Hard Drive Repair Tools 2023
Hard Drive Repair Tools 2023
Table of Contents
Conclusion
FAQ
That’s bad news if you keep important data on your computer without proper backup.
When a hard drive failure occurs, not only are you likely to lose access to your files but
you may not even be able to boot into your operating system to search for a solution
on the web.
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As with so many other things in life, preparation is the key to success even when it
comes to hard drive repair and recovery. If you know why hard drives fail and are
familiar with some of the most popular hard drive repair and recovery solutions, you
have much better chances of seeing your files again.
Choosing the best overall hard drive repair software was easy. Disk Drill is by far the
most modern data recovery suite on the market, both in terms of its design and its
features. With Disk Drill, you can recover over 200 file formats from all storage devices
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without any expert skills. Disk Drill’s claim to fame is the one-click approach to data
recovery (/data-recovery-software.html); simply click on the Recover button and Disk
Drill will automatically take care of the rest.
Apart from the ability to recover virtually every file format you may come across, Disk
Drill can also help you solve virtually every hard drive repair scenario because it comes
with extra free tools for disk monitoring, hard drive cleanup, data protection, data
backup, and much more. If you don’t have time to learn multiple hard disk repair
software tools, download Disk Drill and rest assured knowing that it comes with
everything you’ll ever need.
✅ Pros:
Efficient data recovery from vulnerable hard drives.
🙁 Cons:
No phone support.
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2. WinDirStat
(https://download.cnet.com/WinDirStat/3000-
2248_4-10614593.html) – Best Disk Usage Tool
When you get your hands on a hard drive that may be corrupted, you should first
discover what’s stored on it before you attempt to repair it. You may find out that most
of the storage space is occupied by junk files left over by various applications.
Traditional file managers are unfit for this job because they provide a very limited view
of the stored data. WinDirStat is a disk usage statistics viewer with a special treemap-
view, which represents each file as a colored rectangle whose area is proportional to
the file’s size. When you see one huge rectangle next to hundreds of small rectangles,
you know that you’re looking at a space hog.
✅ Pros:
Multiple viewing perspectives.
🙁 Cons:
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Windows only.
Clonezilla is one of the most useful free hard drive repair software tools. It allows you
to easily create full partition and disk backups, which can be deployed on other
computers. Clonezilla supports far more file systems than most IT professionals can
name, and it even features some basic boot repair tools.
✅ Pros:
Completely free and open-source.
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🙁 Cons:
Requires external boot media.
Unfortunately, not all hard drives can be repaired. Sometimes, it’s wiser to move all
data to another storage device and securely wipe the damaged hard drive before
throwing it away. If you value your privacy and security, you should know that the disk
format utilities that comes with Windows and macOS don’t guarantee complete data
removal. They merely mark the storage space as free, allowing anyone with a good
data recovery tool, such as Disk Drill, to recover the deleted data back. Featuring
multiple military-grade erasure methods, DBAN can wipe any storage device clean and
don’t leave behind even a trace of the original content.
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✅ Pros:
Securely erases all data from the hard drive.
🙁 Cons:
Requires external boot media.
5. CrystalDiskInfo
(http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/in
e.html) – Best Health Monitoring Tool
time. Hard disk manufacturers know which values are normal and which may indicate
an imminent hard disk failure, and they hard-code them into the firmware.
CrystalDiskInfo monitors these values and makes it immediately obvious when they
get out of hand, giving you enough time to back up your data before it’s too late.
✅ Pros:
Can be configured to send event-based alerts.
🙁 Cons:
Cramped interface may be confusing.
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GParted is a free, graphical partition editor that you can use to resize, copy, and move
partitions without data loss or file corruption. You may want to shrink a partition to
create space for another operating system or a backup partition. GParted is part of
many other hard disk tools, such as Clonezilla or Partclone. It can also be downloaded
from the official website as a small bootable GNU/Linux distribution for x86 based
computers and used from a USB flash drive.
✅ Pros:
Queues changes before applying them.
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🙁 Cons:
Requires external boot media.
While Windows comes with a built-in hard disk repair tool capable of fixing bad
sectors and file access issues caused by them, it pales in comparison with HDD
Regenerator. This special-purpose hard drive repair tool has the ability to detect
physical bad sectors on a hard disk drive surface and repair them a recovery
technology called Hysteresis loops generator. Originally developed by Dmitriy
Primochenko, Hysteresis can make unreadable data readable again, and HDD
Regenerator makes it easy to apply it on Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10.
✅ Pros:
Quick bad sector detection.
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🙁 Cons:
Slow on very large hard drives.
Fairly expensive.
