Scandisk Ü ßßßßßßßßß Runs the ScanDisk disk-repair program. Syntax: SCANDISK [drive:] [/ALL] [/CHECKONLY | /AUTOFIX [/NOSAVE]] [/CUSTOM] [/MONO] [/NOSUMMARY] [/SURFACE] To check and repair a drive, use the following syntax: SCANDISK [drive: | /ALL] [/CHECKONLY | /AUTOFIX [/NOSAVE]] [/SURFACE] To examine a file for fragmentation, use the following syntax: SCANDISK /FRAGMENT [drive:][path]filename /ALL Checks and repairs all local drives. /AUTOFIX Fixes damage without prompting. /CHECKONLY Checks a drive, but does not repair any damage. /CUSTOM Configures and runs ScanDisk according to SCANDISK.INI settings. /NOSAVE With /AUTOFIX, deletes lost clusters rather than saving as files. /NOSUMMARY With /CHECKONLY or /AUTOFIX, prevents ScanDisk from stopping at summary screens. /SURFACE Performs a surface scan after other checks. /MONO Configures ScanDisk for use with a monochrome display. Why Use It? If the power goes off or a program crashes, the FAT table may be damaged. Files may become cross-linked, or clusters may be lost or orphaned. In essence, this means that their addresses have not been recorded properly. When this happens, it is essential that the computer be allowed to repair the files and their addresses before files are accessed during normal use. Drive Problems Problems like cross-linked files and lost clusters are "logical" problems in the computer's address keeping. A hard disk can also occasionally have physical problems. A physical hardware problem results from a disks' surface being scratched, contaminated, or demagnetized. A hard disk is divided into sectors; one or more of the physical sectors can be damaged by jarring, magnets or contaminantes such as cigarette ashes (or dropping it in the wash machine). A damaged sector on a hard disk can result in a multitude of computer problems. ScanDisk, however, is also capable of doing a surface scan to check for physical damage. If ScanDisk finds a damaged sector, it marks that area as unusable. Once the computer marks a sector as bad, it will quarantine that area so that it will not cause any future problems. Keep Your Computer In Tip-top Shape In addition to using ScanDisk regularly, another FreeDOS tool you will find beneficial is Defrag. Defrag will keep your computer in good shape by making sure files are not cross-linked or spread out over vasts amounts of clusters. You will want to run ScanDisk and Defrag once a month in order to make sure there are no problems with your computer.