CHECK FOR DISK ERRORS

Minor hard drive errors can be easily fixed with the help of a tool called Check Disk. Check Disk (CHKDSK) is a built-in Windows utility that can scan your hard drive for errors and bad sectors, repair logical errors, prevent further deterioration by moving data to the healthier parts of the disk and make sure new data is not saved to the bad sectors. This way Check Disk can improve the stability of your PC. Generally speaking, it's good to run Check Disk on a regular basis, like once a month.

How to run Check Disk?

Running Check Disk is really easy even though the scan can take a long time to complete. Basically, the larger your disk, the longer Check Disk will need to complete the scan.

The process of running Check Disk is the same for all Windows versions. You can launch the tool in two ways - from (My) Computer or from the Command Prompt.

To launch from (My) Computer:

1. Go to Start and open (My) Computer
2. Right-click on the drive you wish to check and go to Properties
3. Go to the Tools tab and click on the Check Now button
4. A pop-up window will appear and ask you whether you want to Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors Make sure you check both checkboxes, otherwise Check Disk will only report errors without fixing them.
5. Click Start to launch the tool. Check Disk needs exclusive access to the drive. This means that no other programs should be running. This includes Windows. So if you are checking your system drive, Check Disk will not be able to perform the scan straight away. Instead, it will offer you to schedule the scan for the next reboot. To do that, just click on Schedule Disk Check and then click OK.

Now, reboot your computer and let Check Disk do the work. And if you don't feel like doing the disk checking after you reboot your PC, don't worry - you'll have 10 seconds to cancel.

To launch Check Disk from the command prompt:

XP users

1. Click on Start and then click on Run
2. Type cmd in the box that appears and hit OK

Windows 7 users

1. Run CMD with administrative privileges. To do that, click on Start and type CMD.exe in the Search box. Don't hit Enter, but right-click on CMD.exe and select Run as Administrator
2. Now type CHKDSK C: /f in the DOS window. “C:” is the letter of the drive you will be checking and /f will make the tool fix file system errors. Check Disk will try to lock your drive and you will be prompted to schedule the task for the next reboot.

There are more command prompt options for CHKDSK. To get the full list of CHKDSK command prompt options: just type CHKDSK /? in the command prompt itself.

Alternate method using software:

You can use the Disk Doctor feature in Advanced System Care.