Disk Error Checking

When doing a disk error check, I had always checked both "automatically fix file system errors" and "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors ". Lately I have only checked "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors ".

Question: When you only check "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" there's no need to check "automatically fix file system errors" unless there's an error message from the scan?

 

If you do not check "Automatically..." it is done manually. It will ask you what to do if an error is encountered. That is a check for an error in the file system.

Checking the surface of the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is separate to checking the file system.

The disks/platters of the HDD have a storage "media ". "Scan for..." checks for a physical problem on that media.
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That is six sentences. I hope it explains Error Checking. If you want to find it explained in detail, search for error checking or chkdsk in Help and Support.
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My suggestion:
If you suspect a problem with the HDD and you have not scanned before, check both boxes.
If you have problems and you could identify and possibly correct a file system error, only check the "Scan for..." box.
If you are happy that the media does not have faults, do not check the "Scan for..." box.

Matt