16.4 Hard Drive Checkups

Every time you shut down the computer, Windows tidies up, ensuring all files are saved properly on the drive. When all is well, Windows turns off the machine (or, on older computers, displays a message on your screen telling you it's OK to shut off your computer manually). The time that elapses between your Turn Off Computer command and the actual power-down moment is the "tidying up" period.

But sometimes, thanks to a system crash, power outage , or toddler playing with your surge suppressor , your computer gets turned off without warning ”and without the usual shutdown checks. In the days before Windows XP, restarting the PC after such a dirty shutdown would automatically run a program called ScanDisk, a utility designed to detect and, when possible, repair drive damage that may have occurred as a result of an improper shutdown.

ScanDisk doesn't exist in Windows XP, but its functions have been reincarnated. You get to this feature by right-clicking the icon of the hard drive you want to check (in the My Computer window). From the shortcut menu, choose Properties; click the Tools tab, and click Check Now (Figure 16-6, top).

Figure 16-6. Top: Click Check Now in the Properties dialog box for your hard drive. Middle: Click Start to begin the scan, which checks the file structure, folders, files, and other elements on your drive. Bottom: You may be asked to restart the PC, so that the Son of ScanDisk can do its thing during the startup process. If you click Yes, nothing seems to happen at all. Windows is just holding its breath until you actually restart. During the lengthy procedure, onscreen messages serve up status reports . When it's over, the computer restarts.

As shown in the middle of Figure 16-6, a dialog box appears that offers two optional checkboxes:

• Automatically fix file system errors . Clearly, you want this option turned on, so that any problems Windows finds are taken care of automatically. If you're checking the system drive (the drive on which Windows XP is installed), you'll see the dialog box shown at bottom in Figure 16-6. Click Yes to defer the actual scan until the next time you restart the computer. (Other drives get scanned immediately.)

• Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors . If you turn on this option, whenever the scan finds a damaged section of a drive, it'll move any files located there elsewhere on the drive. Then the program surrounds that hard-disk area with the digital equivalent of a yellow "Police Line ”Do Not Cross" tape, so that Windows won't use the damaged area for storing files in the future.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION
When Good Drives Go Bad

I was surprised when the Check Disk dialog box found some problems with my hard drive. I don't understand what could have gone wrong. I treat my PC with respect, talk to it often, and never take it swimming. Why did my hard drive get flaky?

All kinds of things can cause problems with your hard drive, but the most common are low voltage, power outages, voltage spikes, and mechanical problems with the drive controller or the drive itself.

An inexpensive gadget called a line conditioner (sold at computer stores) can solve the low-voltage problem. A more expensive gizmo known as an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) maintains enough backup battery power to keep your computer going when the power goes out completely ”for a few minutes, anyway, so that you can shut down the computer properly. The more expensive models have line conditioning built in. A UPS is also the answer to power outages, if they're common in your area.

Voltage spikes are the most dangerous to your PC. They frequently occur during the first seconds when the power comes back on after a power failure. A surge suppressor is the logical defense here. But remember that the very cheap devices often sold as surge suppressors are actually little more than extension cords. Furthermore, some of the models that do provide adequate protection are designed to sacrifice themselves in battle. After a spike, you may have to replace them.

If you care about your computer (or at least about the money you spent on it), buy a good surge suppressor, at the very least. The best ones come with a guarantee that the company will replace your equipment (up to a certain dollar value) if the unit fails to provide adequate protection.

Before you begin the scan, quit all other open programs; otherwise , Windows will report that it was "unable" to complete the scan. Finally, click the Start button in the Check Disk dialog box to begin the scan. When all phases of the check are complete ("Phase 1, Phase 2"...), a dialog box lets you know how things turned out.

NOTE

If you elected to format your hard drive with the NTFS file system, described in Section A.4, you'll find hard-drive glitches fixable by ScanDisk and its descendant to be extremely rare, because NTFS drives are designed to be self-repairing.

If you still use the FAT 32 formatting scheme, however, it's a good idea to perform this kind of check once every few months, so that it can check your hard drive for any nascent problems.