Windows 7 contains a disk error checking utility called Check Disk which allows you to scan your hard drives and see if they have issues with lost sectors, bad sectors or file corruption. In the Command Prompt - Advanced Disk Management Commands article we published sometime ago, we have shown how to use this tool directly from the Command Prompt. Now it is time to learn how to run Check Disk from the graphical user interface.

NOTE: You must be logged in as Administrator to perform a scan disk.

Check the State of a Disk

First of all you need to open Windows Explorer. Then, right click on the drive you want to check for errors and select Properties .

Go to the Tools tab of the Properties window. Click 'Check now', in the Error-checking section.

The next window displays two options that allow you to customize the scan. The first one, 'Automatically fix file system errors' , allows you to automatically repair the problems that the scan detects. If this option is unchecked, the disk check will display the problems but not fix them. 'Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors' allows you to perform a deeper scan that attempts to find and repair physical errors on the hard disk itself. If you use this option the scan will take longer to complete.

When you are done setting the scan options, press the Start button.

The scan progress will begin and a progress bar will be displayed. Check out the picture below to see an example.

When the scan is complete, you are shown a brief description of the results. Press the See details arrow to view more information about the scan results.

A report that contains information like partition space, files that are in use by the system, free space available on the disk or how many bad sectors were identified is displayed. When done reading, close the scan report by pressing Close.

If you select a disk that is in use, for example the partition where Windows 7 is installed, you'll be prompted to reschedule the disk check for the next time you restart your computer. This appears because files from the drive are used by running processes.
Click 'Schedule disk check' to perform a scan at the next reboot or Cancel to give up the scheduling process.

If you scheduled the disk check, after the operating system restarts, you have only 10 seconds to press any key to cancel the operation. If you decide to continue, by not pressing a key on your keyboard, the scan process begins.

When finished, you are shown a report similar to the one in the picture below, and then the computer restarts. The report contains detailed information such as partition space, free space available, and how many bad sectors were identified, etc.

Conclusion

Check Disk can save your day when problems appear with your hard disk. For example, if a power outage takes place, your computer stops and this can cause file corruption. In such a scenario, this tool is a great little helper as it can fix things for you. If you have any questions about this tool and its uses, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

Related articles:

Command Prompt - Advanced Disk Management Commands
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How to Manage Your Disks using the Disk Management Utility
How To Use the Windows 7 Disk Defragmenter