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Victoria Changelog

What's new in Victoria 5.37

Oct 14, 2021
  • Over the summer, I slowly improved various little things, but managed to lose the list of changes. A bunch of events led to interruptions in the work on the program. And I won't remember everything. So we will have to write off this loss "for the coronavirus" and continue to work further.

New in Victoria 5.36 (Mar 6, 2021)

  • Through the log menu, now not the log itself opens, but the folder with it. The log itself is still opened by double clicking on the window using the default Windows text editor.
  • ! An attempt was made to fix a bug with freezing of some HGST models on versions 5.34 and 5.35. For this purpose, the algorithm for detecting "drives-werewolves" has been changed, and the likelihood of WD technological commands getting into HGST has been significantly reduced.
  • Rewrote procedure for detecting real HGSTs. Now it works via USB too. Even on bridges that block registers.
  • I got an Apple computer where in the GPT partition table, CHS is not equal to 0/0/2 and the size is FFFFFFE instead of FFFFFFFF. Victoria's GPT parser did not recognize such a table. I had to finalize the program.
  • ! Fixed error detected by WDxxxx-22xST0 and some other (old-type drives), which the program considered Seagates.
  • Improved recognition of "real" Samsung under the guise of Seagate (but so far this is used only inside the program).
  • ! It turned out that SCT-Ext commands do not work on old WDs, which is why their temperature was not displayed on the passport page. It was possible to switch the SCT mode manually in the settings, but I fixed it in the code.
  • ! Fixed a bug with knocking down the size of passport columns after a PCI scan in PIO.
  • On request, it is possible not to change the working environment if the list of API devices has been updated (and it is also updated when USB drives are reconnected). The option is enabled by setting the checkbox on the "Settings" - "API" - "Do not reset settings when updating the list of devices" tab and is disabled by default. When this checkbox is activated, the following changes occur in the program behavior when updating the list of API devices and reconnecting USB drives, compared to previous versions: 1. The verification-read-write switch in the surface scan is not reset to the "read" position. 2.The SMART table and the log list are not cleared. 3. The HEX editor is not initialized. 4. End LBA is not restored to the maximum.
  • ! In the previous version (5.35) the "interface check" function was activated. It soon became clear that some USB bridges "spoil the holiday" by displaying solid zeros instead of the data written to the buffer. Well, the program for the discrepancy - cursed. As usual, this is another joke from Seagate and their proprietary "Backup +" USB bridge. In the new version, the algorithm is improved and distinguishes such situations from real interface faults.
  • The logic of the buttons for obtaining a "clean" and "extended" passport has been put in order: additional functions, such as SCT temperature, detection of "werewolves" and SMR drives, have been moved to the "EXT" button, and the "Passport" button has been returned to the ability to NOT send to the drive is nothing more. However, to preserve compatibility and habits - the old version is left by default, which can be changed to a new one in the "Settings" - "Passport" menu.
  • ! Fixed bugs that could worsen the stability of the program when performing various actions.

New in Victoria 5.35 (Dec 15, 2020)

  • Fixed a bug that in some cases made it impossible to determine the serial number of SCSI and Flash drives.
  • The "diagnostic command" checkbox has been removed in the passport settings. Yes, I know that command 03 ... EF is not intended for diagnostics at all :) But nothing better has been invented since 2004, and in API mode it does without registers, which is important for some USB bridges. As the mood will be, I’ll figure out which of the more modern to put in its place.
  • "Interface check" in the EXT passport now works in API mode.
  • In the settings of EXT-passports, the daws that are indispensable in API mode are now deactivated.
  • Not all drives can get the temperature from the passport. Sometimes it is only available through SMART. Therefore, in this version, if there is no temperature in the passport, then it will be displayed on the panel at the SMART request. The temperature will also appear when you press the EXT-passport button on an SSD, NVMe, if the checkbox "find out the amount written to the SSD" is checked.
  • Fixed a very strange bug. When switching from SMART to passport, the passport was requested a second time. Strange, because during the year of manifestation it never interfered. But a second passport is not needed either. I fixed it just in case.

New in Victoria 5.34 (Dec 8, 2020)

  • Added a filter for CD-ROM class devices so that their letters are not displayed by mistake in the list of API physical devices. In order to work with optical disks and their emulators in the program, you can set the "Display logical drives" checkbox in the "Settings" -> "Passport" menu.

New in Victoria 5.33 (Dec 8, 2020)

  • Added display of logical drive letters in the list of physical devices. The option is disabled by default. You can enable it in the "Settings" -> "API" section.
  • Made getting the actual cache size on WD drives (including models disguised as HGST).
  • Made getting some technical information on WD: production date, RAM size, number of disks and heads, number of zones, servo marks, exact rotation speed. It is displayed directly in the passport.
  • Added storing the width of the middle column of the passport.
  • In the drive's passport now, even in API mode, a self-diagnosis command for ATA devices is sent: 03 0C 00 4F C2 A0 EF. Moreover, now it is submitted even in the mode of a regular (not EXT) passport. This is necessary due to the manifestation of a strange error, either in the Windows 10 driver, or in the Asus m / s (the output buffer of the task file is not cleared somewhere, and there is no error on other PCs). I'll figure it out later. For now, I recommend not to disable this command in the settings - it initiates a channel with a screw in cases where a glitch may appear.
  • Fixed a bug with the serial number on virtual disks (in the absence of S / N, the number from the previous drive was displayed).

New in Victoria 5.32 (Dec 2, 2020)

  • Fixed a bug in the interaction of new functions with some HGST drives, which led to the blocking of the Smart Command Transport protocol.

New in Victoria 5.31 (Dec 1, 2020)

  • Added definition of werewolf hard drives. After the merger of technologies from Western Digital and HGST, dozens of models appeared on sale with the same article (model name on the sticker and in the passport), but different contents. In fact, these are WD drives with an HGST sticker and vice versa. An experimental algorithm has been added to the Victoria program, which allows you to find out the true "stuffing" of WD and HGST drives, regardless of the name in their passport. When "werewolves" are found, a message is displayed in the log.
  • Improved detection of SMR technology on WD HDDs, including new Passport / Elements.
  • Minor bugs fixed.

New in Victoria 5.30 (Nov 29, 2020)

  • Added an attempt to detect SMR technology in HDDs.
  • SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) is a storage technology that usually degrades HDD performance and is therefore often hidden by manufacturers. The program makes an ATTEMPT to determine this feature using special algorithms, which do not yet guarantee a 100% result. At the same time, the tiled SMR indicator under the drive's passport panel lights up.
  • Improved recognition of Seagate / Samsung STxxx series families for more accurate SMART display on them.
  • Fixed a glitch in the help system that sometimes caused tabs to not switch.

New in Victoria 5.29 (Nov 27, 2020)

  • Victoria with Russian, English and Ukrainian translation.
  • S.M.A.R.T. technology HDD / SSD in Russian and Ukrainian.
  • Supports drives with M.2 / U.2 NVMe interface.

New in Victoria 5.28 (Apr 14, 2020)

  • Now, with an unscheduled update of the database from the SMART chart menu, the chart is immediately updated.
  • In the absence of a base, an attempt is made to create it immediately upon receipt of SMART. In case of failure (the disk is write-protected, etc.), no other attempts are made until the program is completed.
  • An opportunity has been made to build SMART graphs not from zero, but from a minimum value - for attributes with a large absolute value, which varies slightly. Jackdaw enabling this mode is not yet remembered.
  • Compound attribute graphs are now displayed with lines of different thicknesses.
  • The temperature attributes 190, 194, 231, [189 on SSD], except 231 on SSD, are now forcibly switched to schedule 0.
  • The active chart selection element is now highlighted - perhaps it will be more convenient.
  • In order for the graphs not to merge at the 0th or maximum mark, an artificial divergence of +/- 2 pixels between them was made.

New in Victoria 5.27 (Apr 5, 2020)

  • As it turned out, on some systems with a day of the week in the date / time format, this format does not fit into the database. Reserved more space for the base.
  • ATTENTION! Before applying this version, delete the old databases (files starting on SMBASE in the log folder). Otherwise, the program will not be able to work normally.

New in Victoria 5.25 (Apr 4, 2020)

  • Maintenance of the database on SMART attributes has been done. Base capacity in this version = 17520 SMART snapshots. With a survey interval of 1 hour, such a capacity is enough for about 2 years. This is the initial SMART statistics collection. In future versions I will try to improve the service.
  • The construction and display of graphs of changes in SMART attributes has been done.
  • The ability to extract "SMART from the past" is made - simply by clicking on any point on the chart.
  • The program was minimized to the system tray with SMART polling in the background - to automatically replenish the database and further build graphs. Disabled by default on the "Settings" - "General" tab. The function is still imperfect and experimentally attached. Checking the launch of the second copy is still missing. If you like it, I will continue to work in this direction.
  • How to add the program to Windows startup: Press Win + R. A window will appear in which to enter the shell: startup command. In the opened folder, drag the Victoria.exe file and create a shortcut.
  • Added brief descriptions for SMART attributes, displayed in conjunction with charts, to help beginners navigate the interpretation of attribute changes.

New in Victoria 5.24 (Mar 9, 2020)

