The hard drive is the head of everything. At least that's what you can say about computers. After all, it stores all the information, including the installed operating system and drivers of all "iron" devices. What is the use of a system unit with cutting-edge equipment if there is no hard drive? But, like any other computer component, it needs maintenance, and in some cases more complex actions. It is proposed to talk about all this in more detail, considering what any program for working with a hard disk can be, what tools are available in the Windows systems themselves, and in what areas all aspects of work can be divided.
Working with a hard drive: basic directions
So, what actions might be required for devices of this type? proceedingFrom the situation, several main directions can be distinguished:
- maintenance (cleaning up computer junk, fixing errors, defragmentation);
- work with partitions (create, delete, change);
- recovery (file system, folders and files, troubleshooting).
Checking, cleaning and defragmentation by means of the system and the use of optimizers
First of all, let's consider the maintenance of the hard drive and its partitions. Standard programs for working with a hard disk in Windows are widely represented in the form of built-in tools. You can get to them through the RMB menu on the disk or in the section by selecting the properties line.
There is a cleaning tool on the main tab. In the presented standard list, you can delete temporary files, system cache, empty the Recycle Bin, etc. If you use the clean up system files button, you can also get rid of old installations of Windows 10, which can take up quite a lot of space.
The service tab provides tools for finding and fixing errors, as well as for defragmentation, during which the most frequently used files or programs are moved to the fastest areas of the disk in order to speed up access to them.
As for cleaning the hard drive from unnecessary applications, you can use the standard section of programs and components located in the Control Panel, in which unnecessary or unusedprograms, as well as installed service packs.
But many users don't like native Windows tools. Indeed, they often look much worse in terms of functionality than some specialized third-party hard drive program. In this case, we are talking about optimizers and uninstallers. The first type of applications allows you to perform comprehensive services for removing garbage, fixing errors and optimizing the disk, the second ones are designed to remove installed applications as completely as possible and get rid of leftovers (when using the built-in system tool, registry keys or residual files are not always deleted).
Among all the available software, one can single out such programs for working with a hard disk in these areas, such as CCleaner, Advanced SystemCare, iObit Uninstaller and many others. The use of optimizers is simplified as much as possible, since they have a quick cleanup section, in which you just need to activate the necessary modules and start checking and then fixing the problems found. Uninstallers not only completely remove applications, but are also able to uninstall their own system components that cannot be removed using standard tools.
Working with partitions using Windows tools and third-party utilities
The system's built-in hard disk partitioning program is a partition management console that can be accessed viaadministration or the Run menu by entering the command diskmgmt.msc.
Here you can perform partitioning, merging partitions, creating boot partitions, compressing or expanding volumes, etc. The same actions are performed on the command line, but using the dfiskpart toolkit. Again, this tool is not very user-friendly. Many users prefer third party apps like Partition Magic or AOMEI Partition Assistant.
The second program is in Russian, working with hard drives is simplified as much as possible. Compared to a Windows tool, there is no need to look for additional commands in it. The main toolkit is displayed on the sidebar. For example, you need to merge two partitions. Use the appropriate item and indicate those of which you need to make one. On Windows, this will require a bunch of additional steps.
Disk Recovery
Finally, let's look at the recovery of the hard drive and the information stored on it. In the first case, utilities like HDD Low Level Format will help, which allow you to perform low-level formatting for the purpose of subsequent data recovery.
But in case of physical damage to the hard drive, it is believed that nothing but the HDD Regenerator utility helps. The application in program mode, as it were, remagnetizes the surface of the hard drive and restores damagedsectors.
Any simple hard drive program like Recuva will do for data recovery. However, if you need to perform the most powerful scan with the recovery of deleted information after formatting the disk, it will be impossible to do this without utilities such as R-Studio or R. Saver.
Instead of afterword
That's briefly everything about applications for working with hard drives and their logical partitions. Native system tools are usually used in the absence of third-party utilities, but the latter, as a rule, are more convenient to use and have more functionality.
