CHKDSK command prompt for a scan without fixing errors

CHKDSK command prompt for a HDD scan without fixing errors

There may be situations where you need to operate with a partially broken hard drive disk and recover its data. Before doing so, it’s important to check the health status of the internal data surface, the platters.

Using CHKDSK

If you wish to run CHKDSK without any additional data writing, you can use the following command:

chkdsk C: /b

If you also need to fix errors, use the command:

chkdsk C: /f /r /x

The “/f” parameter stands for “fix,” the “/r” parameter stands for “recover,” and the “/x” parameter excludes the specified drive (C:) from the default boot-time check; it forces the volume to dismount first, if necessary, and then performs the check immediately. This can be useful when you want to inspect a drive that is currently in use and cannot be locked for an offline check.

Keep in mind that scanning a 2 TB hard drive might take around 3 hours, but it could extend up to 6 hours.

Reasons for a bad clusters

Common reasons for a bad hard drive clusters are mostly:

  • Physical damage: scratches or scuffs, head crashes
  • Manufacturing defects, suurprisingly happening quite often
  • Magnetic interference
  • Power outages or surges, sudden power loss or improper shutdowns
  • Aging and wear
  • File system errors
  • Overheating
  • Repetitive Write Operations

So yes, a classy hard drive disk is quite fragile. Now, how reliable are SSD drives? I can reply to this question: I have 7 broken drives in my drawer from the last 15 years; how many broken SSDs do I have? None.