Scandisk Ü
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Runs the ScanDisk disk-repair program.
Syntax: SCANDISK [drive:] [/ALL] [/CHECKONLY | /AUTOFIX [/NOSAVE]]
[/CUSTOM] [/MONO] [/NOSUMMARY] [/SURFACE]
To check and repair a drive, use the following syntax:
SCANDISK [drive: | /ALL] [/CHECKONLY | /AUTOFIX [/NOSAVE]] [/SURFACE]
To examine a file for fragmentation, use the following syntax:
SCANDISK /FRAGMENT [drive:][path]filename
/ALL Checks and repairs all local drives.
/AUTOFIX Fixes damage without prompting.
/CHECKONLY Checks a drive, but does not repair any damage.
/CUSTOM Configures and runs ScanDisk according to SCANDISK.INI
settings.
/NOSAVE With /AUTOFIX, deletes lost clusters rather than saving
as files.
/NOSUMMARY With /CHECKONLY or /AUTOFIX, prevents ScanDisk from
stopping at summary screens.
/SURFACE Performs a surface scan after other checks.
/MONO Configures ScanDisk for use with a monochrome display.
Why Use It?
If the power goes off or a program crashes, the FAT table may be
damaged. Files may become cross-linked, or clusters may be lost or
orphaned. In essence, this means that their addresses have not been
recorded properly. When this happens, it is essential that the
computer be allowed to repair the files and their addresses before
files are accessed during normal use.
Drive Problems
Problems like cross-linked files and lost clusters are "logical"
problems in the computer's address keeping. A hard disk can also
occasionally have physical problems. A physical hardware problem
results from a disks' surface being scratched, contaminated, or
demagnetized. A hard disk is divided into sectors; one or more of
the physical sectors can be damaged by jarring, magnets or
contaminantes such as cigarette ashes (or dropping it in the wash
machine). A damaged sector on a hard disk can result in a multitude
of computer problems. ScanDisk, however, is also capable of doing a
surface scan to check for physical damage. If ScanDisk finds a
damaged sector, it marks that area as unusable. Once the computer
marks a sector as bad, it will quarantine that area so that it will
not cause any future problems.
Keep Your Computer In Tip-top Shape
In addition to using ScanDisk regularly, another FreeDOS tool you will
find beneficial is Defrag. Defrag will keep your computer in good shape
by making sure files are not cross-linked or spread out over vasts
amounts of clusters. You will want to run ScanDisk and Defrag once a
month in order to make sure there are no problems with your computer.