CHKDSK
system tool in DOS, OS/2 and Windows
CHKDSK (short for "check disk") is a shell command that verifies the data integrity of the file system on a volume (usually a partition) and attempts to fix logical errors – software-level problems with a filesystem (or its metadata) as a result of prior software malfunction (e.g. crashes) or irregular use (e.g. hard resets). Logical errors are contrasted with and usually less severe than hardware-level errors, which can not be fixed with CHKDSK and may instead require specialized data recovery software or hardware service or replacement. Although the name ends with "DSK" as an abbreviation for "disk", the command supports storage media other than disk-based.
The command is available in
DOS,
Windows,
FlexOS,
4690 OS,
OS/2,
DR DOS 6.0,
and FreeDOS.
CHKDSK is similar to the fsck command in Unix and similar to Microsoft ScanDisk, which co-existed with CHKDSK in Windows 9x and MS-DOS 6.x.
Variants
CHECKDSK
An early variant of a disk checking tool was a part of Digital Equipment Corporation hardware's diagnostics, running on early 1970s TENEX and TOPS-20.
SCP 86-DOS
The CHKDSK command was first written in 1980 by Tim Paterson and included in 86-DOS.
DOS
The command is available in MS-DOS versions 1 and later.
CHKDSK is implemented as an external command. MS-DOS versions 2.x - 4.x use chkdsk.com as the executable file.
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