Chkdsk

[Omnivore]

In running the free version several times, I continually got a "disk errors" message on the initial disk check and it indicated chkdsk had to be run.  After running chkdsk and another utility that checks the drive (spinrite), I received the same error again on your check.  Is this normal??

Steve

[Boggin]

When you run chkdsk from within the program, it just runs it in read-only mode and if the hard drive is being written to at the time you run it in that mode - then it can report errors.

While you don't say which version of Windows you are using, run a command prompt as an administrator - type chkdsk /f then press enter.

What happens next will depend upon your version of Windows but regardless of which, you will be able to read the full report in Event Viewer.

Go Start - type eventvwr and press enter.

When Event Viewer opens, ensure that Event Viewer (Local) in the upper left pane is highlighted by clicking on it if necessary and when it has read the data, expand Windows Logs - click on Application - Action/Find then type chkdsk of wininit into the Find box and press enter.

Cancel the Find box and read the report in the scrollable window.

If you aren't sure what it is reporting, then click on Copy/Copy details as text in the lower right pane - right click in the forum reply box and select Paste.

[whiggs]

I get this error all the time too when running chkdsk in read only mode.  The way I get a 100% accurate reading of what is going is by either creating a windows Pre-installation environment and booting to it, or by booting to windows recovery environment and launching command prompt, then run the chkdsk from there.  Windows recovery environment is located on a separate partition altogether and windows pre-installation environment you boot from a usb stick or disk, so gets rid of that issue right there.

[Boggin]

I get this error all the time too when running chkdsk in read only mode.  The way I get a 100% accurate reading of what is going is by either creating a windows Pre-installation environment and booting to it, or by booting to windows recovery environment and launching command prompt, then run the chkdsk from there.  Windows recovery environment is located on a separate partition altogether and windows pre-installation environment you boot from a usb stick or disk, so gets rid of that issue right there.

Can you run a cmd prompt as an admin in normal mode and see what a chkdsk /f reports then ?

[whiggs]

I'm sorry.  Is this a request for me to do this or is this a question?  If it is a question, then both of the options I mentioned do not actually boot into windows.  It boots into an entirely separate, very very small, operating system that has many of the command line utilities that Windows has available to it.  You can run chkdsk from this environment in any way you could run it from  regular windows environment.  HOWEVER, if you build a Windows Pre-installation environment using the Windows adk, it VERY, VERY important to use the same version of the adk that corresponds to the version of the Windows you have installed (there are multiple adks for windows 10).  So you do not need "administrator rights" when running the command prompt sing either method mentioned above: all it is is a blank background and a single command prompt.  When you exit the command prompt, the computer restarts.  I hope this answered your question.

[Boggin]

I was under the impression you could only run it in Safe Mode or outside of Windows.

[whiggs]

Now this is optional, but if you do build your own pre-installation environment and you want it to be a bit more advanced than a single command prompt, you have got to check out this amazing "pre-installation environment customization tool" which lets you add and Windows GUI interface and essentially any application you could possibly want to a Windows "Live boot" disc
http://theoven.org

[whiggs]

Oh no sir
http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5487-recovery-environment-use-troubleshoot-windows-10-failure-boot.html
As you can see, just before option 2 on this page, their is an option to launch a command prompt

[whiggs]

Oh, and before anybody asks, this is applicable starting in windows 7 and up

[Boggin]

That's the cmd prompt I would use outside of Windows, but not sure which article you are referring to in that article you have linked.

[whiggs]

scroll down until you see "option two".  The picture right above that.  So it would be everything under "option one" on the page at that link.  And the fact that it is outside of Widows is the whole point for doing this.  Windows can't be writing files to the disk when it is not running, right?

[Boggin]

That's why when you do it in normal mode with a parameter, it requires a reboot before it runs.

[whiggs]

What I think the orginal poster is trying to determine (I apologize if I misunderstood by the way) is if chkdsk is actually repairing anything.  During the boot time scan, there is no indication if chkdsk is finding anything wrong, repairing it, not repairing it, it tells you nothing.  I think he was looking for some validation that "there is nothing wrong with my HD", as I have sought the same thing which is why I do the scans in this way.

[Boggin]

Shane has a Stickie about running chkdsk in read-only mode because it can give false errors - I'm not sure why it is included as such in the program, but prior to running WR, it's best to run either a chkdsk /f or /r to see if it reports any bad sectors because when the program writes to the disk, if it writes to bad sectors then problems will occur after the reboot.

http://www.tweaking.com/forums/index.php/topic,2546.0.html

[whiggs]

I'm not sure what you mean by that.  All running chkdsk /f is going to tell you is that the drive is locked and can't be scanned until you restart.  That doesn't tell you if there are any bad sectors or not.  Plus, the Windows recovery environment, at its core, is a extremely slimmed down version of the same os.  If you run chkdsk from it, it will find and repair the same corruptions that the version on the full os would.

[Boggin]

A chkdsk /f will report but not "fix" any bad sectors and will most likely report that it cannot continue to run when it does come across bad sectors, because it is unable to repair corrupt files in the bad sectors.

I always run a chkdsk /f first.

If you run a chkdsk /r first and it takes "for ever", then you know it has found bad sectors.

Running a chkdsk /f first gives you the opportunity to back up your personal stuff before running the /r switch if /f reports any KBs in bad sectors - but how you choose to run it is up to you.

[whiggs]

I am afraid you are mistaken sir.  Running chkdsk without any parameters (for example chkdsk C:) is the command that scans for errors, or the "read-only mode" that keeps returning incorrect information if you will.  The pictures below show the command prompt help for chkdsk, and even a snapshot from Windows AIO repair, as even shane put the command switches used for the chkdsk when you select "run chkdsk at next boot".  Try running "chkdsk /f C:" on your computer.  It will return immediately say that it can't perform the scan for fixes because the drive is locked.  Not soon after, immediately after.  Its not scanning the drive for errors to report them, its trying to scan the drive for errors to FIX them, but cannot because it is being used.

[Boggin]

I think we are talking at cross purposes here.

You are talking about running a chkdsk from within the program or from the WRE.

I'll run a chkdsk /f in normal mode and yes, the volume has to be dismounted first because it cannot be checked whilst in use and is why a reboot is required for it to take place before Windows is loaded.

In the WRE it doesn't have to be because you are already outside of Windows - I have also run it in that mode, but I'll still run it with the /f switch first.