/APM settings,
- control of speed and amount of acoustic noise,
- settings to save energy consumption,
- no conflicts with the latest versions of SSD drives,
- work with external HDDs with USB and IEEE 1394 interfaces,
- compatible with a wide range of equipment****.
reference Information
* Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM) - control of the track search time parameter, in this case, the faster the block of magnetic heads moves along the radius during search, the more noise.
**Advanced Power Management (APM) - energy management.
*** Self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology (S.M.A.R.T.) - an internal system of self-diagnosis and self-monitoring using equipment built into the disk with the ability to generate reports and predict the breakdown period.
**** A comprehensive list of compatible equipment is located on the official crystalmark website in the info domain.
Download the latest version of CrystalDiskInfo in Russian
Free programs download for free
Now you are on the page "Russian Crystal Disk Info - checking the hard drive and taking care of its health" in the computer tests section of the site, where everyone has the opportunity to legally download programs for a computer running Microsoft Windows OS. Thank you for visiting the section.
The condition of a computer's hard drive is a very important factor in system performance. Among the many utilities that provide information about the operation of the hard drive, the CrystalDiskInfo program is characterized by a large volume of data output. This application performs a deep S.M.A.R.T. analysis of disks, but at the same time, some users complain about the complexity of managing this utility. Let's figure out how to use CrystalDiskInfo.
After running the utility, on some computers, the following message may be displayed in the CrystalDiskInfo program window: “Disk not detected.” In this case, all data on the disk operation will be completely empty. Naturally, this causes confusion among users, because a computer cannot work with a completely faulty hard drive. Complaints about the program begin.
And, in fact, detecting the disk is quite simple. To do this, go to the menu section - “Service”, select “Advanced” in the list that appears, and then “Advanced disk search”.
After completing this procedure, the disk, as well as information about it, should appear in the main program window.
Viewing disk information
Actually, all information about the hard drive on which the operating system is installed opens immediately after starting the program. The only exceptions are those cases mentioned above. But even with this option, it is enough to perform the procedure for launching an advanced disk search once, so that the next time you start the program, information about the hard drive is displayed immediately.
The program displays both technical information (disk name, volume, temperature, etc.) and S.M.A.R.T. analysis data. There are four options for displaying hard drive parameters in the Crystal Disk Info program: “good”, “attention”, “bad” and “unknown”. Each of these characteristics is represented by a corresponding indicator color:
- “Good” – blue or green (depending on the selected color scheme);
- “Attention” - yellow;
- “Bad” - red;
- “Unknown” - gray.
These ratings are displayed both in relation to individual characteristics of the hard drive and to the entire drive as a whole.
In simple terms, if CrystalDiskInfo marks all elements in blue or green, the disk is fine. If there are elements marked in yellow, and even more so in red, then you should seriously think about repairing the drive.
If you want to view information not about the system drive, but about some other drive connected to the computer (including external drives), then you should click on the “Disk” menu item and select the desired drive from the list that appears.
In order to view information about the disk in a graphical version, you should go to the “Tools” section of the main menu, and then select the “Graph” item from the list that appears.
In the window that opens, it is possible to select a specific category of data whose graph the user wants to view.
Launching the agent
The program also provides the ability to run its own agent on the system, which will run in the tray in the background, constantly monitoring the status of the hard drive, and display messages only if problems are detected on it. In order to launch the agent, you just need to go to the “Tools” menu section and select “Run agent (in the notification area)”.
In the same section of the “Tools” menu, by selecting “Autostart”, you can configure the CrystalDiskInfo application so that it will always launch when the operating system boots.
Regulating the hard drive
In addition, the CrystalDiskInfo application has some capabilities for regulating the operation of the hard drive. In order to use this function, again go to the “Service” section, select “Advanced”, and then “AAM/APM Management”.
In the window that opens, the user will be able to control two characteristics of the hard drive - noise and power supply, simply by dragging the slider from one side to the other. Regulating the power supply of the hard drive is especially useful for laptop owners.
In addition, in the same “Advanced” subsection, you can select the “AAM/APM Auto Configuration” option. In this case, the program itself will determine the optimal values of noise and power supply.
Changing the program design
In the CrystalDiskInfo program you can change the color scheme of the interface. To do this, go to the “View” menu tab and select any of the three design options.
In addition, you can immediately enable the so-called “Green” mode by clicking on the item of the same name in the menu. In this case, indicators of normally operating disk parameters will be displayed not in blue, as by default, but in green.
As you can see, despite all the apparent confusion in the interface of the CrystalDiskInfo application, understanding its operation is not so difficult. In any case, having spent time studying the capabilities of the program once, you will no longer have difficulties in further communication with it.
Hard drives have a service life, usually about 5 years, after which the information on them may become damaged. How to identify disk problems in time so as not to lose valuable data?
Over time, bad sectors appear on the disk; information cannot be read or written to them. The disk can work with a certain amount of them, but when the damaged areas exceed the permissible limit, problems begin. The system may not boot, some files may not be read, etc.
How to find out about possible problems with your hard drive?
Of course, it is easier to identify a problem with a disk in time and save all the data on another one than to restore a damaged one. The CrystalDiskInfo program will help us diagnose the hard drive. This program is very easy to use.
You can download CrystalDiskInfo.
We launch the program and in the window we see the status of all your disks. If you see the inscription “good condition”, then everything is fine. If you see the message “alarm”, your disk has problems.
If the error is listed as remapped sectors, it means your drive is still working but may fail soon. We recommend that you take a full backup of your data while you still can.
If a read error, unstable or uncorrectable sectors are indicated, you have serious problems with the disk; it is possible that not everything will be saved when copying information. But in any case, immediately copy the valuable information to another drive.
By periodically running this program, you can monitor the status of your hard drives and save valuable data on time. In order not to launch the program every time, you can enable autoload in it, and CrystalDiskInfo will start along with the operating system.
|
If there are multiple drives installed, we can switch between them using the quick switch panel (1), the "Disk" menu item (2) or the side arrows (3):
3. S.M.A.R.T.This information also appears in the main program window, under the general status:
Field values:
A good explanation of the attributes is presented on the website ixbt.com. Since in most cases information on these attributes is found in English, the program allows you to display S.M.A.R.T. in English (in this case, the main language can be left in Russian). To do this, click Language - S.M.A.R.T. in English:
In case of alarm, very often the smart device issues a warning 05 Reassigned sectors(or 05 Reallocated Sector Count / 05 Rejected sectors / 05 Unstable sectors) - this means that bad sectors were found, the data of which was sent to backup blocks. As a rule, this is a temporary solution, since non-magnetized areas will spread across the disk. In this case, it is best to copy the data to removable media and replace the disk. 4. How to treatIt is important to understand that the alarms shown by this program, as a rule, are irreversible physical damage to the media. For example, remapped sectors are part of bad clusters moved to the spare area of the disk. The media will continue to work, but the number of non-magnetized areas will increase and, at one point, it will be possible to lose all the data. If the temperature indicators are exceeded, it is necessary to check the computer’s cooling system, especially one that works to blow hot air out of the case. 5. Setting up autorunTo constantly see the status of the media, it is a good idea to add the utility to Windows startup. Open the program - click on Service - Autostart:
We also note Launching the agent (in the notification area) so that the program does not interfere with us when starting the system:
6. Setting up notificationsTo receive timely information about a problem with the media, the program provides various notifications. To configure them, click on Service - Notification Features:
|
