Wayne said:
Hello Everyone,
I am used to using Scan Disk with Win 98SE. As I understand, Normal Scan
Disk was less physically destructive than Thorough Scan Disk. Now I am using
Check Disk for the first time. Is Check Disk destructive enough so as not to
use it once a month during my disk maintenance duties, or is it about as
safe as Normal Scan Disk is ? Or is it somewhere in between ?
Any advice is Greatly Appreciated.
Thank You So Much,
I suspect that what you are alluding to is that in Windows 95/98/Me
the normal mode of Scandisk was to check only for the integrity of the
data structure whereas the thorough mode also did a sector by sector
test of the disk data surfaces as well. Because this involves more
disk activity and therefore more wear and tear to the drive mechanism
this could be considered as being more "destructive".
With Windows XP the CHKDSK command uses command line paramters to
specify the extent of the checking that is performed.
CHKDSK /F checks the integrity of the data structure of the hard drive
and is therefore comparable to the "normal" mode Scandisk in Windows
95/98/Me.
CHKDSK /R does both the data integrity check and also tests the disk
data surfaces. It is therefore comparable to the thorough mode
Scandisk.
Given the durability of modern hard drives I would not consider either
the thorough Scandisk or CHKDSK /R to be in any way destructive. The
concerns about the additional disk activity from these tests arose
during the very early years of computing when hard drives were both
very expensive and much more prone to premature failure than modern
drives.
Hope this explains the situation.
Good luck
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm