How to check errors on your hard disk

A computer is a device that needs greater care. Every user must make sure that his computer is always kept up and running the way he wants it to. If not checked properly, disk errors may contribute to your computer’s performance. It is your responsibility to check for errors on your hard disk in order to improve your system’s performance. Perhaps you are asking where these errors come from? Most of these errors come as a result of program crashes. When this happens, your computer may mark that part or sector of hard disk drive as containing errors.

It is therefore, important to constantly check for errors. If you can’t do it yourself, why not seek the help of Windows to do the rest of the check automatically?

Here is how you manually check errors on your hard disk drive:

• Click Start
• Click Computer
• Right click the drive you want to check for errors
• Select Properties
• Click Tools Tab
• On Error checking, click Check Now. You may be prompted for an administrator’s password. Enter the right password.

Windows can automatically fix errors during scanning by selecting “Automatically Fix File System Errors”. If this option is not selected, the disk check will simply report errors found but not fix them. A thorough disk check can be done by selecting “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors to repair physical errors on your disk. The disadvantage of this process is that it takes much longer to complete but it’s worth waiting for. Time taken to scan for errors also depends on the size of the hard disk drive.

Alternatively, you may choose to set Windows to check errors automatically and here is how:

• Click Start
• Open Control panel and go to Scheduled Tasks to open Wizard
• Click Next
• If Chkdsk.exe does not appear on the list, you will need to select it manually
• Click Browse and go to Windows\system32\chkdsk.exe
• Click Open and choose how frequently you want chkdsk.exe to run scans
• Click Next and then Finish.

You have now set Windows to automatically check your disk for errors. Thanks. Windows has made it easier for users to correct errors.