  • Translation history will soon only be available when you are signed in and will be centrally managed within My Activity. Past history will be cleared during this upgrade, so make sure to save translations you want to remember for ease of access later.
  • Got it
  • Obnaruzhil, chto nekotoryye pol'zovateli zatirayut seriynyy nomer na vykladyvayemykh v obshchiy dostup skrinshotakh. Zachem delat' vruchnuyu, yesli mozhno avtomatizirovat'? Dobavil knopku "Skryt' seriynyy nomer" - krest sprava ot seriynika na verkhney paneli. Chtoby nomer ne otobrazhalsya i v logakh - nuzhno perepoluchit' pasport.
  • Sdelana vozmozhnost' otklyucheniya ATA-registrov, poluchayemykh cherez USB-most (na vkladke "API" v "nastroykakh"). Prichina: nekotoryye USB-mosty podvisayut na 1-2 sekundy pri zaprose registrov.
  • Po pros'bam sdelana nastroyka vremeni otobrazheniya vsplyvayushchikh podskazok (khintov), v predelakh 3...60 s. Ustanavlivayetsya v menyu "nastroyki - interfeys".
  • Dobavleny novyye SMART-atributy semeystva SSD Crucial / Micron:
  • 183 SATA Interface downshift
  • 194 Enclosure temperature
  • 210 RAIN successful recovery page count
  • 246 Cumulative host sectors written
  • 247 Host program page count
  • 248 FTL program page count
  • Sdelano otklyucheniye ATA-keshirovaniya dlya operatsiy s MBR v svyazi s kriticheskimi zamechaniyami nekotorykh pol'zovateley.
  • Dobavleno vklyucheniye v nakopitele funktsii proverki zapisannogo (Write-Read-Verify aka W-R-V) i zapusk stiraniya poverkhnosti s ney. Konechno, eto proiskhodit v ushcherb skorosti, no delayetsya za odin prokhod vmesto dvukh. Dannaya optsiya dostupna v menyu "Deystviya" i v utilite "Kesh i vremennyye funktsii".
  • Ubral ogranicheniye na zapominayemyy razmer formy. Ran'she bylo ne boleye 1000 x 1000 tochek, pri prevyshenii razmer ne sokhranyalsya.
  • Predotvrashchen perekhod programmy na sosedniy nakopitel' v spiske vybora ustroystva, yesli testiruyemyy USB-nakopitel' byl otklyuchen. Odnako, eto rabotayet tol'ko v tom sluchaye, yesli v pasporte otklyuchena optsiya "otobrazhat' logicheskiye diski".
  • Vydeleno bol'she vremeni na nastroyku grafika pered yego risovaniyem na "bystrom skane". Eto isklyuchayet proval grafika v samom nachale, kak inogda moglo byt' v predydushchikh versiyakh.
  • Ispravleno neskol'ko prichin, po kotorom mogli byt' provaly v grafike skana vo vremya ispol'zovaniya drugikh elementov interfeysa.
  • Vernul indikatornyye lampochki chteniya/zapisi na bokovuyu panel'.
  • Programma teper' soobshchayet v loge o tom, chto v fayle perevoda prisutstvuyut ne vse neobkhodimyye stroki. Takoye mozhet byt', yesli obnovili tol'ko .exe-fayl programmy, a ostal'noye ostavili ot proshloy versii.
  • Show more
  • 2247/5000
  • Found that some users overwrite the serial number on shared screenshots. Why do it manually if you can automate it? Added a button "Hide serial number" - a cross to the right of the serial number on the top panel. So that the number does not appear in the logs - you need to get a passport.
  • The ability to disable ATA-registers received via the USB-bridge (on the "API" tab in the "settings"). Reason: some USB bridges freeze for 1-2 seconds when requesting registers.
  • At the request, the time for displaying tooltips (hints) was set, within 3 ... 60 s. It is set in the "settings - interface" menu.
  • Added new SMART attributes of the Crucial / Micron SSD family:
  • 183 SATA Interface downshift
  • 194 Enclosure temperature
  • 210 RAIN successful recovery page count
  • 246 cumulative host sectors written
  • 247 Host program page count
  • 248 FTL program page count
  • Disabled ATA caching for operations with MBR due to criticisms of some users.
  • Added the inclusion in the drive of the function of checking the written (Write-Read-Verify aka W-R-V) and the start of erasing the surface with it. Of course, this happens at the expense of speed, but is done in one pass instead of two. This option is available in the Actions menu and in the Cache and Temporary Functions utility.
  • Removed the limit on the memorable size of the form. Previously, there were no more than 1000 x 1000 dots; when exceeded, the size was not saved.
  • Prevented the program from switching to a neighboring drive in the device selection list if the USB test drive was disconnected. However, this only works if the option "display logical drives" is disabled in the passport.
  • Allocated more time to set up the chart before drawing it on the "quick scan". This eliminates the failure of the schedule at the very beginning, as it could sometimes be in previous versions.
  • Fixed several reasons why there could be failures in the scan schedule while using other interface elements.
  • Returned the read / write indicator lights to the side panel.
  • The program now reports in the log that not all necessary lines are present in the translation file. This can happen if only the .exe file of the program was updated, and the rest was left from the previous version.

New in Victoria 5.23 (Jan 1, 2020)

  • Added SMART initialization commands for older IBM / Hitachi / HGST drives.
  • Fixed the bug of getting SMART, due to which several last attributes could be lost (was introduced in 5.22).
  • Fixed spelling error when pressing the "Pause" button.

New in Victoria 5.21 (Nov 29, 2019)

  • Changed the algorithm for determining the volume of drives, taking into account the features of all versions of Windows from 7 to 10. There is no universal way. Some functions in different systems work slightly differently or do not work at all. In this regard, switches have been added to "Settings" -> "Passport" to disable the SCSI commands 25 and 9E at all. By default, both teams are enabled, and the program tries the second after failure with the first. But if on your system such phenomena as a program freeze during disk detection are observed, you need to try installing these daws. In this case, the volume of the drive will be determined through the third function, which is less accurate, but this is better than nothing at all.
  • Disabled additional scroll in eventlog, because glitches were observed on some systems. This did not affect the appearance of the program.
  • For experimental purposes, a switch has been added to "Settings" -> "SMART", which transfers receiving SMART NVMe to another mode. Usually this does not affect anything, but if your drive fails to get SMART NVMe, try checking the corresponding box.

