Recover CHK Files After CHKDSK Or Scandisk Process

From my previous post, we know how to disable scheduled CHKDSK so that no CHKDSK will ever be performed automatically on the Windows boot. Sometimes after CHKDSK has been performed and "repaired" files in your hard disk, apparently it turns your files to CHK files. It is a total disaster to have your

important files to become CHK files without your acknowledge. This is because they can not correct non-file system errors on hard disks.

As what we can quote from here:

Why many people become confused is that their computer is triggering a disk checking utility, they automatically assume (as does the software) that they have a problem with the file system. Infact they may have a problem with their hard disk that has in turn caused a problem with the file system. So, although the symptoms are in most cases identical (i.e. the automatic triggering of Scandisk etc), the cause of the problem is rather different. In these instances, running disk checking software is to be avoided at all costs.

The disk checking program is not capable of diagnosing the correct problem (i.e. a faulty hard disk) and misdiagnoses it as a file system problem, and then attempts to (often automatically!) repair the problem. Data that was often fully recoverable now becomes damaged, fragmented and unrecoverable.

Then what you should do if you have triggered the CHKDSK or Scandisk and unable to recover your FileXXXXX.CHK files?

There are plenty of softwares and tools to easily recover these files. But I just want to highlight these two small tools. They are UnCHK and FileCHK. Both of them need the Visual Basic 5 runtime files, which come pre-installed on Windows 2000 and newer.

UnCHK supports JPG PSP PSD GIF ZIP CAB EXE DLL OCX WRI BMP DOC PPT XLS PDF RTF HTM WAV MID AVI RAR TIF MP3 WPD FPX EPS CLP file types.
Whereas FileCHK supports 3DS TIF EXE BMP SWF PSD AI GIF PST CAB RAR CHM MID PDF ZIP HLP MP3 DWG MPG LNK URL HTM JPG TTF MDB MOV QT DOC XLS RMI WAV AVI CDR TXT ASF file types.

You can find the comparison table made my Eric Phelps (the guy to develop UnCHK). He has made this table to compare FileCHK made by Martin Kratz. The table basically has explained everything you need to know on how to use or how they work.

Check it out at: http://www.ericphelps.com/uncheck/

Both of them are really easy to use and should recover your .CHK files in no time.