As with most mechanical devices, prolonged use of the hard disk results in inevitable wear and tear and malfunction. Repeated adding and deleting of files takes its toll on the hard disk and you may get disk error, including the notorious “fatal error” of Windows. This is an indication that you may need to re-format your hard disk to have it working properly again.
However, before deciding to re-format the disk it may be worthwhile to try out other alternative:
1. Run Disk Defragmenter
2. Use a cleanup shareware programs such asregclean.exe, available for download.
However, if after trying out these alternatives, you continue to get fatal error message, then you probably need to format your hard disk.
The procedure of formatting is simple enough but has to be done carefully. When you format the hard disk, all the data on the disk is lost-Windows operating system, software programs, business applications data, games, e-mails messages. In short everything.
How to do the formatting
Windows 95
1. Double-click on My Computer icon. Then click the icon for the drive you want to format. (e. g. C:)
2. On the File menu, click Format and follow the instructions.
Remember that you can not format a disk if there are files open on that disk. If the disk has been compressed, use Drivespace or other compression to format the disk.
Windows 98
1. Click Start, click Shutdown, click Restart, and then click on OK.
2. Press and hold the CTRL key until the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu appears.
3. Select Command prompt only and press Enter.
4. At the C:\prompt, type format C: and press ENTER.
5. Follow the instruction on the screen.
After formatting you’re left with a blank hard disk with more space then before. The next step is to restore the programs you need on your disk.
1. First reinstall Windows and then application programs you use.
2. Restore your backups into appropriate files. If you use a Zip drive or a CD-writer, these need to be installed first.
3. Reinstall all drivers for the printer, modem or other peripherals.
Do the defrag
A file on your disk may not be stored all in one place or cluster. For example, if you create a Word document and make changes to it at a later date, the change may get saved in a different cluster from the original file. The more often you make changes to a file, the more disorganized the cluster becomes, and the disk becomes fragmented. This makes the magnetic head that reads and writes data to and from the disk, works harder to retrieve the entire file. Fragmentation of hard drive reduces the storage efficiency and then access time for retrieving information. The process of defragging helps to rearrange the files and unused space on your hard disk so that programs run faster.
Before Defragging, it may be a good idea to check how much of your hard drive is fragmented. You can do this by running ScanDisk. Empty the temp folders and Recycle Bin before defragging. Windows 95 and Windows 98: Open the Start Menu, choose Programs, choose Accessories, and choose System Tools and click on Disk Defragmenter. You defragging schedule will depend on how much you use the PC. A good rule of the thumb is to defrag every two weeks. Make sure all your files are closed and then you have turned of the screensaver also.
Spring Cleaning
No more hard disk space left? Getting disk error or illegal operations? It may be time to clean up your hard disk. A few spring cleaning pointers to help you out.
Before you format:
When a hard disk is formatted, a File Allocation Table (FAT) is created on the disk. FAT keeps a record of the locations of all the files on the disk FAT 16 is the file allocation system used in DOS and Windows 95. FAT 32 file system is used in Windows 98 or Win 95 OSR 2. FAT 32 is considered to be more efficient as it saves more space on the disk.
Back to:
- The hard disk guide
- Hard disk optimizing
About The Author
Pawan Bangar, Technical Director, Birbals, (Hbirbals,Seobirbals,Ebirbals,Ibirbals)
Cell:91-175-3150734 Cell:+91-98153-52253 email: pawan@ebirbals.com
Yahoo Messenger:pawanishappy@yahoo.com;
MSN messenger:ebirbals@hotmail.com
However, before deciding to re-format the disk it may be worthwhile to try out other alternative:
1. Run Disk Defragmenter
2. Use a cleanup shareware programs such asregclean.exe, available for download.
However, if after trying out these alternatives, you continue to get fatal error message, then you probably need to format your hard disk.
The procedure of formatting is simple enough but has to be done carefully. When you format the hard disk, all the data on the disk is lost-Windows operating system, software programs, business applications data, games, e-mails messages. In short everything.
How to do the formatting
Windows 95
1. Double-click on My Computer icon. Then click the icon for the drive you want to format. (e. g. C:)
2. On the File menu, click Format and follow the instructions.
Remember that you can not format a disk if there are files open on that disk. If the disk has been compressed, use Drivespace or other compression to format the disk.
