Troubleshooting Guide - Hard Drive Housekeeping

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Hard Drive Housekeeping

Before installing a new program or as part of a troubleshooting routine, it may be necessary to clean up and organize your hard drive. Sometimes a hard drive can become cluttered with a number of temporary files, or files that are out of order on the hard disk due to uninstalling and reinstalling. It can also suffer losses in integrity that can cause errors. There are three programs that can correct these issues.

Contents

1. Disk Cleanup
2. Error Checking
3. Disk Defragmenter

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a. Disk Cleanup

This is a program which scans your hard drive, looking for unnecessary and temporary files. The program gives you the option of removing these files, freeing up hard drive space and preventing possible file conflicts. To use Disk Cleanup:

1. Open My Computer.
2. Right-Click on your hard drive and choose 'properties'.
3. Left-Click on Disk Cleanup.

The program now scans your hard drive. This can take a few minutes depending on the size of your hard drive. For an example of what you can expect to see, click the image below:



We now need to select which files/folders will be emptied or deleted.

1. Click the checkboxes next to the relevant items. The recommended options are:
   • Temporary Internet Files.
   • Recycle Bin.
   • Temporary files.
   • Compress Old Files. (note: this option does not delete files but merely compresses files that haven't been used in a while in order to save disk space)
2. Click on OK when you are happy with your choices.
3. You may receive a message asking you to confirm your choices. Select 'yes' to continue.
4. Wait while the process is completed. This can take a while so please be paitent.

This should complete the Disk Cleanup process. Close any open boxes when it is completed.

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b. Error Checking

This program checks the integrity of your hard drive and can alert you to and/or fix any errors it finds. Data written in corrupted parts of your hard drive can cause errors later when installing or playing games when your hard drive tries to read that data and can't. To use Error Checking:

For Windows XP/Windows 2000

For an example of what you can expect to see, click the image below:

1. Open My Computer.
2. Right-click on your hard drive and choose 'properties'.
3. Click on the Tools tab.
4. Click on the Check Now button in the Error-Checking box.
5. There are several scan options available. Choose which you would like to use. The options are:
   • Automatically fix file system errors. This is a more thorough option but will require you to reboot your pc. The scan is conducted at reboot.
   • Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. This is a less thorough option but does not require a reboot.
6. The scan may take a number of minutes to complete. It will alert you of any errors or repaired sectors.
7. When the ‘Disk Check Complete’ message appears, click OK to finish the process.

For Windows 98/Windows ME

1. Click on the Start button.
2. Go to Programs.
3. Go to Accessories.
4. Go to System Tools.
5. Click on ScanDisk.
6. Be sure to choose the Thorough Scan option or else the drive will not be checked for errors.
7. This scan will take a number of minutes to complete. It will alert you of any errors or repaired sectors.

This should complete the error check process. Close any open boxes when finished.

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c. Disk Defragmenter

This program reorganizes the data on your hard disk to make the hard drive more efficient. After extended use; installing, uninstalling, and reinstalling; adding and removing files, etc. the data on a hard drive can be all over the place and your hard drive has to work harder. Using the defragmenter groups all related files for faster access and groups all free space together. This is especially helpful when installing new programs. To use Disk Defragmenter:

For an example of what you can expect to see, click the image below:

1. Open My Computer.
2. Right-click on your hard drive and choose 'properties'.
3. Click on the Tools tab.
4. Click on the Defragment Now button in the defragmentaion box.
5. Select the Hard Drive you will be using if you have more than one.
6. Click on Defragment. This can take a long time depending on the size of your drive and how fragmented it is. It's best to leave it to do it's job and do something else in the meantime (like have a cup of tea and eat a packet of Jaffa Cakes. he he).

This should complete the defragmentation process. Close any open boxes when finished.