Poor condition of the ssd disk what to do. Questions for the habra community

How I ruined an SSD in two months

• Computer hardware

Epigraph

“Never trust a computer that you can’t throw out the window.”
Steve Wozniak

Description of the environment

• User: Web developer. That is, such things as virtual machines, eclipse, frequent updates repositories.
• OS: Gentoo. That is, the world is often “reassembled.”
• FS: ext4. That is, a journal is being written.

So, the story begins in April, when I finally got around to copying the partitions to a 64GB SSD broom, purchased back in September. I deliberately do not tell the manufacturer and model, because I haven’t really figured out what happened yet, and it doesn’t really matter.

What did I do to make it work longer?

• Delivered noatime for partitions, so that when accessing a file, the record of the last access time is not updated.
• I increased the RAM to maximum and disabled swap.

S.M.A.R.T.

Chronicle of the fall

Note: B SSD hard drives a cell is considered broken if it cannot be written to new information. Reading from such a cell will still be possible. Using this, run the utility badblocks in read-only mode, it is unlikely to find anything.

What happened

What to do if you have an SSD

Windows

MacOs

FreeBSD

Linux

• Install kernel 2.6.33, which has optimization for such disks in the form of the TRIM command.
• Increase memory so you can safely disable swap.
• Set for mounted partitions noatime.
• Used a copy-on-write file system or an unjournaled file system (for example ext2).

  On current moment copy-on-write FS is quite difficult to use. ZFS currently only works through FUSE. And nilfs and btrfs swear when mounting that their format has not yet been finalized.

• Turn on NOOP IO Scheduler it will allow you not to perform unnecessary useless actions for the SSD.
• Conceptually correct, but it will not help the disk much - transferring temporary files to tmpfs.
• For systems that write intensively to the log, it should be stored in a different location. This is mainly true for servers for which the log server can be raised without any problems.
• Get S.M.A.R.T. utilities that correctly display the state of the SSD disk, so that you can periodically monitor the disk.
• Just spare the disk. And for the gentushniks, this additionally means not “reassembling the world.”

Questions for the habra community

• Is it really possible to kill MLC cells in 2 months? Of course, I understand that I didn’t spare the disk, but I didn’t do anything supernatural, I just worked as usual.
• Is this a warranty case?

UPD: The disk I had was Transcend TS64GSSD25S-M.
UPD2: The comments are very good reviews about SSD Intel and SAMSUNG. In addition, people are surprised how you can kill an SSD with a broom so quickly. Believe me, I was perplexed in exactly the same way. However, it is possible that this is a hastily tailored SSD series and can be killed quickly.
UPD3: In the comments and

When working on a PC with hard drives We have a lot in common. We often copy and transfer a lot of information and install programs. In this regard, there are many overwrites, the disk is constantly working, which means that over time its condition will deteriorate.

In this article I want to tell you about tools that will help you find out the status of your hard drive or . First, let's start with the tools that are built into Windows, because some people are outraged by what many blogs often describe third party programs for this matter.

How to check the status of your hard drive using Windows 10?

I'll look at how to use the status check tool below, but before I start, I'll say a few words about this method.

When using this method you will be shown two states: All disks are working normally, or they are working poorly. Encouraging, isn't it?

How good or how bad the disk is is unknown, since the system takes information from S.M.A.R.T - analysis or self-monitoring of the hard disk. If the value is displayed Good, then the disk is working properly, but if Bad, then something is wrong with the disk. You will not find out more information about the disk using this tool. Conclusion? It's a so-so product, it's better to use it third party applications, no matter how much you want it.

For those who still want to try, here are the instructions:

• Press the Win+X keys and select “Control Panel”;
• Go to the “System and Security” section;
• Security and Service Center;
• Open the “Maintenance” tab;
• We are looking for an item.

Let's use the program and see what information it shows us.

As we can see, there is plenty of information about the disk. If the condition is bad, the program will tell you about it. I'm fine with both disks.

You can also use the program. The information there may be in English, but I think you’ll figure it out, especially since Yandex and Google translators are available to everyone.

Useful articles:

CHKDSK Disk Checker

In fact, the built-in chkdsk utility is not intended to check the status of the hard drive; it is needed to correct errors related to the file system, for example, NTFS. Also, the utility is unable to fix bad blocks.

