Popular guest writer Rick Robinette, who is always on the hunt for the best in Freeware, has just come across CheckDrive, a great little Hard Drive error checking utility.
Here’s Rick’s review:
Looking for and writing content for a blog is a job, especially when you are on the run; however, in my email this morning a company called Abelssoft, dropped me a line about a new FREE hard disk utility called CheckDrive 2011, that saved the day and possibly my hard disks.
From my early testing of this utility, it is like using chkdsk (checkdisk), with a very nice GUI (graphical user interface). As with chkdsk, if errors are found on any of your drives, repairing those errors can take some time.
Failure to identify and repair errors on your hard disks (in the file system), can result in data corruption; thus, the importance of an utility such as CheckDrive.
As always, maintain backups of your data prior to running any maintenance utility. This is the type of utility I usually run on a monthly basis to check the integrity of my disks.
If you are not familiar with chkdsk (checkdisk):
Chkdsk (Checkdisk) is a command on computers running DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems, that displays the file system integrity status of hard disks and floppy disk, and can fix logical file system errors. It is similar to the fsck command in Unix.
On computers running NT-based versions of Windows, CHKDSK can also check the disk surface for physical errors or bad sectors, a task previously done by SCANDISK. This version of CHKDSK can also handle some physical errors and recover data that is still readable. – Wikipedia
CheckDrive offers you an easy way to check your hard drives for errors. CheckDrive may detect and fix hard drive errors that might appear on system crashes or when switching off your PC without a proper Windows shutdown.
If you’ve ever had a system crash, then CheckDrive is for you. CheckDrive is completely free! Download it today to check your system for hard drive errors.
CheckDrive – Features:
Check Hard Disks for Errors – CheckDrive offers you an easy way of checking your PCs hard drives for errors. Those errors can be fixed immediately if you like.
Shows Drive Information – CheckDrive shows info about your drives and determines if your hard drive needs to be cleaned or defragmented.
Detects current fragmentation of your hard drives.
Shows the amount of garbage on your disks.
System requirements: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Win 7 (all – 32 and 64 bit).
Download at: Developer’s site (Abelssoft)
This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.
Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.
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