Software Tips & Tricks

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Windows XP chkdsk

Windows XP chkdsk is a tool available for you in Windows. Everyone should run it from time to time because it can prevent your computer from becoming unstable.

There are different reasons why the data on your hard disk can become corrupt. Windows keeps "meta-data" about each file and every directory on your hard drive in a Master File Table (MFT).

Meta-data is data about the data. Windows needs it to physically locate your files on the hard drive, to know about user access rights for each file and so on.

In some cases, the information in the MFT can become corrupt. This can be the case when your computer experiences a sudden power cut or a system hang. To make things even worse, your hard disk may show signs of wear over time and some sectors may become unreadable.

Windows XP chkdsk is the tool to handle these situations. It can fix logical errors on your hard disk and it can detect bad sectors and flag them so that Windows no longer uses them.

It's a valuable tool, but it has a disadvantage …

… checking and fixing an entire hard disk is a tough job, so chkdsk can take a considerable amount of TIME under certain conditions.

The time needed for chkdsk to run is very hard to predict because it depends on many factors :

• Overall speed of your pc
• Number of files and directories on the disk
• Size of the disk
• Amount of RAM
• ...

A gigantic disk with 2 extremely large files will take considerably less time to check than a small disk with 2 million tiny files, but so many other factors are to be considered … never easy to tell.

Windows XP chkdsk wants exclusive access to the computer

Schedule to run chkdsk at a time when you don't need your computer. In most cases chkdsk wants to restart your computer and during the time that it runs, you won't have access to your computer. You can always interrupt chkdsk during its work, but this is certainly not recommended.

How to use Windows XP chkdsk

• Click the start button
• Right-click "My Computer" and select "Explore"
• Right-click the disk you want to check and select "Properties"
• In the properties dialog click the tab "Tools"
• Click "check now"
• The "checking disk" dialog appears, check both options and click start
• You will probably see a message that chkdsk wants exclusive access to the disk and therefore wants to begin first thing after you restart your computer. Accept by clicking ok.
• Restart your computer

When your computer restarts you will see chkdsk advancing through several different stages of verification, examining your hard disk. If it detects no errors, Windows will continue to start to your normal desktop. If there are errors, chkdsk presents a report with what it has done and waits for your confirmation.

Windows XP chkdsk at work ...

Why not schedule chkdsk to run while you sleep ?

Note : To schedule a Windows XP chkdsk task with task scheduler you need a Windows administrator account with a non-blank password.

• In Explorer, navigate to c:\program files
• If you see a message that this is a folder with hidden files, just click the link to show the files
• Right-click an empty area in the right part of the Explorer window and select new -> text document
• Windows creates a file named New Text Document.txt
• Rename the file to "Restart and perform chkdsk.bat" (without the quotes)
• Windows warns about changing the filename extension : click yes
• Right-click your newly created file and select "edit"
• Windows opens the new blank file in your default text editor : type the following lines and make sure not to press the enter key after the last line

• Save the file and close your text editor
• Close all other programs except the Eplorer window where the newly created file is listed
• Double-click the new file and see what happens (don't touch anything from this point on until your computer is ready with chkdsk

Now that you know that your batch file is working it's time to automatically schedule it.

• Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks
• In the Scheduled Tasks window, double-click "Add Scheduled Task"
• Click next
• Click browse
• Navigate to the Restart and perform chkdsk.bat file that you created in the previous step and click "open"
• Choose the frequency for this task (monthly would be a good minimum)
• Enter the day and time to perform the task
• Enter the (administrator) username and non-blank password (must be non-blank or the task won't run). Be careful to enter the password correctly because Windows doesn't verify it here.
• Click next and then click finish

Your full-automatic Windows XP chkdsk task is now ready

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