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| Running . . . ScanDisk |
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System Tools February 2001 • Vol.7 Issue 2 Page(s) 102 in print issue |
Running . . . ScanDisk | ||
 Every Windows user has experience with ScanDisk. ScanDisk is the program that runs automatically when you reboot your computer after a power failure, lock up, or other problem that keeps you from using the normal shutdown procedure. These abnormal shutdowns and other things can lead to a host of problems with your hard drive. ScanDisk looks for and corrects these problems by moving data in a bad area to a good area of the disk.  Run A Check. Most of the time, you will manually run ScanDisk. To access this program, click the Start menu, select Programs, click Accessories, select Systems Tools, and then select ScanDisk. In the ScanDisk dialog box, select the drive you want to check, probably your hard drive, by clicking it. Then, in the Type Of Test area, select the Standard or Thorough radio button. Standard mode checks for all errors except physical errors, which means it doesn't scan the disk's surface for errors. Not checking for physical errors dramatically speeds up ScanDisk. Physical errors are not common so it makes sense to run ScanDisk in Standard mode most of the time. If you want or need to check the disk, click the Thorough radio button. From there, click the Options button. In the Surface Scan Options dialog box, you can chose what areas of the disk you want to scan: System And Data Areas, System Area Only, or Data Area Only. You probably will want to select System And Data Areas so you can scan your files and folders, as well as the disk surface. With the Thorough option, ScanDisk reads the contents of the disk and then writes the contents back to verify you can read and write to the disk. You can disable part of this process, by clicking the Do Not Perform Write-Testing box at the bottom of the Surface Scan Options dialog box. If you click this box, then ScanDisk will check for read errors, but it won't check for write errors. The last checkbox on the Surface Scan Options dialog box is Do Not Repair Bad Sections In Hidden And System Files. If you click this box to check it, ScanDisk will not move hidden or system files to different areas. If you don't click this box, ScanDisk will move these files if it needs to. Then, if a program tries to access one of these files, it may not be able to find it and thus won't run properly. Once you finish making selections in the Surface Scan Options dialog box, click the OK button. Back in the ScanDisk dialog box, you will need to make one more decision before you can run the program (no matter if you selected the Thorough or Standard option). If you want ScanDisk to fix the errors it finds without any help from you, click the Automatically Fix Errors box. ScanDisk does a good job of repairing errors so you will usually want to run it in this mode. To begin the program, click the Start button. While ScanDisk is running, avoid using your computer for other activities. Each time the contents of your hard drive change, ScanDisk starts its scan over. This can dramatically increase the time it takes for ScanDisk to run. Additionally, after nine restarts, ScanDisk will ask you if you want it to continue. Usually, you don't need to worry about closing background programs and the programs in your System Tray (the box on the right side of your Taskbar) while ScanDisk is running because they usually do not write to the hard drive. Advanced Options. If you want to customize ScanDisk a little, you can click the Advanced button in the ScanDisk dialog box before you run it. The advanced options let you control what type of errors ScanDisk checks for, whether to create a log file of ScanDisk's results (the default file is Scandisk.log, which is in the root directory of your hard drive, C:\Scandisk.log), and how to correct the problems it encounters. Maintenance. We recommend running ScanDisk in Standard mode at least once a week and in Thorough mode once a month. In addition to your hard drive, it makes sense to run ScanDisk periodically on any diskettes or Zip disks that you regularly use. ( NOTE: ScanDisk cannot run on a CD or other read-only disc.) By running ScanDisk periodically, you will make sure your hard drive and other important disks stay in peak operating condition.  by Ronny Richardson
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