If the operating system has not correctly completed to work with files, this can lead to file system errors, and sometimes to file system corruption. To fix hard disk and file system errors in Windows you can use the built-in command-line utility Chkdsk. In emergency cases, the Chkdsk utility starts itself before starting Windows, it scans the disk volumes and automatically corrects the errors that were found.
In this manual, we will show a few ways to test your HDD and file systems for errors and corrupt sectors and fix them on Windows 10 machine.
Checking the Hard Drive from File Explorer
The easiest way to start a local disk check in Windows is to use File Explorer. Run it, go to This PC, right-click on the desired hard drive, select Properties, go to the Tools tab and click Check button.
In Windows 10, most likely, you will face a message stating that you don’t need to scan this drive now. However, you can force drive scanning with the help of button Scan drive.
Hard Drive Error Check using Chkdsk
Normally running the Chkdsk command without parameters in Windows 10 will display the current disk status and won’t fix any errors on the partition.
In order to fix the errors on the disk, you need to specify the drive letter and parameters. Typically, to check the E:\ drive, you should use the following command:
chkdsk e: /f /r /x
- /f – indicates that the Chkdsk utility should fix all errors found;
- /r – it is necessary to find bad sectors on the disk and restore the information;
- /x – used to unmount drive before starting the scan process.
Please note that Chkdsk should be able to lock the disk. If the disk is external or is not a boot drive device, the Chkdsk process will start immediately after the command ran. But if drive is bootable or currently running programs are using the disk, the system will ask you to run the volume check on the next system boot.
Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)
Press Y and restart the computer, and the check disk will run before showing Windows welcome screen.
After the computer is restarted, the message Scanning and repairing drive (c :): xx% complete will appear and the status of Chkdsk will be displayed.
For NTFS volume you can force to run offline drive repair using the command (this bypass all online repair scans):
chkdsk C: /f /offlinescanandfix
The execution of the CHKDSK command may take some time, especially if you are checking a large disk. After the process complete, it will provide a summary result. Including the full disk volume info, and, most importantly, all the errors that were found and fixed.
To view chkdsk result in Windows 10 you should use Event Viewer. Run Computer Management snap-in -> System tools -> Event Viewer or run eventvwr.msc. Expand the section Windows Logs. Right click on the Application node and select Filter current log.
Select the event source – Chkdsk and press OK. A list of disk check events appears. In the event general tab you can find detailed information about the disk check statistics. For example:
Also you can run disk check using PowerShell cmdlet Repair-Volume. To check volume in online mode run:
Repair-Volume -DriveLetter e
If your volume is Ok, NoErrorsFound should returned.
To check and repair file system in offline mode, run:
Repair-Volume -DriveLetter C -OfflineScanAndFix
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