New in Victoria 5.01 (Oct 18, 2019)

  • Added prohibition of the computer entering hibernation during test execution.
  • On some drives, a glitch is observed when the temperature is received by SCT commands. Temporarily fixed by blocking abnormal values.
  • Emergency exit through the menu is now done with the memory settings.
  • Fixed bug with determining scan time when number of seconds = 0
  • In SMART added multi-selection of lines and the ability to copy only selected to the clipboard.

New in Victoria 5.00 (Oct 17, 2019)

  • The interface has been radically changed:
  • The main menu and toolbar appeared.
  • The form can now be expanded to full screen and the dimensions of its parts can be set arbitrarily. All settings are saved.
  • The speed limit is increased to 9800 MB / s, and the number of graph points is proportional to its width.
  • Rarely used functions are transferred to the main menu.
  • The settings panel is structured. New settings added. For example, you can enable the scan to stop during fatal errors and even change the colors of some elements of the interface.
  • Possibility of translating the interface into other languages. Supported encoding UTF-8.
  • Translated interface elements into Russian. While it may contain errors - this is an experiment. In the future, it is also planned to translate all internal messages. Off by default in the main menu
  • Added more automation, which can be disabled in the settings.
  • Added launch of SMART tests with improved features from the main menu.
  • An attempt was made to adapt the Extended Comprehensive SMART Error log to different Fujitsu HDD models (they have different structure addresses). This was possible on the families MHX, MHW. However, MJA has not yet succeeded - you need to do analysis and write another procedure.
  • Double-clicking on the SMART log opens it in the editor;
  • Added new names for SMART magazines;
  • An attempt was made to automatically set the block size for the NVMe SSD.
  • Added display of temperature in the passport via Smart Command Transport, and expanded the detection of the properties supported by the drive.
  • The program no longer tries to get SMART on flash drives and SCSI-drives.
  • IBM Super-SMART can now be tried to get not only on IBM / HGST drives, but also on any other. This was done due to the fact that HGST drives began to come across under the guise of WD, on which super-SMART can also work.
  • !!! Fixed a bunch of bugs version 4.76, which list is not enough space ...

New in Victoria 4.99b (Oct 14, 2019)

  • The main menu and toolbar appeared.
  • The form can now be expanded to full screen and the dimensions of its parts can be set arbitrarily. All settings are saved.
  • The speed limit is increased to 9800 MB / s, and the number of graph points is proportional to its width.
  • Rarely used functions are transferred to the main menu.
  • The settings panel is structured. New settings added. For example, you can enable the scan to stop during fatal errors and even change the colors of some elements of the interface.
  • It is possible to translate the interface into other languages, but so far nothing needs to be done with them - in future versions I plan to add translations of not only signatures, but also program messages.
  • Translated interface elements into Russian. While it may contain errors - this is an experiment. In the future, it is also planned to translate all internal messages. Off by default in the main menu
  • Added more automation, which can be disabled in the settings.
  • Double-clicking on the SMART log opens it in the editor;
  • Added new names for SMART magazines;
  • An attempt was made to automatically set the block size for the NVMe SSD.
  • Added display of temperature in the passport through

New in Victoria 4.76b (Sep 9, 2019)

  • Added drive configuration via Device Configuration Overlay - a special non-volatile memory in which you can turn off unnecessary functions, turn on previously turned off or change the available volume. The DCO tab appeared, which also has a mini-instruction (external file dcomemo.rtf ).
  • Improved work with the Extended Comprehensive SMART Error log SMART log : as it turned out, different models have different register addresses. This could lead to erroneous data interpretation on some Seagate and Fujitsu HDDs. The algorithm has been adapted to various manufacturers.
  • The correct operation was tested on Fujitsu MHZ, HGST 3.5, Seagate / Maxtor 3.5 ″ (7200.11), WD, Samsung STxxx 35 ″, Seagate STxxx 2.5 ″, Toshiba 2.5 ″. While it does not work on all HTSxxx 2.5 ″ - I will investigate the cause.
  • Added compatibility mode for the table of contents of magazines with old drives. So far - manual daw switching under the table of contents (for experiments). In the future - automatically, according to passport data.
  • Interface elements (port and device number) are moved to the right, the “ Hints ” daw has been moved to the basement.
  • In the defect remap mode, the Auto Reassign event detection function is added when the hard drive itself reassigns the defective sector. In this case, instead of the word Remap , a message of the form “ LBAxxx auto reassign ... OK ” is displayed in the log.
  • Fixed a bug where an automatic screenshot was not taken from the Tests tab.

New in Victoria 4.75b (Sep 9, 2019)

