# Checking Disk Consistency



## Troy210 (Oct 24, 2008)

I have been using Win XP for as long as i can remember, and i have never booted up before and gotten this message. It claims my C drive needs to be checked for consistency..why would it do this, and what is its purpose? 


Thanks


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## francis511 (Oct 24, 2008)

All kinds of reasons . Unless it found a LOT of errors , there`s prolly no need to worry.


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## 95Viper (Oct 24, 2008)

1.  Click on the Start menu and open the run dialog.
2.  Type "cmd" and return (without quotes)
3.  Next type "fsutil dirty query <letter of drive that chkdsk keeps checking>" (for example, C:
4.  If the returned message indicates that the volume is dirty, go to step 5
5.  Next type "chkdsk <drive letter> /f /x"

     If you get this below answer YES.
     Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
     process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
     checked the next time the system restarts? <Y/N>

6.  After that finishes, repeat step 3.
7.  If the volume is no longer dirty, reboot and chkdsk should not reappear


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## Troy210 (Oct 24, 2008)

Thanks!


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## Troy210 (Oct 25, 2008)

Ok i did as viper suggested, but it stops checking at stage 3. It is still saying the drive is dirty, and still needs to be checked. I did a defrag and a disk cleanup, and suggestions?


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## Mussels (Oct 25, 2008)

that problem tends to occur if the drive was in use, and the PC was powered off instead of shutdown.

not sure how to remove the dirty flag, its been so long since i've had that problem.


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## Troy210 (Oct 27, 2008)

I defragged the drive, and ran disk cleanup..nada..still same problem..confusing.


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## francis511 (Oct 27, 2008)

Dos seatools is good for this kind of thing


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## Troy210 (Oct 27, 2008)

I'll look into it, thanks.


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## Kreij (Oct 27, 2008)

Have you run a virus scan lately?
Viruses can also lead to disk inconsistencies.
Stage 3 of chkdsk is checking the security descriptors of each file to make sure they are well formed and internally consistent.


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## DirkDiggler (Oct 27, 2008)

I would try running a diagnostic app like HDD Health on that drive.  It'll will read the SMART data off the drive and see if there are too many reallocations (bad sectors), or it is over heating etc.


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## spearman914 (Oct 27, 2008)

Happens to me everytime I booted up my old comp. I did what it said and everytime i boot it still happens. This is mainly caused by the hard drive failing


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## Troy210 (Oct 28, 2008)

Kreij said:


> Have you run a virus scan lately?
> Viruses can also lead to disk inconsistencies.
> Stage 3 of chkdsk is checking the security descriptors of each file to make sure they are well formed and internally consistent.



Yes i have many anti virus programs, and all have come back clean. It's prolly just ready to die. As i sit here right now, it sounds like a low humming buzz every few seconds.


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## Mussels (Oct 28, 2008)

llllllllllll said:


> Yes i have many anti virus programs, and all have come back clean. It's prolly just ready to die. As i sit here right now, it sounds like a low humming buzz every few seconds.



i'd say get your data off it, and turn it into an external HDD (if its hardly ever on, it'll live a lot longer)


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## Troy210 (Oct 28, 2008)

DirkDiggler said:


> I would try running a diagnostic app like HDD Health on that drive.  It'll will read the SMART data off the drive and see if there are too many reallocations (bad sectors), or it is over heating etc.



It's weird, this program says both HD's are in excellent condition.


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## Mussels (Oct 28, 2008)

those programs read certain values of data. bad sectors, hours of operation etc... they cant hear funny noises, they cant tell if a motors physically wearing down, etc.


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## DirkDiggler (Oct 29, 2008)

Mussels said:


> those programs read certain values of data. bad sectors, hours of operation etc... they cant hear funny noises, they cant tell if a motors physically wearing down, etc.




Correct, I am gonna venture a guess and say the drive is on it's way out, so do as suggested and backup whatever you can before it says bye-bye.


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## 95Viper (Oct 29, 2008)

It is a long shot, but check your c: drive root directory and see if you have a lot of files named Filexxxx.chk

If you do; try deleting them.  Only the ones with .chk extension.

Then restart and see what happens...


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## 95Viper (Nov 8, 2008)

If you are still having problems try this.
1. Turn off system restore
2. Reboot
3. Run windows disk cleaner for each drive
4. Turn system restore back on-if you use it.


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