Lean and Clean makes for a Mean Machine….Part
Three
In
Parts one and two, I
discussed eliminating those pesky temporary files that take up valuable drive
space and using the SCANDISK windows utility (or better yet, Norton's Disk
Doctor) on a regular basis to keep your hard drive free from errors and other
problems.
Now it's time to defrag (optimize) your hard disk. Actually,
you can optimize any writable disk, but as your hard disk is in constant use
not only to store programs and files, but for temporary RAM storage, also,
keeping it defragmented is very important.
First, you should understand
the basics of how a data is stored and retrieved from a disk. I covered this
before in a prior article, but we've had many new subscribers since then so I
think it's important to revisit it briefly before proceeding.
A disk is
like a small phonograph record (although many kids these days have never even
seen a phonograph, much less a record!). It spins around inside the drive.
Floppies spin quite slow. Hard disks spin very fast, up to 10,000 RPM. A stylus
or "drive head" is positioned just above the spinning disk (in the case of a
hard disk, the distance between the disk and stylus is less than the thickness
of a fingerprint!!)
As the disk spins, the stylus moves back and forth
across its surface, magnetizing and demagnetizing the tiny embedded metal
particles on the disk's surface. It's the rapid movement of the stylus that you
hear coming from inside your computer that often sounds like a chattering or
clicking noise.
Data is stored on a disk in what are called bits.
There are two bits, 0 and 1. This is the binary number system. When you save
something to your hard drive, the data is written to the first available space.
If there is not enough free space for the entire file you are saving, the drive
finds the next free space and puts more data there, and so forth , and so
forth, until all the data is written. If your disk is badly fragmented, one
file could be saved in a thousand different locations (or more) on the disk.
This is not efficient because it takes longer for the drive to both store and
retrieve the data than it would if it were able to put all of it in one place.
So, let's make it so! To open DEFRAGMENTER, choose START, PROGRAMS,
ACCESSORIES, SYSTEM TOOLS, DISK DEFRAGMENTER. Of course, if you followed my
suggestion in a previous article, a shortcut to it is already on your desktop,
so just double-click on it and avoid the five-step process.
When the
Select Drive windows opens, choose the drive or partition you wish to optimize.
Obviously if you have only one hard drive (which is not divided into segments
or pieces called partitions), you will have only one choice. In a multi-disk
system or if your drive has more than one partition, choose the "C-Drive" to
DEFRAGMENT, then click OK.
The DISK DEFRAGMENTER window will open and
probably give you a report as to the fragmented condition of your drive. Ignore
it. Click on ADVANCED and make sure the FULL FRAGMENTATION, CHECK DISK FOR
ERRORS and SAVE THESE OPTIONS boxes are checked, then click OK Now, click START
and go have lunch.
Only kidding about lunch, on the other hand, if your
drive is badly fragmented, it may take your entire lunch hour to get it back
into shape, so plan on optimizing your drive(s) at a time when you won't need
to use your computer. The lesson here is: Defrag your hard drive(s) frequently.
I do mine at least once a week.
When the process is finished, click OK,
then exit the utility or optimize another drive, if you have a choice. That's
it! Now you have a drive that is clean and lean! Keep it that way and you'll
have less trouble and fewer disk errors.
Personally I don't use
Windows' DEFRAGMENTER because I have the Norton Utilities which I highly
recommend. Their defrag utility is called SPEED DISK and is better than
DEFRAGMENTER in many ways which I won't go into here.
One final bit of
information of which you should be aware. Keeping your hard drive optimized all
the time also keeps your "swap file" better organized. Above I mentioned the
term RAM storage. When you run out of RAM (Random Access Memory that's what I
call electronic memory because it's only used when your computer is turned on
and is where everything you do on your computer is actively stored), your
computer will "swap" data between RAM and your hard disk. The more memory you
have the less swapping and consequently, the faster your system will operate.
If you hear your drive working overtime, all the time, you could probably use
more RAM. (By the way, RAM prices are down right now and may dip a bit lower
until the end of March. So if you need more, now is the time to buy.)
If you keep your hard drive optimized, it will improve your swapping
speed, particularly if you are using SPEED DISK as it allows you to put the
swap file at the beginning of the disk, where it can be accessed quickly.
For more information and help with DISK DEFRAGMENTER, look in your
Windows help file (START, then HELP).
Good luck and remember, if you
have any comments or suggestions or perhaps a question about any of the above,
please email me.
- Rich Poremba
RETURN TO
ARCHIVES |
