TO: All Destination Points This week's tip on running Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter is the second in a three-part series
of tips on maintaining optimum database and PC performance. Following the processes outlined in these messages could help improve your processing speed. Last week's tip covered the Repair and Compact utilities; the third and final tip next week will address clearing your temporary file directory. EDExpress and Pell Payment for Windows users should run the Scandisk utility weekly on all standalone or network workstation PCs. Scandisk is a Windows 95 and DOS utility that checks for and
resolves problems on your hard drive and in the FAT (File Allocation Table), which keeps track of the location and size of your PC's files. Please note Scandisk should only be performed on the hard drives of PCs with the Windows 3.X or Windows 95 operating system. Windows NT users should NOT run the Scandisk utility. You should ensure you have a reliable system back-up before running Scandisk or any other utility. Also, consult your technical staff to determine if Scandisk or any
other utilities are already being performed on your PC(s). Windows 3.X users: To run Scandisk, first exit all running applications and close Windows, so you are at a DOS prompt. At the C:\prompt, type scandisk, and hit enter. This will initiate and run the Scandisk utility. If Scandisk finds an error, select "fix it" or "repair" (choice will vary depending on the Windows 3.X version you are running). After locating this first error, Scandisk will also ask if you would like to create an
"undo" diskette --- select "skip undo." Also, if Scandisk finds lost file fragments, choose to "delete or discard lost file fragments." NOTE: You may need to use your arrow keys to select options during the utility process if your mouse does not function in DOS mode. Windows 95 users: To run Scandisk, either go to your Start menu, and then to Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Scandisk, or go to Start/Run, type scandisk, and hit enter. On the Scandisk window that opens, select your hard
drive designation (usually C:mark "Standard" for "Type of test," click on the "Automatically fix errors" checkbox, and then click on the Scandisk "Start" button. Once finished, repeat this process for any additional hard drives you may have on your PC(s). The Scandisk utility for both Windows 3.X and Windows 95 users offers a "Thorough" option. A "thorough" Scandisk process performs an additional surface scan of your hard drive. This option can take several hours to run, and is not
necessary unless you are experiencing severe system-related problems. Disk Defragmenter speeds up disk access by rearranging the files and free space on your computer so your files are stored in adjoining units and free space is consolidated into one contiguous block. Run Disk Defragmenter after running Scandisk. Windows 95 users: To run Disk Defragmenter, go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools and click on Disk Defragmenter. You will need to designate the drive you want to
defragment and then click "OK." Windows 3.X users: To run Disk Defragmenter you must first exit all running applications and close Windows, so you are at a DOS prompt. At the C:\prompt, type Defrag. Note: While Windows defragments your disk, you can safely use your computer to carry out other tasks. However, your computer will operate more slowly. If you have any questions, please contact CPS Customer Service at 1-800-330-5947, or via e-mail at . CHKDSK is a Windows utility that can check the integrity of your hard disk and can fix various file system errors. CHKDSK (or chkdsk.exe) is short for “check disk”. Contents
It’s recommended to use this utility when your computer shows various boot errors. The check disk utility can be run if you need a fix for the following errors:
The check disk utility can repair problems such as:
ScreenshotsThe check disk tool can be run via Command Prompt or, if you can boot into Windows from My Computer > Properties > Tools depending on the Windows version you installed on your PC. The command line tool can be ran on a Windows XP computer from within the Windows XP Recovery Console: The utility from within Windows XP, from My Computer and not Command Prompt: This is how you start a scan with the disk utility if you can boot into Windows Vista: How to run CHKDSK in WindowsThis utility is available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 or 8.1. If you can boot into Windows, you can run the check disk utility on each hard drive or partition you have available in My Computer. If you can’t boot the operating system, you can run the tool from Command Prompt either by booting your computer into the Recovery Mode or by using the original installation disc to run Command Prompt. CHKDSK in Windows XPIf you can boot into Windows XP, you can run the utility either from the Command Prompt or from My Computer. From Command PromptIf you can’t boot into Windows XP to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows XP – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. To run the utility from the Command Prompt, follow these steps:
From My ComputerIf you can’t boot into Windows XP to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows XP – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. To run CHKDSK from within Windows XP, but without Command Prompt, follow these steps:
From the installation discIf you don’t have the installation disc to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows XP – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. If you can’t boot into Windows XP to run the utility use your original Microsoft Windows XP installation disc to open Recovery Console. To do so, follow these steps:
CHKDSK in Windows VistaTo run this utility on Windows Vista computer, you can choose any of the following methods:
disk From Command PromptIf you can’t boot into Windows Vista to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows Vista – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. If you can boot into your operating system, run Command Prompt:
If Command Prompt shows errors, try to run the command again until it shows no errors. From My ComputerIf you can’t boot into Windows Vista to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows Vista – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. You can also run the utility by going to Computer (My Computer):
