SCANDISK

[Navrah]

I regularily run the "Standard Scandisk". I used to once say every 6 months run the "Thorough Scandisk". Several yrs ago I was told the "Thorough" isn't necessary.

Any thoughts?

Follow up: Over the last year or 2 when I've even/rarely attempted to run the "Thorough Scandisk" ... it won't complete. My details are shaky as it's been probably a yr or 2 since I've last tried...but it appears the completion of the "Thorough Scandisk" is ALWAYS interupted by something and won't complete. I've turned off all running programs including screen savers, power modes, etc. I just can't get it to complete a "Thorough Scandisk". Any thoughts of why I'm unable to complete such a mundane task? Again, I may be wrong but I seem to recall it saying something like "Scandisk has restarted x times"? Hope that offers an insightful clue.

Thanks a bunch for any info.
Paul

[km]

Nav - you should invest in a system tool like Norton System Works that does a much superior job of checking the drive and errors on the disk than old Scandisk (leftover from DOS).

But I fear your problem is a deteriorating drive and it will continue to get worse. When a hard drive begins acting up, going slow, not responding -- unless there is virus - it is the beginning of the end and there is no way you can repair it back to new condition. Most hard disks in my experience have a 2-3 year life if used constantly. Suggestion is to get a backup drive and copy all your important work immediately. Then consider replacing the main drive or buy a new computer if yours is getting outdated. Costs are very reasonable right now for all these things - don't frustrate yourself too much with it!

[Navrah]

Thanks again.

I've been putting the last 5 or 6 Dell catalogs on the front seat of my car since the 1st of the year. They're probably all still sitting there. Avoiding the reality. I guess I'll go digging into them right now before I'm really sorry.

[Cliff]

Paul,

I seem to recall having the same problem some time ago and believe it ended up being the virus scanner trying to run in the background. Assuming it's not your hard drive, you may want to disable or even completely uninstall your virus program and try.

[Navrah]

Cliff

Good call as I do have Norton on there. I can't run a Thorough on the laptop or the desktop. They both have Norton. At the same time...it is time to replace the Laptop which is blowing smoke (and occassional Blue Screens).

[qhrick]

I've seen scandisk unable to work on many computers except when running in "safe mode", even tho you may have shut down all programs, scanners, etc

Assuming you want to use scandisk, try that

Boot into "safe mode", then run scandisk

You can reach safe mode while booting in most versions of Windows by tapping the F8 key intermittently while booting. If Windows starts regulary, you missed it and would have to reboot

Assuming you are given a menu choice while bootup, choose "safe mode"

After completion, reboot to regular mode

-rick