How
to Run a chkdsk to Repair Your Damaged Hard Drive
Over time, your Windows
XP/2000 PC will develop errors on the hard drive. These errors can be the result
of hardware failure, improper shut downs, or power outages. Many times these hard
disk problems can be repaired using the chkdsk command. This help article will
explain how to use the chkdsk command and how to tell if your hard drive is about
to fail despite your repair efforts.
Note: This test and repair process is by necessity very intensive and will make your
hard drive work extremely hard as it scans every sector on your disk. If your
drive is making any unusual sounds (especially a distinct clicking noise) this
test may actually cause your drive to mechanically fail. If you have the ability
to back up your important data, do so before running this test.
Required
Items:
To complete this procedure you will need the following:
- A
Windows XP/2000 boot CD or a series of boot disks (Get
boot disks here if you need them)
- A Computer with an IDE hard drive
(special disks are needed if you have a SATA drive)
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Repair
Procedure:
- Boot your computer from your Windows XP Cd or from your
6-disk XP/2000 Boot Disk Set. To do this, insert your CD or Floppy #1 and turn
your computer on. When the menu comes up, select boot from CD or boot from floppy
(do not select boot from hard drive).
- Your computer will begin
to boot. Eventually, you will see a screen asking you what you would like to do.
Press the ltter R on your keyboard to proceed to the Windows Recovery Console.
- As
you progress to the Recovery Console you may be asked which partition you would
like to boot into. Type the number associated with the partition containing your
NTFS partition (usually 1 or 2) and then press enter to continue. You may be asked
for your administrator password. If you have one, type it in and press enter.
If you do not have a password to boot your computer into Windows, simply press
enter.
- Now youshould be at a command prompt. from here, typr the
following command without the quotes and press enter: "chkdsk /p"
- This
is a short test that will tell you whether or not a longer test is needed. If
after the test completes, the message "One or more errors detected on the
volume" appears, then proceed to step 6. If no errors are reported, then
your drive can not be repaired using chkdsk.
- Now you should be
back at the command prompt. Type the following command without the quotes and
press enter: "chkdsk /r"
- This test will take a while
depending on the size of your drive. It will look for the errors on your drive
and repair them. When it completes, you will be back at a command prompt.
- Now
type "chkdsk /p" again and press enter. If no errors are reported, your
drive has been successfully repaired and is safe to use again temporarily. If
errors are still reported, then your drive is on its last leg. You may be able
to boot it now though.
- Remove the floppy disk or CD from your
system and restart the PC. Take a moment now to back up your important data.
Additional
Syntax for Experienced Users
- /F Automatically Fix file system errors
on the disk.
- /X Fix file system errors on the disk, (Win2003 and above)
dismounts the volume first, closing all open file handles.
- /R Scan for
and attempt Recovery of bad sectors.
- /V Display the full path and name
of every file on the disk.
- /L:size NTFS only: change the log file size
to the specified number of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays the current
log size and the drive type
(FAT or NTFS).
- /C Skip directory corruption
checks.
- /I Skip corruption checks that compare directory entries to the
file record segment (FRS) in the volume's master file table (MFT)