Windows 98
1. Click Start, click Shutdown, click Restart, and then click on OK.
2. Press and hold the CTRL key until the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu appears.
3. Select Command prompt only and press Enter.
4. At the C:\prompt, type format C: and press ENTER.
5. Follow the instruction on the screen.
After formatting you’re left with a blank hard disk with more space then before. The next step is to restore the programs you need on your disk.
1. First reinstall Windows and then application programs you use.
2. Restore your backups into appropriate files. If you use a Zip drive or a CD-writer, these need to be installed first.
3. Reinstall all drivers for the printer, modem or other peripherals.
Do the defrag
A file on your disk may not be stored all in one place or cluster. For example, if you create a Word document and make changes to it at a later date, the change may get saved in a different cluster from the original file. The more often you make changes to a file, the more disorganized the cluster becomes, and the disk becomes fragmented. This makes the magnetic head that reads and writes data to and from the disk, works harder to retrieve the entire file. Fragmentation of hard drive reduces the storage efficiency and then access time for retrieving information. The process of defragging helps to rearrange the files and unused space on your hard disk so that programs run faster.
Before Defragging, it may be a good idea to check how much of your hard drive is fragmented. You can do this by running ScanDisk. Empty the temp folders and Recycle Bin before defragging. Windows 95 and Windows 98: Open the Start Menu, choose Programs, choose Accessories, and choose System Tools and click on Disk Defragmenter. You defragging schedule will depend on how much you use the PC. A good rule of the thumb is to defrag every two weeks. Make sure all your files are closed and then you have turned of the screensaver also.
Spring Cleaning
No more hard disk space left? Getting disk error or illegal operations? It may be time to clean up your hard disk. A few spring cleaning pointers to help you out.
- Toss out unwanted applications: check out all the software applications you have loaded on the PC. Delete the old applications if you have installed newer versions. Go to the Control Panel’s Add/Remove program option and uninstall those applications you don’t need.
- Run ScanDisk: the ScanDisk option in Windows is very useful application which fixes problem like lost clusters, invalid directory entries and physical disk errors. Run ScanDisk once a month. Go to start, choose Programs, choose Accessories, and choose System Tools and click on ScanDisk. Click the drive that contains the folders and files you want to check.
- Defrag often, once in two weeks.
- Empty Recycle Bin: Right-click on Recycle Bin icon on the Desktop and choose Empty Recycle Bin from the dropdown menu.
- Clean out your folders: do you really need all those download you had undertaken for a past research project or those games you seldom plays? Delete those folders that are not required.
- Delete .tmp files and create more space on hard disk. Close all programs. Go to Windows Explorer. Press the key to open find dialog box. Enter *.tmp in the box. Make sure that C: Drive is listed in the Look-in box. Include sub-folders by checking them. When .tmp files appear, delete them.
- Delete temporary Net files to create more space. Go to the temp Internet Files folder in Windows Explorer. Delete all present files.
- There are several Windows components on your hard disk that you could do without. You could remove these individual components from the Add/Remove Windows setup option and create more space on your disk
Before you format:
- Enter the hard drive’s technical specifications (number of cylinders, tracks, sectors etc.) into the PC’s BIOS setup table so that it is available for the machine’s Startup program.
- Backup all your important data onto another hard disk, recordable CDs, Zip Drive, magnetic tapes or floppies. If you have a sort of backup space or are in hurry, copy only important folders. Backup your e-mail and address books too. After taking the backups, check them out to make sure that they are okay.
- Backup any folders that you share with others over a network.
- Keep handy the installation disks or CDs of the application software you use, such as Windows or an office suite. These will have to be re-installed after formatting.
- Keep handy the driver disks for your printer, sound card, CD ROM driver, modem or other devices. These will have to be re-installed after formatting.
When a hard disk is formatted, a File Allocation Table (FAT) is created on the disk. FAT keeps a record of the locations of all the files on the disk FAT 16 is the file allocation system used in DOS and Windows 95. FAT 32 file system is used in Windows 98 or Win 95 OSR 2. FAT 32 is considered to be more efficient as it saves more space on the disk.
Back to:
- The hard disk guide
- Hard disk optimizing
About The Author
Pawan Bangar, Technical Director, Birbals, (Hbirbals,Seobirbals,Ebirbals,Ibirbals)
Cell:91-175-3150734 Cell:+91-98153-52253 email: pawan@ebirbals.com
Yahoo Messenger:pawanishappy@yahoo.com;
MSN messenger:ebirbals@hotmail.com
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