In the event that we detect problems with our hard drive or operating system HDD Regenerator can help us solve the problem. That is why we can use it in case Windows is slow, programs take a long time to open, the hard drive makes noise or the system freezes. In these cases, the HDD or SSD may be in danger that could end up in a bigger problem.
How to tell if your hard drive has bad sectors
If we begin to detect errors in our disk drives, we must know that there are two types. The first is the physical problems of the hard drive itself. We are referring to defects that do not depend on the management of the unit by the PC, something more complicated to solve than the second type.
And it is that this second modality to which we refer is the one related to logical problems, which is precisely what the article focuses on. program which we are talking about here. In this case, we are referring to a configuration failure and use of the unit that can be caused by multiple factors. Specifically, these logical failures that we are talking about are usually caused by a failure to read or write the disk.
This can be caused by a sudden shutdown of the electrical supply while the hard drive was running. In the same way we can find these failures due to some data corruption or because the sector has disappeared from the index. For all this we have various solutions, both integrated into the Microsoft operating system itself and external programs, which is precisely the case that concerns us in these lines.
With everything and with this, if you want to know if your hard drive has bad sectors, the best thing to do at first is to use the tools that Windows offers us. These are very easy to use as well as effective. A good solution is to use the CHKDSK command. This focuses on helping us find and repair bad sectors on disks. As you can imagine, this is a command that we execute from a command prompt window, for example, through the following command:
chkdsk C: /F
It must be said that this process consists of three phases in which the unit is analyzed, it tries to repair the errors detected and a last verification. Of course, all this can take a long time depending on the capacity of the disk and the failures.
Use HDD Regenerator
Once we run the application for the first time, a window appears with its main menu, where we can see an interface completely in English. When analyzing our hard drive in search of bad sectors, we have the option of running it from the menu itself or creating a bootable DVD/CD or USB with which we can boot it externally, without having to boot Windows, this being the best option to check the status of the hard disk without the interference of the operating system, an operating system that takes up space that cannot be analyzed correctly while it is in use.
Create a Bootable CD/DVD or USB
In the main menu we find two boxes with the names of Bootable USB Flash and Bootable DVD/CD. Depending on whether we prefer to create a bootable USB or DVD/CD, we choose between one option or another. We choose the desired option and the program will be in charge of detecting it and creating the boot drive with which to be able to repair any possible damage that our HDD or SSD could have. Previously, it will notify us that all the data is going to be deleted, so we must make sure that it does not contain relevant information and click Ok.
Run the application from the menu itself
In the event that we want to directly run the application, we must click on the button at the top that indicates “Click here to repair physical bad sector are damaged drive surface directly under Windows (XP/ Vista/ 7 /8)”. We can also access it by clicking on the upper left tab of “Regeneration” and then selecting “Star Process Under Windows”.
Whichever option we choose to access, on the next screen the program will give us the option to choose the hard drive we want to analyze, being able to recognize both internal and external HDDs or SDDs. We must bear in mind that if we select the same hard drive where Windows is installed, a warning message will appear stating that the drive cannot be accessed because it is in use and requires exclusive access. For this reason, it will ask us to close all programs. In the event that it detects a defective sector, we must solve it by starting it from a CD/DVD or Bootable USB. Once the hard drive is selected, click on “Start Process”.
Next, a new window appears with a black background where we will find different options to perform:
- Prescan (Show Bad Zones): This option will allow us to carry out a general and quick mapping of the hard disk, informing us of the result, but without proceeding to carry out any repairs.
- Normal Scan (With / Whitout Repair): with this option we will be able to repair our hard drive in case it has a bad sector
- version information: Shows information about the version of the program.
- Show Statistics: statistical sample of the last analysis carried out.
We select the first option to perform a hard drive scan. Subsequently, once the program has finished, it will inform us of the bad sectors it has been able to find, as well as the different options available to solve it.
Download HDD Regenerator
HDD Regenerator is a commercial application, so in order to fully use it, it will be necessary to pay for its license, which costs $59.95. We also have the possibility of being able to regenerate the first defective sector found. Its main purpose is to display a report containing the necessary information about the possibility of rebuilding the entire disk using the registered full version.
In the event that the first bad sector that has been found is regenerated successfully, we can choose to buy the product to regenerate the bad sectors of our hard drive. The price includes an unlimited license period, along with free minor updates for one year and discounts on major updates.
Worth?
After analyzing how it works and seeing all the functions that this application offers us, if we have been in the computer world for a long time and have gone through several versions of Windows, we quickly realize that this application does exactly the same as the included Defragment application. in older versions of Windows, an application that analyzed each sector and, if it was defective, marked it as unusable and passed the information to another that worked correctly. The version that Windows currently includes to defragment your computer no longer includes this option, so it is only worthwhile for more modern versions of Windows, such as Windows 10 and Windows 11. In older versions such as Windows XP or Vista, it is not necessary to use This application.
The trial version is so limited that it doesn’t even give us a real idea of whether the application is capable of recovering all the bad sectors it encounters or if it can only bring a part of them back to life. As we can see on the developer’s website, we have a 30-day period to request a refund. However, the application has not been updated for a while (the latest version is 20) and despite the fact that Windows 11 has been on the market for a year, the description of the application does not indicate that it is compatible, although it probably will be.
Also, the app is too expensive to give it a try, the $60 the app costs is too much for the features it does, features that we can find on USB LIVE as Hiren’s Boot, USB which also includes a large number of of applications to repair bad sectors of the hard drive without the need to load the operating system. In addition, it is completely free, so we do not have to make any type of investment without financial costs that does not ensure that we are going to get the results we are looking for despite what HDD Regenerator promises.
Summarizing. Is HDD Regenerator worth it? 10 years ago it might have had a chance in the market to repair hard drives, but nowadays, it’s a totally dispensable application and it’s really not worth downloading the trial version.
Alternatives to analyze hard drives
If we are looking for a program that helps us to analyze and repair bad sectors on the hard drive, we suggest some alternatives to HDD Regenerator to take into account, one of them completely free and another one that costs half the cost of the application we have analyzed. in this article.
- Victory HDD. This program detects problems with bad sectors on our hard drive, replaces problematic sectors on the drive as well as fixes other errors. It also shows us the model of the disk and its size, as well as the SMART attributes. We can download it from your .
- DRevitalize. This application detects and repairs bad sectors of our hard drive by generating a special sequence of high and low signals around the damaged area. The program has been designed to run on Windows 10 and Windows 11 and we can download a trial version from
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