Computer literacy, assistance and repair

Hard drive recovery in Russian. Programs for restoring hard drives after formatting: can it be done? Mechanical damage to the hard drive

In case of accidental deletion of files, disk formatting or operational errors hard drive need to remember:

  • It is not possible to recover data using the OS itself, so we use third-party hard drive recovery programs;
  • We try, if possible, not to use the disk from which we need to restore data.

Deleting files and emptying the Recycle Bin does not directly delete data on the hard drive. The reason for this is the rather lengthy process of complete removal. Therefore, in order to speed up the deletion of files, they came up with such “invisible storage” of documents. If you write another document in place of a deleted document, it will be permanently deleted. Therefore, if possible, of course, we do not perform any operations of copying, deleting or moving data.

  • We are looking for a program that will suit our requirements.

Now we will deal with the third point.

It should also be noted that disk recovery is a rather lengthy operation. Therefore, it is worth being patient. During recovery, it is not recommended to perform any actions with files on the disk (copying, deleting, moving). Such actions can only ruin everything. If your OS is installed on a disk that needs to be restored, then the best option would be to write the program onto a flash drive or disk and boot through it, rather than through Windows.

In this article I would like to provide a list of programs for recovering data from a hard drive. These programs can be said to be universal and suitable for recovering data not only from hard drives, but also from SSDs, SD memory cards and USB flash drives.

Supported file systems: FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, HPFS, Linux Ext2, Ext3, ReiserFS, Linux Swap

Description:

Acronis Recovery Expert utility is included in the software package
Acronis Disk Director 11 Advanced Workstation. Provides high-quality recovery of deleted or damaged hard drive partitions. If you want to be ready to perform recovery in case of unexpected data loss, then Acronis Recovery Expert is a must-have.

The program is paid, but ordinary users have the opportunity to use a trial version. Download the program from the link below.

Main features of the program:

  1. Supports a large number of file system formats;
  2. The ability to launch the utility from boot disks and flash drives if the operating system cannot be loaded;
  3. Simple and intuitive interface in Windows XP style;
  4. Supports hard drives larger than 180 GB.

Active Partition Recovery Pro

Supported file systems: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5

Description:

A convenient program for recovering partitions of your disk. Supports a large number of file systems. Allows you not only to perform recovery, but you can even say extend the life of your disk. The program can be launched both from Windows and from DOS, by recording the program to a disk or flash drive.

The program also allows you to recover individual files, but it is mainly used to recover entire disk partitions. If the data on the disk was damaged by a virus, Active Partition Recovery Pro will allow you to restore it.
Screenshot:

HDD Regenerator

Supported OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10

Description:

The program specializes in restoring damaged sectors of the hard drive. Working window programs - command line. Quite not modern, but this utility can help in situations where the use of other programs did not help.

The program is quite easy to use, but before using it it would be a good idea to study the specifics of its operation and the functions of the program.

Screenshot:

Hetman Partition Recovery

Supported file systems: FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS

Description:

A program for recovering hard disk partitions and individual files. The program will help with accidental data deletion or formatting; it works with existing partitions, damaged and inaccessible disk partitions, allowing you to restore them.

The advantage is support for various storage devices: SD memory cards, flash drives and hard drives. Working in the program is quite convenient, it is carried out both in manual mode and in wizard mode, with which you can set up data recovery step by step.

The trial version can be downloaded from the official website of the developer.

Screenshot:

R-Studio

Supported OS: Windows 2000, XP, Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1/10

Description:

A program for recovering data from flash drives, hard drives, and USB drives. Supports almost all Windows operating systems and can work with a large number of file systems.

Features of R-Studio

  • File system support: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, NTFS5, HFS/HFS+, UFS1/UFS2, Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 FS;
  • Creating an image of the entire recovered disk for further work with it;
  • Data recovery after disk formatting or accidental deletion of files;
  • Ability to save data to a network drive or other storage device.

Screenshot:

Zero Assumption Recovery

Supported OS: Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1/10

Description:

An excellent data recovery program. Recovers FAT and NTFS partitions.

ZAR works in read-only mode and does not make any changes to the recovered disk. This avoids the risk of further damage to the partition.

Screenshot:

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 a 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 USB connected cable to the computer.

Supports memory cards (SD, MicroSD, SDHC, Compact Flash, Memory Stick, etc.) used in MP3 players, tablets, cameras, mobile phones, smartphones, video recorders, 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. During deletion with "Shift" + "Delete" or emptying "Trash" 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.

Most of us store a lot of important information on our computer's hard drive. And almost always everything is fine, but sometimes the unexpected happens. You once again start your computer and receive an error - a message that the hard drive is damaged. In this case, it is necessary to restore the hard drive. In principle, this is a simple procedure, but not for a beginner. Let's look at this issue in more detail.

Mechanical damage to the hard drive

There are a large number of problems that arise due to the fault of PC users. But it happens that not everything depends on us, and the hard drive fails without human intervention. This can happen due to a power failure where the engine stops starting. In this case, it is enough to use special utilities that will help solve problems. A little later we will definitely look at a few of them.

If you notice that the hard drive is constantly knocking or making other strange sounds, then most likely the problem is that the magnetic head unit is damaged. In this case, it is unlikely that you will be able to do it on your own, so you will have to call a specialist who will solve the problem.

There are other common problems, such as switch failure or engine failure caused by neglect. It is worth noting that logical errors are much more common and can be eliminated by installing special programs.

Usually, hard restoration disc disease passes without complications. All that is required from the user is to install special software and spend some free time.

Recovering data from a hard drive using Recuva

This utility is ideal for working with file systems such as NTFS and FAT. It is worth noting that there is a so-called portable version, which runs from a flash drive. This is necessary in cases where the hard drive refuses to work and the disk drive is missing. Since it is completely free, it is very popular among ordinary users, but not professionals, which is due to some shortcomings, for example, the inability to recover files that were deleted some time ago.

When you first launch the utility, you will be asked to select what needs to be restored. To mark all files, click next to “other”. Next, indicate the path (in our case, this is the hard drive). The process takes quite a long time. It all depends on the capacity of the HDD, as well as the reading speed. We can safely say that in 90% of cases, data recovery from a hard drive with Recuva is successful. You just need to make sure that after deletion no writes are made to the hard drive.

UndeletePlus - hard drive recovery program

If you formatted your hard drive, and there was extreme important information, don’t worry, this utility will solve all your problems. It is completely free, but its functionality is only suitable for a beginner, since the number of tools is very limited. Everything here is extremely simple and clear thanks to the Russian-language interface.

To begin, select the disk on which important information was stored and begin scanning it. Once the process is complete, select a recovery location. By the way, it is advisable that this is not the same medium on which the work is carried out, since the correctness of the files may be violated. There is also a recovery wizard. It is more suitable for beginners, as it contains step-by-step instructions. Basically, this program for hard drive recovery is good for home use, and nothing more. Let's move on.

For professionals - R-Studio

The optimal solution for most large offices and companies that store gigabytes of useful information on their computers every day is to install paid programs. This is exactly what R-Studio is. Its main advantage is that it allows you to recover files that were lost as a result of formatting, deletion, or simple damage to the hard drive. If the operating system does not even start, then for our utility this is not a problem at all, since it is possible to create boot disk or put it on a flash drive. Here are the main features of R-Studio:

  • recovery of information from HDD, flash drive, memory card, CD, DVD;
  • working with damaged hard drives;
  • support for FAT, NTFS on MAC OS, Linux;
  • recovering files from hard drive RAID arrays, etc.

It’s safe to say that this program is one of the most popular among professionals. This is due to its wide capabilities and relatively low cost.

How to find something that suits everyone?

If you need comprehensive hard drive data recovery, a program called Recovery Software is the best solution. This is due to the fact that it is a whole software package. Each individual utility is designed to solve specific problems. What features does this development have? Let's look at it below.

By downloading this software package, you get seven programs at your disposal. For example, RS Partition Recovery is designed to restore a hard drive after random formatting. It supports all currently popular file systems, while RS FAT Recovery is used to restore the logical structure of a disk, flash drive, etc. In addition, this package includes products that are specifically designed for photo restoration. It often happens that the resulting images have dead pixels. The assembly contains RS File Repair, which is designed to solve this problem. Works with JPG, TIFF, PNG.

We can say that the main advantage of such a solution is its wide functionality, but often the average user does not see the point of overpaying for packages that he does not need, and rightly so.

What to do if bad sectors appear?

Sometimes users notice that folders begin to disappear from the computer, and the operating system takes a little longer to load. If there are read errors and damage to logical drives, we can say that bad blocks appear. It is difficult to say why exactly these kinds of problems arise. In some cases this is due to the life of the hard drive, and sometimes due to logical failures. But in any case, you need to do something and somehow restore the missing folders.

