How to Repair Bad Sectors
Close all of your open programs and files., Open My Computer., Choose a hard drive to check for bad sectors., In the Properties window, click the Tools tab. , In the Error-checking section, click Check Now. , Choose the Check Disk options you'd like...
Step-by-Step Guide
-
Step 1: Close all of your open programs and files.
Windows XP can't scan or fix a bad sector if that sector is being used by an open program or file.Windows XP uses a system utility called Chkdsk to scan for and fix bad sectors. -
Step 2: Open My Computer.
Double-click My Computer to open it. , In the Explorer window, in the sidebar, right-click the hard drive you'd like to check for bad sectors, and then click Properties.
The C: drive is often the hard drive. ,,, In the Check Disk dialog box, you can have Check Disk fix file system errors it finds and recover bad sectors.
If you'd only like to scan for and fix bad hard drive sectors, make sure that Automatically fix file system errors is unchecked. , Windows will start checking your hard drive for bad sectors and will fix any that it finds.
If you have any open files or programs at this point, you'll get an error message asking if you'd like to schedule the disk check when you restart your computer.
If you click Yes, it will restart your computer and perform the disk check. , When it's done, Chkdsk will create a brief report.
Chkdsk code 0 means no errors were found and code 1 means that errors were found and fixed.
If the check disk process failed to fix the bad sectors, your hard drive may be failing and you may want to backup your drive to a new one. for help on backing up your hard drive. -
Step 3: Choose a hard drive to check for bad sectors.
-
Step 4: In the Properties window
-
Step 5: click the Tools tab.
-
Step 6: In the Error-checking section
-
Step 7: click Check Now.
-
Step 8: Choose the Check Disk options you'd like to use.
-
Step 9: Click Start.
-
Step 10: Review the Chkdsk report.
Detailed Guide
Windows XP can't scan or fix a bad sector if that sector is being used by an open program or file.Windows XP uses a system utility called Chkdsk to scan for and fix bad sectors.
Double-click My Computer to open it. , In the Explorer window, in the sidebar, right-click the hard drive you'd like to check for bad sectors, and then click Properties.
The C: drive is often the hard drive. ,,, In the Check Disk dialog box, you can have Check Disk fix file system errors it finds and recover bad sectors.
If you'd only like to scan for and fix bad hard drive sectors, make sure that Automatically fix file system errors is unchecked. , Windows will start checking your hard drive for bad sectors and will fix any that it finds.
If you have any open files or programs at this point, you'll get an error message asking if you'd like to schedule the disk check when you restart your computer.
If you click Yes, it will restart your computer and perform the disk check. , When it's done, Chkdsk will create a brief report.
Chkdsk code 0 means no errors were found and code 1 means that errors were found and fixed.
If the check disk process failed to fix the bad sectors, your hard drive may be failing and you may want to backup your drive to a new one. for help on backing up your hard drive.
About the Author
Alexis Butler
A passionate writer with expertise in practical skills topics. Loves sharing practical knowledge.
Rate This Guide
How helpful was this guide? Click to rate: