Error-Checking of Logical Drives in Windows 7 (and Vista)

Remember the famous Norton Disk Doctor during the good DOS days? Bad sectors occurred frequently that you need these tools for error-checking: scan for file system structure and recovery of bad sectors.

CHKDSK is a command line disk utility that verifies the integrity of your file system structure and the hard disk drive.

c:\windows\system32>chkdsk /?

Checks a disk and displays a status report. CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/I] [/C] [/L[:size]] [/B]   volume      Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),                   mount point, or volume name.   filename     FAT/FAT32 only: Specifies the files to check for fragmentation .   /F             Fixes errors on the disk.   /V             On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every file                   on the disk.                   On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any.   /R              Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information                   (implies /F).   /L:size       NTFS only:  Changes the log file size to the specified number                   of kilobytes.  If size is not specified, displays current                   size.   /X              Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.                 All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid                 (implies /F).   /I           Performs a less vigorous check of NTFS index entries.   /C       Skips checking of cycles within the NTFS folder structure    /B       NTFS only: Re-evaluates bad clusters on the volume              (implies /R) Adding /I or /C switch reduces the amount of time required to run Chkdsk by skipping certain checks of the volume.

By default, it scans and checks the file system for logical errors but it will not fix any of the problems it finds.

You can use this command line parameters to check and repair disk errors: chkdsk /r /f c:

To save time: chkdsk /r /f /i /c c: 

If the disk is being used by another process, the tool will execute after the system reboots.

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process.  Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N) y

To access the graphical version of the tool: In Windows Explorer, select and right-click on the drive > select Properties > tools tab and click Check Now.

 

Same with command line version tool, if you are checking your boot disk and it is being used by another process, check disk will execute after the system reboots.

Read more:

System File Checker Tool: Scans, Checks and Restore Corruptions in Windows System Files

Hope this helps!