Error-Checking of drive = chkdsk??

Warning! My ignorance is about to show:

When you run XP's Error-checking is it chkdsk or something else that runs?

If you don't check either box and run the disk-check, what does the checker check for?

(I've run it with neither box checked almost always for a year, just before defragging, and it has never reported anything except "Finished checking disk." Now, maybe that's because all it's looking for is file fragments, and I have Never - not even once - had a system crash on XP in the year I've been running it. But if I check either of the options and it runs on the next boot, it never finds anything then, either.)

What does it look like when it finds a problem?

Thanks for the education and advice I'm going to get on this one. This is a great team.

 

I can't believe nobody here knows the answers to my questions, so I'm re-posting to kick this back up toward the top of the list. Mebbe I just wasn't clear the first time.

In My Computer, select-any-drive, then Properties, then Tools tab, where both error-checking and defragging are offered, if you choose to Check Now, you get offered two option boxes. You can check either, both, or neither and run a scan. If you check either box, you have to reboot to run the scan. If you check neither, the scan runs immediately, and reports when it's finished.

I've run the scan with neither box checked a hundred times, and it has never reported anything except "Scan finished."

So, two questions:

What executable does this panel run when you tell it to scan the drive? Chkdsk, or something else?

If the scan with NEITHER box checked is run and it finds something to report, what sorts of things does it report?

(I'm guessing that it's supposed to find fragments of data tossed out by a system crash, and offer to save the frags as a file or dump them. That's what the old Scandisk util did in W98. But this thing has never reported anything to me except that the scan is completed.)

Anybody?

 

Yes... it's check disk that is run, but I'm unsure how checking the boxes effects the scan. But I'll see what I can find... I'll research some, just for the learning and knowledge... I'll help ya in your quest to find out the answer, dude. I'm sure others here will look into it as well, and may be doing so since you've last posted, so together we'll figure it out. Let's be patient and see how the whole MG group does with finding some answers!

 

Funny, my files report nothing about the P switch:
___________
CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/I] [/C] [/L[:size]]


volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
filename FAT/FAT32 only: Specifies the files to check for fragmentation.
/F Fixes errors on the disk.
/V On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every file
on the disk.
On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any.
/R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information
(implies /F).
/L:size NTFS only: Changes the log file size to the specified number
of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays current
size.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid
(implies /F).
/I NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index entries.
/C NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder
structure.

The /I or /C switch reduces the amount of time required to run Chkdsk by
skipping certain checks of the volume.
_____________

No P. But in the Windows disk-checking utility (Drive, Properties, Tools, Check Now), we have three possibilities:

1. Run the checker, and fix file system errors;
2. Run the checker and attempt recovery of bad sectors;
3. Run the checker, period.

Now that your guess has made my "guesser" start working, I'm guessing that these compare to Scandisk this way:
1 = the old Scandisk Standard, with automatically fix errors checked;
2 = the old Thorough, and takes a while after a reboot, and running it implies 1;
3 = the old Standard without "automatically fix" checked. I'm betting that IF this fast scan finds any errors, like the trash from a sys crash, it reports and offers you choices. Dunno, cuz I've never seen it report that it found anything.

Sound reasonable?