Scanning your Hard Drive for Errors

1.  First right-click on the drive you want to scan (in this case "WINXP (C:)"). Select Properties from the list.

2.  Next go to the Tools tab at the top of the Properties window. Click the Check Now button.

3.  In the Check Disk windows that pops up, make sure to place checkmarks next to both options "Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors". Windows XP might inform you that a scan cannot be performed while the disk is in use, and allow you the choice of yes or no as to whether Scan Disk will perform your scan the next time you system boots up. In that case the only way to scan is to in fact perform a scan.

Return to Windows XP Support Center