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Scan disc: How to Use Microsoft ScanDisk

ScanDisk Windows 10: How to Scan and Repair Drive Windows 10/8/7

Updated by
Cici on Apr 21, 2023 

Written by
Jean 

Quick Navigation:

  • What’s ScanDisk?
  • Alternative 1 – Check File System in EaseUS Partition Master
  • Alternative 2 – What’s CHKDSK?
  • How to Run CHKDSK Windows 10/8/7

What is ScanDisk? Can you run the ScanDisk command to scan and repair drive issues in Windows 10? If you want to apply ScanDisk on newer Windows versions after MS-DOS (like Windows NT, Windows 9x, and Windows 3.x), you should turn to its successor CHKDSK, which you can find in [1] Windows Properties, [2] Command Prompt, and [3] EaseUS Partition Master – a third-party partition manager for earlier and newer Windows operating system.

Follow the quick navigation to check disk in:

  • EaseUS Partition Master
  • Windows Properties
  • Command Prompt

What’s ScanDisk?

Also known as Scan Disk, ScanDisk is a DOS-based Windows utility for automatically detecting and correcting hard drive issues and file system errors. It was first introduced in MS-DOS 6.2, so ScanDisk has had a long history now. Despite that ScanDisk can improve the performance of your hard drive and help maintain the Windows file system, it is too old to retain in the later Windows operating systems, which has been fully replaced by the upgraded utility called CHKDSK (pronounced Check Disk).

That is to say, according to different Windows operating systems, you got different ways to evoke the tool to perform its duty.

ScanDisk is available and executable in:

  • Windows 95 and 98
  • Windows 3.x and MS-DOS

*Windows NT is another senior operating system but it’s not shipped with ScanDisk. Most often you can use various third-party utilities to check disk integrity for Windows NT.

In later Windows OS – Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, ScanDisk is replaced by CHKDSK.

Learn more about ScanDisk:

  1. 1. ScanDisk checks exclusively the FAT-formatted hard disks, like FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32.
  2. 2. ScanDisk can recognize compressed volumes and long filenames.
  3. 3. ScanDisk can automatically repair cross-linked files and lost clusters.
  4. 4. You must boot the computer to Safe Mode to run ScanDisk.
  5. 5. Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows 98 run ScanDisk automatically if the computer is shut down improperly.

Being the successor of ScanDisk in newer Windows operating systems after Windows XP, EaseUS Partition Master and CHKDSK are developed to monitor your disk drive’s health.

How to Check Disk Errors in EaseUS Partition Master

No matter it’s the outdated Windows OS or the morden computers running Windows 10, the default Windows program to scan and check hard drive errors is usually time-consuming and the result is rarely satisfied. As you can see, the command line method is somewhat higher-leveled, and any mistake of the parameters is prone to cause new issues on the drive. Hence, have you thought about another perfect alternative for the cliche ScanDisk or the plain CHKDSK?

You should. If you ask for a simpler, quicker but more effective way to replace the CHKDSK, use EaseUS Partition Master. It’s a third-party partition magic tool that manages hard drives and partitions in every to improve performance and prolong lifespan. For EaseUS partition manager software, it’s all too easy to handle the job of scanning and repairing hard disk errors.

Step 1. Open EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. Then, locate the disk, right-click the partition you want to check, and choose “Advanced” > “Check File System”.

Step 2. In the Check File System window, keep the “Try to fix errors if found” option selected and click “Start”.

Step 3. The software will begin checking your partition file system on your disk. When it completes, click “Finish”.

What’s CHKDSK?

CHKDSK starts scanning the file system on the disk drive and analyzing the integrity of the files, file system, and file metadata on the drive. It repairs issues if there were found any.

Using CHKDSK to check, scan and repair hard drive errors is becoming much easier due to the intuitive user interface in the program. There are two ways for Windows users to access the CHKDSK utility, including Windows Properties and Windows Command Prompt. 

How to Run ScanDisk in Windows 10/8/7

As aforementioned, in newer Windows platforms, what you use to scan and check hard drive issues and file system errors is not ScanDisk anymore but its alternative – CHKDSK.

