How to Run the Check Disk Utility

The Check Disk utility checks your hard drive for bad sectors.

The Check Disk utility provides Windows users with the ability to check the hard drive for bad data sectors. Bad sectors on a hard drive corrupt saved data, so you lose that ability to retrieve files or folders. The Windows Check Disk utility marks these bad sectors, so the operating system does not write data to this part of the disk. In some cases, the Check Disk utility fixes these bad sectors and recovers the hard drive.

Instructions

1. Click "Start" and enter "cmd" into the Search box. Press "Enter" to open the Windows command line utility.

2. Type "chkdsk.exe /?" at the prompt and press "Enter." A printout displays with the correct syntax and options you use to run the Check Disk utility. This is useful if you forget how to execute the Check Disk utility.

3. Type "chkdsk C: /f" at the prompt and press "Enter." This is the basic command to run the Check Disk utility. Replace "C" with your hard drive letter. The "/f" switch fixes any bad sectors. It may take several minutes for the Check Disk utility to run. When it completes, it displays results in your Windows command line.

References

• Computer Hope: ChkDsk Syntax

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish