Disk Checker

Disk Checker is a hard drive monitoring/repairing tool for Windows. It is even more of a suite of tools that allow you to scan your hard disks for errors.

The first thing you will want to do is carry out a full scan. This process will most likely take about half an hour to complete for a 120-gigabyte hard drive. If the application finds any logical errors (it scans using several techniques), you will be able to fix those. Also, there is an option to automatically repair any errors. There are two methods for scanning: Direct Access and File Access. The Direct Access works best with local media and the File Access uses other parameters to scan data. Interestingly, Disc Checker will tell you what files are located on sectors with errors, so you can delete or maybe save them. Furthermore, the application has the ability to create disc images in an array of formats. To top it all off, there is a tab for S.M.A.R.T. data, which should give you some insight into your hard drive's overall status. In short, with back-up and error scanning capabilities, Disk Checker should prove enough for a casual hard drive monitoring and repair suite. However, Disk Checker (and most other applications) can't handle physical errors and some logical ones.