CHKDSK

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CHKDSK.COM (up to MS-DOS 4)
CHKDSK.EXE (from MS-DOS 5)
chkdsk.exe (Windows NT)

Chkdsk MsDos6 german.png
CHKDSK.EXE under MS-DOS 6
Basic data

developer various
(MS-DOS and Windows NT: Microsoft )
Publishing year 1980
operating system 86-DOS , MS-DOS , PC DOS , DR-DOS , FreeDOS
OS / 2
Windows NT class
category Disk or file system utility
License differently
German speaking Yes

CHKDSK or similar spellings like chkdsk or Chkdsk is the name of various command line programs for checking file system structures on data carriers . Depending on the version and the underlying operating system, FAT , HPFS or NTFS file systems on floppy disks , hard drives or other block devices such as flash memories can be checked for file system errors .

The program name is an abbreviation for the English command check disk , "check disk". The program is the counterpart to the Unix program or command fsck (short for FileSystem Check ). It can be executed under DOS, OS / 2 and Microsoft Windows NT as an independent program via the command prompt with chkdsk .

DOS

Under PC-compatible DOS versions such as MS-DOS or PC DOS , CHKDSK was used to check FAT12 and FAT16 file systems, and later also FAT32 systems. With MS-DOS 6.2, ScanDisk was supplied, which was more user-friendly than CHKDSK, but CHKDSK was still supplied until the Windows 9x line was discontinued .

Windows NT

For Windows NT 3.1 , chkdsk was newly implemented as a 32-bit program, which supported NTFS and HPFS file systems. Support for checking HPFS file systems was discontinued with the discontinuation of HPFS support by Microsoft.

chkdsk can be started from the Windows command prompt or before booting in the System Recovery Console .

Incorrect data blocks are recognized. Their binary content is saved if possible. chkdsk is able to detect and repair a damaged Master File Table (MFT) of an NTFS file system.

parameter

without parameters
If CHKDSK is started without parameters , it only searches for errors on the currently active partition, but does not repair them (so-called read-only mode ). In this mode, the program also works under Windows NT on the system partition C: without having to restart the system.
with parameters
Parameter / f (for English fix , "repair") repairs errors found by CHKDSK.
Windows NT only: Parameter / r (for English recover , "restore") also tries to recover the information from defective data blocks; however, this means that a program run takes considerably longer.
Windows NT only: the / x parameter is used to force the partition to be dismounted. If this is not possible, chkdsk will ask if the scan should be performed on the next restart .
Parameter <Drive letter:> by specifying the drive letter , followed by a colon, a specific drive or partition can be checked.

Application examples

Command and parameters effect
chkdsk inspects the file system on the currently active partition, but does not perform any repairs
chkdsk d: / f inspects and repairs the file system on partition D :; While this partition is repaired directly under MS-DOS, under Windows NT it is usually dismounted (unmounted or deactivated, i.e. it can no longer be accessed) without a restart being necessary, however. However, lost data blocks are not restored
chkdsk c: / f As above, except that a restart is necessary under Windows NT because the system partition (mostly C :) cannot be unmounted
chkdsk c: / f / r Windows NT: the system partition is checked and, if necessary, repaired, the entire data area (including free clusters) is scanned and faulty data blocks are recovered if possible; this requires a system restart (other partitions can possibly be scanned without restarting)

protocol

CHKDSK places a log in the Event Viewer in the application log.
In Windows XP the source is called WINLOGON with event ID 1001.
In Windows 7 the source is called WININIT with event ID 1001.

Operating systems that natively support CHKDSK

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/100108/de