  • Fixed a glitch in SMART with negative temperatures, which was introduced during the experiments.
  • The error of block re-checking after " Erase if error" is fixed. It appeared a long time ago, as a result of adaptation to Windows 10 - some rights to access the disk were limited. Now verification has been replaced by reading, because reading needs less rights - and everything worked fine.
  • Turned off the write cache before the remap, to minimize the false results of the verification after it.
  • The remap signature for the remap now adds the current LBA number, in the form of the LBA string xxxxxxxx , placed in the cured sector at offset 0.
  • In the block sector placeholder with " Erase if error ", an entry of the LBA number in the form of the LBA line xxxxxxxx , as well as a timestamp in the form of " Block erased current date current time " is now added. Both of the above functions are disabled using the key in the section of the vcr40.ini file:
  • [Scan]
  • Write signatures = 0
  • I made a “silent” record of vcr40.ini at the end of the program. Now there is no error on write-protected media. All this is done for better compatibility with the Live CD.
  • When you try to write to the drive with the MBR turned on under Win 7 and above, a 05h system error occurs - "access is denied." Now, when this error occurs, the program offers to read FAQ # 6, http://hdd.by/victoria_faq
  • Detected HDD 3.5 ″ Toshiba HDWE as “true” ones that are not IBM / HGST inheritors. To more accurately display SMART on them.
  • If an API error occurs, “the device is no longer available” (this means that the drive has been suspended for a long time, and Windows has been disabled as an emergency) - the surface scan stops.
  • Now the logs are maintained separately for each drive . In the folder with the logs (by default - LOGS / ) subfolders are created with the model name and serial number of each drive, and eventlogs, passport, smart, graphics, screenshots, etc. are placed in them. At the same time, “registered” logs are duplicated in the general eventlog. At the first start of the program, when the passport of the drive has not yet been received (and therefore the model name is unknown), if the drive fails, if it does not give the name, all information also goes to the general eventlog. The folder with “nameless” screenshots has also been moved to LOGS / . Separate logs are disabled by unchecking the “ Separate logs ” checkbox on the Setup tab.
  • Surface scan defects are now written to a separate log . A directory is created with the name of the model and serial number, and in it a file with the name of the form " bads_name of the model_serial number.txt ". Each time you run tests - this file records the start time and all the defects found. The file is text, and is added every time. The format of the TXT file is simple: The heading “ Victoria defects log 1.0 “ is written on the first line. Then through an arbitrary number of empty lines - a line with a date and time of the form “ Start: 08/30/2019 17:16:52 ” (the word “Start” is required). In the next lines, records are written about the scan ranges of the form xxxx, yyy (where xxx is the start address, yyy is the number of sectors). Any comments can be added to the line, separated to the right of the numbers by at least one space. Several consecutive lines form a session. An empty line indicates the end of the session.
  • The .vds format log is used in professional programs, and differs in the title and format of the entries. Added for compatibility.
  • In the future, it is planned to use the list as a scenario for rechecking and treating defects found during previous scans or in case of unsuccessful treatment of defects. This will save time by checking only problem areas, and eliminating the scan of the entire disk.
  • The ability to scan the surface according to the list of defects (for example, the log created during the previous scan of the surface) is made. To do this, a drop-down menu appeared on the “ Scan ” button. The program analyzes the list, finds the last filled section in it, reports which line numbers will be used, changes the Scan button to the Start script and waits for it to be pressed. When working on a list, the progress bar of its passage is displayed.
  • Added work with HDD / SSD SMART logs :
  • Obtaining a list (table of contents) of SMART logs , and parsing two of the most important of them: Extended Comprehensive SMART Error log (list of errors that occurred during drive operation) and Ext SMART Selftest Log (list of self-test results by built-in SMART tests). Both magazines are modern, 48-bit. A simplified analysis of the Comprehensive SMART Error log of the old model was also made - but so far I have not seen the point in it. If someone will really need these logs for old drives - I will.
  • A script has been generated with a list of defects from the smart log (similar to what the scan creates). For quick automatic verification of problem areas. As practice has shown, addresses must be taken with a margin of block size at the beginning. Which was done. In the future, it would be necessary to add sorting and removal of duplicate addresses, but for now it is too lazy to do.
  • Note : Host logs support recording to store information that is resistant to low-level disk formatting. The rest are read-only (the drive will return an error when trying to write). In future versions I plan to add an interpretation of other magazines if I find a description of their structure.
  • To study the logs, I made a HEX viewer and read / write them to and from files. Direct editing has not yet been implemented.
  • An attempt was made to display indicator lights through the API. Most likely it will work even through some USB controllers, as well as through standard Windows ATA / AHCI channels. Disabled by default. You can enable it like this:
  • [Setup]
  • API ATA Indicators = 1
  • Now, switching the write test to reading occurs only when the drive is changed, and not at the end of the tests.
  • At the end of the tests with remap or erasure, the number of successfully cured sectors is now displayed.
  • Added the ability to specify an alternative directory path for screenshots in the INI file. For this, a key of this type has been added:
  • [Setup]
  • ThirdPathSCR = 'D: Docs YandexDisk ! ScreenShots '
  • The path can be arbitrary ending in ''. If the line is empty or there is no key, the path will be taken from the program settings. If the path is incorrect, the file will not be written and will warn about this in the log.
  • Removed hyphens when copying single lines to clipboard.
  • Other minor bugs fixed and algorithms improvements.

