Chkdsk commonly known as check disk utility is used to detect and fix most of the hard disk related errors that include bad sectors, file system corruption and folder errors. The chkdsk is an inbuilt tool found in all the versions of Microsoft Windows OS. The hard disk may develop many kinds of issues during its usage over time. Unexpected shutdowns and even errors caused due to physical damage can be resolved by using various switches of this troubleshooting command.
Run chkdsk in Windows 10
Here are different ways to use this command. The first method is to use the built-in windows interface to run check disk command.
Go to My Computer or This PC and open it. Next, navigate to the partition you intend to scan for errors.
Now right click on the partition or drive and select its properties.
In the next window, you need to navigate to tools and then click on Check.
This will open another dialog box that will prompt you to start the scan. Clicking it will begin your scan. You must remember that it will take a long time depending on the size of the drive partition, so you need to be patient while using chkdsk utility.
After the scan is complete and if errors are found, you will be prompted to fix and repair the drive. Note: the system will restart in order to fix the errors.
Running chkdsk in command prompt
The other way to scan and fix hard disk errors is by running the command in command prompt with administrative privileges. So either right-click on the windows-start button or press Windows logo key +X key to open the various options.
Next, click on the Command Prompt (Admin) and type chkdsk (drive letter): For example to scan the E drive partition, you need to type chkdsk E: Press enter which will start the scanning of E drive.
But remember using the above command will run the utility in read-only mode that means it will only display the errors but will not fix them. To fix the errors in command prompt mode, you need to use various switches in combination with the basic chkdsk command.
Chkdsk Switches and their Usage
The most commonly used check disk options include
- Chkdsk / f. It will scan and automatically fix all the disk errors.
- Chkdsk /r. This switch will not only identify the bad sectors but also recovers the readable data from the drive.
- Chkdsk /x. It will dismount the target drive
- Chkdsk /x/f/r. This switch combination will run the chkdsk utility after rebooting of the system. This is quite handy when all the other switches fail to rectify the drive errors.
Fix the Hard Disk Issues with chkdsk in Windows 10
The chkdsk is a useful Windows utility that helps you keep your storage are healthy. Even there are no visible errors, you can still run chkdsk on a weekly basis as a preventive measure. The instructions given in this article are clear and simple to understand and even then if you have any query, ask me in the comments section.
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