| Welcome to Heine's Computer Services.
We
specialize in assisting small and home businesses in the Mid-South area with all
their computing needs. Our services include computer upgrades, networking,
training, web site design, spyware/virus removal and consulting. |
Tuning For
Performance:
Defragging Your Hard Drive
What is a fragmented hard
drive?
A hard drive that is badly fragmented is analogous to a bookstore
run by a disorganized proprietor. The books are stocked on the
shelves as they come in the door without any rhyme or reason and as
the books are sold the proprietor slots in new books in their place
because they fit the space and not because they are next to similar
books. This is similar to how a Windows organizes its data on its
hard drive. A computer will slot a new piece of data in an empty
area of the hard drive as well. If the file is too big for the slot,
it will break it up and put a piece in one slot and another
elsewhere. The next time you ask the computer to open that file it
has to move the hard drive's heads twice to grab the two pieces of
the file, which takes more time. Windows provides a utility called Disk Defragmenter
that helps reorganize your drive and increase performance. Disk Defragmenter acts as an
organized employee would. The employee would sort through all the
books and organize them in categories on the shelves so that
customers could find them more readily.
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How often should I run Disk
Defragmenter?
We recommend defragmenting your hard drive at
least once a
month to help promote better performance.
How long does it take?
It
depends
on
the
size
of
your
hard
drive
and
the
speed
of
your
computer.
It
can take from several minutes to several depending on the degree of
fragmentation. It is usually best to run the Disk Defragmenter at
night or at another time when the computer will not be used for
other purposes. Running other programs while defragmenting is
possible but slows your computer down and make the process take much
longer. How Do I Defrag my hard
drive?
- Open My Computer
- Right-click the local disk volume that you
want to defragment, and then click Properties
- On the Tools tab, click Defragment
Now.
- Click Defragment.
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