Free Tip: Hard drive Error Check

Hard drive maintenance: Windows XP

A friend of mine called the other day to ask how to check his hard drive for errors, to ensure the drive isn't searching for its final reward. Here's my reply back to him with instructions on how to run Windows XP's built in boot-time drive check program "Autochk". This is the old, more thorough method of scanning your hard drive for errors in the Windows operating system.

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Open My Computer

Right click on the hard drive in question (usually labeled "C")

Click on Properties

Switch to the "Tools" tab

Click the "Check Now" button in the Error Checking section

Select (check) both option boxes in the pop up (Automatically fix… and Scan for...)

Click "Start"

You will get a dialog alert that asks you if you want to schedule the check for the next time you reboot your computer. Answer yes.

Restart your computer.

This may take a while, so don't plan on getting back to work on your computer for 30-60 minutes (although it may take only 15 min on faster computers).

When the computer restarts, it will wait for about 15 seconds to allow you to interrupt the "autochk" (Windows name for this boot time scan for errors), but don't interrupt it… just let it run.

There are 5 stages; the first three go pretty quickly; the last two take the most time.

If Autochk finds no errors, or finds and fixes all the errors it finds, then you should be in good shape. If it does find errors, run this again in a day or two. See if Autochk finds and fixes more errors. If it finds more errors on subsequent times you run it, this is an early warning that your hard drive is going to fail soon. If it doesn't find any errors, then plan on running it again every few weeks, to keep an eye on your hard drive's health.

For a more indepth discussion (other versions of Windows) see the Tech Tips article on RichardsonTech website: http://www.richardsontech.net/TTScanDisk.htm

Jon Richardson, MCSE
www.RichardsonTech.net
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Greetings from the Enchanted State,

My name is Jon Richardson, founder of Richardson Technology, providing technology integration consulting for schools and businesses in and around Albuquerque, New Mexico. I decided to start this blog in an effort to share my views and observations about technology issues that we face.

Jon Richardson, MCSE
www.RichardsonTech.net