Home PC Windows How to Scan & Fix Hard Drives with CHKDSK in Windows 8

How to Scan & Fix Hard Drives with

CHKDSK in Windows 8

Microsoft’s hard disk scanning and repair utility, CHKDSK (“check disk”), was introduced over 30
years ago but still has a useful place today. Users running even the latest Microsoft operating
system can still use the command to examine their hard drives for errors and repair them if
necessary. Here’s how to run CHKDSK in Windows 8.

Related: Running Windows 10? Find instructions for CHKDSK here.

First, launch the Start Screen by pressing the Windows key or clicking the lower left corner of
the Taskbar. From the Start Screen, search for the Windows Command Prompt by typing
“cmd”. Right-click on the Command Prompt and choose “Run as Administrator” from the bar
at the bottom of the screen.

After authenticating as an administrative user, you’ll be at the Windows Command Prompt, a

familiar interface for users who remember the days before Windows NT. Type the command
“chkdsk” followed by a space, then the letter of the drive you wish to examine or repair. In our
case, it’s external drive “L.”
Simply running the CHKDSK command will only display the disk’s status, and won’t fix any
errors present on the volume. To tell CHKDSK to fix the drive, we need to give it parameters.
After your drive letter, type the following parameters separated by a space each: “/f /r /x”
The “/f” parameter tells CHKDSK to fix any errors it finds; “/r” tells it to locate the bad sectors on
the drive and recover readable information; “/x” forces the drive to dismount before the
process starts. Additional parameters are available for more specialized tasks, and are
detailed at Microsoft’s TechNet site.
To summarize, the full command that should be typed into the Command Prompt is:

chkdsk [Drive:] [parameters]

In our example, it’s:

chkdsk L: /f /r /x
Note that CHKDSK needs to be able to lock the drive, meaning that it cannot be used to
examine the system’s boot drive if the computer is in use. In our example, the target drive is an
external disk so the CHKDSK process will begin as soon as we enter the command above. If the
target drive is a boot disk, the system will ask you if you’d like to run the command before the
next boot. Type “yes,” restart the computer, and the command will run before the operating
system loads, allowing it to gain full access to the disk.
A CHKDSK command can take a long time, especially when performed on larger drives. Once
it’s done, however, it will present a summary of results including total disk space, byte
allocation, and, most importantly, any errors that were found and corrected.

The CHKDSK command is available in all versions of Windows, so those on Windows 7 or XP can
also perform the steps above to initiate a scan of their hard drive. In the case of older versions
of Windows, users can get to the Command Prompt by going to Start > Run and typing “cmd”.

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30 thoughts on “How to Scan & Fix Hard Drives with
CHKDSK in Windows 8”

Xbox Wireless Controller May 14, 2018 at 1:17 pm REPLY

Wonderful article! We will be linking to this great content on our website.

Keep up the great writing.

New Java August 3, 2016 at 3:59 pm

broke my external backup disk. was working fine with Linux. Good old softie. “I have a virus!
No, wait, its just Windows”.

New Java August 3, 2016 at 4:00 pm REPLY

Luckily I had also backed up my files on the Linux computer. Otherwise I would have
lost years of files. Its REALLY bad when Microsoft offers to “fix” your disk but just hops
out there and deletes almost all of it.

Watashi July 9, 2016 at 2:31 pm REPLY

Whelp. Mines a 2TB one. Gonna take aprox. 1 day and 15 hours -_-‘

Britney June 6, 2016 at 1:22 pm REPLY

I did the “chkdsk f: /f /r /x” but I don’t get the same result. I’m thinking it’s because of my file
system, which is FAT32. so I’m not getting the same results. Please Help! I really need to
retrieve my data and using a third party forces me to buy the upgrade which I am unable
to do. Their trials only allow up to 2Gb of data and i need to retrieve atleast 30Gb
.
 Kristen May 9, 2016 at 5:05 pm REPLY

When I entered the command in command prompt (MSDOS) “CHKDSK D:” or “CHKDSK D: f/
x/ r/” I would get this message “cannot open volume for direct access”.
I keep getting the message that the drive malfunctioned when I first plug it in. Also when I
first plug in the flash drive its contents show up automatically in file explorer but disappears
after about ten seconds. I have tried scan and repair, gone to device manager and did the
uninstall and install thing, tried using a different computer’s USB port to see if there it was
my USB ports not working right but the same problem persisted. I don’t want to reformat
the thing because I have 12 years worth of stuff on it and I am trying to recover that stuff
but the flash drive isn’t working right. I also have ‘permanently deleted’ files that I am trying
to recover due to improper removal of the flash drive at one point. As a matter of fact this
didn’t start happening until I tried a program that was supposed to recover those files.
What is going on and can someone help me fix this issue please?
If anyone can help me fix this issue please it would be appreciated.

