Scan Disk is the helper application deployed with the Windows Operating System (OS) designed to detect and correct hard disk errors. Scan Disk has been deployed with Microsoft produced OS's as far back as MS-DOS 6.2, and was first embedded as part of the OS with Windows XP. Microsoft recommends running the utility program whenever the the computer performance has suffered as well as on a periodic basis to prevent future problems from arising.
What Does Scan Disk Do?
Scan Disk is designed to repair damaged hard drive sectors and clusters on your computer's hard drive. The majority of errors detected with the utility programs permit the application to recover the data stored in the damaged regions of the hard drive. When Scan Disk finds a bad or damaged cluster during a scan, it will move the information stored in that cluster to a new location on the computer's hard drive.
How Do I Run the Scan Disk Application?
In Windows XP take the following steps to run Scan Disk:
Step 1 – Select the “Start” menu button followed by the “Programs” icon.
Step 2 – Click the “Accessories” and “System Tools” menu buttons.
Step 3 – Click the “Scan Disk” menu button and you will be able to run a complete scan of your computer's hard drive(s). Note that Scan Disk can take up to 4 or 5 hours to complete a full scan of your computer depending on the last time that it was used.
Alternatively, you can run scan disk by taking the following steps in Windows XP:
Step 1 – Double click the “My Computer” icon on your computer's desktop.
Step 2 – Right click the “C” or local drive to check for errors.
Step 3- Choose the “Properties” menu option on the subsequent menu and click the “Tools” label.
Step 4 – Select the “Check Now” menu option to run the disk scan.
Run Scan Disk on Windows 7
In the deployment of Windows 7, the Scan Disk utility underwent a name change and is now called “CHKDSK” that performs the same functions as the legacy application for the Operating System.
Run CHKDSK Using the Grapical User Interface (GUI)
Step 1 – Select the “Computer” option from the start menu.
Step 2 – Right click the drive to check for errors followed by clicking the “Properties” menu button.
Step 3 – Select the “Tools” menu option followed by the “Check Now” menu button.
If the computer drive is in use, the Operating System will display a dialogue menu asking if you desire to schedule a full scan in the future.
Run CHKDSK from the DOS Command Prompt
Alternatively, CHKDSK can be ran from the DOS or Command prompt on the Windows 7 OS.
Step 1 – Open the DOS prompt on your computer by selecting the “Start” and “Run” menu options.
Step 2 – Enter “cmd” followed by the “enter” key to open the command prompt.
Step 3 – Enter “chkdsk c:” to initiate a system check of the local hard drive. If you desire all errors to be fixed through invocation at the DOS prompt, enter “CHKDSK c: /F /R” to find and fix all errors on the local drive. If your hard drive is labeled with a different letter than “c” just replace the letter in the above example with the actual hard drive letter on your computer.
