The Hard Drive Component

Hard drives are a vital component of our computers. Without our hard drives we would not be able to access any of our work, web history, programs or any form of data. Without a hard drive we wouldn't be able to run operating systems and our computers would come to a grinding halt. To help you keep your hard drive healthy we have compiled a brief guide to help you identify and solve potential problems.

Reaching the Limit of your Hardrive

Depending on the capacity of your hard drive and what type of files you store on your hard drive you may find it filling up a lot sooner than expected.

One often over looked aspect is how the capacity is classified. Similar to how a car with 1800cc engine may be listed as 2 litre in the specification some operating systems will only recognise part of the entire capacity. This is due to the way your operating system rounds up some of the differences in conversion from kilobytes to gigabytes making it appear as though you have less memory than you actually do. This can be tackled by partitioning your hard drive or modifying your operating system.

If you are looking to replace your hard drive you can either buy a new hard drive or find a used one. There are obviously distinct advantages of either choice.

• If you are looking to buy a used hard drive there are a wide variety of places to find one. With the increasing popularity of e-bay and online shopping in general there is a whole host of computer components and accessories available at competitive prices. As well as online many independent computer shops will sell refurbished and used computers and components also at competitive prices, without the charge of postage.
• If you prefer to buy a new hard drive there are also different advantages. A new hard drive will generally cost more than a used one but it could save you more time and money in repairs or maintenance in the long run. When you buy a new hard drive you can partition and format it meaning you are starting a fresh with your original data stored in a separate location from your new unused space.
• Alternatively you can opt for external memory. You can store data in a variety of forms from data sticks (some incorporating music and video playback) which come in a variety of sizes to external hard drives that can hold in excess of 200GB of storage. External memory is a practical solution available in portable, compact devices that connect to your computer via USB ports. Necessary software or drivers will be supplied along with installation and operating instructions.

Defragmenting your Hard Drive

Many problems experienced with your PC can be solved by defragmenting your hard drive. It is usually recommended that you defragment your computer on a regular basis as a preventative measure.

The process of defragmentation is an effective way of freeing up memory that may be idle or otherwise inaccessible. When various application and system files have been scattered across your system defragmentation helps to regroup common and associated files.

As the files are closer together and in a more logical order less memory is wasted establishing complex file paths required to link relevant content.

Defragmentation is simple to carry out and is highly recommend as an effective from of maintenance for your PC. There are a variety of programs available for defragmenting your PC. Some are available online to download for free or as free trials.