In our case, we will do the following. Let's launch chkdsk utility, which will generate a report for us about the file system, but not about the state of the hard drive.

Go to "Computer" and click right click mouse on the drive you are interested in, for example (C:). Select an item "Properties".

Go to the tab "Service" and click on the button "Check" See the "Checking for Errors" section.

A window appears in which we click on the “Check disk” button. We're waiting for a while.

As soon as the process is completed, the tool will notify you about it. To find out more information, click on the button "Show details". A window will immediately open in which you need to double-click on the specified item "Intelligence".

The “General” tab will show basic information about the file system, I hope you don’t have any problems there. If you wish, you can copy this information.

How to run chkdsk using the command line?

Very simple. Opening command line and enter the command with the following key.

/f– check the disk for errors file system and their correction.

If you are checking the "E:" drive, the command will look like this:

chkdsk e: /f

Articles where the chkdsk command is used:

• I think that with Victoria program you need to figure it out, as it is very useful and provides not only useful information, but also allows for various software manipulations on disks, for example, fixing bad sectors.

  And that’s all, don’t forget to subscribe to social media. networks and monitor the appearance of relevant information.

The solid state drive has quite high resource operation thanks to wear leveling technologies and reserving a certain space for the needs of the controller. However, when long-term operation To avoid data loss, it is necessary to periodically evaluate the disk's performance. This is also true in cases where you need to check a used SSD after purchasing it.

Checking the status of the solid state drive is done using special utilities, working on the basis of S.M.A.R.T. data. In turn, this abbreviation stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology and translated from English means self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology. It contains many attributes, but here greater emphasis will be placed on parameters characterizing the wear and service life of the SSD.

If the SSD has been in use, make sure that it is detected in the BIOS and directly by the system itself after connecting it to the computer.

Method 1: SSDlife Pro

SSDlife Pro is a popular utility for assessing the health of solid-state drives.

Erase Fail Count shows the number of unsuccessful attempts to clear memory cells. Essentially, this indicates the presence of broken blocks. The higher this value, the higher the likelihood that the disk will soon become inoperable.

Unexpected Power Loss Count– parameter showing the number sudden outages nutrition. Is important because NAND memory vulnerable to such phenomena. When found high value It is recommended to check all connections between the board and the drive, and then retest. If the number does not change, the SSD most likely needs to be replaced.

Initial Bad Blocks Count displays the number of failed cells, therefore it is a critical parameter on which the further performance of the disk depends. Here it is recommended to look at the change in value over time. If the value remains unchanged, then most likely everything is fine with the SSD.

For some drive models, the parameter may appear SSD Life Left, which shows the remaining resource as a percentage. How less value, the worse the condition of the SSD. The disadvantage of the program is that viewing S.M.A.R.T. available only in the paid Pro version.

Method 2: CrystalDiskInfo

Method 3: HDDScan

HDDScan is a program that is designed to test drives for functionality.

If any parameter exceeds valid value, its status will be marked with "Attention".

Method 4: SSDRready

SSDReady is software tool, which is designed to estimate the operating time of an SSD.

Method 5: SanDisk SSD Dashboard

Unlike the software discussed above, SanDisk SSD Dashboard is a proprietary Russian-language utility, designed to work with solid state drives manufacturer of the same name.

Conclusion

Thus, all the considered methods are suitable for assessing the overall SSD performance. In most cases, you will have to deal with the SMART data of the disks. To accurately assess the performance and remaining life of a drive, it is better to use proprietary software from the manufacturer, which has the appropriate functions.

Just a few years ago, in almost every home computer could be found regular hard disk. Nevertheless, today many users prefer to install SSD drives in their PC for a number of obvious reasons: compactness, reliability, temperature and read/write speed. Yes, their price is significantly higher compared to HDDs, but it's worth it. Installation of even the cheapest solid state drive can increase the performance of an old computer several times.

However, unfortunately, SSD drives are not as durable as classic HDDs, which can live in quite harsh conditions for literally years. SSDs have their own limited resource, which, by the way, is usually indicated by the disk manufacturers. And therefore, all users from time to time need to conduct tests of various types for their SSD in order to make sure that it is in satisfactory condition.

In today's article we will look at how you can SSD check disk for errors, bad sectors, how to check the read/write speed of an SSD disk, and also briefly consider a small additional section— recovery of MicroSD cards. So let's get started.

