How to Repair an NTFS Hard Drive

Use Windows error-checking utility to find and repair problems on an NTFS hard drive.

Over the course of normal usage, hard drive errors such as unaccounted for garbage data and bad sectors accrue over time. This is a standard part of hard drive operation. Hard drive manufacturers often add extra sectors to their hard drives to be used in case of a failure, which allows the hard drive to maintain its advertised maximum capacity. Fixing hard drive errors requires the use of operating system tools to search for and remove the errors.

Instructions

1. Double-click the "My Computer" or "Computer" icon located on the Windows desktop. This is also accessible through the "Start" menu.

2. Right-click the disk where you wish to fix errors and select the "Properties" heading from the context menu that appears.

3. Click the "Tools" heading in the upper portion of the dialog box that appears.

4. Click the "Check Now" button beneath the "Error-checking" heading. This launches the "Check Disk" utility.

5. Select the "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" check-box. This locates any recoverable information or bad sectors and recovers or repairs them.

6. Click the "Start" button to begin the search and recovery process. This process takes several minutes to several hours depending on the overall size of the disk partition.

Tips & Warnings

• Back up all important data before running the "Disk Check" utility.

References

• Microsoft.com: How to Perform Disk Error Checking in Windows