There are a lot of programs that will help us solve this problem. One of the best is Data Extractor. Its main advantage is the following: you can work with the hard drive in technological mode. This solution is good because it can be read multiple times while skipping or ignoring the control code. As a result, 90-100% of the information that was located on bad sectors is restored.

Stellar Phoenix - powerful software for amateurs and professionals

This utility is good because it has very wide functionality. Recovering information from a hard drive can be performed regardless of what was lost. This refers to the format of a document, executable file, etc. This is due to the fact that this utility recognizes more than one hundred and eighty-seven formats, and the media can be almost anything - from a memory card and CD to an external hard drive. There is also a drawback - it is impossible to restore RAID arrays, since it will not be possible to create a copy of the image to work with it, and not with the original.

I’m glad that even a beginner can figure out the menu and navigation. This is due to the fact that recovery of the hard drive after formatting occurs in Russian. You can hardly make a mistake, since after launching the utility itself will ask what needs to be done. The following choices are available:

  • working with hard drive;
  • image restoration;
  • Recovering files on CD/DVD discs.

Victoria - fast and reliable

The utility is designed to work only on Windows, this is the main disadvantage of this product. But despite this, it is very popular. Victoria was recently released, running on DOS systems.

The strength of the utility is its diagnostics, which can tell you almost everything about the hard drive. The most interesting thing is that it is possible to find out how long the hard drive will last. Based on the data received, you can make a conclusion whether to buy a new hard drive or repair it with paid programs.

But that's not all. The fact is that if it is impossible to restore hard disk sectors, Victoria will simply mark them as non-working. After this, they will not be read, and the reading speed, as well as loading the OS, will increase slightly. Even a beginner can figure out how the utility works. There is a main window that displays basic information about the hard drive, and a “test” section. The latter is needed in order to detect bad sectors and, if possible, cure or block them.

What everyone should know

Most of the utilities described above work the same way. But you should gain a little theoretical knowledge, and only after that begin recovery. For example, after testing, you need to understand which sectors of the disk are working normally and which are not.

Various colors are used as symbols. For normal sectors - gray, for workers with a signal delay - green. Orange is assigned to those sectors that take too long to read. They are the ones that cause slowdown, so there should be no more than 50 of them. Red ones are damaged and cannot be restored. Sometimes there are blue ones with a cross, information about which could not be obtained. Such sectors require re-marking.

A few important points

Do not forget that restoring a damaged hard drive always takes a lot of time. During the operation, it is not recommended to perform any actions at all (write/delete/copy) on the hard drive, otherwise you can only make things worse. It is best to use utilities that can be transferred to a flash drive or disk so as not to download them to the hard drive. This will allow for faster testing.

Conclusion

As you can see, not everything is as complicated as it might seem at first glance. Of course, there are free and paid programs. If you are not an employee of a large office, but regular user, and you just want to restore your hard drive after a recent formatting or for any other reason, then it hardly makes sense to buy software. As practice shows, there are many free utilities, the functionality of which allows you to do everything you need (and even a little more). There is somewhat less Russian-language software, but with due diligence you will definitely find a suitable option. In addition, some programs in English have an intuitive interface.

Over time, bad sectors appear on any HDD that are unreadable. When the number of bad blocks exceeds all permissible limits, the hard drive refuses to work. However, under certain conditions, the hard drive can be cured using special software.

What are bad blocks?

HDD (hard disk) consists of several magnetic disks, above which there is a head that writes and reads information. The surface of the drive is divided into tracks and sectors (the smallest division unit). If information is not read from a certain sector, then it is: bad, faulty, broken or simply a bad block.

Recovery bad sectors– the task is not easy, but doable. If there are few bad blocks on the HDD, you can cure the disk, while simultaneously extending its service life.

The very presence of bad sectors is a bad sign, so even after repair you cannot use the HDD for a long time - it can fail at any time.

Working with VictoriaHDD

VictoriaHDD is one of the most famous programs for hard drive treatment. It is distributed under a free license and allows you to fix bad blocks in DOS mode. However, working with it requires some preparation.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive and setting up the BIOS

Download the ISO image of the VictoriaHDD utility and write it to a flash drive using WinSetupFromUSB.

  1. Open WinSetupFromUSB and select the connected flash drive.
  2. Check "Auto format", select "FAT32".
  3. Specify the LinuxISO/otherGrub system and click the button on the right. Through Explorer, show the path to the downloaded file ISO image, click “Go” to start recording.
  4. After creating Victoria bootable media, you need to restart your computer and open the BIOS. In the “Main” section there is an item “SATA Mode” - you need to set it to “IDE”, because in the “AHCI Mode” Victoria does not recognize the connected drive. Press F10 to exit the BIOS and save the changes.

After completing all the preparations, restart your computer again. When starting, start pressing F11 so that the boot menu appears. Select the bootable Victoria flash drive to run the program in DOS mode.

Recovery and follow-up

To restore, do the following::

  1. After launch, press “P” (English keyboard) to bring up the “Select Port” menu. If the hard drive is connected via the SATA interface, select the “Ext. PCI ATA/SATA". For hard drives connected via IDE, you need to select the appropriate port.
  2. A list of channels will appear, each of which has a number. Look at the number for your drive and enter it in the field below.
  3. Press F9 to open the SMART table. Study two items: “Reallocated sector count” and “Current pending sectors”. The first line indicates the sectors transferred to the reserve zone; in the second - places from which information cannot be read (bad blocks). If there are only a few bad sectors, try restoring them.
  4. Press F4 and launch “BB: Erase 256 sect” mode. If during the analysis the program finds a bad block, it will try to fix it. If the sector is not physically damaged, then Victoria will heal it. Information from this location will be erased (therefore, it is advisable to transfer all the necessary files to another medium in advance), but there will be fewer bad blocks.
  5. If the sectors cannot be restored, move them to the backup area. Press F4 again and launch “BB: Classic REMAP” mode. Look at the SMART table after the scan is completed - the number of bad blocks should decrease.

After using the Victoria HDD, it is advisable to check the disk:

These measures will help you eliminate problems on the disk, which will ultimately lead to an increase in the operating time of the hard drive.

Using HDD Regenerator

If Victoria seems complicated, try restoring the disk and fixing the so-called bad blocks using the HDD Regenerator program. The peculiarity of this utility is that it has access to the software and hardware of the HDD. HDD Regenerator actually tries to cure bad sectors, while most programs deny access to bad blocks, as a result of which the hard drive capacity is reduced.


To fix this problem, launch Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and close all applications. Go to the Processes tab and end all processes running by the user. Click "Retry" to have the program try to access the disk partitions.

If the warning window appears again, restart your computer and start the system in safe mode. You can ignore the warning by clicking “Cancel” rather than “Retry”, but then HDD Regenerator will work with some restrictions.

A window will open resembling command line. In it you will see 4 options for the program:

  1. Checking and restoring bad blocks.
  2. Check without recovery, display information about bad blocks.
  3. Regeneration of bad sectors at a specific location.
  4. Output of statistics.

First select operating mode No. 2. HDD will be checked for bads. The following screen will appear, asking you to specify the interval in which to search for bads. It's better to start testing from the beginning, so leave the value at "0".

After starting the disk scan, a progress bar will appear. It will be a long wait; sometimes the system will freeze - this indicates that the program has detected bad sectors and is now determining the extent of their damage.

Once the HDD surface analysis is complete, a report will appear. Study the items “bad sectors founded” and “bad sectors recovered”. These lines indicate the number of bads found and restored. If the line “bad sectors founded” contains many bad sectors, then it is unlikely that you will be able to fix the bad sectors, but you can try.

Recovering bad blocks in HDD Regenerator

Connect the flash drive and run HDD program Regenerator. Select the “Boot-booting flash drive” mode. Select the connected drive and click OK. All information will be erased from the flash drive. Instead, files will be written that allow you to start DOS mode. Further:

  1. Restart your computer.
  2. When the system starts, start pressing the F11 key until the drive selection window appears.
  3. Select the removable drive that contains the HDD Regenerator files.

The program will run in DOS - this mode is better suited for treating bad sectors. A window will appear that you have already seen when working in Windows. Select checking and restoring bad blocks (operation mode No. 1).
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    Now let's talk about scan and recovery time. It, of course, depends on the file size and disk space, but it is a little tiring due to its length. And the program does not always restore; sometimes crashes occur. But it's still worth a try. The program also has a function that can completely delete files (without the possibility of subsequent reincarnation).

    This software is free, its overall rating is not as good as that of its competitors, but let's take a closer look at it.
    First of all, we can note the simplicity of this software - even not very experienced users can understand the menu. And to return data after formatting a flash drive, you can use a special wizard that, using step by step instructions will help you achieve the desired result.


    Now let's talk about scan and recovery time. It, of course, depends on the file size and disk space, but it is a little tiring due to its length. And the program does not always restore; sometimes crashes occur. But it's still worth a try. The program also has a function that can completely delete files (without the possibility of subsequent reincarnation).

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