Top 20 Free Disk Monitoring Tools
The post contains a list of 20 best free tools for partitioning, diagnosing, encrypting, restoring, cloning, formatting disks. In general, almost everything you need for basic work with them.
TestDisk allows you to recover boot partitions, deleted partitions, fix damaged partition tables and recover data, as well as create copies of files from deleted / inaccessible partitions.
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Note: PhotoRec is related to the TestDisk application. With it, it is possible to recover data in the memory of a digital camera on hard disks and compact discs. In addition, you can restore the basic image formats, audio files, text documents, HTML-files and various archives.
When you run TestDisk, you are presented with a list of hard disk partitions that you can work with. The selection of available actions carried out in sections includes: analysis to adjust the structure (and subsequent recovery, if a problem is detected); change of disk geometry; delete all data in the partition table; recovery boot partition; transfer and copy files; recover deleted files; creating snapshot section.
EaseUS Partition Master is a tool for working with hard disk partitions. It allows you to create, move, merge, split, format, changing their size and location without losing data. It also helps to recover deleted or lost data, check partitions, move the OS to another HDD / SSD, etc.
On the left is a list of operations that can be performed with the selected section.
The free WinDirStat program analyzes the used disk space. Demonstrates how data is distributed and which of them take up more space.
Clicking on the field in the diagram will display the file in question in a structural form.
After downloading WinDirStat and selecting disks for analysis, the program scans the directory tree and provides statistics in such options: a list of directories; directory map; list of extensions.
Clonezilla creates a disk image with a cloning tool, which is also packaged with Parted Magic and is initially available as a standalone tool. Presented in two versions: Clonezilla Live and Clonezilla SE (Server Edition).
Clonezilla Live is a bootable Linux distribution that allows you to clone individual devices.
Clonezilla SE is a package that installs on the Linux distribution. It is used to simultaneously clone multiple computers across a network.
Using this utility allows you to mount previously made disk images and represent them as virtual drives, directly viewing the data itself. OSFMount supports image files such as: DD, ISO, BIN, IMG, DD, 00n, NRG, SDI, AFF, AFM, AFD and VMDK.
An additional function of OSFMount is the creation of RAM disks located in the computer’s RAM, which significantly speeds up work with them. To start the process, go to File> Mount new virtual disk.
Defraggler is a free program for defragmenting your hard disk, which increases its speed and service life. A feature of the program is the ability to defragment individual files as well.
Defraggler analyzes the contents on disk and displays a list of all fragmented files. During the defragmentation process, the movement of data across the disk is displayed. Highlighted in yellow - the data that is read, and green - those that are written. Upon completion, Defraggler issues a corresponding message.
Supports NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT file systems.
SSDLife - carries out diagnostics of a solid-state disk, displays information about its condition and estimates the estimated service life. Supports remote monitoring, controls the level of performance on some models of hard drives.
Thanks to SSD wear control, you can increase the level of data security, identify problems in time. Based on the analysis, the program concludes how often the SSD is used.
Quite popular free utility DBAN , used to clean hard drives.
In DBAN there are two main modes: interactive (interactive mode) and automatic (automatic mode). Interactive mode allows you to prepare a disk for data deletion and select the necessary erasure options. Auto mode clears all detected disks.
Utility HD Tune is designed to work with hard disk and SSD. It measures the read / write level of the HDD / SSD, scans errors, checks the status of the disk and displays information about it.
When you start the application, you need to select the disk from the drop-down list and go to the proper tab to view the information.
VeraCrypt is a free open source encryption application. Encryption is used on the fly.
The VeraCrypt project was created on the basis of TrueCrypt in order to strengthen the methods for protecting encryption keys.
CrystalDiskInfo displays the status of hard drives supporting SMART technology. The utility monitors, assesses the overall status and displays detailed information about the hard drives (firmware version, serial number, standard, interface, total running time, etc.). CrystalDiskInfo has support for external hard drives.
In the top panel on the screen displays all active hard drives. Clicking on each of them shows information. The Health Status and Temperature icons change color depending on the value.
Utility Recuva is used to recover accidentally deleted or lost files. It scans the desired storage medium, and then displays a list of deleted files. Each file has its own parameters (name, type, path, probability of recovery, state).
The required files are determined using the preview function and checked. The search result can be sorted by type (graphics, music, documents, videos, archives) and immediately view the contents.
The TreeSize program displays a tree of directories located on a hard disk, providing information about their sizes, and also analyzes disk space usage.
Folder sizes are displayed from largest to smallest. Thus it becomes clear which folders take up most of the space.
