Hard drives store all your programs and critical
information. They should be maintained as part
of your normal computer security, backup and
maintenance procedures. I recommend four
maintenance procedures to keep them in good
shape.
Disk checking
Windows has a program called chkdsk.exe (for
check disk), which examines the hard drive's file
system for integrity and logical flaws. Most of
you have a little icon I've setup for you in your
maintenance folder called Fixdisk.bat which runs
this with the appropriate parameter selected. I
recommend doing this monthly. If you don't have
the fixdisk.bat icon, then you can press the
Windows key and the letter R (Windows-R) which
will open the run command. Or you could click
start ⁄ run. Then type chkdsk.exe ⁄f - The ⁄f
means to fix any problems you have.
If you are checking a drive that Windows is not
on, and that holds no open files, then it will
immediately perform the scan. Usually however,
Windows will respond with a DOS Command
window saying "blah blah blah blah..." Followed
by "Blah blah blah" then "jibber jabber". The
technical term for this is "Gobbledygook". What it
means is that Windows can't check the file
system integrity when Windows is using the file
system. It's like changing you car's oil while
driving. So it offers to do so next time you
restart your computer. You answer Y (for YES)
and then press enter. The next time you restart,
Windows will begin, see that it is supposed to run
chkdsk, and then back out, and check your file
system. It'll only take a few minutes.
This is a one time switch. Once it has checked
the file system, it'll go back to not checking
when you reboot. It is a good idea to do this
once a month.
Defragment
Depending on how often you add and remove
files and add records to a database or
accounting application it makes sense to run
some defragmentation tool somewhere between
once a month and once every 6 months. Since it
can't hurt, I normally prescribe doing it monthly.
Defragmentation means to put all the files back
together in a contiguous stream. Windows always
uses whatever open space is available, so as you
add to files or delete files, you create openings
and a single large file can get strung out in
hundreds of different places on the hard drive.
This slows your computer, strains the hardware,
increases the chances of error and decreases
the chances of recovery from errors.
Defragmentation puts them back together.
NEVER EVER defragment a flash drive.
Defragmentation is for spinning magnetic media
(hard drives), not for flash drives. Flash drives
have a limited number of re-write cycles on each
part of the drive, so they have their own special
way of storing files to even out wear. Don't mess
with it.
Windows provides a perfectly reasonable
defragmentation tool called Defrag which can be
found under Programs⁄ Accessories⁄ System
Tools. I normally setup my clients with a shortcut
to Defrag in their maintenance folder. However,
more features and better performance are
available. Currently my favorite free
defragmenting tool is Smart Defrag . I don't
recommend their continuous operation feature,
but simply run it once a month. For a paid
defragmentation tool, I currently recommend
Puran Defrag, though honestly I don't think
people need to pay for a defragger just because I
do.
Temporary file cleaning
Windows and other programs make lots of
temporary files on your hard drive which are
used for only a little while. Like naughty children,
they often don't clean up their messes. There
are certain places that windows specifies as
playpens for these files and often they just don't
get emptied. Like children's toys, if you don't
clean them up, then someone will trip over them.
If you are using Windows XP, I've probably
loaded Emptemp and set it up for you. I choose
only temporary files from specific temporary file
locations, over a day old (so they aren't being
used) and I empty the trash bin (which Microsoft
erroneously calls the recycle bin as if we were
going to recycle these programs and file parts!).
For Windows Vista users, I recommend using
Microsoft's Disk Cleanup utility.
What I do delete:
Everything in the temp folders (all temporary
files)
Windows Internet files
Stuff in the Trash (recycle) bin.
What I do NOT delete:
Recent files. Recent files or history files are
those records made by each program of
recently used files. I find these useful and
appreciate the program remembering them for
me.
Cookies. I like Amazon recognizing me.
Recently downloaded files. I'll occasionally
take care of some of these by hand.
Surface scan annually
Sometimes, over time, parts of your hard drive
lose their magnetic properties. They cease to
hold a charge perfectly at a microscopic level.
The information may be readable, but only after
two or three tries. This is an indication that that
tiny part of your drive should not be used.
Surface scans find and remove those parts. A
surface scan will begin at the start of your hard
drive and read everything on the entire drive,
even the empty space that isn't used yet. If it
can read it just fine, then it moves on. If it has
some trouble reading it, then it will either refresh
it or move it to another part of the drive and
mark that spot out so it won't be used in the
future. This is just like Disk Checking, and will do
a disk check first. Simply Click Start⁄ Run and
type chkdsk.exe ⁄r for (recover) and press Enter
or click OK. You'll get the Gobbledy Gook
window described above, enter Y for yes and
then reboot and have some lunch, it'll take a long
time.
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