Chkdsk- Is it safe?

[Carolyn]

On my old Windows 98 system, I never thought twice about running a scan
disc. In fact, I always ran it before doing a defrag on my system.
This XP check disc thing is starting to worry me. It seems to me that there
have been a few postings about it going wild and causing problems. This
program cannot be run right away has to be run at the next reboot which for
some reason worries me (I do tend to worry easily). If it runs at the next
reboot, will that be the end of it or will it try to run on every reboot?
Or will it run and screw up my computer even worse? Why do some people have
problems with it?
What do you recommend as a guideline for using this program?
Carolyn

 

[Lesley]

Chkdsk is quite safe to Run - go to My Computer - C Drive
Properties -Tools - Error Checking - Run it from there -
it will say the Drive is in use - so just say Yes and
then re-boot - it wiil do its thing and then carry on
into windows - it will not Run again - I run it a couple
of times a month with no problems as do hundreds of others

Lesley

 

[Edward]

Running "Error Check" should not be a problem, Carolyn.

You probably know this, but anyway - First disable Screensaver, and close
any open programmes. Left click My Computer, right click the drive you want
to check, select Properties/Tools and click "Check now". Be prepared to wait
awhile. Depending on the size and useage of the drive, it can take a while
to complete.

Whe you haved finished you can run Defrag, just to make a good job of it!

Good luck,

Ed

 

[Carolyn]

Chkdsk is quite safe to Run - go to My Computer - C Drive
Properties -Tools - Error Checking - Run it from there -
it will say the Drive is in use - so just say Yes and
then re-boot - it wiil do its thing and then carry on
into windows - it will not Run again - I run it a couple
of times a month with no problems as do hundreds of others

Why do some people have such severe problems with it then? It seems like
when it is good it is very good but when it is bad, it screws up your
computer.
Is there some guideline as to how often it should actually be run on Windows
XP?
Thanks in advance,
Carolyn

 

[Guest]

I don't know about check disk messing up a drive and I
don't use it too often but I can tell you that if you have
NTFS as your file system (or maybe it is just a XP thing)
check disk can't get enough access to the system disk
until it is dismounted. This is why it asks to run this
on next reboot.

 

[Mr Nobody]

Carolyn

What are the problems with check disk in XP?? The only problems I seem to
recall is people can't find it and that they don't know where to find the
results of a scan after a reboot.

Mr. Nobody

 

[Carolyn]

Running "Error Check" should not be a problem, Carolyn.

You probably know this, but anyway - First disable Screensaver, and close
any open programmes. Left click My Computer, right click the drive you want
to check, select Properties/Tools and click "Check now". Be prepared to wait
awhile. Depending on the size and useage of the drive, it can take a while
to complete.

Whe you haved finished you can run Defrag, just to make a good job of it!

Good luck,

Ed

Yes, I always close out any running programs and the screensaver before
doing the defrag. In my paranoia, I also unplug the modem so that I am
disconnected from the internet while my firewall and anti virus aren't
working.
Carolyn

 

[Edward]

Disconecting the modem should not be necessary when off-line, but better too
much than not enough, Carolyn.

As for "how often"? Depends on the amount of use your PC gets. Should never
be less than a month, regardless. I run both every Friday. Usually, the
longer you leave it, the longer it will take to complete. These days, with
hard-drives of 100GB+, it will soon take all day!!

Best wishes,

Ed

 

[Steve Nielsen]

Yeah, I want to be able to see a chkdsk logfile. Where is it?

Steve

 

[Mr Nobody]

Steve
Here is how I do it (view the scan results). WinXPP

Start>Programs>Administrative Tools>Event Viewer>Application>Winlogon

HTH
Mr Nobody

 

[JasonA]

If your computer always shutdown fine you shouldn't need to run it. But if
you have to hard power off / anything else weird then short of virus scan it
is the best thing to do - especially after crash.

 

[JasonA]

but with the speed of them the average doesn't change too much.

 

[JasonA]

same with my FAT32 - if XP is using it for system files then XP won't lock
it for /f or /r options.

 

[JasonA]

only the fact that winlogon was ran - not what chkdsk found

 

[JasonA]

Double click WinLogOn....

 

[Bruiser]

If you double-click the event, you will get the details.

 

[Carolyn]

If your computer always shutdown fine you shouldn't need to run it. But if
you have to hard power off / anything else weird then short of virus scan it
is the best thing to do - especially after crash.

I did have one freeze up about three weeks ago and that is what got me
thinking about running it.
I finally got up enough nerve to do it last night and everything went great.
It ran fine while the computer was still up and no errors were reported.
I wonder why I did not get the screen, that others have reported, that says
it will run at the next reboot?
Carolyn

 

[JasonA]

Did you run it on the system partition (the one XP is installed on)? Did
you run using either the /r or /f switches. Without either of these switches
chkdsk does not fix anything therefore does not need to lock the partition
exclusively.