How to Perform Free Hard Drive Test or Diagnostic to Repair Disk Errors in Windows 10/8/7

Tracy King updated on May 16, 2024 to Partition Manager | How-to Articles

You need to check your Windows 10 computer if your computer is throwing up errors regularly. A hard drive test in Windows 10/8/7 helps you monitor and repair your hard disk health for mistakes, corruption, and bad sectors and get better performance. Here are four hard drive test methods and instructions that can do you a favor.

Drive errors, corruptions, or bad sectors can be caused by improper shutdowns, harmful software, virus attack, etc. Finally, these errors result in Windows 10/8/7 system crash, hard drive failure, data loss disaster, and some other accidents.

Top 4 Methods to Windows 10 Hard Drive Test/Diagnostic

In this case, a regular hard drive diagnostic in Windows 10 is always a good idea if you don't want to be caught by any of these unpleasant problems. There are four ways to perform a free hard drive test in Windows 10/8/7. Follow any one of the methods to solve your problems with ease.

Workable Solutions Step-by-step Troubleshooting
1. Run Disk Doctor Open EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. Then locate the disk, right-click the partition...Full steps
2. Check Windows Properties Open "This PC", right-click the HDD/SSD you want to scan and choose "Properties"...Full steps
3. Use Command Prompt Press the Windows key and type cmd. Right-click "Command Prompt"...Full steps
4. CHKDSK Alternative Download EaseUS CleanGenius for Free and install it. Open the software...Full steps

Method 1. Perform Hard Drive Error Diagnostic with Software

Applies to Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP

If your Windows 10 computer is throwing up errors, crashing, or otherwise misbehaving, the easiest way to solve it is by turning to an error-checking software. And my suggestion is EaseUS disk error checking software - EaseUS Partition Master Free. Even you don't have much technical know-how, you can quickly check and repair disk errors with this freeware. This free software can not only test and fix disk errors, but also have many other disk management skills.

Highlights:

  • Resize or move the partition to adjust the partition size
  • Clone disk with simple clicks
  • Format a hard drive, USB, SD card or SSD for free
  • Delete or wipe a partition quickly

You can use this free hard drive testing and diagnostic software to test and repair your hard disk health for errors, corruption, and bad sectors and get better performance.

Perform disk check on Windows 10:

Step 1. Right-click the target partition that has a problem.

Step 2. Choose "Advanced" > "Check File System".

Step 3. Confirm if you want to hide the partition or not.

Step 4. In the Check File System window, check the "Try to fix errors if found" option.

Step 5. Click "Start" to check errors on your partition.

It is simple and easy to test a hard drive in Windows 10/8/7 with EaseUS partition magic software.

Method 2. Perform Hard Drive Error Check with Windows Properties

Windows has a built-in tool that can scan your disk to find system errors and bad sectors and show if there are any problems with your hard drive. This function can scan and fix problems. Here is the way to check hard disk health and repair bad sectors and errors, if possible.

Step 1. Open "This PC", right-click the HDD/SSD you want to scan and choose "Properties".

Step 2. Under the "Tools" tab, click the "Check" button under the Error checking section.

Step 3. Next, you can choose to Scan or Repair the drive if errors were found.

Step 4. When the scanning finishes, click on the Show Details link to see the CHDSK log in Event Viewer.

The best solution to fix hard disk errors is to use a professional disk repair tool. Click the link to get more information about the tools:

Method 3. Use Command Prompt to Perform Hard Drive Diagnostic

Another way to perform a disk diagnostic in Windows 10 is by using CMD. Whenever you find your hard drive performs poorly, you can run CHKDSK to do the job. Here's how to run CHKDSK to repair disk errors in Windows 10. 

Step 1. Press the Windows key and type cmd.

Step 2. Right-click "Command Prompt" and choose "Run as administrator".

Step 3. Enter the following command: chkdsk E: /f /r /x

"E" is the drive letter of the partition you want to check and repair errors. Found errors will be fixed automatically with this command.

Step 4. In case of possible system file corruption, you are recommended to run the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files after running CHKDSK. In the Command Prompt, type the following command and hit "Enter".

sfc /scannow

Also read: CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode

Method 4. Check and Repair Disk Using CHKDSK Alternative (Also Free)

Download EaseUS CleanGenius and install it on your computer. Let's start checking and refixing file system error on your device now.

Step 1. Click "File Showing" to enter the next step.

Step 2. Choose the target device and tick the box of "Check and fix file system error". Click "Execute" to start fixing the problematic device.

Step 3. When the fixing process completes, click "here" to open and use your device. 

Conclusion

If you are looking for hard drive diagnostics (SD card, Flash USB and SSD drives), turn to this content for help. The four ways above can always make hard drive error checking easy and fast. And you can also view the video to check more solutions to monitor your hard drive health.

Disk Doctor Windows 10 Related Questions

If you want to get some further help or additional information, read these questions and answers below.

1. How to run CHKDSK?

To run CHKDSK:

Step 1. Press the Windows key and type cmd.

Step 2. Right-click "Command Prompt" and choose "Run as administrator".

Step 3. Enter the following command:

chkdsk E: /f /r /x

2. How to check the disk for free?

EaseUS partition tool makes it effortless check disk:

Step 1. Open EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. Locate the disk, right-click the partition, and choose "Check File System".

Step 2. In the Check File System window, keep the "Try to fix errors if found" option selected and click "Start".

Step 3. When it has completed, click "Finish".

3. Is it free to perform disk error checking?

Yes, it is. There are four ways to test your hard drive:

  • Perform Hard Drive Error Diagnostic with Software
  • Make use of Windows Properties.
  • Use Command Prompt 
  • Try CHKDSK Alternative