check your hard drive disc for bad sectors and errors

Everyone should regularly check their hard drive disc for things like errors, incorrect file structure, lost clusters and bad sectors. Performing this task every so often can prolong the life of your hard worked hard drive. In windows you can easily access tools to check the health of your hard drive.
Here's how to check your hard drive for bad sectors and errors:
1.Go to the Start Menu and choose My Computer
2.Right click on the drive you want to check. I always check C: drive as it is my main drive.
3.Choose Properties from the drop down menu.
4.Click on the Tools tab
5.Here you can press check now to scan your hard disc for errors.
6.A box will appear with some choices. Choose to let Windows fix errors automatically.
7.Then press start.
8.When it is finished scanning a report will appear.
As you can see in the screenshot above, you can also choose to defrag your hard drive or backup your computer here.
How often should you check your hard disk for bad sectors and errors?
Regular checks of your hard drive will prevent unexpected data loss so I would recommend to use check disk at least once a month. This way if bad sectors are found, sometimes Windows can repair them. Also if a hard drive has too many bad sectors appearing you should probably think about getting another hard drive. At least you will be prepared and not be caught by an unexpected hard drive crash.