How to surface test C: drive

[DavidPierson]

Hi,
Love your software very much. I've two family packs and a standard licence.
I'd like to run a read+write+read test on a C: drive in a laptop that has 50+ bad sectors.
It has a Standard licence.
Even if it had Pro I think it would not run this test, due to "Cannot perform write test on system drive containing any of of the following folders: ..C:\Windows..etc"

What do you recommend for booting the laptop from disc or USB to solve this?
I've tried Hiren's Boot USB but it did not boot on this laptop.
I booted into a Macrium Reflect Boot CD, and ran up the Command prompt and tried to start HDS from USB, but command prompt said "The subsystem needed to support the image type is not present". I assume Reflect is not a full shell.

Is there any way you know of to boot into Windows from a DVD or USB so I can run HDS from it? All suggestions welcome.

Many thanks, and I realise this is not a question about HDS.

Regards, David

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for your message and kind words!

Yes, I can confirm that by any version (standard or Pro) write-type tests are not possible on the system disk where Windows OS is actually loaded and active. Write tests would write back to sectors and this is not possible when the OS is on that corresponding disk as it may cause serious damages (consider if we'd write a system area, swapfile or so - any sector actively used by Windows or any other program).

So no, write type tests are not possible on such drives.

Generally "read+write+read" test is not designed for any such or similar purposes, especially if there are bad sectors.
"read+write+read" test designed for secondary (internal/external) disk drives and mostly for flash storage: pendrives, memory cards to refresh the currently working device, to re-program the stored information to make sure it should have and provide the stored information for long(er) time.
Read+write+read test has no effect on bad sectors, it does not repair / clear bad sectors or so.

If your drive has bad sectors, the best is to perform tests to verify if the disk status is stable (even if not perfect), for example use Disk menu -> Surface test -> Read test. This also gives a warning that the drive can't be locked/dismounted due to the active OS, but the test is possible - and if it shows no yellow/red blocks, then the drive is considered to be stable.
Then the error counters (even bad sectors) can be cleared: as they are already fixed (reallocated, so the spare area used instead of the original sectors), we'd need to acknowledge this problem and focus on possible new issue(s) only.
This is described at Support -> Frequently Asked Questions -> How to repair hard disk drive? How to eliminate displayed hard disk problems?
https://www.hdsentinel.com/faq_repair_h ... _drive.php

If the test shows yellow/red blocks and/or if weak sectors reported in the text description (and chkdsk may report bad sectors), then the best is to use Disk menu -> Surface test -> Disk Repair in Hard Disk Sentinel Pro to stabilize problems, force reallocation of sectors - and then do the above correction. For more information, please check Support -> Frequently Asked Questions ->What is a weak sector? How to repair weak sectors?
https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_ca ... ectors.php

[hdsentinel]

Apart from that, yes, if you prefer, you may perform diagnostics / tests on the system drive if you attempt to boot Windows from a completely different disk drive.

For example

- if this drive removed from the actual system and connected to a different PC as secondary drive (so no software or Windows active). Just this may be not always possible as it may void warranty of the system/laptop
- if the system started from a different device, for example a bootable (live) Windows DVD/pendrive. Then Hard Disk Sentinel Professional Portable version can be used (started from this device) to perform diagnostics, tests.

To make bootable solution, you'd need to have a Live Windows device (for example pendrive) and then add Hard Disk Sentinel Professional Portable version. For this, please download the latest Portable package from
https://www.harddisksentinel.com/hdsent ... rtable.zip
and extract to a new folder on the created removable media (pendrive).
From that folder, Hard Disk Sentinel could be started by HDSentinel.exe (under Windows) and with Hard Disk Sentinel Pro license code, it can be registered and activated.

Please check the following forum topics for more information and details:

https://www.hdsentinel.com/forum/viewto ... =32&t=1617
https://www.hdsentinel.com/forum/viewto ... =9&t=10219