Checking an SSD disk for bad sectors and errors

Unfortunately, even solid-state drives are not immune to various errors and bad blocks. Therefore, users need to diagnose SSD drives for all sorts of problems. It is especially important to carry out diagnostics far from new SSDs, on which various operations were carried out daily.

But how is diagnosis done? The answer is with the help of specialized software. There is an incredible amount of huge amount Software both from the manufacturers of the disks themselves, and from third party developers, which can check the status of the SSD. Now we will look at the three best programs for diagnosing SSD drives. Let's go.

CrystalDiskInfo

Perhaps the most popular choice among software for this purpose is a program called CrystalDiskInfo. This utility was developed by a talented Japanese programmer and is distributed completely free of charge. Moreover, the program has been translated into 32 languages, including Russian, which is undoubtedly a huge plus.

CrystalDiskInfo is capable of displaying general information about SSD, which also includes the health of the carrier, monitor the S.M.A.R.T. values. and even track/control operating temperature disk. All in all, an extremely useful and lightweight utility that will help you diagnose your SSD drive in a matter of minutes.

The author of the program understood that the average user, having opened the CrystalDiskInfo window, would get confused in the variety of different attributes of his disk, so he decided to summarize them all, collecting them in the “Technical Condition” section, which percentage shows the disk status. Launch CrystalDiskInfo and look at the information in the left corner - it's as simple as that.

Let's move on to the second program on our list. SSDLife is a small application with a fairly simple user interface. After launching the utility, you will see a small window in front of you in which you can see the model of your disk, its total capacity and remaining space, total operating time, number of starts, health, and even the estimated remaining service life.

Unlike CrystalDiskInfo, the SSDLife utility is designed primarily for the most ordinary user who wants to make sure that everything is in order with his SSD disk. However, you can familiarize yourself with the S.M.A.R.T. information by clicking on the appropriate button if the need arises. The utility is distributed in two versions: free and professional version, which costs about 300 rubles. It was in prof. version there is a view of S.M.A.R.T parameters.

Data Lifeguard Diagnostic

And let's move on to latest program to check the status of the SSD disk. Data Lifeguard Diagnostic is another utility that you can use to check your drive. However, it is worth noting that her user interface somewhat more complex than the previous two programs on this list. The program was developed by the company Western Digital However, it is excellent at diagnosing third-party drives as well.

Like other programs on the list, Data Lifeguard Diagnostic will automatically launch quick diagnostics your disk, the results of which you can look at in the main window. However, it is worth noting that the details of this check are quite sparse and you will need to perform another check manually. To do this, double-click with the left mouse button on your drive in the program window.

Another small window with several options will appear in front of you. Here you will need to select a quick or advanced (in-depth) disk scan. By selecting desired type testing, for example, an extended one, at the end of it you will need to click on the “VIEW TEST RESULT” button. Then another window will appear in front of you, where you can view the results of the check.

In this window you should pay attention to the line “TEST RESULTS” (test results). PASS - means that your SSD drive is in perfect order and there is no need to worry. Well, if the value FAIL is located there, then there is really something wrong with your drive.

Checker program SSD speeds—CrystalDiskMark

Let's now look at a utility that will help you test the speed of your SSD. Have you forgotten about a program called CrystalDiskInfo? So, the developer of this program has another program, but only to check the speed of the disk.

CrystalDiskMark is rightfully so best program for testing HDD speeds and SSD. It supports the Russian language and can be run on all modern operating systems Windows systems, starting with Windows XP and ending with the latest Windows versions 10.

To perform a speed test, you will need to do the following:

• download and open the CrystalDiskMark program;
• select the number of read/write cycles you need;
• select the size of the tested file;
• select disk partition;
• click on the “All” button;

The speed test may take some time, so you may want to get distracted by something else. However, we do not recommend that you load your computer or SSD in any way while working CrystalDiskMark programs, because this may affect the test results. We look at the results and find out if there are any problems with your SSD drive. And the programs from the list above will help you with this.

How to recover a MicroSD card?

Let's move on to the next section - recovery MicroSD cards. Many of the users of such storage facilities, often used for mobile devices, people often ask one question: is it possible to recover deleted or damaged data on a memory card? The answer is yes. However, there are some nuances here.

