With the introduction of the latest Windows operating system, Windows 8, users are provided with different ways to get the hands on things along with a new interactive interface. Keeping rest of the things aside, the post discusses the modernized ‘Disk Error Checking’ for Windows 8 and the causes that accelerate the problems with system hard drive.
It is known to everyone that the hard drive is one of the core components of a computer system. When problems hit hard drive, it begins creating various issues in forms of errors. Below are the causes that lead to hard drive corruption, let’s look.
Windows Improper Shutdown
An improper exit from Windows is responsible for inviting problems in bulk; doing so may also corrupt files. Such incident takes place when user resets the PC or switches it off without shutting down. For example:
User tries to shut down the computer, but the process fails.
PC is reset due to vulnerable power connection.
Shutdown is not possible due to system crash
Defects in Hard Drive
Another reason includes defects in hard drive, such as:
Air pollution in a sealed drive unit
Hard drive bad sectors
Catastrophic failure
Head Crash
Malware
One of the most common reasons of hard drive corruption are malware. Viruses and other malicious programs attack the drive and overwrite the arbitrary raw disk areas. Malware attack takes place in the system when operating system loses control or the technology used to write virus code has bypassed the OS control.
Human Errors
Last but not the least, human errors may also lead to severe problems. Such errors include:
Modification of system registry
Altering system file attributes
Improper installation
Important files removal
Above are some of the common reasons contributing to hard drive corruption. As a result, user fails to access files and the contained data, and thus comes across huge data loss. Well, for any of the above reasons or the like, disk recovery just becomes a mandate. This is where the aforementioned feature ‘Disk Error Checking’ is valuable.
In Windows 7 and earlier versions, the feature checks the hard disk for errors that occur due to bad sectors, metadata corruption, file system corruption, abrupt system shutdown, etc., and performs repair. It contributes to improving the overall computer performance. However, Windows 8 makes some changes in Disk Error Checking as compared to the previous Windows versions.
Being a Windows 8 user, you must be aware that the chkdsk utility (known for identifying and repairing corruption) has been redesigned. With the introduction of ‘ReFS’ file system in Windows 8, the offline chkdsk is no more required for repair. So, the repair done by the utility is now automated. In other words, the utility does not need to be initiated manually; instead, Windows 8 uses ‘Action Center’ to show the disk and file system status. The disk is scanned in the background, allowing user to continue using the system. If errors are found, it informs user about the same through a notification and prompts the user to restart the computer.
In the previous systems, the Disk Error Checking has to be scheduled for system drive and other drives used by files or folders. Whereas, Windows 8 does not require to schedule the checking at startup. All has to be done is allow Windows 8 to fix the error when errors are found. Moreover, user is allowed if he wants to run a schedule manually.
To begin the scan on your Windows 8 computer, carry out the following instructions carefully:
Go to the drive that is causing problems, right-click it, and click ‘Properties’.
In the displayed dialog, switch to the ‘Tools’ tab.
Click on the button named ‘Check now’.
The system checks the drive for errors and if errors are found, it will ask to check the disk. Otherwise, a message ‘You don’t need to scan this drive.’ is shown. User can choose to check the drive nevertheless by clicking on ‘Scan drive’.
The scanning will start and will take a few minutes to complete.
After completion, the system will display the message according to the status of drive.
On the other hand, if errors are found, the system will throw the following message:
Restart your computer to repair file system. You can restart right away or schedule the error fixing on next restart.
For details, user may click on ‘Show Details’. In response, it will show a complete description. As the message says, user may restart the computer immediately to start repair or it could be done later when the computer starts next time.
On restart, Windows 8 initiates scanning and repairing of sectors on the hard drive. This is how Windows 8 facilitates checking and repairing hard drive.