Good afternoon.

Very often users ask me the same question, but in different interpretations: "what is the hard drive clogged with?", "Why did the hard drive space decrease, because I did not download anything?", "How to find files that take up space on the HDD ? " etc.

There are special programs for assessing and analyzing the occupied space on the hard disk, thanks to which you can quickly find all unnecessary and delete. Actually, this is what this article will be about.

Analysis of the occupied hard disk space in diagrams

1. Scanner

Official site: http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/

A very interesting utility. Its advantages are obvious: it supports the Russian language, no installation is required, high operating speed (it analyzed a 500 GB hard drive in a minute!), Takes up very little space on the hard drive.

The program presents the results of its work in a small window with a diagram (see Fig. 1). If you visit the desired piece of the diagram with the mouse, you can immediately understand what takes up the most space on the HDD.

For example, on my hard disk (see Fig. 1), about a fifth of the occupied space is occupied by movies (33 GB, 62 files). By the way, there are quick buttons to go to the trash can and "add and remove programs".

2. SpaceSniffer

Official site: http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/index.html

Another utility that doesn't need to be installed. At startup, the first thing will ask you to select a drive (specify a letter) to scan. For example, my Windows system drive occupies 35 GB, of which almost 10 GB is occupied by a virtual machine.

In general, the analysis tool is very visual, it helps to immediately understand what the hard drive is clogged with, where the files are "hidden", in which folders and on what topic ... I recommend using!

Figure: 2. SpaceSniffer - analysis of the system disk with Windows

3. WinDirStat

Official site: http://windirstat.info/

Another utility of this kind. It is interesting primarily because in addition to simple analysis and charting, it also shows file extensions by painting the chart in the desired color (see Fig. 3).

In general, it is quite convenient to use it: the interface is in Russian, there are quick links (for example, on emptying the trash, editing directories, etc.), it works in all popular Windows operating systems: XP, 7, 8.

Figure: 3. WinDirStat analyzes drive "C: \\"

4. Free Disk Usage Analyzer

Official site: http://www.extensoft.com/?p\u003dfree_disk_analyzer

This program is the easiest tool to quickly find large files and optimize disk space.

Free Disk Usage Analyzer helps you organize and manage free disk space of HDD by finding the largest files on the disk. You can quickly find where the largest files are located, such as: videos, photos and archives, and move them to another location (or delete them altogether).

By the way, the program supports the Russian language. There are also quick links that will help you clear the HDD from junk and temporary files, remove unused programs, find the largest folders or files, etc.

5.TreeSize

Official site: http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

This program does not know how to build diagrams, but it conveniently sorts folders, depending on the occupied space on the hard disk. It is also very convenient to find a folder that takes up a lot of space - click on it and open it in Explorer (see arrows in Figure 5).

Despite the fact that the program is in English, it is quite simple and quick to deal with it. Recommended for both beginners and advanced users.

Figure: 5. TreeSize Free - results of analysis of the system drive "C: \\"

By the way, so-called "junk" and temporary files can occupy a significant amount of space on the hard disk (by the way, because of them, free space on the hard disk decreases, even when you do not copy or download anything to it!). From time to time it is necessary to clean the hard disk with special utilities: CCleaner, FreeSpacer, Glary Utilites, etc. More details about such programs.

That's all for me. I would be grateful for the additions on the topic of the article.

Happy PC work.

A computer hard drive works hard every day, processing huge amounts of data, constantly writing and erasing them. For several years of service, the condition of the drives can leave much to be desired: bad sectors, overheating, and frequent errors are likely. To protect your data from sudden problems, as well as to check the state of "health", there are a number of useful programs for assessing HDD performance.

A small program for checking the status of the hard drive. Despite its modest size, the functionality of this product is impressive. In addition to displaying temperature and health, you can get comprehensive information about your hard drive and all available device functions. In addition, you can set up all sorts of important alerts.

It is a pity that HDD Health does not support Russian, and glitches in the interface are possible on x64 systems.

Victoria

A veteran in his field, an excellent program for diagnosing a drive. Unlike analogs, it can do the most detailed reading check without missing a single sector. As a result of scanning, you can get not only S.M.A.R.T. data, but also a graph of the state of the disk by area, as well as statistics of the speed of individual sectors. So this is the perfect program to check the speed of your hard drive.

The long-standing release date makes itself felt, frightening the unprepared user with sudden errors and an archaic interface.