Method 1. Run CHKDSK in Windows Properties

Step 1. Open Windows File Explorer (Windows + E keys) > right-click on the drive you want to check and repair > select Properties.

Step 2. In the Properties window, switch to the Tools tab. Under the Error checking section, click Check. 

Step 3. In the Error Checking window, click Scan drive.  

The scanning process usually takes 10 minutes to a few hours depending on the size of the selected drive. Windows will try to repair the drive errors automatically while the next time you restart the computer.

Guide: How to Check Total Hard Disk Size

At times, you need to find out the disk space in total (including used space & free space) on your computer HDD or SSD. The common way for us to access a hard drive to check information is via…

Method 2. Run CHKDSK in Windows Command Prompt

Step 1. Press Windows + X keys to open the task menu > select Command Prompt (Admin). Click Yes if the User Account Control prompt appears.

Step 2. In the command window, type the command line chkdsk c: /f /r /x and press Enter.

  • c: is the drive letter you selected to scan
  • /f instructs CHKDSK to fix any errors that were discovered during the scan
  • /r tells CHKDSK to locate and fix bad sectors on the drive
  • /x asks CHKDSK to dismount the drive before the process begins

This article provides detailed information about scandisk command. If this passage solved your problem, you can also click the button below to share it with other friends in need!

 

How to Scan Disk – Tech-FAQ

Scan Disk is one of the most common maintenance tools bundled with an operating system such as Windows. This is an application that checks the computer’s hard drive for errors and bad sectors. Once Scan Disk finds an error in the hard drive, it will attempt to fix it.

There are a number of reasons for the errors found inside a hard drive. These include:

  • frequent system crashes
  • critical system applications that have been improperly closed
  • the existence of harmful programs such as viruses, trojans, etc.

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. Scan Disk also checks and repairs the integrity of file systems such as FAT, FAT32, NTFS, etc.

Scan Disk requires exclusive access to a drive when it executes. Hence, if one or more of the files are open on the drive that you want to scan, Scan Disk may display a prompt asking if you want schedule the drive check for the next time that you restart your computer.

Once Scan Disk finishes its task, it provides a report that contains the errors it has found and the amount of disk space it has scanned. It is therefore important for users to use the Scan Disk application because it ensures that their data is safe from being corrupted. Aside from this, there is a guarantee that their computer will perform at optimum levels.

The earliest Scan Disk version appeared in MS DOS 6.2. In Windows 95 and 98, Scan Disk was given a graphical user interface (GUI). In this graphical environment, the user can find:

  • progress bars
  • buttons
  • information regarding the status of the scan and the errors (if any)

How to Run Scan Disk in Windows 2000 and Windows XP

  • Press the Start button on desktop
  • Double click on My Computer
  • Highlight the disk to be scanned for bad sector on the list of Hard Disk Drives.
  • Open the File menu and select Properties option
  • Select the Tools tab
  • Click the Check Now button
  • The scanning process will then initiate

How to Run Scan Disk in Windows Vista

  • Click the Computer icon on the desktop
  • Right click the drive to be scanned with Scandisk and select Properties
  • Click on the Tools tab. Under the Error-checking sub heading, click the Check Now button
  • A window named Check Local Disk will appear. To attempt to correct errors, check the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors checkbox
  • Click Start to initiate the disk scan. In Vista, it is required to schedule the Scandisk to run at boot time as Vista has mechanisms that do not allow it to run while the system is operating.

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.

Checking Your Hard Drive for Errors in Windows

This beginner’s guide shows you step by step how to check your hard drive for errors and bad sectors in Windows 7, 8.1 and Windows 10 through the command line or explorer interface. Additional tools for checking HDD and SSD that are present in the OS are also described. Installation of any additional programs is not required.

Despite the fact that there are powerful programs for checking disks, searching for bad blocks and fixing errors, their use for the most part will be little understood by the average user (and, moreover, can even harm in some cases). The check built into the system using ChkDsk and other system tools is relatively easy to use and quite effective. See also: How to check SSD for errors, SSD health analysis.

