
In the Properties window, switch to the Tools tab. Under the Error checking section, click Check. Open Windows File Explorer (Windows + E keys) > right-click on the drive you want to check and repair > select Properties. How to Run ScanDisk in Windows 10/8/7Īs aforementioned, in newer Windows platforms, what you use to scan and check hard drive issues and file system errors is not ScanDisk anymore but its alternative - CHKDSK. There are two ways for Windows users to access the CHKDSK utility, including Windows Properties and Windows Command Prompt. Using CHKDSK to check, scan and repair hard drive errors is becoming much easier due to the intuitive user interface in the program. It repairs issues if there were found any. It starts scanning the file system on the disk drive and analyzing the integrity of the files, file system, and file metadata on the drive. Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows 98 run ScanDisk automatically if the computer is shut down improperly.īeing the successor of ScanDisk in newer Windows operating systems after Windows XP, CHKDSK is developed to monitor your disk drive's health. You must boot the computer to Safe Mode to run ScanDisk. ScanDisk can automatically repair cross-linked files and lost clusters. ScanDisk can recognize compressed volumes and long filenames. ScanDisk checks exclusively the FAT-formatted hard disks, like FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32. In later Windows OS - Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, ScanDisk is replaced by CHKDSK. Most often you can use various third-party utilities to check disk integrity for Windows NT.

*Windows NT is another senior operating system but it's not shipped with ScanDisk. That is to say, according to different Windows operating systems, you got different ways to evoke the tool to perform its duty. Despite that ScanDisk can improve the performance of your hard drive and help maintain the Windows file system, it is too old to retain in the later Windows operating systems, which has been fully replaced by the upgraded utility called CHKDSK (pronounced Check Disk).


It was first introduced in MS-DOS 6.2, so ScanDisk has had a long history now. Follow the quick navigation to check disk in:Īlso known as Scan Disk, ScanDisk is a DOS-based Windows utility for automatically detecting and correcting hard drive issues and file system errors.
