Scandisk, Chkdsk. DO I need to check for lost clusters?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frankie
  • Start date Start date
F

Frankie

Yeahsr ago in the DOS days, everytime my computer would crash I would always
do a scandisk or check disk to view and delete lost clusters and look for
file errors on the hard drive due to the crash.

With Windows vista, is there any need to check for these things after a
system crash?

I find I can't run chkdsk from the cmd prompt in Vista, does annyonw know
how? And also, do I need to or as I said above, is there a different way of
doing this?

What's the normal thing I can do in Vista to check the HD for file problems
on my C drive, after a system crash. ?

-Frankie
 
No. If the OS needs to do a chkdsk it will schedule one for the next
reboot. Only do a chkdsk if you are getting disk errors.

You can schedule a chkdsk of the system disk for the next boot up by running
an elevated command prompt. You see messages that chkdsk cannot run because
the volume is in use but it will also ask you if you want to schedule one
for the next restart.

Vista has much better recovery capabilities than previous versions of
Windows and you should not assume that the hard drive needs to be checked
after a crash. Most crashes are due to faulty drivers but even these should
be much rarer in Vista than in XP. If you are getting BSODs then post back
with the message giving the stop code.
 
Hi and thanks for the quick response.

What I'm getting is a blue screen with white text that comes up fast and
then the computer reboots. Doesn't look like a typical BSOD.

A bunch of text with numbers and 'crash dump' written in white towards the
bottom. I tried pausing this screen with pause/break but it wouldn't pause so
I can't really read it. What's 'crach dump anyway?

I think my Seagate USB drive could be problematic because this blue screen
crash seems to happen mostly wheh this drive is connected. I can cause a
crach by simply running 0&0 drfrag on this USB drive and the machine would
crash for sure.

What does this suggest? It's a new vista install on a new motherboard and
CPU. I was also having some crach problems with my old motherboard CPU and
same USB drive as well.

I haven't had the drive unplugged long enough though, to determine if it's
the actual USB drive.

How can the USB drive cause a crach like this anyway?


-Frankie
 
You can tell the system to halt after a BSOD and wait so you can read the
stop code, etc., by going to System Properties/Advanced Tab, clicking on the
Startup and Recovery button, and unchecking Automatically Restart. You can
call the System Properties page by right clicking on Computer and choosing
Properties from the context menu.

A crash dump is a file that is written to the root of the system drive
following a crash. It can be used to diagnose a crash but the stop code is
the place to start.

A faulty usb port, faulty cable, or faulty enclosure can cause a crash. So
can corrupted data on a drive or a corrupted system file. First you need
the stop code.

Please give the make and model of the computer, version of Vista, x86 or
x64, etc. It is harder to help you without these details.
 
Correction: You reach the System Properties/Advanced tab by right clicking
on Computer, choosing Properties, and clicking on Advanced system settings.
 
Back
Top