How to Check Your Disk for Errors Using Chkdsk
Occasionally, problems can occur with a hard disk, which can have a variety of symptoms (slow start-up times, delays in opening files and folders, inability to open files and folders etc.). The chkdsk tool that comes with Windows scans disks for problems, and tries to correct any that it finds.
If you think you may have problems with your disk, you should run a check. Even if you don't, you might want to check on a periodic basis (maybe once a month), to check for and correct any issues before they develop into more serious problems.
How to Check Your Disk for Errors
To check your disk for errors, select "Computer" from the Start menu. Right click on the disk you want to check, and select "Properties" from the pop-up menu.
This will display the properties for the disk. Go to the "tools" tab, and click on the "check Now..." button.
The chkdsk options then appear. The first box ("Automatically fix files system errors") is usually selected by default, but check it if that it not the case. The second box ("Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors") does some additional checking, but does mean that the process will take longer (possibly hours). Unless you're constrained by time, you should select this option too.
After you hit "Start”" you'll probably see a window like the one below, telling you that the check can't be done while the disk is in use. Click the "Schedule disk check" button, and the check will be performed next time you restart your computer.
If you restart your computer, then before Windows starts up again, you'll see the information on the progress of the disk check.
How to Find and Interpret Chkdsk Results
Strangely, locating disk check results is a bit of a black art. They appear on screen at the time the check is run, but disappear when Windows starts, so unless you're watching carefully at the time (which would be pretty boring), you'll miss them.
To find the results, open the Control Panel (accessible from the Start Menu), select "System and Maintenance", and then select "View event logs" (right at the bottom).
This opens the Event Viewer.
Select "Windows Logs" and then "Application", and you'll see a long list of entries. Scroll from the top down until you find the most recent entry with "Wininit" in the "Source" column.
Double-click on this entry to open it, and you'll see the disk check results.
In this case, you'll see that the check found and corrected 5 unindexed files, 421 unused index entries, plus some (unspecified amount) of free space that was incorrectly marked as allocated. Almost at the bottom you'll see that it also says "0 KB in bad sectors", which means that we don't have any data stored in bad areas of the disk, which is what we want.
If you do find errors in the results which chkdsk can't correct, you could try searching the Microsoft Help and Support website for help in diagnosing and solving these. If that doesn't resolve the problem though, we recommend that you ensure that all of your data is safely backed-up, and consider replacing the disk.
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