NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article
The President's Column
by Dale Oliver, President, March 2001
d_oliver@swbell.net
(click to email author)


The February meeting was another good learning experience, as those of you who attended will (hopefully!) agree. Allen Childress of Microsoft was unable to come, so we did a program on hard drives and file maintenance. The member participation was fantastic as always. This highly interactive style of forum is turning out to be a fun way to pick up pearls from everyone present. I was quite impressed with the interaction from the new members and guests as well. If you haven't been attending the meetings recently, you should be!

We discussed the physical features of internal fixed disk drives, what fragmentation is, how it occurs, and how to address this potentially significant performance-robbing issue. Much of our time was spent on the finer points of file system maintenance, how and when to do it, and what exactly can be done to keep your file system in top shape. Here's what we collectively decided after a lot of interactive discussion:

What should I do? The system maintenance programs that should be run, and the most effective order in which to run them is:

1) Backup
2) Disk Cleanup
3) ScanDisk
4) Disk Defragmenter

These programs are part of your Windows system, and can be run by doing the following: Click the Start button, Programs, Accessories and then System Tools. You will see these programs listed in the System Tools program group.

It was generally agreed that aftermarket products do a superior job compared to the products that come bundled with Windows. In all fairness, the bundled products do a decent job and don't require you to install extra software or spend more money. Running these maintenance programs regularly is infinitely better than doing nothing.

Backup is a program that allows you to back up your hard drive files. The most common backup device is a tape drive. Today's hard drives are so large, it is no longer practical or possible to back up entire hard drives to floppy disks, zip disks, writeable CDs, etc. If you have a tape backup drive, I will assume you know how to use it. If you don't, belaboring this topic is unnecessary anyway, so we won't beat it to death. Several members asked about the wisdom of running disk maintenance programs without backing up. The answer to that question is this: If you have the ability to back up your hard drive before running the maintenance programs, then do so. If you don't, you should not let that deter you from running the remaining maintenance programs. Not running them is much more likely to cause you problems than the outside chance of having a problem because of running them regularly.

Disk Cleanup is a program that removes unnecessary clutter from your hard drive. As we discussed in the meeting, as you use Windows itself or visit Internet sites, surprisingly large amounts of temporary files are stored in multiple locations on your hard drive. Often, these "temporary" files are never cleaned up, so they tend to accumulate and waste a significant amount of disk space. Disk Cleanup comes with preset options regarding what is cleaned up, and it allows you to customize these options as you wish. The software is a breeze to use. Start it, select the drive you want to clean up, verify the options (or simply accept the defaults if you're not sure what to do at this point) and click the OK button. Disk Cleanup does the rest. Admittedly, I haven't run this for a while, and I literally ended up reclaiming about a half GB of disk space that was being wasted.

ScanDisk should be run after Disk Cleanup is finished. We discussed how ScanDisk checks your hard drive for lost chains and clusters of data, checks your file allocation tables (FATs), directory structures and files for problems. It can automatically fix the errors it finds, and it can be set to optionally perform a thorough scan of the magnetic surface of your hard disk platters for bad sectors. This is important stuff! You should get into the habit of running these system maintenance programs regularly if you don't do so already. If some of this is like reading Greek to you, consider running the program with default options for now until you learn more.

Hint: If you select the "thorough" scan option, it will take significantly longer to run than the "standard" scan. You should not need to perform a thorough scan every time you run ScanDisk.

Disk Defragmenter is the final step in this stepwise approach to a healthier, happier file system. Be sure to run this after ScanDisk, because if disk errors are detected while running Disk Defragmenter, it will stop. Like the other maintenance programs, you have a number of options, but the default ones will give you good results. We talked about how Disk Defragmenter basically rearranges the data on your hard drive, taking items that have become scattered around in different locations and storing them in a much more efficient manner. You can watch the magic happen in detail if by selecting the Show Details button from the Disk Defragmenter software you'd like, but this tends to slow down processing significantly. Watch for awhile if you're curious, then switch back out of detail mode to keep from wasting time in an already time-intensive process.

Hint: Allow ScanDisk and Disk Defragmenter to run by themselves. Avoid using other programs while they are running. If you notice one of the programs continually starting over due to the disk contents changing, Doug MacDonald suggested unplugging all USB devices and trying again.

When should I do it? Members generally agree that "more is better". Cliff Goeke suggested running file system maintenance no less than monthly. Other members mentioned that they run maintenance as often as weekly. Pat Kennedy mentioned that she defragments her hard drive daily, so that it is always in top shape. If you pick a time frame that works for you anywhere in this range, it will significantly help keep your computer's file system in good condition. As a general rule of thumb, the more you use your computer and the more diverse tasks you perform with it, the more often you should consider doing the file maintenance. For the average home user, running the file maintenance programs monthly should be sufficient.

An interesting discussion ensued regarding the best way to automate the process of file system maintenance so that you don't have to sit in front of the computer in a state of suspended animation while your system grinds away through these time-consuming processes. Expect that the first time you run through them will likely be the slowest, but you can generally expect shorter run times as your file system gets whipped into shape and stays more fit. We discussed using Windows' built-in Task Scheduler as well as aftermarket products to allow system maintenance to occur without user interaction, such as during the night or other times when you won't need the computer.

I have evaluated four of the more popular Windows scripting programs readily available for download from Internet sites such as CNET.com. Automating the maintenance process is a great idea and highly recommended. It only requires you to set it up once, and from there it effortlessly keeps your system humming, eliminating the need for you to perform these tasks manually. Please refer to the related article in this issue entitled Windows Scripting Software to learn more about this great time-saving idea.

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