How to Fix Hard Disk Errors (2024)

How to Use Chkdsk to Fix Hard Disk Errors

1. Click My Computer then click once on the hard disk that you want to check, which will highlight it and allow you to select the drive.
2. Right-click on the drive and a window will appear.
3. Click Properties, then Tools from the choices presented.
4. Click Check Now which can be found under Error-checking. A dialog box that shows the Check Disk Options is displayed.
5. Use one of the following procedures:
   • Option 1 - To run Chkdsk in read-only mode, click Start.
   • Option 2 - To repair errors without scanning the volume for bad sectors, select the Automatically fix file system errors check box, then click Start.
   • Option 3 - To repair errors, locate bad sectors, and recover readable information, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors checkbox, then click Start.

Note on all versions of Windows prior to Windows 8: If one or more files are open on the hard disk that you want to fix, you will receive the following message:

"The disk check could not be performed because the disk check utility needs exclusive access to some Windows files on the disk. These files can be accessed by restarting Windows. Do you want to schedule the disk check to occur the next time you restart the computer?"

If the above text appears, click "Yes" to schedule the disk check, then restart your computer to begin the disk check.

For more information about Chkdsk, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:

Chkdsk:https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb491051.aspx

Running Chkdsk to repair file systems:https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457122.aspx