Scan disk

[Stedman]

Having just bought a new computer with Vista (64-bit) installed, I am trying
to find out what maintenance I need to do on it. I have found out that Disk
Defragmenter is installed under accessories, but Scan disk does not appear to
be (unlike my old Millenium machine). Does this mean I don't have to scan
the disk anymore? How often should I defragment it? Does Windows defender
do some of this instead? Confused!

 

[Richard Urban]

Scandisk has "never" been a part of any NT based operating system. You use
chkdsk - since the beginning of the NT series of operating systems (Vista is
part of this series).

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[Stedman]

Thanks for this information, but where do I find chkdsk? (Having just
looked, it is not listed under the accessories part of Vista)

 

[Richard Urban]

Chkdsk is run from an elevated "command prompt".

Start | All Programs | Accessories | Command Prompt

Right click Command Prompt and run as Administrator.

Then, if your operating system is on Drive C: type in ** chkdsk C: /f **,
without the asterisks.

You will be told that chkdsk can not lock the drive - Do you want to check
on the next reboot?

Type Y and press the enter key

Reboot

For a check without a repair just run ** chkdsk C: ** without the asterisks

No reboot is necessary

I run chkdsk with a repair about once a month. I find that many times
repairs are affected even though a normal check will say that the drive is
competent.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[Mickey Lane]

Generally speaking, you do not have to defrag any NTFS disk if it has a
reasonable amount of free space on it. DOS and NTFS are like apples and
oranges. What's good for DOS doesn't do much for NTFS.

You can run chkdsk from time to time but you shouldn't need to. If a problem
pops up, NT based systems will usually queue up a chkdsk run automatically.
(That's the bit where you get this message about checking disks early in the
boot process and the process seems to run forever.)

To answer your basic question about maintenance - I suggest you familiarize
yourself with the status of 64-bit drivers for the devices included with
your system. All 64-bit drivers are new and most are under active
development or improvement.

If it's a laptop, you're pretty much stuck with the manufacturer. If
desktop, you can often improve things by updating drivers directly from the
component manufacturer's site. Example: NVIDIA graphics drivers.

You may not need to do any of this but you should at least be aware of the
changes taking place as the months pass.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Having just bought a new computer with Vista (64-bit) installed, I am trying
to find out what maintenance I need to do on it. I have found out that Disk
Defragmenter is installed under accessories, but Scan disk does not appear to
be (unlike my old Millenium machine).

Right. I see that you've already been told about Chkdsk, so I won't
repeat it.

Does this mean I don't have to scan
the disk anymore?

You never did. Neither scandisk nor chkdsk needs to be run on a
regular basis--only when there is a problem to be solved.

How often should I defragment it?

There's no answer that's right for everyone. It depends on how you use
your computer and it depends on how much you use your computer.

You should defragment your drive when doing so results in a speedup.
Here's what I recommend. Pick some arbitrary interval--for example
once a month. Defragment on that interval a few times, and assess
whether the computer generally feels faster after doing so. If the
answer is yes, defrag more frequently. If the answer is no, defrag
less frequently.

Repeat a few times, and you'll soon settle into a frequency that works
well for you.

Does Windows defender
do some of this instead?

No.