New in Victoria 4.73b (Jun 22, 2019)

  • Found that with some unfavorable combination of parameters in the settings file (vcr40.ini), the port numbers are no longer remembered. Corrected.
  • The window with a SMART full screen is rotated: right-click the menu item "Full screen" or CTRL + A in the menu. This is still a temporary decision upon request, until a common full-screen interface appears.
  • Added and improved SMART for Kingston SSD.
  • The program was adapted to USB drives, in which the USB bridge converts the standard 512-byte logical sector to 4096-byte. At the same time, about 20 places were fixed in the code, and a display in the passport of drives with a non-standard size of the logical sector was added.
  • Numeration of sectors began to work correctly when recording, displaying large sectors in the HEX editor. Time, scan percentages, maximum block size, and even timings are adjusted to non-standard sector sizes.
  • Now, with unsuccessful REMAP, reading, writing, erasing a block and Refresh via the API - the program displays the Windows system message about this situation in the log (since it is generated in kernel32.dll, it goes immediately in the Windows language - do not be surprised). Thus, it is possible, for example, to distinguish the physical defect of the drive from the access denial because the MBR is not turned off.
  • Got an A-DATA USB drive, "Nobility NH92", on which the program could not get SMART. It turned out that inside there is an idiotic USB bridge MA6116, which falls into a stupor from 16-byte SCSI commands. I had to make it possible to manually enable compatibility mode - the Old USB / SAS mode jackdaw on the Setup tab.
  • Test the program with a daw and without it. On most new devices, everything should work in any state.
  • Eliminated the deficiency, because of which, when receiving a passport / SMART during the scan, a timeout error occurred.
  • The bug is fixed, when the disk is already selected on the passport tab, the passport is read ... and on the Advanced tab, the partition table does not allow to read before the passport has been received yet again.
  • Fixed a bug due to which when reading with REMAP the program stopped after finding a defect (it manifested itself only in PIO).
  • Fixed a bug due to which the pop-up menu sometimes disappeared when the scan was stopped after a defect.
  • Fixed deficiencies in the procedure for stopping the HDD spindle / SSD sleep by USB. It turned out that the native SCSI command does not work on one of the USB bridges. The procedure for attempting to send an ATA command instead of SCSI via USB was added, and everything became normal.
  • The error due to which the program took some SSDs for HDD during the "shaft stop" has also been fixed.
  • Eliminated the reason why there could be an access violation error on fast PCs when closing the main window.
  • Made prevention of the exit of program windows off the screen at startup.
  • The value of "never" in the timeout parameter again, as needed, means infinite waiting time. In addition to the Refresh function, where it means "update each block."
  • Returned the vertical scroll bar to the scan grid. On request.
  • I returned memorization of a daw Grid on the Tests tab.
  • Made it possible to disable the display of CHS-parameters in the passport due to their obsolescence.
  • Added display of Smart Command Transport (SCT) parameters in drive passport.
  • On the Advanced tab, you can now copy numbers from the MBR partition table to the clipboard, as well as expand the range of partition addresses into a scanned surface.
  • When installing the HPA 'LBA / Mb' checkbox, now some values ​​are converted to others immediately (previously, for this, the slider had to be moved).
  • There were rare complaints that version 4.72 stopped working with IDE screws on some computers. Perhaps due to a change in the way of giving commands, but there is a possibility that the installed “Only non-destructive functions” checkbox is “guilty” on the Setup tab (its effect also changed in version 4.72). I did not manage to see this glitch with my own eyes. But just in case, I returned the DFP_SEND_DRIVE_COMMAND method, leaving the more modern IOCTL_ATA_PASS_THROUGH.
  • At the request of the forum realized the "American dream": in the input / output fields of large numbers the possibility of their display with the thousands separator is added. For example: 1'953'525'167. The function is disabled on the Setup tab - the "Thousand separator" checkbox. The Separator char key appeared in the vcr40.ini file, after which you can specify the separator sign in quotes: a dot, an apostrophe, or a space. One field is left without separators, due to lack of space. After the transition "Victoria" to the new interface - will be everywhere.
  • The Power-Up In Standby feature set device spin-up command has been added to the procedure for obtaining an EXT passport. This allows you to run and test the hard drive with disabled shaft promotion, for example, from some DVRs.
  • Starting from version 4.73, the program goes without an exe-file packer (according to IT specialists, some antiviruses scold it), so the file size is about 2 MB (it was ~ 700 kb). This is normal and does not affect the quality of work.
  • Fixed other minor bugs and made minor changes to the algorithms.

New in Victoria 4.72b (Mar 25, 2019)

