How to Use the Check Disk Utility in Windows 10

Microsoft has always made sure that every Windows user and all of the files and stuff that they stored in their Windows machine is safe from sudden problems that can arise which can lead to data loss and other more serious problems that affect hardware.

One of the troubles that users really suffer from especially when multiple partitions are already created in their Windows machine are known as disk errors. This error happens when Windows detects that your drive already has bad sectors that affects the read and write functions done in the hard drive itself.

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Thankfully, Microsoft has not left us helpless when this sort of problem happens in our Windows computer because they included a built-in tool that will help scan and fix the problem automatically. You might have not heard about it yet because it’s quite hidden but it exists within every Windows machine and in this tutorial, we will be showing the steps that are involved in using it on your Windows 10 machine so if you’ve been having problems these past days and you’ve already tried the options that you know in fixing it but still an error in your disk keeps showing itself in a prompt then you’ll need to follow the steps that we’re going to show below.

Different Ways in Accessing the Check Disk Error Checking Utility in Windows 10

What we like most about the Windows operating system is the varied ways methods that it provides in accessing a single tool or feature that is found in it. This has been true in older Windows editions and with the modern versions, the methods in doing things or accessing stuff just increased because of the existence of the Metro environment.

In order to access the Check Disk Error Checking utility in your Windows 10 machine, you can follow any of the following methods that are shown below. Let’s start with the easiest one!

Launching the Disk Error Checking Utility from the File Explorer Window

Since the Error Checking Utility is meant to repair problems in specific hard drive partitions or even other drives that are attached to your Windows 10 machine, the easiest way that you can use in order to launch it is from the File Explorer Window. To launch File Explorer, you can click on its icon that is pinned on the Taskbar as you can see being highlighted below.

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If you want a quicker way in launching File Explorer, you can do so by simply pressing the Windows + E keyboard shortcut combination. Once the File Explorer Window opens, simply click on the “This PC” link that is found on the navigation pane at the left then under the “Devices and drives” section on the contents pane at the right, just right-click on the hard disk partition that you’re having some problems with. After doing so, a right-click menu also known as a contextual menu will open where you will need to click on “Properties” as shown on the screenshot below.

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After clicking “Properties” from the right-click menu, you should be able to launch a small Window that contains different tabs on top of it. From here, you will simply need to click on the one that is labeled “Tools” as you can see being highlighted on the screenshot below then under its contents which are displayed just below the tabs, you will now be able to see “Error checking”.

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The “Error checking” tool can only be found exclusively under the “Properties” section of the specific disk partition which you want to check some disk error for so if you’re looking for some other ways in accessing it then you can learn other methods of launching the File Explorer Window in which the hard disk drives are listed under the “This PC” section.

Launching the This PC Section Using Search

Another method in launching the File Explorer Window which will open directly to the This PC section so you can view the available hard disk partitions for you to check errors on is done by using the Search feature. To launch Search on your Windows 10 machine quickly using a keyboard shortcut combination, all you need to do is press the Windows + S keys and the Search box should slide up from the bottom-left portion of the screen as shown below.

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On the Search box, all you need to do is enter the words “this pc” into the textbox that is found at the bottom portion and after typing in those words, the search results should instantly appear on top where you will need to click on the shortcut that is labeled “This PC” as you can see being shown above.

After the shortcut link is clicked from the Search results list found just above the search input box as we’ve shown on the previous screenshot, you should be able to open the “This PC” section of the File Explorer where you can right-click on the hard disk partition that you want to check and fix errors from then hit “Properties” as we’ve already demonstrated in the previous method.

Accessing File Explorer Using a Keyboard Shortcut

Lastly, since the “Error checking” tool is only found under the Properties Window of a specific drive partition that you want to check some errors on, you can also get to it quickly by launching the File Explorer Window using a keyboard shortcut combination. Just press the Windows + E keys and the  File Explorer feature should open instantly and from here, you can click on the “This PC” link from the navigation pane that is found at the left and that’s it! You can now right-click on the hard disk partition that you want to check some errors for, click “Properties” then you can take it from there as we have shown in the very first method above.

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How to Use the Error Checking Tool in Fixing Disk Errors and Problems

Now that you’ve already learned the different ways in getting into the Disk Error Checking tool, we’ll now show how you can use it in fixing errors on a specific hard drive partition. To initiate the process, you will simply need to click on the “Check” button that is found on the bottom-right portion of the “Error checking” tool as highlighted on the screenshot below.

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After hitting the “Check” button, the Error checking tool should show a message telling you that your drive needs to be scanned or if the tool does not find any problem with the drive partition that you’ve selected to fix errors for then you should be able to see a prompt that looks like the one that is shown below.

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Seeing no problem with the drive partition that has been selected does not mean that you can’t scan it especially when you’re doubtful on what the prompt says because you’ve been seeing notifications that the drive really has problems lately, You can manually start a scan and fix process for the selected drive simply by clicking on the “Scan drive” link as shown on the screenshot below.

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As you can see, under “Scan drive”, there’s a note telling you that you can still continue using the drive even when the scanning process is ongoing. In case errors are found, you can also choose whether to fix them right away or at a later time or to not fix the errors at all which is not recommended since we are trying to fix hard drive problems here. After clicking the “Scan drive” link, the “Error checking” tool will now display a progress bar which shows the overall progress and even the time that is left for the scanning process to complete as you can see on the screenshot below.

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Once the scanning process is done, the “Error checking” tool will tell you that the process has been successful and it will also inform you whether there were problems that it has detected or none. The screenshot below shows what the prompt looks like if the process of scanning is successful and no errors were found by the tool during the scan.

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To see the overall details of the scan process, you can simply click on the link that is found at the bottom-left portion which says “Show Details” as you can see on the screenshot above and after doing so, the “Event Viewer” tool will launch and show what the scan process was able to find as shown below.

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Again, the screenshot that we’ve shown here demonstrates the process and how it would look like when the Error checking tool doesn’t find any problem on a certain hard disk. If errors are found in your machine, you will need to let the tool fix it in order to restore your computer to a good working state and eliminate the possibility of losing all your files caused by a corrupted or damaged hard drive.

Use Disk Error Checking to Prevent Further Damage

Aside from informing you about the problems that currently plagues your computer’s hard drive, the disk Error checking tool also enables you to automatically fix hard drive errors and problems so you won’t need to bring it to a computer repair shop and spend money out of your pocket. This tool makes it possible for even novice users to repair their computers in a do-it-yourself way.

Have you tried using the Check Disk/ Disk Error Checking tool in your Windows 10 machine? How did everything work? Was it able to help you fix the problems that’s been bothering you for a long time? We’d like to hear about your experience and if you have some issues with your Windows computer that you want us to cover in our next tutorial, please feel free to post them as topic suggestions in the comments section below.