Despite its name AOMEI Partition Assistant isn’t yet another tool for moving, resizing,
and creating partitions. It’s actually a feature-packed hard disk manager capable of
solving virtually all commonly encountered issues related to hard drives. For example,
you can use it to convert MBR drives to the GPT partitioning scheme, migrate your
entire operating system to a different hard drive, or shred sensitive files in a way that
makes it impossible to recover them in the future—not even with a professional data
recovery tool like Disk Drill.
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✅ Pros:
User-friendly interface makes it easy to use.
🙁 Cons:
Cannot convert dynamic disks to basic.
9. SpinRite (https://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm)
– Best for Older Computers
Considering that the last version of SpinRite, an application for recovering lost files
from magnetic data storage devices such as hard disks, was released back in 2004,
you might be surprised to see it featured on this list. The reason why we decided to
include it is simple: it remains the best hard drive repair tool for older computers.
Since it runs inside a live version of FreeDOS, you can use it to scan just about any
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computer—even one that doesn’t work properly anymore. The tool supports not only
Windows file systems but also DOS FAT, all Linux file systems, Novell, Macintosh, and
more.
✅ Pros:
Works on computers running older hardware.
🙁 Cons:
Some users find the software doesn’t live up to its claims.
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Victoria for Windows is a hard disk drive information and diagnostic utility that allows
users to view detailed information about their hard drives and troubleshoot hard drive-
related issues. One of its most useful features is its ability to scan hard drives for bad
sectors and remap them to working ones. Since bad sectors are a sign of hard drive
corruption, remapping them may allow you to restore the hard drive to a working state
to recover all of your remaining data. Although its outdated interface may deter some,
there’s no doubt that it is an impressive tool with a lot of practical uses. And, best of
all, it’s completely free.
✅ Pros:
Provides detailed information about your hard drives.
🙁 Cons:
No clear instructions.
Note: Just keep in mind that none of the seven repair methods will help you solve
issues caused by physical damage. Depending on its extend, physical hard disk
damage can sometimes be repaired in a highly controlled dust-free environment
by professional technicians, but results are never guaranteed.
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Run Antivirus
Many strains of malware, such as ransomware, can prevent you from accessing
important files or even being able to boot up your computer at all. The good news is
that Windows comes with a capable antivirus, called Windows Defender, and it takes
just a few simple steps to instruct it to scan your entire computer:
5. Click the checkbox next to Full scan and click the Scan now option.
Full scan will check all files and running programs on your hard disk, so it may take a
while to complete.
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1. Type “cmd” in the search box on the taskbar and select Run as administrator.
2. Enter the following command (make sure to replace X with the letter assigned to
the hard disk you want to fix) and press Enter: chkdsk X: /f
3. Wait for CHKDSK to finish. The process may take several hours depending on
the size of your hard disk.
If you decide to use a hard drive repair tool that isn’t featured in this article, then make
sure to verify that it really does what it promises to do. There are many software
applications that promise almost miraculous results but, in reality, won’t do much
more than infect your computer with malware.
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Fortunately, reinstalling hard disk drivers and updating to the latest firmware is easy,
and you won’t lose any data.
Windows will automatically reinstall the latest version of hard disk drivers.
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As far as firmware updates go, you should start by visiting the support website of the
company that has manufactured your SSD. There, look for available firmware updates
and follow the manufacturer’s instructions to install the latest update available.
3. Right-click the hard drive you want to format and select the Format option.
4. Select the desired file system and give your drive a name. To save time, you can
leave the Quick format option selected.
If you want to format your system drive, then we recommend begin the installation of
the Windows operating system and choose the Custom install option. You will then be
able to format or delete any partition.
Power cable: As the name implies, the job of the power cable is to supply
electricity to your hard drive.
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SATA cable: The SATA cable allows your hard drive to communicate with your
motherboard.
If any of these two cables is loose or damaged, then you may experience all kinds of
hard drive issues, ranging from minor to serious. A quick inspection won’t take you
more than a minute or two, but it can save you from wasting on software fixes that
don’t address the core issue.
Should the problems magically disappear, then you know that the hard drive itself is
fine, and you need to identify and fix the real issue.
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Just because there are multiple easy-to-apply DIY fixes doesn’t mean that you have to
do everything on your own. If fixing your hard drive and recovering lost data is
important to you, then it makes sense to let data recovery professionals
(https://www.cleverfiles.com/data-recovery-
center.html#:~:text=Call%20our%20data%20recovery%20center,354%2D5459%20or%20
with plenty of experience and state-of-the-art equipment take care of everything for
you.
Sure, it will cost you some money (but probably not as much as you think), but you’ll
be able to achieve the best data recovery results possible.
