Getting Help - Using Check Disk
Sometimes things can go wrong with your hard drive. Check disk can help sort out whether it's a software problem or the drive itself is starting to fail.

This site is devoted to Windows based PCs, specifically Windows XP computers. Visit a MAC site or a Linux site for other assistance.

The Properties screen in My Computer is a one-stop place to do many of the things we discussed on are Easy Computer Maintenance pages. It’s also a lot more. And when we tell you to back up your computer before doing certain things, we really want you to do it before using all the resources found in here.

To get to the screen that allow you to both make a back up and error check your disk, select the My Computer icon on your desktop. From there right click on the disk drive you want to error check. Then select Properties from the File pull down menu at the top of the window. Select the Tools tab.

Select Check Now. The screen that is then displayed will allow you to make choices in what you do next.

You can check the disk for file system errors by leaving both checkboxes unchecked. Doing this step just checks the drive it doesn’t attempt to correct any problems.

Check the first box to check for and automatically fix file system errors. This will find and fix problems like missing files due to directory problems, eliminate bits and pieces of nonsense generated by system crashes or software glitches, and other find and resolve other inconsistencies.

By selecting the second check box, you can scan for and attempt to recover bad sectors. If your hard drive is starting to fail, it may start slowly a sector or two at a time. Checking your disk for bad sectors will allow you to gauge the health of the drive. Be sure that all your accessible data has been backed up before beginning this process if you’re having trouble finding files you know are supposed to be there. If you discover that there are bad sectors on the drive, it’s time to get a new drive before you have a complete drive failure. Most users check for bad sectors only when there is reason to do so.

It can take a very long time to run the boot sector scans. The larger your drive the longer it will take, so plan on spending that time doing something that doesn’t require your computer.

If you know your drive is failing and you can’t access important files, you may want to go straight to trying software that will analyze what’s wrong with the drive and attempt to recover lost data. A possible solution is Ontrack’s EasyRecovery™ DataRecovery. Ontrack offers a free trial version that allows you to view inaccessible or deleted data that is recoverable. If you decide to purchase the full version to restore files, you’ll spend $319.00.

Regular backups of your data will avoid this necessity if your drive fails. Another great way to restore your drive is to purchase a copy of Norton Ghost by Symantec or the upgrade to Norton Ghost, Norton Save and Restore. This software will take what is essentially a picture of your drive. Everything is backed up from your settings to your family photos. When you need to restore a drive or install a new drive because you cannot start your system, Ghost will restore everything to what you had before. At $70 it’s a great deal. It even schedules regular backups for you, so that procrastination will never keep you from doing the necessary backups to your system.

Check Disk Problems

What if you get a message that tells you Check Disk can't run?

Select the Yes button to allow Check Disk to run at start up then reboot your computer. If Check Disk does not run, you will need to do the following. You can also attempt this if Check Disk fails to complete.

Select the Start Button in the bottom left corner of your computer screen and then select Run. In the box labeled Open: enter the following.

chkdsk c: /f

This will scan your C drive and fix disk errors.

To run Check Disk and fix errors and recover bad sectors enter the following.

chkdsk c: /f /r

You can change c: to another drive volume such as d: or e: to check another drive.

A DOS Window will open and the scan will start. Do not use your computer while the scan is in process. You may monitor that progress of the scan in the DOS Window. When the scan completes the window will disappear, so read it quickly.