Note: if you are looking for a way to check the HDD because of the strange sounds it makes, see the article The hard drive is making sounds.

How to check the hard disk for errors using the command line

To check the hard disk and its sectors for errors using the command line, you first need to run it, and on behalf of the Administrator. In Windows 8.1 and 10, you can do this by right-clicking the Start button and selecting Command Prompt (Admin). Other ways for other OS versions: How to run the command line as an administrator.

At the command line, enter the command chkdsk drive_letter: check_parameters (if nothing is clear, read on). Note: Check Disk only works with drives formatted in NTFS or FAT32.

An example of a running command might look like this: chkdsk C: /F /R – in this command, drive C will be checked for errors, errors will be corrected automatically (parameter F), bad sectors will be checked and an attempt to recover information will be made (parameter R). Attention: check with the parameters used can take several hours and seems to “freeze” in the process, do not perform it if you are not ready to wait or if your laptop is not connected to a power outlet.

In case you try to check the hard drive that is currently being used by the system, you will see a message about this and a suggestion to perform the check after the next restart of the computer (before loading the OS). Enter Y to agree or N to refuse verification. If you see a message when checking that CHKDSK is not valid for RAW drives, this guide may help: How to fix and repair a RAW drive in Windows.

In other cases, a check will be launched immediately, as a result of which you will receive statistics of verified data, errors found and bad sectors (you should have it in Russian, unlike my screenshot).

You can get a complete list of available options and their descriptions by running chkdsk with a question mark as an option. However, for simple error checking, as well as checking sectors, the command given in the previous paragraph will suffice.

In cases where the check detects errors on the hard drive or SSD but cannot fix them, it may be because a running Windows or programs are currently using the drive. In this situation, running an offline disk scan can help: in this case, the disk is “disconnected” from the system, a check is performed, and then mounted again in the system. If you can’t disable it, then CHKDSK will be able to check the next time you restart your computer.

To perform an offline check of the disk and fix errors on it, run the following command at the command prompt as an administrator: chkdsk C: /f /offlinescanandfix (where C: is the letter of the drive being scanned).

If you see a message that the CHKDSK command cannot be run because the specified volume is in use by another process, press Y (yes), Enter, close the command prompt, and restart your computer. Check Disk will start automatically when Windows 10, 8 or Windows 7 starts loading.

Additional information: if desired, after checking the disk and loading Windows, you can view the Check Disk check log using the Event Viewer (Win + R, enter eventvwr.msc) in the Windows Logs – Application section by searching (right-clicking on “Application” – “Search”) for the Chkdsk keyword.

Checking the hard drive in Windows Explorer

The easiest way to check the HDD in Windows is to use Explorer. In it, right-click on the desired hard drive, select “Properties”, and then open the “Tools” tab and click “Check”. In Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, you will most likely see a message that this drive is not currently required to be verified. However, you can force it to run.

In Windows 7, there is an additional option to enable checking and repairing bad sectors by checking the appropriate boxes. You can still find the verification report in the Windows Application Event Viewer.

Checking the disk for errors in Windows PowerShell

You can check the hard disk for errors not only using the command line, but also in Windows PowerShell.

To perform this procedure, run PowerShell as an administrator (you can start typing PowerShell in the search on the Windows 10 taskbar or in the Start menu of previous OSes, then right-click on the found item and select Run as administrator.

In Windows PowerShell, use the following Repair-Volume commands to check the hard drive partition:

  • Repair-Volume -DriveLetter C (where C is the drive letter of the drive being checked, this time without the colon after the drive letter).
  • Repair-Volume -DriveLetter C -OfflineScanAndFix (similar to the first option, but to perform an offline scan, as described in the chkdsk method).

If you see the NoErrorsFound message as a result of running the command, it means that no errors were found on the disk.

Additional options for checking disk in Windows 10

In addition to the options listed above, you can use some additional tools built into the OS. In Windows 10 and 8, disk maintenance, including checking and defragmenting them, occurs automatically according to a schedule, at a time when you are not using your computer or laptop.