Ashe Skyler March 1, 2016 at 8:41 pm REPLY

Chkdsk is a wonderful little tool when trying to resuscitate a dying drive long enough to get
data off of it. Of course, the little jumpdrive was ridiculously slow in life, so now in death it
takes chkdsk forever to do its thing. I usually let it run while I go to bed for the night or go to
work the next day. I am neeeeever buying cheap “generic” drives again! The only drive I’ve
had to corrupt this easily, or be this slow for that matter. Financially, this experiment didn’t
cost much, but as far as time and frustration is concerned this is a very expensive little
drive.

Shawn Reynolds February 10, 2016 at 10:26 am REPLY

I get the message “An unspecified error occurred (766f6c756d652e63 461).” I do not know
what is wrong. The Windows scan and repair could not scan my external drive, but it said
there was an error, so I tried this method, but it is not working.

SenoritaVis November 28, 2015 at 6:41 pm REPLY

When I ran the chkdsk command at first, it got stuck at 11% for hours then when I checked
again it was already done but I can’t find any results. I ran the command again and it’s still
stuck at 11% right now, I don’t know what to conclude on. My drives being displaying this
blue screen with kernel inpage error and the system’s being giving a weird kinda sound like
the hard disk is moving or something and sometimes it says stuff like “smart check has
discovered an imminent failure pls run diagnostic test” and refuses to boot into Windows
until I run the test and put it off and on a million times over. The pc is new, I just got it in
October, what could be wrong with it?

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Fernando Fernandes June 24, 2015 at 9:20 am REPLY

chkdsk stuck? Actually is Dolan. I’ll try this tonight.

Muhammad Nabilsyafiq June 1, 2015 at 9:39 am

Hello guys. I really really need some advice here. But first a little description.
I’m running windows 8 on a Toshiba L50 laptop and a few days ago it froze while i was
playing a game. So I did a hard shutdown and after that when i tried to reboot, it wont boot.
Theres just a blank screen after starting.
So i hit the reset switch and this allowed me access until the lock screen but it was really
laggy. So I shut it down properly and left it for a night.
It was working well the next day so I decided to backup, defragment and run chkdsk on
startup (as this was the boot drive).
My problem is that after completing chkdsk in 5 hours, the screen just froze at the lock
screen. I had to force shutdown again because I literally cant do anything. And now after
booting it, chkdsk runs all over again. Will this be a recurring problem? I mean the
rebooting, chkdsk running and freezing?

David Stone October 6, 2015 at 11:33 pm REPLY

Your laptop is probably overheating. When CPU gets hot it slows down. Have the laptop
serviced, unless you are adapt at taking apart and re-assembling the laptop. Open-
er-up and clean out the dust!

How_delightful April 20, 2015 at 1:11 am REPLY

How in fk do you do it when the SSD will not boot?

I have start repair disc for Windows 7; and a spare windows 8.1 computer. But how in fk do I
do it as Acronis is now a virus?

chong kim loon March 15, 2015 at 12:50 am REPLY

I have WD external hard disk 500gb problem. When I plugged it, it appear parameter
problem, so I used “chkdsk /f /x/ /r D:” command to run my hard disk. However, it been 2
days of running the ETA time remaining 999 hours. May I have your advice how to fix this
problem?

ellie October 24, 2014 at 4:44 am REPLY

when I search cmd or command prompt, the search returns nothing. not sure what I should
be doing then…

Rajesh October 18, 2014 at 10:27 pm REPLY

It worked .. i recovered my hard disk data after executing chkdsk command …

Thanks Buddy .

Αρχάγγελος Στεφανία August 7, 2014 at 5:15 pm

Christ, I did all of the above, but some of the files I really wanted were deleted! I didn’t know
I had to protect them, but even so, I still could not access my WD drive, cause it took ages
to load.
Tell me I can recover some of the files, otherwise I am going to kill something…

Jim Papageorgiou August 28, 2014 at 12:21 pm

Oh darn, was it movies or work data? Let me guess WD external My Passport bought
around 2010-2013 ? or regular HDD 3.5″ ?

Αρχάγγελος Στεφανία August 30, 2014 at 4:20 pm

I think a regular, it’s a pink one. I could check for you, just to be sure. I lost all my songs
and some very valuable photos. :(

Aleisha Jane June 24, 2014 at 7:41 pm

I ran the chkdsk through my External Hard-drive which had a Cyclic Redundancy Error and
it’s finally finished, but I still can’t open my hard-drive. Not sure what to do now, as data
recovery companies are so expensive, but there are important files I need to retrieve from
this drive. Helppppp :c

Mur John-Paul June 30, 2014 at 11:43 am REPLY

I suggest just buying a dock which might help you get to some of the data, if not then
you will need to send it to a recovery depo.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182221&
cm_re=hdd_usb-_-17-182-221-_-Product

chacha March 13, 2014 at 11:58 pm

my external hard drive is not detected om my computer only on usb mass storage device.
How do I check disk and fix on command prompt

TekRevue March 14, 2014 at 8:08 am REPLY

Just to make sure I understand you correctly, when you plug in your external drive,
your PC recognizes a “USB Mass Storage Device” but not the drive itself? If so, do you
have data on the drive or is this a new drive?
Try going to Disk Management to see if the drive shows up there. Go to File Explorer
and right-click on “This PC.” Select “Manage” and then choose “Disk Management”
under Storage. This will list all storage devices attached to the PC. Check to see if your
external drive is listed here. If so, and if it doesn’t show up in Explorer, you may need to
delete and reformat any partitions on the drive. Be careful, because this will delete any
data.
The problem may also be caused by a faulty controller on the external drive. If
possible, try to open the external enclosure and remove the drive. Use another external
enclosure or a USB to SATA adapter to try accessing the drive.
If nothing above works, it may mean the drive itself has died. If you have important
data on the drive and you don’t have backups, you may need to seek out professional
data recovery services.

Mur John-Paul January 27, 2014 at 3:46 pm

I would like to point out that you don’t need /f because it is implied when you use /r
from chkdsk /? : /R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information (implies /F,
when /scan not specified).

Ian Mortlock February 4, 2014 at 10:11 am

Two weeks ago I was sure I had an internal HDD problem. Reading/Writing of data to
the drive became very slow. This was the sequence of my tracking down and fixing the
problem.
1, Ran WD “Data Lifeguard Diagnostics” as a full scan on my WD 500Gb HDD.(7 years
old running Windows 8.1 This indicated sector errors on the drive.
2. I immediately used Macrium “Reflect” to clone the drive to an external HDD
3. Replaced the suspect HDD with a Seagate 2Tb internal unit
4. Booted the PC from the External HDD and copied the clone to the new internal HDD.
5. Used Windows 8.1 Admin tools to partition the extra 1.5Tb on my new Seagate
internal HDD
6. Rebooted my computer using the new Seagate HDD as boot drive.
Problem solved. Great speed and performance restored.
7. Formatted the suspect HDD. This showed 13 Gb not available after formatting.
8. Ran chkdsk F: /f /r /x.
This indicated 235 files in bad clusters.
After 2 hours the process finished. The bad clusters were blocked from any further
read/writes and I am up and running.
Mur John-Paul. You said that /r implies /f. Back in the early 1980’s I learnt the /r located
and tried to recover data only. If there is physical damage to the sector, /f will prevent
 data from being written to that sector where /r may not prevent data from being
written there again. I might be an old man at 70 yrs. but I have been using Microsoft
since Windows 1 in 1983.

John RS Dowsett January 23, 2015 at 10:04 am

Thank you! This was great help to me.

Dana Jorgensen January 24, 2014 at 2:33 pm REPLY

For those complaining about chkdsk getting stuck, previous versions did a 100% countdown
for each of the five stages, while the Windows 8 version does a single 100% countdown for
all five stages combined. Depending on how full the drive is, it will appear stuck at
anywhere from 12% to 35% most of the time, starting in the 4th stage. Apparently
Microsoft’s programmers decided to reserve most of the countdown for the last stage,
which verifies free space. Use the “files processed” and “clusters processed” counters to
observe progress instead in the last two stages.

aqil asraf December 22, 2013 at 5:16 am REPLY

i stuck at 12% for about 1 hour

Mehdi November 22, 2013 at 8:43 pm

It will NOT Allow you to fix errors on the C: drive bcs it is the OS drive and it says it is
LOCKED!? This is only in the startup and command prompt (AFTER SPENDING HOURS JUST
TO FIND OUT HOW, SINCE “PRESS F8 FOR SAFE MODE” IS HISTORY?)! Cannot boot to the full
blown version of windows 8.1! Can MS fix that? I was only updating to 8.1 (from 8) when this
new laptop crashed and has not booted since?
Stupid windows 8 does not even have a restore point at all?? I want to go back to 7 but this
stupid Asus laptop didn’t come with boot or OS system disk…these cheap goofy fly-by-
night acting idiots! (Both MS and Asus and the rest of those who follow this rotted
“system”)!
This should not have and should never happen!
All I did before the so-called upgrade I moved some large files around (from 2 to 30 MB A/V
files from my iPhone) that’s all. I know this happened many times before to others since I
was the technician at a large company before. SO Don’t move files under Windoze or else!

