What are .chk files?
Files with the .chk file extension are file fragments cleaned from the disk and are associated with Chkdsk and Scandisk command-line utilities.
When Windows or any program(s) crash, the opened files are not closed properly. When you run the Chkdsk/Scandisk command on your Windows computer, all detected errors are saved as file fragments in .chk files.
Is it safe to delete .chk files?
If you need to recover data from .chk files, then you should not delete them. Otherwise, they can be safely deleted.
How to recover .chk files
If you know the extensions of the file(s) that you want to recover, rename all.chk files to the extensions of the files you need to recover and see what works. For instance, let?s say you need to recover a Word document (.doc extension), then by renaming the .chk files to .doc may help you in recovering the lost file. But there is one problem in using this approach; you don?t know which .chk file is your lost .doc file. This means you need to rename all.chk files.
As there can be hundreds of .chk files after you run a Scandisk or Chkdsk command, the best way of recovering a lost file is by using one or more free third-party tools. Why third-party? Simply because Microsoft does not provide a built-in tool that you can use to recover .chk files.
Listed below are the names and detailed descriptions of three third-party tools that allow you to recover .chk files. All these tools are free and can be downloaded from the Internet.
Tool #1 UnCHK by Eric Phelps
You can use this tool to restore .chk files to their original extension. By default, the tool can identify these file types – GIF WPD FPX EPS ZIP CAB JPG PSP PSD CLP WRI BMP DOC PPT EXE DLL OCX XLS PDF MID AVI RAR TIF RTF HTM WAV MP3.
This tool provides the user the option of adding more file types to its list.
Tool #2 FileCHK by Martin Kratz
You can use this tool to recover the following file types – CAB RAR CHM SWF DOC XLS RMI WAV AVI PSD AI GIF 3DS PST MID MOV MP3 DWG TIF EXE QT CDR TXT ASF HTM JPG TTF MDB BMP MPG LNK URL PDF ZIP HLP.
Tool #3 Chk-Mate
This tool copies the contents of .chk files, if they are known file types, such as an Excel file to a new file with the correct file extension. Once the content has been copied, you can open the file using the associated program.
In case the tool is unable to link the contents of a chk file to a known filetype, it gives you the option of extracting the readable text. You can use this option to recover the information from a .chk file that cannot be recovered to a known file type.
What are other file types that use the .chk file extension?
Names of other applications that are found to be associated with the .chk file extension are discussed below:
- WordPerfect ? The .chk file extension is used for the temporary files of WordPerfect.
- 3D Movie Maker
- EpiData
- Sophos Intercheck File
- Blue Coat ProxySG
- SSConvert
- Starcraft Campaign Map
In case you receive a file type error when you try to open any of the instances of a .chk file or for that matter any other file extension, then you may use a reliable file repair software to successfully open, edit, and save the file.