# Are chk files safe to delete? (File0000.chk)



## robbieart (Jan 13, 2001)

I am working on a computer that is having problems. This is my situation....

I can't run scandisk (safe mode or normal mode), it always locks up. I am thinking it is locking up because I have over 20 gigs of chk files on my c: drive.

The weird thing is the drive is only a 10 gig drive. So the chk files are using twice as much space on the drive as what is available and also that doesn't include the windows 98 or any of the other programs on the computer....

Are these chk files safe to delete? From what I have read they are just left over files when your computer crashes or is shut down wrong.... 

Another odd thing is they all have the same date on them. 9/8/03 2:23PM


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## starwaves77 (Feb 17, 2002)

Hi Robbieart,
Yes, you can safely delete those CHK files, they are actually leftover remnants that SCANDISK deleted for you. As long as your computer is working fine and there are no hard drive problems where you might actually want to recover some data from them, then go ahead and delete them. You might have several megabytes of them but not gigabytes, especially if that number is more than the size of the hard drive itself.

Double click on 'my computer' , then right click on C:, and select 'properties' ...... that will show you how big the hard drive is and how much free space you really have.

When you say Scandisk locks up, are you getting an error message as well? Does it freeze at the exact same spot?

After you clear out the CHK files, and before running Scandisk again clear out all the junk files too using DOS:

a) click start / programs / ms dos mode

type the following commands and hit enter after each:

Make sure your at C:\windows , if not, type *cd windows* first, then proceed with these commands,

*deltree cookies
deltree history
deltree tempor~1
deltree temp*

If it hangs or takes forever on deltree tempor~1, type in *smartdrv*, then proceed,

Those commands clean out your temporary internet files, temp, cookies & history,

After you do that cleanup, *Defragment* your drive in Safe Mode, then run Scandisk, and see if it still hangs,

One more thing;
Do a search in 'find' for *scandisk.log* , open it and see what references are made to any errors it has, post that back,


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## robbieart (Jan 13, 2001)

I'm sure that the computer is reporting the wrong file sizes on these but it actually shows 20 Gigs worth of *.chk files. Most of the files were 16 to 20 MB each. I hit 'Ctrl + A' to select all and right mouse clicked and went to proprties and that is what it is reporting. I have actually made some progress. Instead of having scandisk do all the repairs for me, which was probably my problem to begin with, I am doing everything manually and removing them one by one... It is a slow and pain in the butt process. I have gone from 1,608 chk files down to 153. Lets hope this fixes alot of problems.


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## Styxx (Sep 8, 2001)

Scan for virus.

you can get a emergency rescue set floppy set from http://www.trendmicro.com/download/emg-disk.asp put them on freshly formatted foppies (8?) then take them to the target computer.

The hard disk filling of your computer is virus-like actrivity.


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## robbieart (Jan 13, 2001)

That is going to be my next step. Once I finish removing the *.chk files I will scan for a virus.


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## Styxx (Sep 8, 2001)

that set can only be created on a Win98/ME machine


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## robbieart (Jan 13, 2001)

Windows 98.... gotta love it


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