CompTIA A_ Certification All-In-One Exam Guide, Seventh Edition - Michael Meyers [195]
Disk Cleanup
Did you know that the average hard drive is full of trash? Not the junk you intentionally put in your hard drive such as the 23,000 e-mail messages that you refuse to delete from your e-mail program. This kind of trash is all of the files that you never see that Windows keeps for you. Here are a few examples:
Files in the Recycle Bin When you delete a file, it isn’t really deleted. It’s placed in the Recycle Bin in case you decide you need the file later. I just checked my Recycle Bin and found 3 GB worth of files (Figure 12-64). That’s a lot of trash!
Figure 12-64 Mike’s Recycle Bin
Temporary Internet files When you go to a Web site, Windows keeps copies of the graphics and other items so the page will load more quickly the next time you access it. You can see these files by opening the Internet Options applet on the Control Panel. Figure 12-65 shows my temporary Internet files.
Downloaded program files Your system always keeps a copy of any Java or ActiveX applets it downloads. You can see these in the Internet Options applet. You’ll generally find only a few tiny files here.
Temporary files Many applications create temporary files that are supposed to be deleted when the application is closed. For one reason or another, these temporary files sometimes aren’t deleted. The location of these files varies with the version of Windows, but they always reside in a folder called TEMP.
Every hard drive eventually becomes filled with lots of unnecessary trash. All versions of Windows tend to act erratically when the drives run out of unused space. Fortunately, all versions of Windows have a powerful tool called Disk Cleanup (Figure 12-66). You can access Disk Cleanup in all versions of Windows by choosing Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup.
Figure 12-65 Lots of temporary Internet files
Figure 12-66 Disk Cleanup
Disk Cleanup gets rid of the four types of files just described (and a few others). Run Disk Cleanup once a month or so to keep plenty of space available on your hard drive.
Troubleshooting Hard Drive Implementation
There’s no scarier computer problem than an error that points to trouble with a hard drive. This section looks at some of the more common problems that occur with hard drives and how to fix them. These issues fall into three broad categories: installation, data corruption, and dying hard drives.
Installation Errors
Installing a drive and getting to the point where it can hold data requires four distinct steps: connectivity, CMOS, partitioning, and formatting. If you make a mistake at any point on any of these steps, the drive won’t work. The beauty of this is that if you make an error, you can walk back through each step and check for problems. The troubleshooting section in Chapter 11 covered physical connections and CMOS, so this section concentrates on the latter two issues.
Partitioning Partitioning errors generally fall into two groups: failing to partition at all and making the wrong size or type of partition. You’ll recognize the former type of error the first time you open My Computer/Computer after installing a drive. If you forgot to partition it, the drive won’t even show up in My Computer, only in Disk Management. If you made the partition too small, that’ll become painfully obvious when you start filling it up with files.
The fix for partitioning errors is simply to open Disk Management and do the partitioning correctly. If you’ve added files to the wrongly sized drive, don’t forget to back them up before you repartition.
Formatting Failing to format a drive makes the drive unable to hold data. Accessing the drive in Windows results in a drive “is not accessible” error, and from a C:\ prompt, you’ll get the famous “Invalid media” type error. Format the drive unless you’re certain that the drive