Instructions

1

Click on "Start," then choose "My Computer."
2

Right-click on the drive you want to check for bad sectors and click "Properties."
3

Switch to the "Tools" tab, and then click on the "Check Now" button under error checking. This will bring up a disk-checking window.
4

Check the box for "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors." Optionally, also check the "Automatically fix file system errors" box.
5

Click the "Start" button to begin the scan. Windows will then scan that hard drive for bad sectors and attempt to recover data in them. If you receive a message stating that disk check needs exclusive access to that drive, click "Yes" to schedule the scan for the next time you restart your computer and then restart your computer. This will happen if you have files on that drive open or if that drive contains your Windows installation.