ScanDisk
Microsoft utility purchased from Norton, which is now Symantec that has been included with MS-DOS 6.2 and above and all versions of Microsoft Windows except Windows NT. ScanDisk is a software utility capable of checking the hard disk drive or floppy diskette drive for any disk errors. When errors are encountered, ScanDisk will mark those sections of the disk to help prevent information from not being written correctly or other potential issues.
Below is an example of Windows ScanDisk while it is running within Microsoft Windows. As can be seen in the below example, ScanDisk allows you to select what drive you wish to check for errors and then a simple status bar to indicate its overall progress.
Next, the below picture is an example of what a Windows 98 computer or later would display if the computer was improperly shut down. In this example Windows XP is displaying a message that it'll being scanning the computer if a key is not pressed within seven seconds.
Microsoft Windows users can also run the chkdsk (check disk) command from the command line or recovery console if they need to check their hard disk drive for errors.
Also see: Defrag, Floppy disk drive definitions, Fsck, Hard disk drive definitions