How to Use Check Disk to Fix Problems With Your Hard Disk
Hard disk manufacturing defects and improper shutdowns over a period of time can result in errors showing up on your hard disk. You may be faced with data losses and random computer freezes. When you are in such a situation, your first step should be to run the Windows Check Disk utility. When run, the program goes through your hard disk sector by sector to find out what parts are unusable. It then reroutes traffic around those parts. It is usually a good idea to run the check disk utility once every quarter as a preemptive measure before you start experiencing problems.
The easy way to use Check Disk
While keying in the right command into the Command Prompt is the usual way to use Check Disk , Windows has a GUI method, too. To run the disk checker, you need to right-click on the hard disk partition that you need to check, select Properties and then click on the Tools tab on the dialog box that appears. This brings up a new Check Disk dialog box with two options, both of which you should check.
If you run Check Disk on the C: drive, Windows will throw up an objection that tells you that you can’t check a disk that is in use. Instead, you are asked to schedule a disk check for the next time you start your system. Before you schedule a check, you should keep in mind that depending on the size of your disk, disk checks can take hours. You should only start down this path if you don’t intend to use your computer for some time.
If you set up a disk check without considering the time it takes, you can cancel it by going to the Command Prompt (search for Command Prompt on the search function) and typing in chkntfs /X C: . You need to substitute C: with the drive letter for whatever drive you need to cancel you disk check for. Once you type the string in and hit Enter, Windows doesn’t give you any form of confirmation that your disk check is canceled. To make sure, you need to type in another string: chkntfs C: . This one will tell you if you have still have a disk check scheduled.
Using CHKDSK entirely through the command prompt, you have way more power
If you decide to do without the convenience of the GUI entirely, you get many more choices. On the Command Prompt, you get the most thorough kind of disk check by typing in the string chkdsk /F /R C: (you need to substitute C: for the letter of whatever drive you wish to check) and hitting Enter . There are a number of other less thorough options, though. Chkdsk C: /I fixes indexing errors. Chkdsk C: /B tests all the bad clusters on the disk.
What do you do if your disk check comes up with unrecoverable errors?
The Windows Check Disk utility isn’t very good at fixing the errors that it finds. If it does find problems, it’s time to head to the manufacturer’s website to download their proprietary software to fix all the problems that Check Disk has located.
Hard disk manufacturing defects and improper shutdowns over a period of time can result in errors showing up on your hard disk. You may be faced with data losses and random computer freezes. When you are in such a situation, your first step should be to run the Windows Check Disk utility. When run, the program goes through your hard disk sector by sector to find out what parts are unusable. It then reroutes traffic around those parts. It is usually a good idea to run the check disk utility once every quarter as a preemptive measure before you start experiencing problems.
The easy way to use Check Disk
While keying in the right command into the Command Prompt is the usual way to use Check Disk , Windows has a GUI method, too. To run the disk checker, you need to right-click on the hard disk partition that you need to check, select Properties and then click on the Tools tab on the dialog box that appears. This brings up a new Check Disk dialog box with two options, both of which you should check.
If you run Check Disk on the C: drive, Windows will throw up an objection that tells you that you can’t check a disk that is in use. Instead, you are asked to schedule a disk check for the next time you start your system. Before you schedule a check, you should keep in mind that depending on the size of your disk, disk checks can take hours. You should only start down this path if you don’t intend to use your computer for some time.
If you set up a disk check without considering the time it takes, you can cancel it by going to the Command Prompt (search for Command Prompt on the search function) and typing in chkntfs /X C: . You need to substitute C: with the drive letter for whatever drive you need to cancel you disk check for. Once you type the string in and hit Enter, Windows doesn’t give you any form of confirmation that your disk check is canceled. To make sure, you need to type in another string: chkntfs C: . This one will tell you if you have still have a disk check scheduled.
Using CHKDSK entirely through the command prompt, you have way more power
If you decide to do without the convenience of the GUI entirely, you get many more choices. On the Command Prompt, you get the most thorough kind of disk check by typing in the string chkdsk /F /R C: (you need to substitute C: for the letter of whatever drive you wish to check) and hitting Enter . There are a number of other less thorough options, though. Chkdsk C: /I fixes indexing errors. Chkdsk C: /B tests all the bad clusters on the disk.
What do you do if your disk check comes up with unrecoverable errors?
The Windows Check Disk utility isn’t very good at fixing the errors that it finds. If it does find problems, it’s time to head to the manufacturer’s website to download their proprietary software to fix all the problems that Check Disk has located.
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