How Do You Check A Hard Drive For Bad Sectors?
As you use your computer, its hard drive may eventually develop bad sectors. Bad sectors are sections of the drive that can no longer be used reliably and must be “worked around.” When a bad sector is discovered, the hard drive will no longer write data to that area of the drive, helping to protect your data. Use the Windows Disk Checking utility to scan your hard drive for bad sectors and help prevent data loss. Click “Start,” and then click “Computer” in Windows Vista and 7 or “My Computer” in Windows XP. Right-click your hard drive, and select “Properties.” Click the “Tools” tab, and then click the “Check Now” button in the top section of the window, under “Error-Checking.” This will launch the Windows Disk Checking utility. Select the checkbox options “Automatically Fix File System Errors” and “Scan for and Attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors.” Click “Start.” You may receive a warning explaining that Windows needs direct access to your disk in order to perform the scan and asking if yo
