 Text-based version of Microsoft ScanDisk running on Windows 98 | |
| Other names | ScanDisk |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
| Initial release | 1993 |
| Operating system | MS-DOS 6.2 and Windows 9x |
| Type | Utility software |
| License | Proprietary commercial software |
Microsoft ScanDisk (also called ScanDisk) is a diagnostic utility program included in MS-DOS and Windows 9x. It checks and repairs file systems errors on a disk drive, while the system starts.
The program was first introduced in MS-DOS 6.2 [1] and succeeded its simpler predecessor, CHKDSK . It included a more user-friendly interface than CHKDSK, more configuration options, [2] [3] and the ability to detect and (if possible) recover from physical errors on the disk. This replaced and improved upon the limited ability offered by the MS-DOS recover utility. [4] Unlike CHKDSK, ScanDisk would also repair crosslinked files. [5]
In Windows 95 onwards, ScanDisk also had a graphical user interface, although the text-based user interface continued to be available for use in single-tasking ("DOS") mode. [6] [7]
However, ScanDisk cannot check NTFS disk drives, and therefore it is unavailable for computers that may be running NT based (including Windows 2000, Windows XP, etc.) versions of Windows; for the purpose, a newer CHKDSK is provided instead.
On Unix-like systems, there are tools like fsck_msdosfs [8] and dosfsck to do the same task.
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The Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) is a family of standards specified by the IEEE Computer Society for maintaining compatibility between operating systems. POSIX defines both the system- and user-level application programming interfaces (API), along with command line shells and utility interfaces, for software compatibility (portability) with variants of Unix and other operating systems. POSIX is also a trademark of the IEEE. POSIX is intended to be used by both application and system developers.
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In computing, format, a command-line utility that carries out disk formatting. It is a component of various operating systems, including 86-DOS, MS-DOS, IBM PC DOS and OS/2, Microsoft Windows and ReactOS.
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and few operating systems attempting to be compatible with MS-DOS, are sometimes referred to as "DOS". MS-DOS was the main operating system for IBM PC compatibles during the 1980s, from which point it was gradually superseded by operating systems offering a graphical user interface (GUI), in various generations of the graphical Microsoft Windows operating system.
In computing, recover is a primitive file system error recovery utility included in MS-DOS / IBM PC DOS versions prior to DOS 6.0 and a number of other operating systems.
If you are running MS-DOS 6.2 or later, run ScanDisk, instead of [~snip~]
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