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How To Check Hard Drive Usage

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  1. How To Check Hard Drive Usage On Windows 10
  2. More How To Check Hard Drive Usage Videos
  3. How To Check Hard Drive Usage Windows 10

When things go wrong with your hard drive or USB, you can try the simple method first to check hard drive health: use Windows 10 CHKDSK tool to check and fix hard disk errors. Tip: This method works with computer local hard drive, as well as external hard drive and USB flash drive. The temperature of the hard drive can be a cause for system crashes. It if goes to high it can lead to data loss and errors. The transfer mode can be interesting if you think that your hard drive is not as fast as it should be. Check the supported transfer modes of your drive and compare them to the one that is currently being used for it.

Has your computer been sluggish lately? Your hard drive usage could be too high and on its way to a crash. Here's how to check if it's working too hard.

Your hard drive is the main storage of your computer. It holds your pictures, videos, office or business software among everything else running on your PC. If you've already scanned for malware, removed unnecessary programs and toolbars, checked your CPU and your memory then it may be time to check your hard drive. Programs malfunctioning in the background can read and write unnecessarily from your hard causing your computer to slow down.

To find out if your hard drive is overwhelmed, first click the Start button and choose Computer.

In Windows 8, hold down the key and press the F key. Click Apps > PC. For more on how to make Windows 8 look and behave like Windows 7, please consult the following IT article.

Clicking on your hard drive will show the free space available. Even if you have plenty of space available, your hard drive could be reading and writing too much.

How To Check Hard Drive Usage On Windows 10

To find out if that is the case, first open the task manager by right clicking the bar at the bottom of the screen.

Select Start Task Manager.

Under the Performance tab, select Resource Monitor.

Under Processes with Disk Activity, you can view which processes are accessing the hard drive for reading and writing. Any process that looks unfamiliar should be googled. Many sites will help you discriminate between legitimate and suspicious processes.

Under Disk Activity, you can view the exact bytes per second each process is using for reading and writing. If any process is using an inordinate amount reading and writing capacity, several possibilities exist.

One possibility is the software governing the wayward process could be malfunctioning. To find out if this is the case, close and re -open the program. If you cannot close the program normally, go back to the Task Manager.

Under the Processes tab, highlight the process in question and click End Process.

Check the Resource Monitor again to see if the process is still reading and writing with the same bytes per second. If it is, you might want to uninstall and re- install the program. Go to the Start menu and select Control Panel.

From the Control Panel, select either Programs and Features or Uninstall a Program (this will depend on the type of menu you have). How to check my excel version.

Highlight the targeted program and click uninstall.

Install the program again and see if the reading and writing speeds are different.

If the high reading and writing speeds persist, the computer could be infected with malware. For more on how to detect and remove malware, please consult the following IT article.

If malware is not the culprit for the aberrant reading and writing, your hard disk could have errors. Once again, go to Start > Computer. Right click your hard drive and select Properties.

Click the Tools tab. Under Error checking, click Check now.

Provide authentication if you are requested for it. If the scan detects problems, select both Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.

Click Start. You will be prompted to reschedule a disk check the next time you restart your computer. Allow the disk check to proceed upon restart.

If this doesn't manage to sort out the reading and writing problems, you could have a defective hard disk. Temporarily installing another hard disk on your PC with the same software should give you a reference on whether the abnormal reading and writing stems from physical problems with the hard drive. Note if the reading and writing speeds for the same processes are dramatically different for the different hard drives. If they are, going with a new hard drive might be the best bet.

For more information about hard drive errors and other problems affecting your SOHO or office PCs, consult your local IT professional.

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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 SolutionsStep-by-step Troubleshooting
1. Run Disk DoctorOpen EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. Then locate the disk, right-click the partition.Full steps
2. Check Windows PropertiesOpen 'This PC', right-click the HDD/SSD you want to scan and choose 'Properties'.Full steps
3. Use Command PromptPress the Windows key and type cmd. Right-click 'Command Prompt'.Full steps
4. CHKDSK AlternativeDownload EaseUS Tools M 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 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: Open EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. Then locate the disk, right-click the partition you want to check, 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'.

How to install notepad on windows 7. Step 3: The software will begin checking your partition file system on your disk. When it has completed, click 'Finish'.

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

How To Check Hard Drive Usage

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.

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. Get pics off phone to computer. 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'.

Also read: CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode

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

If you don't have any technical know-how and want to minimize data risks, using third-party software could be a better choice. The Command line is suitable for computer professionals since wrong commands can cause severe problems. Therefore, we strongly recommend you try an automatic command line alternative.

EaseUS Tools M is a practical computer fixing tool that is safe and light-weighted. It's a perfect alternative to CHKDSK command. Use this one-click tool to solve your computer issues.

To fix file system error or disk error:

Step 1: DOWNLOAD EaseUS Tools M for Free and install it.

Step 2: Open the software and select the 'File showing' option.

Step 3: Choose the drive and wait for repairing. After the operation completes, click the 'View' button to check the drive.

Best

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.

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. Get pics off phone to computer. 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'.

Also read: CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode

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

If you don't have any technical know-how and want to minimize data risks, using third-party software could be a better choice. The Command line is suitable for computer professionals since wrong commands can cause severe problems. Therefore, we strongly recommend you try an automatic command line alternative.

EaseUS Tools M is a practical computer fixing tool that is safe and light-weighted. It's a perfect alternative to CHKDSK command. Use this one-click tool to solve your computer issues.

To fix file system error or disk error:

Step 1: DOWNLOAD EaseUS Tools M for Free and install it.

Step 2: Open the software and select the 'File showing' option.

Step 3: Choose the drive and wait for repairing. After the operation completes, click the 'View' button to check the drive.

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.

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. Menumate 1 3 download free.

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:

More How To Check Hard Drive Usage Videos

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'.

How to play pool on messages. 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:

How To Check Hard Drive Usage Windows 10

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




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