HDDlife Pro

The most convenient program for testing HDD, with a hint of professionalism. Performs both a general analysis of drives and monitoring during operation, notifying of problems in a variety of ways.
Most will appreciate the support for the Russian language and the clarity of the data display. This program will do everything quickly, efficiently, and most importantly - independently.

HDDlife Pro is not happy except for its availability - only 14 days are given for free use, and then you will have to pay for constant monitoring.

It is not difficult to thoroughly check the hard drive. The developers have prepared for us many tools that allow us to save our data in time and predict disruptions in the operation of the drive. Which program did you prefer?

Victoria is one of the most popular programs for testing, service and assistance in recovering information from hard drives. There are versions for DOS and Windows.

Using the second version, you can diagnose and repair hard drives right in the running OS. But it's worth noting that fixing bad sectors directly from the OS often fails, so power users use a different version.

The version of the Victoria program, which runs from under DOS, is loaded from a boot disk or flash drive. With its help, you can diagnose and, if necessary, "treat" the hard drive. A boot disk with the Victoria program installed is useful for those who, due to bad blocks, do not start the operating system, or if you have one hard drive and you want to fix bad blocks on it.

Bad blocks or damaged sectors - bad or unreadable sector, upon attempting to access which the drive returns an error.

Bad blocks can be: logical - the sector checksum is violated, which is easily corrected by the program; and physical - the hard disk surface or its mechanisms are destroyed.

To check the hard disk for bad sectors, it will be enough to install a version of the program that works directly in Windows. Download it by clicking on the link below.

We extract the files from the archive to the selected folder. Then we go into this folder, look for the executable file "vcr446f.exe", right-click on it and run it as administrator.

In the main window of the program, go to the "Tests" tab. On the right side of the window, mark "Ignore" and "read" and click "Start". Thus, we ran a simple test of the hard disk surface - it will not affect it in any way, but after the test is completed, it will be clear what state your hard drive is in.

LBA is a mechanism for addressing and accessing a block of data on a hard or optical disk, in other words, it is a sector number. In the fields "Start LBA", "End LBA" you can specify the starting and ending sector number for which you want to scan.

The percentage passed from the maximum LBA value set in the menu is indicated just below, and there is an indicator of the remaining time until the end of testing.

Now let's look at the test results. The read data blocks are sorted by access time, colored rectangles in the middle of the screen, which allows you to identify the condition of the hard disk surface, and to detect not only bad blocks, but also emerging defects.

I checked only 14.1% of the hard disk surface, and of these blocks - 152 blocks with a delay of 600 ms - and these are possible candidates for bad. 600 ms is the block access time, ideally the value should not exceed 30 ms.

Usually healthy drives do not have “colored” rectangles, and the appearance of red and brown ones indicates any problems. If after checking you have blocks related to the "Err" field, these are unrecoverable bad sectors.

To fix bad on the hard disk, you can try to "zero" them - the "Erase" function - the checksum of bad blocks will be restored when the entire sector is overwritten. You can also use the "Remap" function - replacing the address of an unreadable sector with one of the spare sectors, which are created just for such cases.

If the damaged sectors are not curable, that is, they are of a physical nature, then you can use the following methods.

If bad sectors are at the end of the disk, then trim that end of the disk. We remember the sector number and use it in the same program for cutting the size of the hard disk (hpa): we cut the disk to the first bad sector.

If the bad sectors are in the middle or the beginning of the disk, then leave this part of the disk unallocated. That is, divide the hard disk into logical volumes so that the logical disks used are not in the area where there are bad sectors.

I will end on this. A program to check the hard drive for bad sectors Victoria showed us the state of the hard drive surface. What to do next - to treat or buy a new one - is up to you.

HDDScan

The program is designed to check hard drives and SSDs for bad sectors, view S.M.A.R.T. attributes, changing special settings, such as: power management, start / stop spindle, acoustic mode adjustment, etc. The storage device temperature value can be displayed in the taskbar.

Capabilities and requirements

• HDD with ATA / SATA interface.
• HDD with SCSI interface.
• HDD with USB interface (see Appendix A).
• HDD with FireWire or IEEE 1394 interface (see Appendix A).
• RAID arrays with ATA / SATA / SCSI interface (tests only).
• USB flash drives (tests only).
• SSD with ATA / SATA interface.

• Linear verification test.
• Test in linear reading mode.
• Linear recording test.
• Butterfly Reading Test (Artificial Random Reading Test)

• Reading and Analyzing S.M.A.R.T. parameters from drives with ATA / SATA / USB / FireWire interface.
• Reading and analyzing log tables from SCSI disks.
• S.M.A.R.T. launch tests on ATA / SATA / USB / FireWire drives.
• Temperature monitor on ATA / SATA / USB / FireWire / SCSI drives.