Specialized software will help you recover the necessary data on such media, which can easily be obtained from open access on the Internet. Let's look at a few popular programs For MicroSD recovery kart.

CardRecovery

CardRecovery is an excellent free program from WinRecovery Software for recovering images, video and audio files. Unfortunately, it is not possible to restore using CardRecovery regular files, For example, text documents or disk images. So let's see how you can recover MicroSD:

• download and install CardRecovery;
• then run the program and wait for the window to appear;
• in the program window you will need to do the following:
  • select in the “Drive letter” section (partition letter) the letter under which your microsd flash drive is located;
  • Next, you will need to select the device type in the section called “Camera Brand and File type” and the type of files you want to recover;
  • in the “Destination Folder” section, select the folder on your computer where the data recovered from the flash drive will be placed;
  • and finally, click on the “Next” button;
• Next, a list of files that were recovered should appear in the CardRecovery program window. All you have to do is check the boxes next to the files you need (or all files) and click on the “Next” button again;

How could you understand, work with CardRecovery program It's quite simple and won't take up much space on your disk. An ideal option for most users who do not want to bother with many functions. However, if you need more, then let's move on.

PC Inspector Smart Recovery

If you need something more functional, then PC Inspector Smart Recovery is ideal for you. This software has a wider range of different functions and can recover almost all types of files. Among other things, it can work with non-removable storage.

So, to use PC Inspector Smart Recovery, you will need to do the following:

• download PC Inspector Smart Recovery and run it;
• click on the first green arrow icon;
• check the box next to “Select logical drive"in the section "Recovering deleted files";
• in the disk selection window, select your memory card and click on green tick for confirmation;
• Next you will need to set the range of sectors; set "0" in the starting sector and media volume in the ending range;
• click on the green checkmark to confirm;
• then a window will appear in front of you with the recovered files and folders on the flash drive;
• Click on the floppy disk icon to save the recovered files.

PC Inspector Smart Recovery is somewhat more difficult to work with than previous program on the list, but everything is within the limits of ordinary knowledge Windows users. Let's move on to the latest program for "repairing" MicroSD cards.

R-Studio

Perhaps one of the most popular programs for restoring MicroSD cards (and not only) is a program called R-Studio. The software is a group of full-featured utilities for recovering data from HDD, SSD, flash drives and more. To use R-Studio, you will need to do the following:

• download and install R-Studio on your computer;
• run the program;
• click on microsd card in the “Drivers” section;
• check the boxes next to the folders/files in the “Folders” and “Content” sections;
• Click on the “Recover” button in the menu bar of the program window.

That's all you need to recover required content on a microSD card. On the Internet you can find a whole bunch of different software with similar functionality, but users often advise using CardRecovery, PC Inspector Smart Recovery or R-Studio.

Found a typo? Select the text and press Ctrl + Enter

Sequence of actions in the presence of S.M.A.R.T. errors hard drive or SSD. How to fix a disk and recover lost data. When you boot your computer or laptop, S.M.A.R.T appears. Hard drive or SSD error? After this error, your computer does not work as before, and you are worried about the safety of your data? Don't know how to fix the error?

Relevant for OS: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8, Windows Home Server 2011, Windows 7 (Seven), Windows Small Business Server, Windows Server 2008, Windows Home Server, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT.

What to do with a SMART error?

Step 1: Stop using the failed HDD

Receiving an error diagnosis message from the system does not mean that the disk has already failed. But if there is S.M.A.R.T. errors, you need to understand that the disk is already in the process of failure. Complete failure can occur within a few minutes or after a month or a year. But in any case, this means that you can no longer trust your data to such a drive.

You need to take care of the safety of your data, create backup copy or transfer files to another storage medium. Along with the safety of your data, it is necessary to take steps to replacing hard disk. The hard drive on which the S.M.A.R.T. errors cannot be exploited - even if it does not completely fail, it can partially damage your data.

Of course hard drive may fail without S.M.A.R.T warnings. But this technology gives you the advantage of warning you when a drive is about to fail.

Step 2: Recover deleted disk data

In case of SMART errors It is not always necessary to recover data from disk. In case of an error, it is recommended to immediately create a copy of important data, since the disk may fail at any time. But there are errors in which it is no longer possible to copy data. In this case, you can use a recovery program hard data disk - Hetman Partition Recovery.

