Maintaining your hard drive, Using scandisk – Gateway ALR 8200 User Manual

Page 30

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20 Gateway ALR 8200 User’s Guide

Maintaining your hard drive

Hard drives need regular maintenance because running the system software
divides files, creates spaces between data, and otherwise decreases the hard
drive’s performance. Windows 95 and Windows NT provide maintenance
tools that help prevent possible hard drive problems. The most important
tools for hard drive maintenance are the programs ScanDisk (Windows 95
only), Check Disk (Windows NT only), and Disk Defragmenter (Windows
95 only).

Using ScanDisk

ScanDisk is a Windows 95 program that lets you check your hard disk for
damaged areas and then repairs them. We suggest you scan your hard drive
from at least once a week to once a month, depending on how often and
how much you use your computer.

1.

Click on the

Start

button. Then click on

Programs,

then

Accessories,

then

System Tools,

and then

ScanDisk.

The ScanDisk window opens.

2.

In the ScanDisk window, click on the drive you want to scan.

3.

If you only want to check your files and folders for errors, select the

Standard

option button. If you want to do a more thorough scan for

errors, select the

Thorough

option.

Because the

Thorough

option takes more time than the

Standard

option,

we recommend you normally use the

Standard

option and do a

Thorough

check at least once a month.

4.

If you selected

Standard

and you want to change the settings ScanDisk

uses when it checks files and folders, click on the

Advanced

button,

select the options in the ScanDisk Advanced Options window, then
click on the

OK

button to close the window.

To use ScanDisk

4078tl.book Page 20 Tuesday, December 22, 1998 2:19 PM

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