• Read and analyze identification information from ATA / SATA / USB / FireWire / SCSI drives.
• Changing the AAM, APM, PM parameters on ATA / SATA / USB / FireWire drives.
• View information about defects on a SCSI drive.
• Spindle start / stop on ATA / SATA / USB / FireWire / SCSI drives.
• Saving reports in MHT format.
• Printing reports.
• Support for "skins".
• Command line support.
• Support for SSD drives.

• Operating System: Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 (NEW).
• The program should not be run from a read-only drive.

User interface

The main view of the program at startup

Figure: 1 Main view of the program

Main window controls:

• Select Drive is a drop-down list that contains all supported drives in the system. The drive model and serial number are displayed. There is an icon next to it that determines the type of the drive.
• S.M.A.R.T. button - allows you to get a report on the state of the drive, based on the attributes of S.M.A.R.T.
• TESTS button - shows a pop-up menu with a choice of read and write tests (see Fig. 2).
• TOOLS Button - Shows a pop-up menu for selecting available controls and disk functions (see Figure 3).
• More button - Shows a drop-down menu with program controls.

When you press the TESTS button, a pop-up menu offers you one of the tests. If you select any test, the test dialog box will open (see Figure 4).

Figure: 2 Test menu

When you press the TOOLS button, a pop-up menu will prompt you to select one of the following options:

Figure: 3 Function menu

• DRIVE ID - Generates a DRIVE ID report.
• FEATURES - opens a window of additional program features.
• S.M.A.R.T. TEST - opens S.M.A.R.T. tests: Short, Extended, Conveyance.
• TEMP MON - Starts the temperature monitoring task.
• COMMAND - opens a command line build window.

Test Dialog Box

Figure: 4 Test Dialog Box

Control elements:

• The FIRST SECTOR field is the starting logical sector number for testing.
• The SIZE field is the number of logical sector numbers to test.
• BLOCK SIZE field - block size in sectors for testing.
• Previous button - returns to the main program window.
• Next button - adds a test to the task queue.

• Only one surface test can be run at a time. This is due to the fact that the author of the program has not yet managed to obtain stable high-quality results when running 2 or more tests simultaneously (on different drives).
• The Verify test may have a block size limit of 256, 16384, or 65536 sectors. This is due to the peculiarities of Windows.
• Verify test may not work properly on USB / Flash drives.
• When testing in the Verify mode, the drive reads the data block into the internal buffer and checks their integrity; no data is transferred through the interface. The program measures the readiness time of the drive after performing this operation after each block and displays the results. The blocks are tested sequentially - from minimum to maximum.
• When testing in the Read mode, the drive reads data into the internal buffer, after which the data is transmitted via the interface and stored in the temporary program buffer. The program measures the total readiness time of the drive and data transfer after each block and displays the results. Blocks are tested sequentially - from minimum to maximum.
• When testing in Erase mode, the program prepares a data block filled with a special pattern with a sector number and transfers the data to the drive, the drive writes the received block ( information in the block is irretrievably lost!). The program measures the total block transfer and write time and drive readiness after each block and displays the results. Blocks are tested sequentially - from minimum to maximum.
• Testing in Butterfly Read mode is similar to testing in Read mode. The difference lies in the order in which the blocks are tested. Blocks are processed in pairs. The first block in the first pair will be Block 0. The second block in the first pair will be Block N, where N is the last block of the given section. The next pair will be Block 1, Block N-1, etc. Testing ends in the middle of the specified area. This test measures the reading and positioning times.

Task management window

Figure: 5 Task manager

This window contains the task queue. This includes all tests that the program runs, as well as the temperature monitor. The manager allows you to remove tests from the queue. Some tasks can be paused or stopped.

Double-clicking on an entry in the queue brings up a window with information about the current task.

Test information window

The window contains information about the test, allows you to pause or stop the test, and also generates a report.

Graph Tab:

Contains information about the dependence of the testing speed on the block number, which is presented in the form of a graph.

Figure: 6 Graph Tab

Map Tab:

Contains information about the dependence of the testing time on the block number, which is presented in the form of a map.

Figure: 7 Map Tab

You can select “Block Processing Time” in milliseconds. Each block tested that took longer than the "Block Processing Time" will be logged in the "Report" tab.

Report tab:

Contains information about the test and all blocks whose test time is longer than "Block Processing Time".

