Best Disk Repair tool? (not chkdsk)


  1. Posts : 3,257
    Windows 10 Pro
       #1

    Best Disk Repair tool? (not chkdsk)


    I've not needed a disk repair tool in a long time. However, I now have a 3TB drive that's failing on me. It works for a while and then stops being recognized.

    I've tried disk imaging it with Macrium, but it fails partway through with disk read errors.

    I used to use Spinrite to fix this in the old days, but Spinrite doesn't really work on larger drives (over 1TB). Is there any other decent tool that will scan and repair bad sectors (if possible)?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 16,623
    Windows 11 Pro X64
       #2

    What brand hard drive is it? Sometimes the manufactures have good tools.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 3,502
    Win_8.1-Pro, Win_10.1607-Pro, Mint_17.3
       #3

    Mystere said:
    I've not needed a disk repair tool in a long time. However, I now have a 3TB drive that's failing on me. It works for a while and then stops being recognized.

    I've tried disk imaging it with Macrium, but it fails partway through with disk read errors.

    I used to use Spinrite to fix this in the old days, but Spinrite doesn't really work on larger drives (over 1TB). Is there any other decent tool that will scan and repair bad sectors (if possible)?
    Dude is on the money - mfr first place to start - run the diags

    WD
    Data Lifeguard (dos)
    Data Lifeguard (win)

    Seagate
    Seatools (dos)
    Seatools (win)

    Sometimes the DOS version is better - it gets Windows out of the way

    Minitool Partition Wizard is a great utility
    Minitool PW Bootable CD
    Minitool PW Windows

    Those diags might do more than std Windows. - run the quick scan first - then the long scan if necessary

    Are you willing to buy a product, some are free, some are not, one of the best (I'll have to look it up, cast about $50.

    If you're willing to spend time learning disk recovery, the TestDisk and Photorec are very good and they are free - they're a little above the average end user's comfort level - but there are step-by-step instructions.

    Depending if you need to recover files or diag your disk, there are more tools.

    Recuva by Pirifom works well too.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 3,257
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Those Mfr tools are good for diagnostics, but not very good for advanced repair scenarios. Spinrite uses a method where it reads a bad sector over and over until it gets a large number of similar reads and can guess that it has the best possible result, then It rewrites the sector somewhere else, marking that one bad.

    Mini-tool looks like it's designed to recover deleted files and partitions. It mentions damaged partitions, but it only seems to be in the context of corruption of the partition format.. not sector repair.

    Recuva also seems targeted at deleted or lost file recovery. I'm not trying to do that.. I'm trying to recover bad sectors so I can create a disk image. Even if the sectors are ultimately lost, I need them marked bad so I can at least recover what I can. I'm just looking for something that's more thorough than Chkdsk.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 45
    Windows 10 Pro
       #5

    I know this is an old thread, but I feel something should be corrected. Manufacturer's tools can be good for advanced repair scenarios. I had a seagate drive that kept doing the same thing. the only fix for it was using seagate tools. For those who have this problem in the future, I'd recommend such tools.
      My Computer


 

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