Note: If you have Defraggler, Recuva and TreeSize, you can initiate the Defraggler and Recuva functions for a specific folder directly from TreeSize — all three applications integrate effectively.
HDDScan is a hard disk diagnostics utility that is used to test storage devices (HDD, RAID, Flash) to detect errors. Looks through SMART attributes, displays the readings of hard disk temperature sensors in the taskbar, and performs a comparative read-write test.
HDDScan is designed for testing drives SATA, IDE, SCSI, USB, FifeWire (IEEE 1394).
The free utility Disk2vhd converts an active physical disk into a virtual Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) for the Microsoft Hyper-V platform. Moreover, the VHD-image can be created directly from the running operating system.
Disk2vhd creates one .vhd file for each disk with selected volumes, saving information about disk partitions and copying only the data related to the selected volume.
Portable utility NTFSWalker allows you to analyze all records (including remote data) in the main MFT file table of an NTFS disk.
Having your own NTFS drivers allows you to view the file structure without the help of Windows on any computer reading media. To view available deleted files, regular files, as well as detailed attributes for each file.
GParted is an open source disk partition editor. Provides effective and secure management of partitions (create, delete, resize, move, copy, check) without losing data.
GParted allows you to create partition tables (MS-DOS or GPT), enable, disable and modify attributes, align partitions, recover data from damaged partitions and much more.
The computer program SpeedFan monitors the sensors of the motherboard, video card and hard drives, with the ability to control the speed of rotation of the installed fans. There is an opportunity to carry out automatic and manual adjustment.
SpeedFan works with SATA, EIDE and SCSI hard drives.
MyDefrag is a free disk defragmenter that is used to organize data stored on hard drives, floppy disks, USB drives and memory cards.
The program has a convenient function of working in a screensaver mode, as a result of which defragmentation will be performed at the time designated for launching the screen saver. MyDefrag also allows you to create or customize your own scripts.
Using the open source encryption program DiskCryptor , you can fully encrypt the disk (all disk partitions, including the system partition).
DiskCryptor has fairly high performance - this is one of the fastest disk volume encryption drivers. The program supports FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and exFAT file systems, allowing you to encrypt internal or external drives.
1. TestDisk
TestDisk allows you to recover boot partitions, deleted partitions, fix damaged partition tables and recover data, as well as create copies of files from deleted / inaccessible partitions.
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Note: PhotoRec is related to the TestDisk application. With it, it is possible to recover data in the memory of a digital camera on hard disks and compact discs. In addition, you can restore the basic image formats, audio files, text documents, HTML-files and various archives.
When you run TestDisk, you are presented with a list of hard disk partitions that you can work with. The selection of available actions carried out in sections includes: analysis to adjust the structure (and subsequent recovery, if a problem is detected); change of disk geometry; delete all data in the partition table; recovery boot partition; transfer and copy files; recover deleted files; creating snapshot section.
2. EaseUS Partition Master
EaseUS Partition Master is a tool for working with hard disk partitions. It allows you to create, move, merge, split, format, changing their size and location without losing data. It also helps to recover deleted or lost data, check partitions, move the OS to another HDD / SSD, etc.
On the left is a list of operations that can be performed with the selected section.
3. WinDirStat
The free WinDirStat program analyzes the used disk space. Demonstrates how data is distributed and which of them take up more space.
Clicking on the field in the diagram will display the file in question in a structural form.
After downloading WinDirStat and selecting disks for analysis, the program scans the directory tree and provides statistics in such options: a list of directories; directory map; list of extensions.
4. Clonezilla
Clonezilla creates a disk image with a cloning tool, which is also packaged with Parted Magic and is initially available as a standalone tool. Presented in two versions: Clonezilla Live and Clonezilla SE (Server Edition).
Clonezilla Live is a bootable Linux distribution that allows you to clone individual devices.
Clonezilla SE is a package that installs on the Linux distribution. It is used to simultaneously clone multiple computers across a network.
5. OSFMount
Using this utility allows you to mount previously made disk images and represent them as virtual drives, directly viewing the data itself. OSFMount supports image files such as: DD, ISO, BIN, IMG, DD, 00n, NRG, SDI, AFF, AFM, AFD and VMDK.
An additional function of OSFMount is the creation of RAM disks located in the computer’s RAM, which significantly speeds up work with them. To start the process, go to File> Mount new virtual disk.
6. Defraggler
Defraggler is a free program for defragmenting your hard disk, which increases its speed and service life. A feature of the program is the ability to defragment individual files as well.