runner305 May 26, 2015 at 6:07 pm REPLY

Is it really necessary to insult people here? We’re supposed to be helping each other,

geomac October 31, 2013 at 7:45 am REPLY

You can speed up chkdsk by selecting chkdsk /spotfix C: since chksdsk is regularly running
in the background and this spotfix parameter only checks segments with identified
problems – AND it keeps you posted as to progress of the check/fix. This takes minutes
rather than hours.

bharat October 30, 2013 at 3:40 pm REPLY

thanks.. it worked. took 8 hours though, but now i can use the entire diskspace.

someone October 9, 2013 at 8:29 am

yeah same problem with me, stops @ 27% for more than 4 hours, I had to shut it down !

TekRevue October 9, 2013 at 8:42 pm

An inability to complete a CHKDSK command can indicate serious problems with the
hard drive. It could also be the result of other system problems. Here are some things
to try:
1) First, back up your data. ANYONE who thinks they need to run CHKDSK should back
up critical files ASAP.
2) Try running the command from Safe Mode. Here are instructions for Windows
Vista/7 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-computer-safe-
mode#start-computer-safe-mode=windows-vista and Windows 8
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/windows-startup-settings-
including-safe-mode
3) If you can, try removing the drive, mounting it in another computer (using a SATA to
USB adapter or a direct internal SATA connection) and running the command from
there.
4) If all else fails and you can’t replace the drive, try third party disk utilities (I like
GRC’s SpinRite https://www.grc.com/spinRite.htm but there are many others if you
search around).

dt March 31, 2014 at 11:22 am

But what happens if i can execute the chkdsk command on boot (Recovery > Choose
an option > Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Line) which completes
after 10-20 min but on normal boot i cannot skip scan & fix mode which stuck on 22%.
Any ideas or the disk has actual a problem?

Rodrigo Colpo September 25, 2013 at 8:25 am

I did what you said on my external HD, but now it has only 300GB, instead of 500GB. How
can I have these 200GB back?
 TekRevue September 25, 2013 at 8:36 am

The CHKDSK command can segregate bad blocks on your hard drive. If after running
this command you lost access to 200 GB, then that likely means your hard drive had a
ton of bad sectors and may be on the verge of failing. You should back up your data
and replace the drive ASAP.

Rodrigo Colpo November 8, 2013 at 2:01 pm

I don’t think this is the correct reason why the size of my external HD has shrinked.
Actually, every time I delete a file, the HD size shrinks again to the total size of all files
together. I mean, there is never free space in my hard drive.
Do you have another guess of what would be the solution for this?

Aaron Friedman November 13, 2013 at 9:39 am

TekRevue is correct Rodrigo. Sorry to inform you, but your disk is failing. Chkdsk isolates
and prevents writing to bad blocks or sectors. It does that in an attempt to extend the
life of the disk, giving you an opportunity to back up your data before it suffers
catastrophic failure. With 200GB of failure, your drive is basically on life support. I would
highly, highly recommend listening to TekRevue’s advice. Backup your data and
replace the drive.

Neil January 24, 2015 at 10:22 am

actually the drive has a recycle bin, right click on the drive letter in MY PC and then
click Disk Cleanup. Then you will be able to empty the recycle bin :) This will get your
space back :)

Michael Lone-Wolf Werner August 31, 2013 at 11:34 am

I find chkdsk/r windows 8 seems to set at 27% for a long time now a hour, does not seem to
work as well as other windows have in the past as I ran drive check and new drive sea gate
tools or mini tool partition wizard drive fine only since Windows 8 seems to get issues other
systems with 7 never like this. I get locked into this might try /f see if that is the same just
had this on two different units using 8 HP laptop and home unit. I had even checked disc
and wiped it clean totally windows 8 seems to act up wonder if that is why it put system
into repair mode more often then should happen.

someone October 9, 2013 at 8:28 am REPLY

same problem with me, stops @ 27% for more than 4 hours, I had to shut it down !
 Bobinms February 3, 2015 at 4:55 pm REPLY

Same here. Stuck at 27%.

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Jim Tanous
May 17, 2013

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