Does anyone know why Windows 2000 pro doesn't have "scandisk"? I understand it has "error check", but that doesn't have surface scan for instance. What gives? bronson

Windows NT/2K/XP use chkdsk instead of scandisk, as scandisk can only scan FAT partitions (not NTFS). I don't know why chkdsk doesn't have a surface scan option though, but I guess there's a perfectly good reason. Anyone else?

It does! Use the GUI to invoke chkdsk rather than command line: > in winExplore, R-click the volume (drive letter) you want to scan > Properties > Tools > "check now" button and a little dialog box pops-up: check both boxes (it's the "scan for & fix bad sectors" box that will surface scan - but you want to do both) System will probably want to restart, then will scan prior to loading windows. Takes forever on large volumes - defraging first will speed the process some. Some 3rd party tools have better algorythms than MS's built-ins. Your drive manufacturer will surely have a suite of tools that includes surface scan. Best, JP

AND you too can do it from the command line! just type chkdsk /? for all the switches at a cmd prompt.