Your computer’s hard drive is one of its most important components: it stores all your information. So what happens when it stops working properly?
Programs fix simple logical faults; with a physical fault they can make the case worse. In that situation, see Bot’s hard drive recovery.
That’s where HDD Regenerator comes in: this tool scans your disk, finds the bad sectors that make your information unreadable and tries to fix them.
In the best case, the software reverses some of the effects of bad sectors, repairing problem areas so that you can keep using your computer.
In the worst case, HDD Regenerator may at least help you get back part of your important information before you replace the disk.
But is it really as miraculous as it sounds? That’s what we will look at in this article!
What is HDD Regenerator?
HDD Regenerator is a disk repair program (hence the name) that, according to its developer, can repair damaged drives without affecting the data that is still readable. The idea is that data in previously unreadable bad sectors becomes accessible again.
How does HDD Regenerator work?
Almost all disks leave the factory with a few bad sectors. That’s why manufacturers reserve a number of spare sectors for remapping.
When the drive’s firmware finds a bad sector, it marks it as “bad”. If the sector can still be read, even with difficulty, its contents are copied to one of the spare sectors. If it can’t be read, the data stored in it is lost.
Once all the spare sectors have been used, bad sectors (also known as bad blocks) start to show up to the operating system.
What HDD Regenerator does is read the bad sectors over and over and then rewrite them, so that either the sector becomes readable again or the drive’s firmware replaces it with a spare one.
If the sector can’t be recovered, its contents are lost. Because the drive swaps it for a spare sector, the disk’s capacity stays the same, but each reallocation uses up part of the spare area.
In other words, the software accesses the bad blocks many times in a row in an attempt to “regenerate” them.
And this is where the big problem lies: if the drive or its read/write heads are unstable, the tool may make dozens (or even hundreds) of read attempts on each sector. After a while, the disk may simply stop responding. That’s why we always say: if there is important data on the disk, don’t take the risk; send it to a hard drive data recovery company like Bot.
Scanning
HDD Regenerator detects drive problems quickly. It scans the surface of the hard drive regardless of the file system and finds bad sectors.
This is very useful for pinpointing where the bad sectors are, especially on disks with lots of them.
Bad block repair
HDD Regenerator rewrites the bad sectors so that they can often be read again. When a sector can’t be fixed, writing to it makes the drive replace it with a spare sector, so nothing else is stored there; the program also corrects other read errors along the way.
How long does HDD Regenerator take?
It depends on how many problems the disk has.
We have seen reports of users who needed 4 hours to complete the process, while others reported between 4 and 16 days. If the process starts to drag on, pay attention to the warnings below.
HDD Regenerator is taking too long or has frozen. What should I do?
If HDD Regenerator runs for more than 10 hours, it means there is a problem making the disk hard to read.
In that case, instead of helping, HDD Regenerator can make things worse by wrecking the read/write heads, damaging the disk permanently and destroying all the data on it.
So, if the process keeps failing or is taking too long, the best thing to do is to stop it, switch off the disk and contact a company specializing in data recovery.
Is HDD Regenerator safe?
It is only safe if you understand what HDD Regenerator really does: it doesn’t physically repair the sectors, it just rewrites them so that the drive can read them again or replace them with spare ones.
So, if you don’t need the data and just want to try to fix the drive, you can try HDD Regenerator, but only if there are very few bad sectors.
In other words, if you want to give an old disk with very few bad blocks a new lease of life to store unimportant files, HDD Regenerator can do the trick.
Otherwise, it will only put extra strain on the read/write heads and damage them. And new bad sectors can easily appear again, making the whole process a waste of time.
With disks as affordable as they are today, if you are sure your disk has bad blocks, the best option is to send it to a professional data recovery service (if you don’t have a backup of your files), then retire it and buy a new disk.
In short, these are the pros and cons of HDD Regenerator:
- Pros: installs in no time, takes up little space, is precise, supports many types of hard drives, reportedly repairs around 60% of disks and is designed not to touch the readable data on the disk.
- Cons: it doesn’t recover files. With a large file such as a video, a damaged sector may only mean a corrupted frame or a little audio noise, but spreadsheets, photos, compressed files, documents or executables can become unusable. Running the software can also be extremely slow and risky on large drives (1 TB or more) or when the disk has lots of bad sectors.
Repairing a disk with HDD Regenerator
Before you start repairing your disk with HDD Regenerator, remember that it can’t fix mechanical problems and won’t always solve bad blocks, slowdowns and similar issues.
What’s more, if you have no experience with this kind of procedure, the risk of destroying your disk for good, and your data with it, is very high.
So consider sending your disk to a specialized data recovery service (such as Bot) and replacing it with a new one.
If you still want to try repairing your disk with HDD Regenerator, never do it on a disk with data you need, and follow these steps:
- First, close all running programs except HDD Regenerator and end their processes;
- Go to the “Repair” menu and select “Start Process under Windows”;
- In the next window, select the drive you want HDD Regenerator to repair and click “Start Process”;
- To choose the type of scan and repair from the list of options, press “2” (normal scan) and then Enter;
- Now press “1” (“Scan and repair”) and then Enter;
- In the next window, choose the starting sector by pressing “1” and Enter. The error check then begins, and its progress is shown in the program window;
- If errors are found during the scan, HDD Regenerator will try to fix them;
- The process will take a while. When it finishes, you can see the repair results and press any key to close the window.
How do I fix bad blocks on my disk?
- Download and install HDD Regenerator;
- Find and select the drive you want to repair;
- A screen with several options will appear. The prescan only detects bad and/or slow sectors and takes about as long as a normal scan (which also tries to repair sectors, while the prescan does not). So, if you only want to check your disk, type “1”. If you want to scan and repair it, type “2”;
- If you choose the normal scan, you will see a few more options: scan and repair (1), scan but don’t repair, just show bad sectors (2), or regenerate all sectors in a range (3);
- During the scan/repair cycle, you will see a progress bar, the number of bad sectors found (a red “B” at the bottom left of the screen) and the number of sectors repaired (a blue “R”). If a “D” appears, a delay was detected in that sector;
- When it finishes, you can see the results from HDD Regenerator (delays detected, sectors still bad, sectors recovered and new bad sectors that have appeared or reappeared) and press any key to close the window.
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Conclusion
HDD Regenerator promises to repair a disk’s bad sectors, also known as bad blocks. The software starts by scanning the device to locate these bad sectors. It then tries to make them readable again by rewriting them, which wipes out whatever was stored in the sectors it can’t read.
The main problem with HDD Regenerator, and the reason we don’t recommend it, is that it forces the drive to read bad sectors over and over, putting extra strain on the read/write heads and, in many cases, breaking them.
In addition, because it works below the file system, it doesn’t know which files are stored in each sector: whenever it rewrites a sector it couldn’t read, the data in it is lost for good, and every reallocation adds to the count of reallocated sectors reported by the disk’s S.M.A.R.T.
And the process is even more dangerous if you are not familiar with this type of software.
So, if you lose data along the way, turn to a professional recovery service like Bot.
We have more than two decades of experience recovering data, with a 96% success rate, and we work in a Class 100 (ISO 5) cleanroom, an environment where airborne particles are strictly controlled, to protect your disk while it is open.
We offer free collection of your device (islands not included) and a free diagnosis with a standard turnaround of up to 48 hours!
Ready to get your data back? We have handled more than 200,000 cases. Start your recovery now.
