|
A Faster Defrag
The way that DOS was originally designed was to use as much disk storage space
as possible, since early computers had very limited space. What it basically does is try to use every unused space on your drive. It actually can break a file into very small pieces and scatter them about your disk,
if it finds an unused spot - even in the middle of another file. This of course, slows down your access as it tries to find the next piece, and it also causes undue "wear and tear" on your hard drive.
Windows has a "Defrag" tool, which restructures your files back into one contiguous piece. Defrag is a powerful Windows Utility, and you should run it on a regular interval - at least once a month.
The Utility can however can get confused, and if something is written to your drive while it is running, it simply starts over. Whether you are using your computer or not, many background programs such as an
anti-virus, can cause it to restart. This is a real pain as it greatly increases the amount of time to defrag the drive.
I have found a way to stop this, and what used to take me over 3 hours, now takes about
an hour. Following are the instructions on how to do this.
First - run Disk Cleanup - this can be found by depressing the "Start" button, and then Programs/Accessories/System Tools and Disk Cleanup
- in that order. This gets rid of all the unnecessary files that Windows accumulates.
Second - Turn off your "Screen Saver" - Start/Settings/Control Panel - select the Screen Saver Tab and in the
"Screen Saver" Box - select "None".
Third - Shut down your computer, and wait about a minute, or if you can hear it, until the disk stops turning.
Fourth - Holding down the
"Ctrl" key, restart your computer - hold it down until you get a screen message of options on how to start your computer.
Fifth - Choose the "Safe Mode Option". This prevents anything from
starting that could automatically write to your disk. Safe mode will appear in all four corners of the screen, and it may appear a bit different to you - not to worry.
Sixth - run the Defrag Program -
Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools and Disk Defragmenter in that order. The program should run to completion without restarting.
When you are finished, simply "Restart" your computer (without
holding down the "Ctrl" key) and the system will start as usual. Don't forget to reactivate your "Screen Saver"
Happy Defraging
|