Don’t use the computer until the disk check is done. It may take several minutes depending on the hard disk size. From the installation discIf you don’t have the installation disc to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows Vista – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. If you can’t boot into Windows Vista, use the original installation disc to open Command Prompt (the Recovery Console) and run the commands you need:
CHKDSK in Windows 7The steps to run this utility in Windows 7 are similar to those of Windows Vista. From Command PromptIf you can’t boot into Windows 7 to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 7 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. If you can boot into Windows 7, run the utility from Command Prompt directly:
From My ComputerIf you can’t boot into Windows 7 to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 7 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. The check disk utility can also be ran from My Computer to check for errors on your hard disk. To do so, follow these instructions:
If the volume you want to check is in use, e.g. Windows can't check the disk while it's in use Do you want to check for hard disk errors the next time you start your computer? Schedule disk check | Cancel If so, follow these steps:
If you receive the “Do you want to dismount this volume first?” message, follow the steps below. This message appears if the volume you want to checked is locked, even if it’s not in use (e.g. the C:/ drive): Windows can't check the disk while it's in use Do you want to dismount this volume first? Note: All opened handles to this volume will become invalid. Force a dismount | Cancel If so, follow these steps:
From the installation discIf you don’t have the installation disc to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 7 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. Follow these steps:
CHKDSK in Windows 8 or 8.1Windows 8 or 8.1 users can run this utility by choosing any of the following methods:
From Command PromptIf you can’t boot into Windows 8/8.1 to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 8/8.1 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. To run it from Command Prompt, here are the instructions:
From My ComputerIf you can’t boot into Windows 8/8.1 to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 8/8.1 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. To run the check disk utility from Computer (My Computer), follow these steps:
From the installation discIf you don’t have the installation disc to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 8/8.1 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. If you can’t boot into Windows 8/8.1 to run Command Prompt, you can use the original Windows 8/8.1 installation disc to run Command Prompt from there. To do so, follow these instructions:
CHKDSK in Windows 10Windows 10 users can run this utility by choosing any of the following methods:
From Command PromptIf you can’t boot into Windows 10 to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 10 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. To run it from Command Prompt, here are the instructions:
From My ComputerIf you can’t boot into Windows 10 to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 10 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. To run the check disk utility from Computer (My Computer), follow these steps:
From the installation discIf you don’t have the installation disc to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 10 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs. If you can’t boot into Windows 10 to run Command Prompt, you can use the original Windows 10 installation disc to run Command Prompt from there. To do so, follow these instructions:
Commands and parametersThe check disk utility has several parameters that you can use:
Depending if you run the utility from Command Prompt or Recovery Console, the following parameters are different:
The mandatory requirement of this utility is the volume you’re about to check must not be locked. If a volume you’re about to scan is locked, you’ll receive this message: Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N) If so, type Y and press Enter to perform a scan at the next boot of your system. Download chkdskchkdsk can’t be downloaded as it’s a command available with Windows. You can use the original installation disc to run the utility tool. You can download Easy Recovery Essentials and open Command Prompt to run specific chkdsk commands: You can burn Easy Recovery Essentials to CDs, DVDs or USBs and run Command Prompt.
TroubleshootingCannot continue in read-only modeIf you receive the “Errors found. CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode.” error message after
running a check disk command, make sure you run the command with the chkdsk /f If the disk check utility must be ran on another volume, update the command with the letter of the drive you want to run a scan for: chkdsk D: /f Cannot run because the volume is in the use by another processIf you receive this error message when running the tool: Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in the use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts. You need to type Y to make sure the utility runs at the next boot. If so, type Y, restart the computer and let the tool to perform the scan. Cannot lock current driveIf the check disk utility shows the “Cannot lock current drive.” error message, make sure the command you’re performing has the /r option: chkdsk /r If this doesn’t work, try disabling System Restore for the entire session you’re trying to run a scan and other protection software, such as: antivirus, firewall, spyware etc. Another alternative command is: chkdsk C: /f /r /x stop chkdsk on every bootIf the utility runs a scan at every boot without stopping, you can try a few solutions. Before you follow the instructions below, make sure you let the scan to be 100% completed and then restart your computer. If the check disk runs again, even if the previous scan was 100% complete, continue with the steps below. Fix #1: Check if there is a scheduled scan. To do so, follow these steps:
Fix #2: Another option to fix this issue is to open the Registry Editor:
chkdsk won’t finishIf the utility won’t finish a scan, make sure you run the command with the /r parameter, like this: chkdsk /r chkdsk won’t run at startupIf the check disk won’t run a scan at startup after being scheduled to do so, follow any of the following fixes. Fix #1: Check the BootExecute key in the Registry Editor:
Fix #2: Run sfc You can also run the
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Applicable SystemsThis Windows-related knowledgebase article applies to the following operating systems:
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