Learn to Use your Computer

Those old enough to remember DOS days may remember a utility called chkdsk. (Of course, those old enough to remember DOS may be suffering from memory loss, so they may not remember chkdskchkdsk is short for check disk.) It's a command-line utility that checks the operating system and disk drive for any errors, and optionally fixes them. (A command-line utility is one that you run, oddly enough, from a command-line.)

The chkdsk utility is available in Windows XP. It doesn't offer anything different from Windows' disk tools, but some people like using a command-line utility. To use it, follow these steps:

Open a command prompt window by choosing Start, All Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt.

Enter the proper commands to switch to the drive you want to check. For instance, if you want to check drive E:, then type E: and press the Enter key. The drive you specify is made the current drive.

Type chkdsk and press Enter.

Using chkdsk without any parameters runs the program in read-only mode. This means that it doesn't fix anything; it only reports what it finds. If you want chkdsk to fix errors, use the chkdsk /f command instead.

The chkdsk program goes through three checks before reporting its findings:

Checks the file system to make sure that all the file links are valid.

Checks the system indexes for errors.

Checks (on NTFS drives) security descriptors to make sure that file security is intact.

You cannot run chkdsk in fix mode on a disk that's in use. (An in-use drive is one that has files open.) If you try, the program informs you that the disk is in use and gives you the opportunity to "dismount the volume." If you instruct chkdsk to do this, all the open files on the drive are closed and the drive is made inaccessible. This could result in data loss. You should choose to dismount only if you're really sure you won't lose critical data.

If the drive is in use and you choose not to dismount the volume, chkdsk offers to perform the check the