Devices Check Drive for Errors with CHKDSK (Check Disk) in Windows 11


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This tutorial will show you how to run CHKDSK to check a drive for file system errors in Windows 11.

Checking your drives for errors every once in a while can help fix some performance issues. Drive errors can usually be caused by bad sectors, improper shutdowns, bad software, corruption, physical damage, etc...

CHKDSK (Check Disk) checks the file system and file system metadata of a volume (drive) for logical and physical errors.

The chkdsk command is used to check the integrity of the file system on the hard drive and make necessary fixes. The command can also fix bad sectors on your hard drive.

Bad sectors are divided into "Soft bad sectors" and "Hard bad sectors". "Soft bad sectors" are logical bad sectors, and chkdsk can easily fix them. "Hard bad sectors" are due to physical damage to the disk. CHKDSK cannot repair "Hard bad sectors", but it can mark the sectors to stop any data writing to them and prevent issues.


You must be signed in as an administrator to run CHKDSK on a drive.



Contents



EXAMPLE: Disk checking running at boot for offline scan

disk_checking_at_boot-1.png
disk_checking_at_boot-2.png





Option One

Check Drive for Errors in File Explorer


1 Open This PC in File Explorer (Win+E).

2 Right click on the drive you want to check, and click/tap on Properties. (see screenshot below)

Check_disk_File_Explorer-1.png

3 Click/tap on the Tools tab, and click/tap on Check under Error checking. (see screenshot below)

Check_disk_File_Explorer-2.png

4 Perform an available option below depending if errors were found on the drive: (see screenshots below)
  • If this is a removable drive with "You don't need to scan the drive", you can click/tap on Scan and repair drive to still scan the drive for errors if wanted.
  • If this is an internal drive with "You don't need to scan the drive", you can click/tap on Scan drive to still scan the drive for errors if wanted.
  • If errors were found on the drive, you can click/tap on Repair drive.
Check_disk_File_Explorer-3.png
]​
Check_disk_File_Explorer-4.png
]​
Repair_this_drive.png
]​

5 The drive will now be scanned for errors. (see screenshots below)

Depending on the size of the drive and any issues, this could take a while to finish.


Check_disk_File_Explorer-5.png
Check_disk_File_Explorer-6.png

6 When the scan has finished, you can click tap on the Show Details link to see the chkdsk log in Event Viewer. Click/tap on Close when finished. (see screenshot below)

If errors were found, you may be prompted to fix them or schedule to scan and fix the drive at boot on the next restart.


Check_disk_File_Explorer-7.png




Option Two

Check Drive for Errors with CHKDSK command



1 Open Windows Terminal (Admin), and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.

2 Type the command you want to use below into Windows Terminal (Admin), and press Enter. (see screenshots below)

(Scan and fix drive)​
chkdsk <drive letter>: /f

OR​

(Offline scan and fix drive at boot)​
chkdsk <drive letter>: /f /offlinescanandfix

Substitute <drive letter> in the command above with the actual drive letter (ex: "C") of the drive you want to scan for errors.

For example:
chkdsk C: /f

chkdsk C: /f /offlinescanandfix


3 If the volume (drive) is in use, you will get a message to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts, type Y, press Enter, and restart the computer to scan the drive.

chkdsk_offlinescanandfix.png


The following table lists the exit codes that chkdsk reports after it has finished.

Exit codeDescription
0No errors were found.
1Errors were found and fixed.
2Performed disk cleanup (such as garbage collection) or did not perform cleanup because /f was not specified.
3Could not check the disk, errors could not be fixed, or errors were not fixed because /f was not specified.

chkdsk_F.png



That's it,
Shawn Brink


 

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Last edited:
@Brink

I'm confused about two things here.

1. Why don't folks use chkdsk /r (/r implies /f)
2. Why the... /offlinescanandfix ? Plain old chkdsk /f or /r (on the Windows drive), will generate the response... "Do you want to run this at next reboot"



Image1.png
 
Last edited:

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    WD 36GB 10,000rpm Raptor SATA
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    Lite-On LTR-52246S CD/RW
    Lite-On LH-18A1P CD/DVD Burner
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    Logitech Classic Keybooard 200
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    Still assembled, still runs. Haven't turned it on for 13 years?
Hello @Ghot, :)

Q1) It depends on if you wanted to try and recover data in any bad sectors or not with the /r parameter. It often takes longer, and data in bad sectors are often unrecoverable anyways.

Q2) The /oflinescanandfix parameter is just an option for those that want to make sure to directly scan and fix a drive at boot.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

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    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
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    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
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    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
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    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
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    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
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    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
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    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
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    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
Hello @Ghot, :)

Q1) It depends on if you wanted to try and recover data in any bad sectors or not with the /r parameter. It often takes longer, and the bad sectors are often unrecoverable anyways.

Q2) The /oflinescanandfix parameter is just an option for those that want to make sure to directly scan and fix a drive at boot.



Yep. The /r switch definitely takes longer. :-)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win 11 Home ♦♦♦22631.3374 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® [May 2020]
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
    Motherboard
    Asus Pro WS X570-ACE (BIOS 4702)
    Memory
    G.Skill (F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW)
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA RTX 2070 (08G-P4-2171-KR)
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC1220P / ALC S1220A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell U3011 30"
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1600
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB,
    WD 4TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    WD 8TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    DRW-24B1ST CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Cooler Master ATCS 840 Tower
    Cooling
    CM Hyper 212 EVO (push/pull)
    Keyboard
    Ducky DK9008 Shine II Blue LED
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-100
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox (latest)
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender Internet Security
    Other Info
    Speakers: Klipsch Pro Media 2.1
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    Windows XP Pro 32bit w/SP3
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    Built by Ghot® (not in use)
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (OC'd @ 3.2Ghz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition
    Memory
    TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX (2 x 1GB, DDR2 800)
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA 256-P2-N758-TR GeForce 8600GT SSC
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" Professional (CRT)
    Screen Resolution
    up to 2048 x 1536
    Hard Drives
    WD 36GB 10,000rpm Raptor SATA
    Seagate 80GB 7200rpm SATA
    Lite-On LTR-52246S CD/RW
    Lite-On LH-18A1P CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Generic Beige case, 80mm fans
    Cooling
    ZALMAN 9500A 92mm CPU Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-BT96a
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keybooard 200
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox 3.x ??
    Antivirus
    Symantec (Norton)
    Other Info
    Still assembled, still runs. Haven't turned it on for 13 years?
Is it safe to run CHKDSK on an Internal SSD ? Some not needed, some say not safe and some say you can.
Always felt was for HDD.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
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    jds63 /self built
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 10700KF 3.8 MHz
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    ASUS ROG Strix Z490-E Gaming
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    G.Skill Trident RGB Series 64GB DDR4-3600MHz
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    ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 Ti OC Edition
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    Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus
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    ASUS VG28UQL1A 28" 144 Mhz 4K Monitor
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    Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe 500GB M.2 Drive, (2) Samsung 870 EVO 1TB SATA III Internal SSD, (2) Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SATA III Internal SSD & Seagate Barracuda 2TB
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    ASUS ROG Thor 850 80+ Platinum 850W Fully Modular RGB Power Supply
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    Noctua NH-U12A CPU Cooler, (5) Noctua NF-A12x15 chromax.black.swap 120mm, (3) Lepa BOL.Quiet PWM LED 120mm
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    Logitech MX Ergo Trackball
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    325Mbps/ 20Mbps
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    Mozilla Firefox 64-bit, Microsoft Edge
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    Kaspersky Plus 2023
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    Pioneer Blu-Ray/DVD Burner 209DBK, Logitech Z906 5.1 Speakers and Epson XP7100 All-in-One Printer
Is it safe to run CHKDSK on an Internal SSD ? Some not needed, some say not safe and some say you can.
Always felt was for HDD.

Hello, :alien:

Yes, it's safe to do so, but usually not needed for a SSD.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
Running CHKDSK will not harm an SSD in the same way that running DEFRAG might. The two utilities perform differently on an SSD. Trying to defrag an SSD is unnecessary because SSDs are currently much smarter than their HDD counterparts. They have onboard wear-leveling and error correction built right into the controller and the NAND. That being said, running CHKDSK is typically not a necessary operation for SSDs.

  • DEFRAG is write-intensive. It can cause the premature wearing out or degradation of the NAND (flash memory) on SSDs as data is moved and re-written elsewhere in the NAND.(type of flash memory)
  • CHKDSK is read-intensive. It reads or scans the disks for errors and depending on your settings, can correct it using a very small write operation that does not negatively affect the NAND in the same way that 'defrag' might.
 

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  • OS
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    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF Gaming FX705GM
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    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. FX705GM 1.0
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    Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
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    2 SSD SATA/NVM Express 1.3
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    VM of XeroLinux- Arch based & Debian 12
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    ASUS X751BP
    CPU
    AMD Dual Core A6-9220
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    8 GB
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    AMD Radeon R5 M420
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3
    Screen Resolution
    1600X900 16:9
    Hard Drives
    1TB 5400RPM
That being said, running CHKDSK is typically not a necessary operation for SSDs.
Thanks read this elsewhere before i posted here, but above statement what had me reconsider.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    jds63 /self built
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 10700KF 3.8 MHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Strix Z490-E Gaming
    Memory
    G.Skill Trident RGB Series 64GB DDR4-3600MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 Ti OC Edition
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VG28UQL1A 28" 144 Mhz 4K Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160p HDR
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe 500GB M.2 Drive, (2) Samsung 870 EVO 1TB SATA III Internal SSD, (2) Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SATA III Internal SSD & Seagate Barracuda 2TB
    PSU
    ASUS ROG Thor 850 80+ Platinum 850W Fully Modular RGB Power Supply
    Case
    Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Performance
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12A CPU Cooler, (5) Noctua NF-A12x15 chromax.black.swap 120mm, (3) Lepa BOL.Quiet PWM LED 120mm
    Keyboard
    Logitech MX Keys
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Ergo Trackball
    Internet Speed
    325Mbps/ 20Mbps
    Browser
    Mozilla Firefox 64-bit, Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky Plus 2023
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-Ray/DVD Burner 209DBK, Logitech Z906 5.1 Speakers and Epson XP7100 All-in-One Printer

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    jds63 /self built
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 10700KF 3.8 MHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Strix Z490-E Gaming
    Memory
    G.Skill Trident RGB Series 64GB DDR4-3600MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 Ti OC Edition
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VG28UQL1A 28" 144 Mhz 4K Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160p HDR
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe 500GB M.2 Drive, (2) Samsung 870 EVO 1TB SATA III Internal SSD, (2) Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SATA III Internal SSD & Seagate Barracuda 2TB
    PSU
    ASUS ROG Thor 850 80+ Platinum 850W Fully Modular RGB Power Supply
    Case
    Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Performance
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12A CPU Cooler, (5) Noctua NF-A12x15 chromax.black.swap 120mm, (3) Lepa BOL.Quiet PWM LED 120mm
    Keyboard
    Logitech MX Keys
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Ergo Trackball
    Internet Speed
    325Mbps/ 20Mbps
    Browser
    Mozilla Firefox 64-bit, Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky Plus 2023
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-Ray/DVD Burner 209DBK, Logitech Z906 5.1 Speakers and Epson XP7100 All-in-One Printer

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