Defraggler analyzes the contents on disk and displays a list of all fragmented files. During the defragmentation process, the movement of data across the disk is displayed. Highlighted in yellow - the data that is read, and green - those that are written. Upon completion, Defraggler issues a corresponding message.
Supports NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT file systems.
7. SSDLife
SSDLife - carries out diagnostics of a solid-state disk, displays information about its condition and estimates the estimated service life. Supports remote monitoring, controls the level of performance on some models of hard drives.
Thanks to SSD wear control, you can increase the level of data security, identify problems in time. Based on the analysis, the program concludes how often the SSD is used.
8. Darik's Boot And Nuke (DBAN)
Quite popular free utility DBAN , used to clean hard drives.
In DBAN there are two main modes: interactive (interactive mode) and automatic (automatic mode). Interactive mode allows you to prepare a disk for data deletion and select the necessary erasure options. Auto mode clears all detected disks.
9. HD Tune
Utility HD Tune is designed to work with hard disk and SSD. It measures the read / write level of the HDD / SSD, scans errors, checks the status of the disk and displays information about it.
When you start the application, you need to select the disk from the drop-down list and go to the proper tab to view the information.
10. VeraCrypt
VeraCrypt is a free open source encryption application. Encryption is used on the fly.
The VeraCrypt project was created on the basis of TrueCrypt in order to strengthen the methods for protecting encryption keys.
11. CrystalDiskInfo
CrystalDiskInfo displays the status of hard drives supporting SMART technology. The utility monitors, assesses the overall status and displays detailed information about the hard drives (firmware version, serial number, standard, interface, total running time, etc.). CrystalDiskInfo has support for external hard drives.
In the top panel on the screen displays all active hard drives. Clicking on each of them shows information. The Health Status and Temperature icons change color depending on the value.
12. Recuva
Utility Recuva is used to recover accidentally deleted or lost files. It scans the desired storage medium, and then displays a list of deleted files. Each file has its own parameters (name, type, path, probability of recovery, state).
The required files are determined using the preview function and checked. The search result can be sorted by type (graphics, music, documents, videos, archives) and immediately view the contents.
13. TreeSize
The TreeSize program displays a tree of directories located on a hard disk, providing information about their sizes, and also analyzes disk space usage.
Folder sizes are displayed from largest to smallest. Thus it becomes clear which folders take up most of the space.
Note: If you have Defraggler, Recuva and TreeSize, you can initiate the Defraggler and Recuva functions for a specific folder directly from TreeSize — all three applications integrate effectively.
14. HDDScan
HDDScan is a hard disk diagnostics utility that is used to test storage devices (HDD, RAID, Flash) to detect errors. Looks through SMART attributes, displays the readings of hard disk temperature sensors in the taskbar, and performs a comparative read-write test.
HDDScan is designed for testing drives SATA, IDE, SCSI, USB, FifeWire (IEEE 1394).
15. Disk2vhd
The free utility Disk2vhd converts an active physical disk into a virtual Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) for the Microsoft Hyper-V platform. Moreover, the VHD-image can be created directly from the running operating system.
Disk2vhd creates one .vhd file for each disk with selected volumes, saving information about disk partitions and copying only the data related to the selected volume.
16. NTFSWalker
Portable utility NTFSWalker allows you to analyze all records (including remote data) in the main MFT file table of an NTFS disk.
Having your own NTFS drivers allows you to view the file structure without the help of Windows on any computer reading media. To view available deleted files, regular files, as well as detailed attributes for each file.
17. GParted
GParted is an open source disk partition editor. Provides effective and secure management of partitions (create, delete, resize, move, copy, check) without losing data.
GParted allows you to create partition tables (MS-DOS or GPT), enable, disable and modify attributes, align partitions, recover data from damaged partitions and much more.
18. SpeedFan
The computer program SpeedFan monitors the sensors of the motherboard, video card and hard drives, with the ability to control the speed of rotation of the installed fans. There is an opportunity to carry out automatic and manual adjustment.
SpeedFan works with SATA, EIDE and SCSI hard drives.
19. MyDefrag
MyDefrag is a free disk defragmenter that is used to organize data stored on hard drives, floppy disks, USB drives and memory cards.
The program has a convenient function of working in a screensaver mode, as a result of which defragmentation will be performed at the time designated for launching the screen saver. MyDefrag also allows you to create or customize your own scripts.
20. DiskCryptor
Using the open source encryption program DiskCryptor , you can fully encrypt the disk (all disk partitions, including the system partition).
DiskCryptor has fairly high performance - this is one of the fastest disk volume encryption drivers. The program supports FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and exFAT file systems, allowing you to encrypt internal or external drives.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/281961/
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