The hard disk is not initialized: what should I do?

The problem of booting the operating system is quite common. And this is in no way connected with its capacity for work. It also happens that in general the hard disk is not initialized (I / O error), or there are some other problems. In this material, we will consider several typical situations and the solutions applicable to them. Immediately make a reservation that issues related to breakdowns or physical deterioration of the hard drive will not be considered, as well as virus infection.

The hard disk is not initialized: possible problems

The most common situation is connected with breakdowns. About them will be told a little later. But at the moment you can define several options for why the hard disk is initialized incorrectly or not detected at all.

Among all that is described in the same Internet, it is possible to note separately a few situations:

• Damage to the disc;
• Improper boot priority in the BIOS;
• Errors on the disk;
• Operating system crashes.

The hard disk is not initialized: what should I do first?

To begin with, consider a typical error. Suppose there is a situation where the WD hard disk is not initialized. In this case, the system simply "spits". The message that the hard disk is being initialized (CRC error) can only indicate that there are failures in the system partition, and this in no way can be connected with the hard drive (or rather, with its state).

To begin with, when the system displays a message that the hard disk is not initialized and the OS is not bootable, you should check the start parameters in the BIOS (primary I / O system). It is very likely that when you receive a message, the user will see the text indicating that the OS boot device was not found.

Thus, the solution begs the simplest way - to include in the BIOS parameters the initial boot from the hard drive (Boot Device Priority - Hard Drive).

System resources

In the event of a load failure, you first need to check the checksums of the CRC records that were mentioned above. Such an error is akin to what sometimes can be observed when unpacking not fully downloaded WinRAR programs.

In principle, the situation is the same. However, when the system boots, if it works, you should initially perform a disk check with an indication of automatic error correction (it is clear that formatting the system partition can not be done).

If Windows boots from removable media ...

The system can also be started from a removable device (either an installed OS or a boot device). In this case, immediately, without delaying the case in a long box, you need to make a check. To do this, you can use both built-in commands and third-party programs.

In the simplest case, when, for example, the second system is on a virtual disk (in a partition), the test can be performed using the same chkdisk command with a drive label. But, as practice shows, the problem is not even that at all.

If you do not initialize an external hard drive, let alone built-in, you'll first have to check the loop connections first. But this, as it turns out, is not the main problem. Probably, for the external device simply the corresponding drivers are not installed, or they do not work correctly. Or maybe the device itself is simply not included.

You can check the operation of external media using the standard "Device Manager", which is called either from the "Control Panel" or by the devmgmt.msc command from the "Run" console, which is available on any Windows system (it can be launched via the usual Start menu).

If the system does not boot: check the status from the command line

To test any type of hard drive, if the system does not want to boot, you can offer a boot option from a schematic medium using utilities such as LiveCD or even an installation distribution of Windows, which has a boot sector that allows you to open boot from external media instead of HDD.

If you use a Windows distribution, you need to press Alt + F10 during the start process or select the Recovery Console using the "R" button. Next on the command line, you need to write sfc / scannow (this is at least to start). In the extended version, you should use the command to restore the boot record:

• Bootrec.exe / FixMbr.
• Bootrec.exe / FixBoot.
• Bootrec.exe / RebuildBcd.

The last command to apply is not mandatory and is only used to overwrite the boot sector (s).

Recovery programs

As for applications that can restore the work of Windows-systems, it is difficult to determine their use here.

At least you can recommend utilities for initial boot, and then - programs like HDD Regenerator. It is believed that this particular application running in DOS mode can produce a so-called remagnetization of the disk, even if the hard disk is not initialized as such.

Data recovery

It is clear that the user does not see the boot sector on the HDD. The section allocated for the start operation, even more so. The maximum is the paging file. But this is the main problem. The fact is that this is not even a file, but a reserved place on the hard drive that is responsible for loading data when there is not enough RAM. If you have enough "RAM", you can turn it off altogether, since accessing RAM is several times faster than the same operation when applied to a hard drive.

But you can restore the information. To do this, it is enough to use any program that allows you to do this. One of the most powerful is the utility R.Saver. True, it is preliminary desirable to make a boot in a safe mode or at least try to roll back the system, if possible.

In general, this approach allows solving a lot of problems, including some errors and failures of the boot record. If this option does not work, you will need to format the disk (hard drive). But overwriting the boot sector via the command line is worth it.

In addition, it is the commands of the system without the use of third-party tools that can fix the MBR entry. In extreme cases, you will have to use the formatting section. After that, the necessary information will be restored. But only if the rewriting to the sector was not performed, that is, there was no saving of files after the data was deleted. Otherwise nothing good will come of it. Although ... You can try to do something in any case. Nothing wrong with that.

What in the end?

For starters, it is believed that you need to check the disk for errors if it is detected at all. On the other hand, if initialization is not possible, you will need to use special programs capable of restoring HDD data, and in the working area of the boot. But, even if you boot from a removable media, you can solve a lot of problems concerning the start of the system.

If it concerns the impact of viruses, except for disk programs with the general name of Secure Disk, you will not advise anything. These are available in Kaspersky Lab and Doctor Web. The bottom line is that they load their own interface before the start of the system, while scanning even RAM, not just the hard drive (viruses, like any other programs that are being executed at the moment, can download their files there). Thus, the problem of the fact that sometimes when the system is booted the hard disk is not initialized, it can be connected with this situation.

Something for the last

But if you give advice at last, it's best to use the command-line check and restore commands. Although it works in DOS mode, it still does not fail and allows you to fix even such problems that the usual means of the system can not be fixed, no matter how hard you try. In extreme cases, if the disk is in the connection phase, you can refer to the disk management section and use the appropriate initialization command.