Figure: 8 Report Tab

Identification information

The report contains information about the main physical and logical parameters of the drive.

The report can be printed and saved to an MHT file.

Figure: 9 Sample Identity Window

S.M.A.R.T. report

The report contains information about the performance and health of the drive in the form of attributes. If, according to the program, the attribute is normal, then next to it is a green icon. Attributes that you should pay attention to are indicated in yellow, as a rule, they indicate some kind of malfunction of the drive. Attributes that are outside the normal range are shown in red.

Reports can be printed or saved to an MHT file.

Figure: 10 Sample S.M.A.R.T. report

Temperature monitor

Allows you to evaluate the temperature of the drive. Information is displayed in the taskbar, as well as in a special window of information about the test. Figure: 11 contains readings for two drives.

Figure: 11 Temperature monitor in taskbar

For ATA / SATA / USB / FireWire drives, the information window contains 2 values. The second value is displayed in the taskbar.

The first value is taken from the Airflow Temperature attribute, the second value is taken from the HDA Temperature attribute.

Figure: 12 Temperature monitor for ATA / SATA disk

For SCSI drives, the information window contains 2 values. The second value is displayed in the taskbar.

The first value contains the maximum allowable temperature for the drive, the second shows the current temperature.

Figure: 13 Temperature Monitor for SCSI Disk

S.M.A.R.T. tests

The program allows you to run three types of S.M.A.R.T. tests:

1. Short test - usually lasts 1-2 minutes. Checks the main nodes of the drive, and also scans a small area of \u200b\u200bthe drive surface and sectors in the Pending-List (sectors that may contain read errors). This test is recommended for quick assessment of the drive's health.
2. Extended test - usually lasts from 0.5 to 60 hours. Checks the main components of the drive, and also scans the entire surface of the drive.
3. Conveyance test - usually lasts a few minutes. Checks the nodes and logs of the drive that might indicate improper storage or shipping of the drive.

A SMART test can be selected from the SMART Tests dialog, invoked by pressing the SMART TESTS button.

Figure: 14 SMART Tests Dialog Box

Once selected, the test will be added to the Tasks queue. S.M.A.R.T.information window test can display the progress and completion status of the task.

Figure: 15 S.M.A.R.T.information window test

Additional features

For ATA / SATA / USB / FireWire drives, the program allows changing some parameters.

1. AAM - this function controls drive noise. Enabling this function allows you to reduce drive noise due to smoother head positioning. At the same time, the drive loses a little in performance during random access.
2. APM - the function allows you to save power to the drive by temporarily reducing the rotation speed (or complete stop) of the drive spindle during idle time.
3. PM - the function allows you to set the spindle stop timer for a specific time. When this time is reached, the spindle will be stopped, provided that the drive is in idle mode. Any program accessing the drive will force the spindle to spin up and reset the timer to zero.
4. The program also allows you to stop or start the drive spindle forcibly. Any program accessing the drive will force the spindle to unwind.

Figure: 16 Information window of additional features of the ATA / SATA drive

For SCSI drives, the program allows viewing defect lists and starting / stopping the spindle.

Figure: 17 Information window of additional features of the SCSI drive

Using the command line

The program can build a command line to control some drive parameters and save this line to a .bat or .cmd file. When such a file is launched, the program is called in the background, changes the drive parameters in accordance with the specified ones, and closes automatically.

Figure: 18 Command line build window

Appendix A: USB / FireWire Drives

If the drive is supported by the program, then tests are available for it, S.M.A.R.T. functions and additional features.

If the drive is not supported by the program, then only tests are available for it.

USB / FireWire drives supported by the program:

USB / FireWire drives that the program may support:

USB / FireWire drives not supported by the program:

Appendix B: SSD Drives

Support for a particular drive largely depends on the controller installed on it.

SSD drives supported by the program:

SSD drives that the program may support:

Additional Information

HDDScan 3.3 you can download version 2.8

A hard disk drive (HDD) is an essential element of a computer, which stores all the necessary information, programs and user files. Like any other component, over time, the hard drive wears out, its normal operation is disrupted, and failures begin to occur. Along with physical wear and tear, which leads to the appearance of so-called bad sectors (bad blocks), logical errors often occur related to the file system, indexes and the main file table.

For the time being, you may not observe problems in the operation of the hard disk, but this does not guarantee that one fine day the hard drive will not order to live long. Therefore, it is important to periodically (once or twice a year) check the hard drive for errors and bad sectors that require correction. Regular monitoring will allow you to monitor the condition of the carrier and respond in time to changes in its condition. Of course, one should not neglect such a proven method of protecting information as backup. The most valuable data must be duplicated on a reserve keeper.

