2.11 Utilities - Disk Organisation

2.11 Utilities - Disk Organisation

1. Formatting

   • Before a hard disk is used it needs to be prepared for its first use, disk formatting is this process.
   • As part of the disk formatting procedure, partitions are created. These are known as drives.
     • Each partition will have a different purpose. For example: C: might be where applications are stored, D: might be the drive used for external media, and S: might be a shared drive on the school network.
   • The disk formatting utility includes setting up an empty files system which will allow folders and files to be created and deleted in the normal way.

2. File transfer

   • Allows you to create, move, copy, and delete files on the computer system.
     • If you where using a CLI you would have to type the command directly. This requires technical knowledge of the commands.
     • A more convenient way is to use a graphical file handling utility. This shows the files graphically as icons within folders along with the file name and other details such as file size, file type, and date modified can also be viewed.
       • You can manipulate files multiple different ways: drag and drop using a mouse to move a file, right clicking on a file and choosing an option from a menu, highlighting the file and choosing an option from the menu bar on the explorers window, and highlighting the file and using keyboard shortcuts such as CTRL + C and CTRL + V.

3. Disk defragmentation

   • Overtime files and folders on the hard disk become fragmented.
   • When running an application a large amount of files need to be opened and if they are scattered, instead of being next to each other, the hard disk has a lot of work to do in order to locate everything that is needed to run this application, making it noticeably slower.
     • Very occasionally files become so fragmented it causes a program to stop running. To overcome this you should regularly defrag the hard drive.
   • All computers have a defragmenter pre-installed. When it is run, it will reorganise the hard drive by putting related pieces of data back together so that files are stored contiguously. This may also free up more space on the hard drive.
   • This only needs to happen on hard disk drives since data only gets fragmented because of the moving parts.

4. System cleanup

   • Overtime some parts of the system become cluttered with old installation details, temporary files, and dead shortcuts.
   • A good system cleanup tool will search for and delete files which are no longer needed. This releases large amounts of storage.
   • Running this utility regularly can help improve the performance and the speed up the boot-up time.

5. Automatic updating

   • This very important utility automatically searches the internet for updated versions or patches of critical software such as the OS or web browser.
   • If an update is found, it will automatically be downloaded and installed and you will prompted to restart your machine in order to apply the patch.
   • Automatic updates help to ensure that your system is protected from possible threats or security loop holes that could be exploited by malicious programs or people in order to gain access to your system. Automatic updates can also be applied to fix any known software bugs.

6. System information and diagnosis

   • System information utilities check the current state of the computer and attached devices.
     • They check: the temperature of the CPU, how much memory is available, and speed of network connections.
   • When a problem has been identified by the system information utility it is the job of the diagnosis utility to work out what the problem is and either fix it directly or prompt the user to do something.
   • These utilities do not fix any issues they find, they only collect and display the information.

7. Backup Utilities

   • A backup is a copy of all your data that is stored somewhere else. A backup utility backs up automatically.
     • A backup utility allows you to: set up a schedule for automatic backups, specify what to and what not to backup, choose the type of backup, and choose where to backup.
   • Complete backup: This copies all the data each time; this makes sure all data is in one place however this takes a long time.
   • Incremental backup: The first backup has to be a complete backup but after that it only backs up new files or files that have changed. This is more efficient than complete backup since it is a lot faster although it is more complicated to recover data.