Hard Drive Errors

Your computer or laptop is a technological wonder. The hard disk alone is an amazing piece of technology capable of storing hundreds of gigabytes worth of data. While advances are continuing to be made in both performance and reliability, hard disks are prone to errors.

Hard drive errors are alarming when they happen because not only have you lost valuable data, the potential to lose even more is always lurking. File corruption and missing files are typical hard disk errors. In addition, physical damage to the drive can also result in major errors. If you hear a clicking or grinding noise, chances are your problem is a physical issue and you will likely need the help of a computer repair facility.

If your hard drive errors present themselves with scan disk launching, you can use a few built-in tools to troubleshoot the problems. Scan disk typically launches after an error has occurred causing your computer to reboot. It checks the drive for errors and automatically repairs them.

In fact, when your PC freezes, data may become corrupt. Oftentimes the data remains but the pointer telling Windows where it is located may be missing. Tables telling Windows where to find data can become corrupt too which can cause random lockups or program errors. Scan Disk checks the files and folders for errors, lost clusters, and bad sectors repairing them along the way.

You can also periodically check your disk for errors by running the built-in error checking tool found in your Windows operating system. Go into My Computer (Computer in Windows Vista) and right click on the drive you’d like to check for errors. Choose Properties from the menu and then click the Tools tab. Find the Error Checking section and select Check Now.

This option will check the disk for errors. You’ll have two choices: Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. Go ahead and enable both options.

Windows will want exclusive access to the disk in order to check it so you will need to schedule the scan.

By clicking on Schedule disk check, you are scheduling a scan for the next time Windows boots up. If you wish to, reboot your PC right away and let the scan take place. Otherwise, it will occur on the next boot up.

This utility is useful for maintaining your hard disk’s health. Plan on running it occasionally as part of your regular system maintenance and run it on demand when you encounter hard disk errors.