Run VISTA disk check without reboot

Question

I want to perform a surface scan on my harddisks (S-ATA, P-ATA, USB and E-SATA) in windows VISTA. Is it possible to do this without scheduling the scan on next reboot? It takes a lot of time and I would like to be able to use the computer during the scan. I can accept that this might not be possible on the window partition disk, but I cannot see why it shouldn't be possible on other disks.

Answer 1

It's as simple as going to the command prompt (with elevation; start -> search for 'cmd' -> right click -> "run as administrator") and typing chkdsk /x /r D: (replacing D: with the drive you wish to scan.) The /x parameter forces a dismount of the drive, and the /r parameter forces a surface scan of the drive. Hope that helps!