How to Repair Errors on a Hard Drive GA S REGULAR Menu Lifewire Tech for Humans Newsletter! Search Close GO Software & Apps > Windows 143 143 people found this article helpful

How to Repair Errors on a Hard Drive

Keep your hard disk drive healthy with these troubleshooting tips

By Mark Baggesen Mark Baggesen Writer Southern Methodist University University of Massachusetts/Amherst The University of British Columbia Mark Baggesen is a former Lifewire writer who has 20+ years' experience and has in web development, communications, web analytics, and databases. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on October 28, 2021 Reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr Reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr Michael Heine is a CompTIA-certified writer, editor, and Network Engineer with 25+ years' experience working in the television, defense, ISP, telecommunications, and education industries. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Windows The Ultimate Laptop Buying Guide

What to Know

Select File Explorer in the Windows taskbar. Choose This PC in the left pane.Under Devices and drives, right-click your primary drive, typically labeled C:.Select Properties, go to the Tools tab, and select Check. Choose Scan drive. This article explains how to repair errors on a computer hard drive and includes information on the CHKDSK tool. The information in this article applies specifically to Windows 10. To repair your Mac's drive, use the Apple Disk Utility First Aid.

How to Use the Windows 10 Disk-Checking Utility

The first sign that a hard disk drive (HDD) is about to fail is when you encounter logical errors on the disk. When a drive incurs this kind of operational bug, the unreadable parts of the drive are reclassified as bad sectors. When a disk has a bad sector, it usually means that the drive can be repaired with software. Windows 10 comes with a disk-checking utility that simplifies the process for repairing drive errors. To get started: Select the the File Explorer app in the Windows taskbar or use the Win+E keyboard shortcut to open File Explorer. Select This PC from the left pane. Under Devices and drives, right-click your primary drive (it should be labeled C:). Select Properties in the drop-down list. Select the Tools tab, then select Check. Select Scan drive in the pop-up box.

How to Run CHKDSK in Windows 10

In the latest version of Windows, the legacy CHKDSK tool runs from the command prompt. Unlike older versions of CHKDSK, you don't have to reboot your PC to run the utility. Open Command Prompt as an administrator. To run the check disk utility on a PC with one drive, enter chkdsk. This command only checks your disk for errors; it won't fix any problems it finds. To fix problems, you must add command switches, which are optional parameters that tell a command-line utility to take an extra step. For CHKDSK, the switches are "/f" (fix) and "/r" (recover readable information). The full command, then, is: C:\chkdsk /f /r Note the spaces in the command, as these are critical with command line utilities.

How to Repair a Drive With the CKHDSK Command

The best way to keep your HDD in good condition is to use the CHKDSK command utility. This utility scans the hard drive, corrects logical sector errors, marks bad sectors that cannot be fixed, and moves data to safe, healthy places on the hard drive. It's a handy tool, but it doesn't operate automatically. Also, there are a few things you'll need to do if it gets stuck scanning while you're running it. The step-by-step process of how to run CHKDSK differs depending on the version of Windows. The utility is primarily meant for PCs with hard disk drives, so if you have a computer with a solid state drive (SSD), CHKDSK isn't necessary. SSDs come with a built-in system to deal with errors.
Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Scan a Hard Drive Using 'Error Checking' How to Check Free Hard Drive Space (Windows 11, 10, 8, +) How to Locate and Recover Data From Bad Sectors How to Format an SD Card to FAT32 How to Use the Format Command to Write Zeros to a Hard Drive 35 Best Free Data Destruction Tools (October 2022) What Is a Hard Disk Drive? 14 Best Free Hard Drive Testing Tools (October 2022) Best Commercial Hard Drive Repair Software EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition v17 Review How to Use the Chkdsk Command in Windows How to use a System Repair Disc to Format the C Drive How to Fix Missing Hal.dll Errors in Windows XP How to Open Disk Management From Command Prompt How to Fix a Kernel Data Inpage Error Master Boot Record Definition (MBR, Sector Zero) Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies