In Praise of Chkdsk

Sometimes, life can teach a salutary lesson. So, let me tell you a story.

I was testing some free disk imaging software (more on that later). The first attempt to run the software resulted in an error message from the software. Slightly grumpily, I put the error message details into Google. To my surprise, the message was telling me that there was some thing wrong with the hard disk.

After a moment's panic - well you would, wouldn't you! - I followed the advice offered, and ran Chkdsk.

Chkdsk is part of Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Basically, it scans the hard disk for errors, and tries to correct them. It has been the saviour of many a computer on my workbench.

I ran Chkdsk, and immediately it found some errors to correct. Affter the first run, I did it again, and this time it found nothing to correct.

The moral of the tale is: run Chkdsk regularly. I include it when I service customers' PCs, but had failed to do it on my trusty home machine.

The only problem with Chkdsk is that if Windows won't work, you can't get at it! But there are ways round that, and knowing how has also saved many a broken computer.

Where do I find and use Chkdsk, do I hear you cry? Well, it varies according to which version of Windows you're using. The best thing would be to Google "How to use Chkdsk in Windows x", replacing x with the version of Windows you've got (i.e., XP, Vista, 7). If that doesn't work, please get in touch and I'll try to advise you.

Good luck! It can take some time to do the scan, so be patient. But the knowledge of knowing that errors have been found and corrected is very reassuring, as I know only too well.