Ariolic Disk Scanner vs HDD Regenerator

Ariolic Disk Scanner is a free Windows utility for checking disks for read errors that may indicate drive degradation. It scans every sector on supported media in read-only mode, shows bad clusters as an image, and lists files located on unreadable sectors. The program supports all FAT variants and NTFS. It can scan internal and external disks visible in Windows, including USB sticks, Micro SD cards, CDs, and DVDs. No installation is required, so it can run from a flash drive or another disk. Ariolic says the checks do not alter data. The utility is intended as an early warning for drives showing failure signs, rather than a repair tool. Its knowledge base says scanning does not guarantee that an underlying issue will be fixed. The product page links to a free CNET download.

HDD Regenerator is a disk-repair program that detects and attempts to repair physical bad sectors. It scans drives at the physical level, regardless of file system, and its listed recovery features include corrupted-data recovery. The 2024 edition supports HDD, SSD, and NVMe drives; the 2011 edition lists HDD and partial SSD support. For 2024, the maker lists S.M.A.R.T. support, real-time drive monitoring, LAN remote control, speed tests, 4K sector support, process resume, and multiple-drive support. It can boot from USB flash media in UEFI 64-bit, UEFI x86, or legacy BIOS modes. The maker lists Windows 10 and 11 installation for 2024 and says its bootable media supports any operating system. A free demo can attempt to repair the first bad sector it finds and indicate whether the full version may succeed. HDD Regenerator has no free plan, but does offer a free trial. The 2011 edition costs $49.99, paid once; the 2024 edition costs $89.99, paid once. Both include an unlimited license period and free minor updates.