When selecting a professional data recovery service, you should always check their
data recovery guarantee to verify that you won’t be billed anything if the recovery
attempt ends up being unsuccessful.
Mechanical Damage
Unlike solid-state disks or USB flash drives, which have no moving
parts, every traditional hard drive has a very fragile part called the
read/write head. This head looks like a miniature gramophone needle,
and its purpose is to transform the platter’s magnetic field into electrical current to
read data from the disk and transform electrical current into a magnetic field to write
data on the disk. Because there are only 3 nanometers of clearance between the head
and the disk platter, which holds the actual data, even the slightest misalignment can,
and usually does, result in a catastrophic head crash.
Every traditional hard disk comes with an air filter that equalizes the atmospheric
pressure and moisture between the enclosure and the outside environment. It’s critical
for the filter to prevent all dust particles from getting inside the enclosure as even the
smallest speck of dust can cause a head crash if the head happens to run over it.
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Often, a head crash is caused by a sudden jolt, such as when a user throws his or her
laptop on a bed instead of carefully laying it down.
Manufacturing Defects
All reputable hard disk manufacturers thoroughly test their products
before selling them to consumers. But even with modern testing
methods, defective hard disks still sometimes slip out and end up on
sites like Amazon. Most manufacturing defects reveal themselves
during the first year of use, so it’s advisable never to trust a brand-new hard disk with
critical data. Of course, it’s best if you don’t trust any hard disk unless you keep up-to-
date backups somewhere else.
Overheating
Most hard drives are designed to operate at temperatures from 5 to
50 degrees Celsius, and some newer hard drives can operate at up to
60 degrees Celsius. While overheating usually doesn’t result in a
critical failure, it often leads to data corruption and read errors. It’s
paramount to keep your PC or laptop well ventilated, especially during the summer
months. In extreme cases, heat can even cause the electronic circuit board that
controls the entire hard drive to fail, making it impossible to do hard drive repair
regardless of which software you choose for the job.
Electronic Failure
Inside every hard drive is a plethora of sensitive electronic
components. A sudden power failure preceded by a short power surge
can literary fry these components, rendering the entire hard drive
useless. A high-quality surge protector is by far the best way how you can protect
yourself against electronic hard drive failure. Yes, a reliable surge protector isn’t cheap,
but it’s one of those expensive purchases that are worth every dollar.
File Corruption
When unintended changes are introduced to data during the data
writing process, we talk about file corruption. As we’ve explained
above, file corruption can happen because of overheating, but it can
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In recent years, we’ve seen massive growth in the number of ransomware infections.
Ransomware attacks don’t technically corrupt files; they encrypt them. However, from
the point of view of a user who’s unwilling to pay several hundreds or thousands of
dollars to the ransomware creators, the result is the same.
As we’ve explained in this article, it’s often possible to recover from hard drive data
loss. However, it’s always much better to prevent it in the first place by following these
best practices:
Take care of your computer: You like you need to take good care of your body to
be healthy, you need to take care of your computer to prevent hard drive data
loss. Make sure the computer is well ventilated and avoid exposing it to extreme
temperatures, moisture, and other adverse conditions.
Use high-quality hard drives: Not all hard drives are equally reliable. For
example, a budget SSD from a no-name company is extremely unlikely to have
the same lifespan as an enterprise-grade SSD from a reputable manufacturer. If
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avoiding data loss issues is important to you, then spending extra money on
high-quality hard drives can save you a lot of trouble in the future.
Create backups of important data: Any files that are not backed up in at least
one extra location can be gone in any minute. We recommend the 3-2-1 backup
strategy, which states that you should always have three copies of your data on
two different media, with one copy stored offsite (such as in the cloud).
Use reliable antivirus software: Viruses and other malware can cause
widespread hard drive data loss, so you should always protect yourself against
them using reliable antivirus software. If you’re a Windows user, then you
already have a good antivirus software, Windows Defender, installed on your
computer, but you can always install a different solution.
Separate system and user data: System hard drives (typically disk C) see a lot
of use, so they’re much more likely to fail than hard drives that are used just for
data storage or backup purposes. For this reason alone, it’s a good idea to avoid
storing important data on your system drive.
Of course, you can do a lot more to prevent hard drive data loss, but these five best
practices are enough to provide a solid foundation that you can then build on as you
see fit.
Conclusion
Does it seem that your hard drive is dying? Don’t despair. There are many wonderful
hard disk repair software tools that you can use to diagnose and fix hard drive issues.
Most of these tools don’t cost anything, which cannot be said about the service
offered by most data recovery businesses.
FAQ
Can hard drives be repaired?
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