ScanDisk for XP - Doesn't Exist !!

ScanDisk with WinXP

- use Chkdsk instead -

Windows XP doesn't have ScanDisk !! However, it does have CHKDSK, which is similar. Unfortunately, the interface of Chkdsk is very limited - you only see a progress bar and not what is going on until the end, where you receive a limited report with the Command Prompt Chkdsk - and no report with the Windows-based Chkdsk.

So you can either use chkdsk, or even better - invest in a quality disk utility such as Norton Utilities or Executive Software's Diskeeper. Windows XP actually has a limited version of Diskeeper, which is run when you execute defrag - but this is a completely different process than scanning the drive for errors.

NOTE: as far as Chkdsk is concerned - the boot partition will always be locked and chkdsk can only make repairs upon reboot !!

	you can run Chkdsk to simply "check" the partition
	you cannot run Chkdsk "directly" with "fix errors" enabled. However, if you try to run it with "fix errors" on the boot partition, the system will give you the option to run Chkdsk upon the next reboot and then it will run and fix any errors. You can run Chkdsk with "fix errors" enabled for any non-bootable partition and it will run without having to reboot !!

Chkdsk from the Command Prompt

Start/Run . . . cmd
chkdsk x: /f - where "x" is the drive letter, and "/f" (fix errors) is optional

Chkdsk within Windows

NOTE: Scandisk is not the same as Chkdsk, although functionally they do the same thing !!! Chkdsk will only run during bootup, and will only run if the system detects a cold boot or power off.

1) double-click My Computer
2) right-click on the drive you want to run scandisk on
3) click the Tools tab and click "Check Now" next to "Error Checking"
4) to fix errors, check the "Automatically fix file system errors" box - and
to run a surface scan, check the "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" box
5) If the drive is the boot drive, reboot and Chkdsk will run during the boot process before Windows starts. If the drive is not the boot drive, Chkdsk will run without rebooting.