We can see the following picture during OS boot after a bad shutdown, power interruption, etc.

That picture means that special program was launched. It’s called chkdsk and it can display the file system integrity status of hard disks, fix logical file system errors or check the disk surface for physical errors and bad sectors.

But it happens that errors are present on the disks, but chkdsk doesn’t launch automatically. In such case you can run it manually using one of the next methods.

First method - using Graphical Interface.

1. Open Start menu and click on the Computer option.

2. Right-click on the disk that you want to check and choose Properties.

3. Navigate to Tools tab and press Check now button.

4. Press Start button in the next window.

NOTE 1: If you want to scan your disk for bad sectors then check second option Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.

NOTE 2: If you are attempting to check disk that in use (for example, your system disk) you receive next warning message:

Press Scheduled disk check and close all windows. Your disk will be checked at next computer boot.

Second method – using Command Prompt.

1. Open Start menu, choose All Programs, Accessories and click Run (or just press Windows + R keys on your keyboard simultaneously).

2. Type cmd in the opened string.

3. In the Command Prompt type:

chkdsk volume: /f

– volume: – disk letter (in my case it is c drive);

– /f – parameter that fixes errors on the disk.

NOTE: The disk must be locked. If chkdsk cannot lock the drive, a message appears that asks you if you want to check the drive the next time you restart the computer:

Press Y key on your keyboard. chkdsk command will check your disk for errors and fix them at next computer boot.

You will see window below:

chkdsk command has got other parameters, you can see them by typing

chkdsk /? in the Command Prompt.