Scandisk is a Microsoft utility that was purchased originally from Norton which is now Symantec. Scandisk is designed to check the integrity of a computer hard disk drive to verify that there are now significant issues which could cause issues with your computer data.

MS-DOS SCANDISK

Scandisk was first available in MS-DOS 6.2 and was available ever since. If  you are running MS-DOS 6.2 or 6.22 and would like to run scandisk follow the following steps:

• If you are in Windows 3.x click File and then Exit to get to the MS-DOS prompt.
• From MS-DOS type CD\DOS and press enter.
• From the C:\DOS> type scandisk and press enter which should begin running scandisk on the computer.

Finally some computer manufactures have change the installation directory of where scandisk is located if you are unable to run scandisk from DOS directory go to the WINDOWS directory by typing CD\WINDOWS.

MS-DOS 6.2 and below Scandisk switches can be found on our below section under MS-DOS trouble shooting.

WINDOWS 3.X SCANDISK

If you are running Windows 3.x and MS-DOS 6.2 or above please refer to the MS-DOS scandisk section for information on how to run scandisk.

WINDOWS 95/98 SCANDISK

Windows 95 improved the functionality of scandisk as did Windows 98 to run scandisk from Windows follow the following steps.

• Click Start 
• Click Run and type scandisk in the run box
• Click ok
• Within the scandisk window select the drive that you wish to be checked.
• Choose the option between standard and through. It is recommended you run standard first, if you encounter issues with scandisk then run the through scan.
• Finally click start to begin scandisk.

In addition Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows 98 will run scandisk automatically if the computer is shutdown improperly to check to see if the hard disk drive encountered issues when the computer was improperly shutdown.

How often should I run Scandisk?

This is a commonly asked question with a difficult answer as every computer and computer user is different. We generally recommend that scandisk be ran at least once every 2-3 months. If you are experiencing issues with the hard disk drive we recommend that it be ran more frequently to ensure that sections of the hard disk drive are not becoming corrupted.

Will running Scandisk a lot cause physical problems.

Scandisk is a software utility designed to look at the data integrity like any other software application Scandisk simply analyzes and if needed makes changes to the data on the hard disk drive (normal operations). Therefore running scandisk excessively will not cause physical problems to the hard disk drive. 

MS-DOS / WINDOWS 3.X TROUBLE SHOOTING

Below is a listing of available switches in MS-DOS scandisk 6.2 and below. It is important to note that these commands will likely not work in Windows 95 and above.

scandisk [ drive: | /all] [/checkonly | /autofix [/nosave] | /custom] [/fragment] [/surface] [/mono] [/nosave] [/nosummary]

/all - Checks and repairs all local drives at once.

/checkonly - Checks drive for errors but will not make repairs.

/autofix - Fixes errors without asking you first. Saves lost clusters by default as files in the drives root directory. Cannot be used with /checkonly or /custom.

/custom - Runs Scandisk using the settings in [custom] section of the scandisk.ini file. Cannot be used with /autofix or /checkonly.

/surface - Automatically checks surface after other areas are tested without prompting you first. When used with /custom, will override any /surface setting in [Custom] section of scandisk.ini.

/fragment - Checks individual files for fragmentation. Must specify a drive, path and file name; cannot use any other switches.

/mono - Uses a monochrome display instead of color.

/nosave - Deletes all lost clusters found by Scandisk. Can be used with /autofix.

/nosummary - Prevents display of full-screen summary after each drive. Use with /autofix to prevent prompts for undo diskette.

WINDOWS 95 / WINDOWS 98 TROUBLE SHOOTING

Scandisk continues to restart and never is able to complete its check of the hard drive.

This is caused when other applications are running in the background modifying data that is trying to be checked by scandisk. To resolve the issue close out of all TSR's running on the computer. Additional information about how to do this can be found on document CHTSR.

How to enable / disable scandisk from scanning running if computer improperly shutdown.

This must be enabled, disabled or set in the msdos.sys file by changing the AutoScan= section. Additional information about the msdos.sys, hot to edit it and its values can be found on our msdos.sys page.

WINDOWS ME TROUBLE SHOOTING

Scandisk continues to restart and never is able to complete its check of the hard drive.

This is caused when other applications are running in the background modifying data that is trying to be checked by scandisk. To resolve the issue close out of all TSR's running on the computer. Additional information about how to do this can be found on document CHTSR.

How to enable / disable scandisk from scanning running if computer improperly shutdown.

This must be enabled, disabled or set in the msdos.sys file by changing the AutoScan= section. Additional information about the msdos.sys, hot to edit it and its values can be found on our msdos.sys page.

WINDOWS 2000 TROUBLE SHOOTING

Currently no known issues.