Symptoms of a defective hard drive

In most cases, HDDs operate smoothly for several years without requiring special attention. However, in case of improper operation (physical impact, lack of proper cooling), the resource of the information carrier is significantly reduced. In rare situations, a factory defect or a sudden breakdown occurs.

The occurrence of failures in the hard disk can be indicated by too long loading of the operating system, unreasonable disappearance of files and folders, slow launch of applications. The obvious symptoms of a hard drive's loss of performance are program slowdowns and long file copying. If the computer is constantly "freezing", and nothing but restarting helps, then in the process of identifying the reasons, checking the hard disk should be the first item.

Using standard Windows 7/10 tools

You can test the media using standard Windows tools. The easiest way is to select the required hard disk in Explorer, right-click on it and go to the "Service" tab.

Then we press the button "Perform check" and set the check parameters in the window that opens. If both checkboxes are checked, then Windows during diagnostics will automatically fix all system errors and restore bad sectors.

The results of the check can be found in the report.

Command line

You can also audit the hard disk using the utility chkdskcalled from the command line. In fact, such a check will not differ much from the above option.

So, we launch the command line by selecting the necessary menu item "Start". Then enter the command in the window: chkdsk G: / f / r

• G - the name of the tested hard disk (select the one you will test);
• f - checking and correcting errors;
• r - bad sector detection and recovery.

All information about found errors and bad sectors will be displayed as diagnostics are carried out.

Third-party programs for checking the hard drive

There are many programs and utilities for finding bad sectors and fixing HDD errors. We will only present the most famous ones.

Victoria

Perhaps the most popular hard drive checker tool. The program can be launched both in Windows environment and in DOS mode from a bootable USB flash drive.

The interface provides five tabs: Standard, SMART, Tests, Advanced and Setup. First of all, go to the section Standard, where in the list of devices we select the hard disk we are interested in. The Drive passport area will display basic information about the HDD.

Next, select the tab SMART and press the "Get SMART" button. SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analisys and Reporting Technology) is a hard drive self-monitoring technology. Those. the hard drive, in the process of functioning, monitors its work, recording information on a set of parameters that make it possible to assess the state of the carrier. It is this service information that we are trying to obtain.

After pressing "Get SMART" to the right of the button, either the inscription GOOD on a green background, or the inscription BAD! on red. The second option will indicate that the media is in an unsatisfactory condition and will most likely have to be replaced. For a more detailed study of SMART statistics, let's pay attention to the list of parameters on the left. Here we are primarily interested in the attribute 5 Reallocated sector countindicating the number of reassigned sectors. If there are too many of them, then the disk began to "crumble", that is, its surface is rapidly degrading and an urgent need to make a copy of all data. In this case, there is no point in restoring the hard drive.

Section Tests makes it possible to check the hard disk for bad sectors, as well as try to "cure" or reassign unreadable blocks. For a simple test of the hard drive, set the switch to Ignore and start the test with the Start button. Sector health is assessed by measuring the response time. The smaller it is, the better. Each range of response times has its own color coding. The "slowest" blocks are marked in green, orange and red. Sectors that could not be read at all are marked in blue. If there are a lot of "slow" and unreadable blocks, the hard disk should be replaced.

The Victoria program allows you to restore broken sectors, but we will not consider all the nuances of the procedure. Moreover, "treatment" often contributes only to a slight extension of the service life of the information carrier. To reassign bad blocks, perform a check with the mode enabled Remap... If the recovery was successful, do not rush to rejoice. Re-diagnose the drive after a certain period of use. The appearance of new bad blocks will indicate that the degradation of the hard drive is irreversible, and it is time for it to find a replacement.

HDDScan

This is another handy tool for troubleshooting hard drive problems. After starting the application, select the drive that needs to be checked in the Select Drive list.

At the bottom, click on the "S.M.A.R.T." and get acquainted with the provided report.

Now let's diagnose the disk surface. Click on the round button to the right of the drop-down list of media and select Surface Tests in the menu that opens.

Click on the Add Test button, thereby adding a test to the list and starting its execution.

You can get information about the progress of testing in the graph mode (Graph), map (Map) and report (Report). All blocks are also divided into groups with appropriate color marking depending on the access time.

At the end, a final report is generated.

Perhaps this is all that we wanted to tell about the methods of checking the computer hard disk for operability. We hope this information will be useful to you and will help you save important data.