  • The “Refresh” function has been added to the surface scan via the API: read, and if a slow section is detected, write to the same place. Previously, the program had code that responds only to a read error. Now it works on timeout set by the user or automatically. If the timeout switch is set to “never”, absolutely all blocks will be overwritten. The “Restore” function in PIO mode is saved.
  • Attention! The function is new and still raw. Before using it, save all important data from the media on which you will experience it. A drive with slow patches is usually faulty, and may die suddenly, simply from reading or writing.
  • When using Refresh under Windows newer than XP - you should disable the MBR on the drive in accordance with the answer FAQ # 3
  • Added support for Windows graphics themes . Instead of the Win95 style, now your favorite theme. I had to redo the interface a bit - remove the frames, replacing them on the panel.
  • Work was done through the API with AAM under Windows 7 and higher . Now you can really adjust the HDD noise level on new systems, if the hard drive supports it.
  • I started working super-SMART on IBM / HGST HDD under Windows 7 and higher .
  • Added support for super-SMART HDD Toshiba 3.5 ″ . While tested only on the HDWD120 model, but should also work on DT01, MG0, MD0, MC0, etc.
  • Now you can set the path to the log with the drive letter. For example, a program can start from a virtual “resuscitator” disk, and keep logs in a safe place.
  • Now you can test removable drives (USB and CD / DVD) without administrator rights - by selecting them as logical drives. Check so far only managed under Windows 7.
  • The ability to work in PIO without administrator rights has been made, if of course the porttalk.sys driver is already installed, and the rights verification is disabled forcibly. For this, vcr40.ini has a hidden AdminRightsIgnore key.
  • Added the ability to select a logical volume as an object of study in the list of API devices. To do this, on the Setup tab, you need to turn off the checkbox "Ignore HDD".
  • Passport API-drive supplemented by a "logical passport . " This is something transitional between hardware and software. The option is activated when removing the “Ignore HDD” checkbox on the Setup tab.
  • Added media handle to passport for non-ATA devices. For more objective data in emergency situations.
  • Added button for instant copying of the current sector as a starting surface for the scan.
  • The reverse “fast” scan is adapted to SSD.
  • ! Fixed deficiencies, because of which on the “quick” scan for the last block, a speed of 1/2 graphic was displayed.
  • ! Fixed deficiencies: when you receive a SMART (or passport) during the scan of the surface, timings were reset, defining the colors of the grid rectangles.
  • Improved view of the “full” graphics on small ranges due to a more advanced interpolation algorithm.
  • The items “Set [number] as starting / ending LBA” are added to the drop-down menu of the log. The number is taken from the line that the cursor hovers.
  • The same menu has been added to the surface scan graph. The number is taken from the coordinates of the graph where the mouse is hovering. In this way, it is possible to promptly establish the boundaries of the defective areas for further treatment attempts.
  • Added the ability to disable HDD recalibration before scanning the surface (on the Setup tab, the “ Recall HDD before Scan “ checkbox). It may be necessary if the HDD has defects on the start addresses.
  • Added the possibility of normal operation of the program under Windows 10 on some laptops with a built-in fixed SSD. The problem is that Windows sometimes does not allow scanning the surface if the program is started with recording activated by default. Now the removal of the “ Only non-destructive functions ” checkbox turns off the recording completely at the level of handlers. True, the delivery of commands to the drives ceases to work, and you will also have to forget about the full passport. But it's still better than nothing at all :)
  • ! Fixed "overflow error" when scanning disks with abnormally high speed (for example, Verify on some SSDs is only crookedly emulated, which gives a false speed above 2000 mb / s)
  • ! Fixed a bug due to which the current LBA indicator displayed 0 when the reversing surface scan was stopped.
  • Galka Grid on the Tests tab is no longer remembered in the settings. And then there were complaints - users forgot to return, and subsequently wondered where the familiar "rectangles" had gone.
  • The clock was removed from the top panel, the serial number section was expanded, splitters (movable dividers) were inserted between the sections. This is a preparation for moving to a more modern adaptive interface.
  • Instead of animation, the backlight of the bookmark spine, on which the active process is going, is made. Do not like it - I will return it back as it was.
  • ! Fixed division by 0 when trying to randomly read on a card reader without a card.
  • ! Finally, a terrible bug was fixed , due to which the last item in the list of API disks could not be clicked without scrolling.
  • The ability to set the block size, different from 256 sectors for virtual and non-standard drives.
  • Disabled optimization in the compiler to reduce the number of glitches. Because of this, the file size has slightly increased, but the stability of the program has increased.
  • I got the PocketBook 301 e-book, which, in the card reader mode, gives an empty passport, but without any error. After that, a test of this situation was added to Victoria, and a passport was replaced with the Windows API-function, so that at least the size would be displayed and there was an opportunity to test the built-in and external memory of the book. It is possible that this will improve the work with other non-standard storage devices.
  • Got the Jagga Boom player on RockChip. With him, no version of the program in 2018 does not work - hangs and spits out. It turned out the player does not like trying to access the full passport via USB. I had to change the algorithm for iterating functions. However, at the same time, the e-book stopped being detected normally :) I had to add a checkbox to switch between the new and old commands for getting the size. In Setup, it is now called “ Don't get SCSI 25h ” and is located at the site of the remote “ Dont get drive type “. The result is that by default everything works with both the player and the book. But the book size is displayed incorrectly - for it, and you need to install a check in Setup . In order to avoid problems, its memorization is disabled.
  • Screenshots are now added to a separate SCR folder, the drive letter of which can be set in Setup , or by default it is created in the program directory.
  • At the request of members of the forum http://forum.ru-board.com added 2 more options for ending the scan surface:
  • “ Save screenshot ” - at the end of the scan, a snapshot of the Test tab is taken as a PNG image.
