By Cherry / Last Updated April 25, 2022

Why need to run hard drive test in Windows 10?

You may encounter many problems during using Windows 11/10/8/7 computer, like hard disk errors, crashing or other bad behavior. There are many factors can cause those bad things to happen, such as improper shutdowns, bad software, virus attack, etc.

Among them, hard disk errors can result in more heavy problems, like system crash, hard drive failure, data loss or other unexpected accidents. Thus, it is necessary to check hard drive for errors in Windows 11/10/8/7. If you do not know how to do it, read continue to learn the effective three methods.

3 ways: How to run hard drive test Windows 11, 10, 8, 7

To perform a hard drive error check on Windows 11/10/8/7, here we provide you with three different ways, including Windows built-in tools and free third-party utility. You can choose any way according to your needs.

Method 1. Check hard drive error with Windows Properties

Here, we perform a hard drive error check via Windows Properties in Windows 10. All you need to do is follow the steps below:

1. Click on This PC item on the desktop.

2. Right-click the hard drive needs to be scanned, then choose Properties.

3. Select the Tools tab, then click the Check button.

Check Drive

When Windows has finished the hard drive error check, restart your PC to see if the problem has been settled.

Method 2. Check and repair disk errors with Command Prompt

Command Prompt is a built-in command-line program, you can type in the corresponding command to perform various operations. To check and repair disk errors, you can use chkdsk command:

● Type in CMD in the search bar, right-click it and select run as Administrator.
● If you want to do hard drive test and fix errors in Windows 10, you can type in chkdsk g: /f /r /x and hit Enter (Here, “g” is the drive letter of the disk you want to check).

This option will run the CHKDSK to check and repair bad sectors or other disk errors on G: volume. The “/f” parameter tells CHKDSK to fix any errors it finds, “/r” tells it to locate the bad sectors on the drive and recover readable information, and “/x” forces the drive to dismount before the process starts.

Check Errors

There are many other commands you need to know:
✍ chkntfs/c. Use with NTFS only. To schedule the volume to be checked the next time the computer is restarted.
✍ chkdsk/i. Use with NTFS only. Perform a less vigorous check of index entries, which reduces the amount of time required to run chkdsk.
✍ chkdsk/b. Use with NTFS only. Clears the list of bad clusters on the volume and re-scans all allocated and free clusters for errors.
✍ chkdsk*.*. Check all files on a FAT disk in the current directory for non-contiguous. It will display a status report, and then lists the files that match the file specifications that have non-contiguous blocks.
✍ chkdsk/?. Display help with all commands if covered ones are not what you need.

You may receive the following return codes:
✍ 0: no errors were found.
✍ 1: errors were found and fixed.
✍ 2: Performed disk cleanup (such as garbage collection) or did not perform cleanup because /f was not specified.
✍ 3: Could not check the disk, errors could not be fixed, or errors were not fixed because /f was not specified.

Method 3. Hard disk diagnostic tool for Windows 10

Complicated? If you are looking for a simpler and easier way to do hard drive test in Windows 11/10/8/7. Then the Method 3 would be the best choice.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard  is a powerful disk partition manager that can help you test and repair hard drive health to find errors, corruption and bad sectors, and get better performance. What's more, this is a graphic user interface software, you can use it in an easy way.

Secure Download

Step 1. Download AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, install it to your Windows PC and launch it. Right-click the drive you need to check, select Advanced -> Check Partition.

Check Partition

Step 2. Select a way in the pop-up window. Click OK to run it.

Check Errors Way

In addition to checking partitions, it can also check disk. You can refer to the following steps:

Step 1. Right-click the disk you need to test, select Surface Test.

Surface Test

Step 2. Tick the box in front of Quick Check and click Start to run the progress.

Start Test System Disk


See, it is simpler and easier to run hard drive test in Windows 10 with AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. Actually, the AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard can do a lot for you, such as format/resize/delete the partition, Rebuild MBR, and so on. 

Besides, It also provides AOMEI Partition Assistant Server for Windows Server 2022/2019/2016/2012/2008/2003 users.