How To Perform CHKDSK Deleted Files Recovery

Windows hard disk errors and disk crashes is an inevitable situation faced by almost everyone. It can be caused due to some power issues, improper shutdowns, file system issues, or simply a wear-out after some years. Reasons can be different but a hard disk failure can be a troublesome situation. It can also result into loss of data files from the hard disk. Windows has an inbuilt disk scanning and checking utility, which can be used to scan the errors on the hard drive. However, many users experience unwanted file deletion or data loss after running this chkdsk & then seeks for CHKDSK Deleted Files Recovery because of Windows scandisk deleted files. Let us first see what “Check Disk” (chkdsk) is and what is the appropriate method to perform this check.

Appropriate Technique to Execute CHKDSK Utility

Chkdsk command is used to fix file system errors, which signals the issues in file system and then helps to recover data from the bad sectors. When this utility is used without defining any parameters, it reports the information about drive and does not recover or repair anything. When used with the parameter /F, it fixes the file system errors reported earlier. Errors related to FAT or MFT, which are caused due to clusters with indefinite identities. A lost cluster with indefinite identities is one, which has no FAT or MFT entry-point, and cross-linked cluster can be defined as one, which has two or more FAT or MFT entry points. In order to perform the chkdsk on system disk, users can perform below mentioned steps;
Note: This only perform error check (not CHKDSK Deleted Files Recovery)

• Click on “Start” and then in search box type “Run”. Click on Run as soon as it appears.
• This will open a small window. Here type “cmd” in the text box and the click “Enter”.
• Command prompt will open where you can execute the CHKDSK.
• If you want to perform the check n read-only mode type CHKDSK c:
• If you want to simultaneously fix the errors without checking bad sectors the type CHKDSK c:/f
• If you want to perform a complete, check including fixing errors, finding bad sectors in hard drive, and recover readable and accessible data, type CHKDSK c:/r or CHKDSK c:/p and the hit “Enter”.
• If you want to create a report of errors found in the check, you can use CHKDSK C: >Myfile.txt command, which wills save the reports in this file.

What Data is Lost While Using CHKDSK?

It is highly important that the drive is locked while performing the CHKDSK operation. This because it can change the disk’s file allocation table while processing and the file can be lost forever. In case you have performed the chkdsk check on your drives and the data files are lost then there are some tricks, which can help to gain your data back.

1. You can check the root of C:\ drive and search for a Found.xxx folder where xxx represents set of numbers started with zero. In this folder, there will be files Filexxxx.CHK. and recovered file fragments, which can help you to gain back your data using Hex Editor. In some cases, these files are recoverable and in some cases, they are corrupted.
2. Users must implement this habit of executing any check utility on the data files after creating an updated backup of the data. This way you will be able to retrieve the lost data files from backup.
3. It is highly important not to perform any task on the drive once you come to know that the data files have been deleted or lost after executing CHKDSK. This is because the sector can be overwritten with other data, and once it is overwritten; there are very rare chances of getting back the data.

Alternative for Retrieving Lost Data Files (CHKDSK Deleted Files Recovery)

Many users do not prefer and practice to create backup of data. The root folder of C drive also can be overwritten and the Found.000 folder will be of no help if user is not aware of what to do with the recovered fragments. In such situations, commercial utilities like HDD Recovery software can be a better solution to perform CHKDSK Deleted Files Recovery. Users can retrieve lost data using this tool, which was deleted due to running the CHKDSK. It is easy to execute and needs no technical expertise.