  • “ 3 SS + Shutdown ” - at the end of the scan, snapshots of the Tests, Smart, Standard tabs are taken and then the computer is turned off.
  • Asked to make a conclusion in the SSD passport the amount of recorded data. The SMART of many SSDs has an attribute of 241, which, depending on the model, may contain the number of recorded sectors or gigabytes. Automatic detection of the desired value was made for the following types of SSD:
  • Adata, Corsair, Datex, Intel, Kingston, Lite-on, LMT, OCZ Vector, OCZ Vertex 3, OCZ Vertex 2, OCZ Vertex450, Plextor, PNY, Samsung, SanDisk, Transcend 2.5, WD.
  • For those drives in which the method was automatically incorrectly determined (the program displays incredibly large or small values), a manual switch is provided in the vcr40.ini file:
  • [EXT PSP Button]
  • Total WR method = 0
  • 0 - automatically by SSD family / model. 1 - ignore model and interpret as gigabytes. 2 - interpreted as sectors.
  • The mechanics verification method (Seek / Verify / Read) is no longer remembered in the settings. Instead, an automatic adjustment was made to the best method for obtaining a passport and manual control was left in the current session.
  • The vertical scroll bar is experimentally removed from the surface scan.
  • What's new in version 4. 71 b SSD (Dec 12, 2018) :
  • Screenshots are added - hot key combination CTRL + S. Because of this, the executable file has grown by 37 kb. I recommend checking for compatibility with minimalist versions of Windows PE - what if additional system libraries are needed?
  • Added detection of whether the disk has a PCIe interface (SSD with a PCIe to SATA bridge).
  • Added definition of drive form factor. Displayed under the passport window.
  • Added a separate line of SSD functions in the passport, in particular Sanitize and Crypto Scramble. There also moved and Trim. In fact, there are more, but it has not yet been decided how to rationally place them. These functions can also be found on modern HDDs.
  • A menu has been added to the HEX editors (right click of the mouse) that can be used to switch the font size.
  • ! Fixed a bug due to which on the SSD OCZ Vertex block size with scan remained 256 sectors. This was the reason for the extraordinary update of the program.
  • Added help for F1. More recent information between the updates will be published on hdd.by
  • I tried to remove the seemingly unnecessary switch of the API device number from the bottom right corner of the form. If someone needs it, then I will return it. For 12 years I have never been useful.
  • A small adaptation of the interface to XP and 7, the right edge of the form seemed to look better.
  • Removed vertical scroll bar in the help, because turned out to be buggy. You can scroll with the mouse wheel and PageUp / PageDown keys.
  • Changed the algorithm for installing the porttalk.sys driver. Now the driver is checked in the Windows system folder, and if it is not there, then it is installed on 32-bit systems. Reworked driver error messages to the log, removed unnecessary ones. The bottom line is that the PIO mode should be guaranteed to earn x32 without any additional actions by the user.
  • What's new in version 4.69b (Dec 2, 2018) :
  • Added quick surface test (as in HD Tune). Now you can get an idea about the drive of any volume in 2-3 minutes. Accordingly, a new QUICK button has been added under the former Start button, and the Start button has been slightly reduced and renamed to Scan . In order to know which test was launched, a scan mode indicator was added under the button.
  • The end of the random reading now occurs not only in time, but also after the completion of plotting, if the Grid is turned off.
  • Upon request, I returned the opportunity to use the PC-speaker as an audio indicator. As before, it works only on x86.
  • Prevented accidental closing of the program by the user during the execution of operations.
  • Now not only the BAD-sector number is written to the log, but also the volume of the disk in front of it.
  • At the end of the scan, the address of the last block is also written to the log.
  • Added new SMART attributes for SSD.
  • Added detector SATA3 and future SATA4 in the passport.
  • Fixed a bug due to which, when verifying large drives in API mode, a step multiple of 2 TB appeared on the graph (a modern 16-byte SCSI command was used, which has no restrictions on addressing> 32 bits).
  • Fixed and completed the display of the graph with a reversible and random scan of the surface.
  • Eliminated a lot of illogical in the display and behavior of the scan graphics in different modes.
  • Fixed a bug due to which the sector size on the optical disks was sometimes incorrectly determined, which interfered with reading the sectors in the HEX viewer and reported Error # 57 "
  • The block of 2048 sectors is now installed automatically, starting with 400GB (it was - with 1TB)
  • Improved program operation when loading graphics from a file: testing boundaries are displayed, the mouse is working correctly.
  • A typical situation: after experiments with a block size on one drive, you forgot to manually return the “Auto block Size” checkbox on the Test tab. This may lead to incorrect results on another disk. Now when you change the disk, this item returns to the “Auto” position.
  • Increased the font in the HEX-browser, called by F8.
  • Improved scan indication. With the help of a timer, I tried to make it uniform and independent of the speed of the drive. Also, it should now slow down the system less and, as a result, increase the speed and accuracy of testing. But since this is the first time, there may be some shortcomings that can be fixed in the future. What is all this for? An expansion of the scan speed limit of> 3000 mb / s (now only 655 Mb / s) is being prepared, and possible bottlenecks in the algorithms are gradually eliminated.
  • When testing the surface in PIO mode, the “Reset HDD” checkbox was removed near the navigation buttons, otherwise the ATA protocol was torn and an unplanned HDD response delay occurred.
  • Asked to return how was the "non-update" width of the columns in SMART. Now, when you click on the "Get SMART" button, the columns are updated, and when you click on the alternative button - F9, they are not updated.
  • The color of the gray panel on the right is made more neutral. This is temporary. Probably soon I will bring the interface to the unity of style.
  • The colors of the passport and log are made paler.
  • Optimized code, the size of the executable file has become smaller.
  • The help system is converted from .html to RTF-format. It should become more beautiful and not depend on the version of IE browser.
  • Text files attached to the program are now also in RTF. Do not open them in MS Word for editing - they swell several times! Use MS WordPad.

New in Victoria 4.66b (Aug 14, 2018)

  • 48-bit random-test.
  • Supports Smart SSD Vertex.
  • USB device auto-detection.
  • Adapting to PCI-E SSD.
  • Increased speed.
  • Various improvements in the program.