To do this:

1. Download the program, install and run it.
2. By default, the user will be prompted to use File Recovery Wizard. Pressing the button "Next", the program will prompt you to select the drive from which you want to recover files.
3. Double click on failed disk and select required type analysis. Choose « Full analysis» and wait for the disk scanning process to complete.
4. After the scanning process is completed, you will be provided with recovery files. Highlight necessary files and press the button "Restore".
5. Select one of the suggested ways to save files. Do not save recovered files to a disk with an error.

Step 3: Scan the disk for bad sectors

Start checking everyone hard sections disk and try to correct any errors found.

To do this, open the folder "This computer" and right-click on the disk with the SMART error. Select Properties / Service / Check in section Checking the disk for errors.

As a result of scanning, errors found on the disk can be corrected.

Step 4: Reduce disk temperature

Sometimes, the cause of the “S M A R T” error may be exceeding the maximum permissible temperature disk operation. This error can be resolved by improving the ventilation of the computer. First, check if your computer is equipped with sufficient ventilation and that all fans are working properly.

If you have identified and corrected a ventilation problem, after which the disk operating temperature has dropped to a normal level, then the SMART error may no longer occur.

Step 5:

Open the folder "This computer" and right-click on the disk with the error. Select Properties / Service / Optimize in section Disk optimization and defragmentation.

Select the drive you want to optimize and click Optimize.

Note. In Windows 10, disk defragmentation and optimization can be configured so that it occurs automatically.

Step 6: Buy a new hard drive

If you encounter SMART hard mistake disk, then purchasing a new disk is only a matter of time. What kind of hard drive you need depends on your style of working with a computer, as well as the purpose for which it is used.

What to look for when purchasing a new drive:

1. Disk type: HDD, SSD or SSHD. Each type has its own pros and cons, which are not critical for some users and very important for others. The main ones are the speed of reading and writing information, volume and resistance to repeated overwriting.
2. Size. There are two main drive form factors: 3.5 inches and 2.5 inches. The disk size is determined in accordance with the installation location of a particular computer or laptop.
3. Interface. Basic hard interfaces disks:
   • SATA;
   • IDE, ATAPI, ATA;
   • SCSI;
   • External drive (USB, FireWire, etc.).
4. Specifications and performance:
   • Capacity;
   • Read and write speed;
   • Memory buffer or cache size;
   • Response time;
   • Fault tolerance.
5. S.M.A.R.T. The presence of this technology on the disk will help determine possible errors its work and prevent data loss in time.
6. Equipment. TO this point can be attributed possible availability interface or power cables, as well as warranty and service.

How to reset SMART error?

SMART errors can be easily reset in the BIOS (or UEFI). But the developers of all operating systems We strongly advise against doing this. If the data on your hard drive is not valuable to you, then the SMART error output can be disabled.

To do this you need to do the following:

1. Restart your computer, and by pressing the key combination indicated on the boot screen (at different manufacturers they are usually different "F2" or "Del") go to BIOS (or UEFI).
2. Go to: Advanced > SMART settings > SMART self test. Set value Disabled.

Note: The location where the function is disabled is indicated approximate, since depending on BIOS version or UEFI, the location of this setting may vary slightly.

Is HDD repair worthwhile?

It is important to understand that any of the methods for eliminating SMART errors is self-deception. It is impossible to completely eliminate the cause of the error, since the main reason for its occurrence is often physical wear and tear on the hard drive mechanism.

To eliminate or replace malfunctioning hard drive components, you can contact service center a special laboratory for working with hard drives.

But the cost of work in this case will be higher than the cost of a new device. Therefore, it makes sense to perform repairs only if it is necessary to restore data from an already inoperative disk.

SMART error for SSD drive

Even if you have no complaints about SSD operation disk, its performance gradually decreases. The reason for this is the fact that the cells SSD memory Discs have a limited number of rewrite cycles. The wear resistance feature minimizes this effect, but does not eliminate it completely.

SSD drives have their own specific SMART attributes that indicate the state of the drive's memory cells. For example, “209 Remaining Drive Life”, “231 SSD life left”, etc. These errors can occur if the performance of the cells decreases, and this means that the information stored in them may be damaged or lost.

In the event of failure, SSD disk cells cannot be restored and cannot be replaced.