Jul 21, 2025 • Filed to: Recover Files • Proven solutions
If you've ever encountered an unexpected error on your Windows system, it's quite possible that you might have used the CHKDSK or Scandisk utilities to find and recover corrupted files. While both these Windows utilities are great to repair and recover lost files due to a system error, they have one major drawback. Each recovered file is saved with a .CHK extension and you won't be able to access it directly. These files are generally stored in the Found.000 folder in your Windows local drive.
If you're also seeing the same .CHK files on your PC, this guide will help. Today, we'll give away the best recovery solutions to recover chk files in Windows 10 and retrieve your valuable data.
CHK Files are fragmented files that store fragments of corrupted files that are recovered by CHKDSK or Scandisk utilities. As we mentioned earlier, these files are stored inside the Found.000 folder that you can find in the root drive.
As soon as you run any of the above-mentioned utilities, they automatically look for corrupted/lost data during a system error, create their fragments, and store the resulted files in the Found.000 folder with a .CHK extension. However, since these files aren't readable, it becomes quite frustrating as you'll never know which files were recovered by CHKDSK/Scandisk.
The answer is Yes! There aren't any restrictions imposed by the Windows system on CHK files. If you are 100% sure that all your important data is safe, you can go ahead and remove these .CHK files without any second thoughts. However, if you are not sure about the data loss, it would be better to first recover .CHK files.
If you mistakenly deleted the CHK files or the files are missing due to system crash, try Recoverit data recovery to restore the lost files. It’s the most effective and efficient way to recover CHK files with Wondershare Recoverit. The tool will let you directly scan the original location from where the files were deleted. This way you'll be able to recover the original data without having to open the CHK files. The best part about using Recoverit is that it can recover different file types.
Follow these steps to recover CHK files using Wondershare Recoverit.
Step 1: Select the Location
Install and launch Recoverit on your PC and choose the location from where files were deleted.
Step 2: Scan For Deleted Files
Click Next and Recoverit will automatically start scanning the selected location for deleted files. This process may take a while depending on the size of the drive.
Step 3: Recover Files
Once the scanning process completes, go through the results and choose the files that you want to get back. Then, click Recover to securely save them on your PC.
You can easily recover .CHK files by converting them to their original extension. But, this method isn't as simple as it sounds. In order to convert a file to the original extension, you'll have to first identify the file type. In general, you'll see unrecognizable characters at the beginning of each .CHK file. You can open these .chk files with any text editor like Notepad++.
If you look closely, you may find some unique headers that'll let you determine the file type. For instance, files that contain .Rar! at the or close to the beginning are Winrar archives. Similarly, files that have ID3 in their header are mp3 files. So, check the header of the .CHk file and you'll be able to identify its type easily.
Once you have identified the original file type, you can easily change the extension of the .CHK file. For example, if you have identified it's a MP4 files, you can change its extension to .mp4 and then use a video player to try to open it.
If there are quite a few CHK files, you can also use Command Prompt to change .CHK files extension in batch. However, you should only proceed with this method if you have worked on CMD before as one small blunder can even cause permanent data loss. So, if you are an experienced administrator, follow these steps to recover CHK files using command prompt.
UnCHK is a third-party software that's designed to directly open CHK files and retrieve the lost data. It's probably the easiest way to recover CHK files as you won't have to perform any critical tasks. With a single-click, UnCHK will automatically scan your drive and recover the .chk files instantly.
One of the best things about using FileCHK is that it is very simple to use. The tool gets to work as soon as you download it, scanning the hard drive for the .chk files, renaming, and correcting the extensions quickly and easily. It supports up to 30 different file formats including documents, images, archives, and even documents. It is also very fast; the whole process takes no more than a few seconds.
If you would like a solution that has an easy to operate wizard, giving you control over the files to recover without being too complex, you should try CHK-Mate. It will locate the .chk files and rename them, but also make copies of the files, maintaining the originals. CHK-Mate also recognizes up to 20 different types of files although you can also add more if you need to. The single biggest problem with this tool is that the whole process of scanning and recovering the files can take a very long time and the program has been known to crash a few times during recovery.
Chk-Back is another very easy solution when you want to recover .chk files. It is very easy to use and has a very pleasant user interface, making it one of the simplest solutions out there. It supports up to 40 different file formats including video, audio, documents, images, executable files, and even Office files like Excel and Word.
You will have to install Chk-Back before you can use it, but it is not very difficult to operate and it works very fast. It also doesn't hurt that it works on all versions of Windows including Windows XP.
Seeing unrecognizable CHK files on your system can easily become frustrating. However, by following the right methods, you can easily recover the CHK files and convert them to their original extension. And, in case you don't want to go through the hassle of dealing with these files, you can also use Wondershare Recoverit to directly retrieve the lost data.
How do I Access Found.000 Folder?
How do I prevent files and data from turning into CHK?
Why Does FOUND.000 Folder Get Created?
Amy Dennis
staff Editor