To view information about whether any problems were found with the disks, go to the “Control Panel” (you can do this by right-clicking on Start and selecting the desired item from the context menu) – “Security and Maintenance Center”. Open the “Maintenance” section and in the “Disk Status” item you will see the information received as a result of the last automatic check.

Another feature introduced in Windows 10 is the Storage Diagnostic Tool. To use the utility, run a command prompt as an administrator, then use the following command: 

 stordiag.exe -collectEtw -checkfsconsistency -out path_to_report_save_folder

The command will take some time to complete (it may seem that the process has hung), and all connected drives will be checked.

And when the command completes, the problem report will be saved to the location you specified.

The report includes separate files containing:

  • Chkdsk validation information and error information collected by fsutil in text files.
  • Windows 10 registry files containing all current registry values ​​related to attached drives.
  • Windows Event Viewer log files (events are collected within 30 seconds when using the collectEtw switch in the disk diagnostics command).

For the average user, the collected data may not be of interest, but in some cases it may be useful for diagnosing drive problems by a system administrator or other specialist.

If you have any problems during the verification or need advice, write in the comments, and I, in turn, will try to help you.

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Checking the hard disk for errors: which programs to choose

Likbez

Technologies

December 19, 2022

What to do if programs slow down, files do not open or copy for too long, and the system complains about disk errors.

Various drive problems can occur as a result of software failures, physical damage, or wear and tear. Among them are errors in the file system, or the so-called bad sectors (bad sectors), which are damaged areas of disk space.

Windows and macOS have built-in utilities to diagnose and resolve these issues. There is also a separate software that analyzes disks more carefully.

Checking the hard disk with built-in programs

Standard programs are compatible with both hard disk drives (HDD) and solid state drives (SSD). Also suitable not only for internal but also for external drives. You can find the type of your drive and other information about it in the documentation for the device.

Windows

You can check the disk in Windows using the utility available in the drive menu. To run it, open File Explorer and right-click on the drive you want to diagnose. Select Properties → Tools → Check.

If you see the option “Scan for and repair bad sectors”, check it. Follow the instructions on the screen until the verification is complete. Sometimes the process takes several hours: the total time depends on the speed of the disk and the power of the computer. If you are testing a laptop drive, plug the device into an electrical outlet.

On some computers, hard drive testing tools are built right into the BIOS. For example, on HP laptops, the Primary Hard Disk Self Test option is available, which can be used even when the hard drive refuses to boot Windows.

Your device may have a similar function. You can enter the BIOS by pressing F2, F8, or another key that is displayed immediately after turning on the computer, and look for a checker. Once you find it, run diagnostics and follow the prompts on the screen.

macOS

Use Disk Utility to test drives on Mac computers. Open Finder, go to the “Programs” section, and then to “Utilities”, among the tools there will be the program we need.

Launch Disk Utility, select a drive in the sidebar, click First Aid in the top menu, and follow the system prompts. The utility will search for problems and, if found, will try to fix them. However, sometimes the process can take several hours.

Checking the hard drive using third-party programs

The standard diagnostic tool is sufficient for most situations. However, it may miss some errors.

Hard drive manufacturers offer free programs to check their devices more thoroughly. An example is Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Western Digital drives and Samsung Magician for SSD drives from a Korean corporation. Such utilities are easy to use and often contain detailed instructions in Russian. You can find the program for your hard drive on the manufacturer’s website.

Among Windows users with a certain amount of technical knowledge, the Victoria utility is very popular, compatible with drives of different brands. It performs a deep analysis of the drive and restores it. There is no guarantee that Victoria will work with all modern devices, but it should work with most drives. The program is complex and in the hands of an inexperienced user can damage the device. So it is hardly worth recommending it to beginners.

Whether a particular program supports SSD drives or only HDD, you can find out from its official description. This also applies to support for external drives.

If the diagnostic tool of your choice finds errors that it cannot fix, then there is a risk of losing personal data. In this case, it is advisable to copy important files to another medium and try to restore Windows or macOS.