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.
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. 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.
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 , 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. Listed below are seven repair methods that can help you repair most logical hard drive issues that are preventing you from accessing your data.
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:. Full scan will check all files and running programs on your hard disk, so it may take a while to complete.
Both of these tools can be used to check the file system and file system metadata of a volume for logical errors, and we highly recommend you give them a try before attempting more drastic fixes. Sometimes, hard disk issues are caused by faulty drivers and firmware. As far as firmware updates go, you should start by visiting the support website of the company that has manufactured your SSD. When you format a hard disk, you recreate the entire file system and start from scratch, fixing all issues with bad sectors and data corruption in the process.
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. 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. If none of the above-described fixes have solved your problems, then you should rule out the possibility that some other component, such as your motherboard is to blame for them.
You can easily do that by disconnecting your hard disk and connecting it to a different computer. MiniTool Partition Wizard Free is a freeware disk partitioning and formatting utility that is simple to use and effective. The interface is quite straightforward and the software is excellent at making complex formatting options simple. Paragon Partition Manager free is another great little utility that supports Windows 10 and has a lot of features.
What I like about Paragon is that the each function in the software has its own wizard. For those who are uncomfortable with making these kinds of changes, the software does a good job of easing you through the process. They also have a paid version that supports more features and works on bigger drives. Some options will be available in the free version while others will require the paid version.
This is true for all of the programs mentioned above. While the other software on this list focus specifically on external hard drive formatting, the HP Disk Storage Formatter specializes in USB devices such as flash drives.
This ultra simple formatting utility has just a few options, but it is effective and has received some great reviews. Overall, the formatting utilities that are offered by Windows and OS X will format hard drives, but there may be cases when they will fail to format a hard drive correctly. Using the variety of hard drive formatting and partitioning utilities featured in this post, you should have no problems getting hard drives or even USB flash drives formatted correctly.
However, while a number of paid plans are available, there is also a free tier available. This enables users to retrieve deleted, lost, and unavailable objects from a hard drive, USB stick, or almost any other storage device. All of the advanced data recovery tools are otherwise available. Overall, Stellar Data Recovery is a great file retrieval tool with powerful advanced options for business. In its simplest form, it enables anyone to retrieve lost data from a computer or external storage device.
The only concern would be whether 1GB of free recovery is enough for your needs, but if that's the case then one of the paid tiers would definitely be worth considering as an alternative. Recuva is a full recovery toolkit, dealing with deep scanning, retrieval of data from damaged drives, extracting files from removable devices and more.
Although it does come with a paid-for version like the above, the free version is definitely worth checking out as an option. It's not the most comprehensive tool, but it's certainly powerful enough for the price, particularly given that the pro version also adds disk imaging tools for taking full backups of your drives.
Perhaps Recuva's most interesting feature is one that's contrary to its main aim: using its secure delete capability, you can completely obliterate files. Note that usually files are only ever truly deleted when they're overwritten by another occupying the same space on the drive — otherwise, it's merely the reference to their data in the OS that's removed.
By overwriting each of their bits repeatedly with zeroes, even the most advanced data forensics tool won't be able to get them back. Perfect for those highly questionable documents that absolutely need to stay deleted Read our full Recuva review. PC Inspector File Recovery goes further than many data recovery tools in that it will detect partitions that have been lost, even if the boot sector or file system has been damaged or deleted. This could be a real life-saver in an emergency, potentially helping you get data back even if your hard drive is not visible within Windows.
Beginners might find the terminology and design of PC Inspector File Recovery intimidating, and even some more advanced users may find the workflow a little confusing to start with.
Take some time to learn your way around it, and you'll find a powerful data recovery program — but one that seems to get better results with FAT and FAT32 drives. Presented as a pair of tools rather than a single integrated solution, TestDisk and PhotoRec together can recover data from both lost partitions and files. TestDisk takes care of the partition side of things. The fact that it's a command line tool with no graphical interface might off-putting at first. If can set this to one side though, there's help on hand to guide you through the process of working with your drives.
TestDisk offers support for so many file systems, it should cater for most eventualities. PhotoRec is the component for recovering files. It's available with a command lint interface, but unlike TestDisk there's also a GUI for less confident users.
It may not be as intuitive as some of the other recovery software in this listing, but it's effective.
PhotoRec is cross-platform and can be run as a portable app from a USB stick, which means you don't have to install it on your PC and risk accidentally overwriting the data you want to recover. Read our full TestDisk and PhotoRec review. Despite the inclusion of the word "pro" in the name, this program is still free; there is, in fact, no non-pro version. Recovery can be a little hit and miss as there is no indication of the quality or recoverability of files — you just have to hope that the file that are found are in a reasonable state.
When it comes to data recovery, there aren't really all that many options other than the ability to search for particular types of files to reduce the size of the list you have to sort through. In terms of extras you also get a disk snapshot tool which basically backs up your drive so you can recover data at your leisure, a secure file deletion tool, and email recovery.
Worth checking out, even if this is not necessarily the best of the bunch. Brian has over 30 years publishing experience as a writer and editor across a range of computing and technology titles, and has been interviewed multiple times for BBC News and BBC Radio.
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