How To Chkdsk In Windows 10

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If you suspect that your hard drive or external drive has errors or bad sectors, it’s important to take action to prevent further damage or data loss. One of the built-in Windows tools that can help you do this is CHKDSK, short for “Check Disk”. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through how to use CHKDSK in Windows 10 to scan and fix errors on your drives.

Step 1: Open Command Prompt as Administrator

To run CHKDSK, you’ll need to open the Command Prompt with administrative privileges. Here’s how:

  • Press the Windows key + X to open the Power User menu.
  • Select Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin) from the list.
  • Click Yes if prompted by the User Account Control.

Step 2: Running CHKDSK

With the Command Prompt open, you can now run the CHKDSK command. The basic syntax for the command is:

chkdsk [drive_letter]: [/f] [/r] [/x]

  • drive_letter: The letter assigned to the drive you want to check (e.g., C, D, E).
  • /f: Fixes errors on the disk. This option is necessary if you want CHKDSK to repair any issues it finds.
  • /r: Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information. This option also implies the /f option, so you don’t need to include both.
  • /x: Forces the volume to dismount first, if necessary. This option is usually only needed for system drives.

For example, to check and repair the errors on your C: drive, you would enter:

chkdsk C: /f

If you want to check for bad sectors and recover data as well, you would enter:

chkdsk C: /r

Step 3: Restart Your Computer (if necessary)

If you’re trying to check your system drive (usually C:), you may be prompted to schedule a scan for the next time your computer restarts. To do this, type:

Y

Then press Enter. Restart your computer, and the CHKDSK scan will run automatically before Windows starts.

Step 4: Review the CHKDSK Report

Once the CHKDSK process is complete, it will provide a report on any errors found and whether they were fixed. If you closed the Command Prompt or the computer restarted, you can view the CHKDSK report in the Windows Event Viewer. Here’s how:

  • Press the Windows key + X to open the Power User menu.
  • Select Event Viewer from the list.
  • In the Event Viewer, navigate to Windows Logs > Application.
  • Look for events with the Source set to Wininit or Chkdsk.
  • Double-click on the event to view the CHKDSK report.

Conclusion

Regularly scanning your drives with CHKDSK can help prevent data loss and maintain the health of your hard drive. Keep in mind that if your drive has serious issues or is failing, CHKDSK might not be able to fix everything. In such cases, it’s important to backup your data and consider replacing the drive.