chkdsk.exe giving inconsistent reports- why?

[Infohawk]

Hi,

I'm running xp home. My system crashed, so I ran chkdsk. It said there were errors and that I should use chkdsk /f. I typed in chkdsk /f and it said the volume was in use and asked if I wanted to schedule a check on reboot. I said I did.

Here's the thing, on reboot, the chkdsk says there are no errors! It doesn't fix anything. Then I start up chkdsk (not with /f 'cause it won't let me) again when I'm logged in and voilà there are reported errors and it says I should use chksk /f. I didn't do anything between the chkdsk on boot and running chkdsk after being logged in so it's not like new errors could have popped up.

Any ideas of what's going on? Why is it reporting errors when I'm logged in but not on reboot. Is there anyway to check the disk (c drive) while I'm logged in without scheduling something on reboot?

Thanks

 

[bsobel]

This is normal. Since chkdsk can not lock the volume, any changes that occur from the time chkdsk starts until it ends may be seen by chkdsk as inconsistancies. You'll often see a report of 'minor inconsistancies' in the volume bitmap (for example). These can be ignored.

If you run chkdsk on a locked drive and it doesn't report any errors, your fine.

Bill

 

[asb002]

They still use chkdsk?!? I thought that utility was obsoleted and scandisk replaced it. I'm still on Win98SE, so I might not know about the "new, but old" chkdsk on WinXP.

 

[MasterSamwise]

Yep it's still in use. As scary as that is.

MS

 

[Infohawk]

Is scandisk in xp? Is there something I should be using besides chkdsk?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Infohawk
Is scandisk in xp? Is there something I should be using besides chkdsk?

No. The only relationship this 'chkdsk' has and the one from the 9x line is the name.
Bill

 

[asb002]

OH! Because my next question was gonna be: how does it handle NTFS?