Scandisk and disk defrag

[Guest]

I have been told that you do not have to do a scandisk or disk defrag with
XP. If not, why is it there?

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Sandy" <[email protected]>

| I have been told that you do not have to do a scandisk or disk defrag with
| XP. If not, why is it there?

Scandisk -- Win9x/ME

Open a Command Prompt and type..
CHKDSK /f

Defrag
Execute %windir%\system32\dfrg.msc

 

[Yves Leclerc]

I have been told that you do not have to do a scandisk or disk defrag with
XP. If not, why is it there?

Who told you this "wrong" info? Chkdsk (XP scandisk) is needed usually when
the XP is not shutdown correctly. You can always "defrag" XP. However, it
may take a lot of time, especially with the large (160 or greater) hard drives.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I have been told that you do not have to do a scandisk or disk defrag with
XP.

Someone has badly misinformed you.

WinXP does not even have a program called "Scandisk," as this was a
Win9x/Me program. Instead, because WinXP is descended from the WinNT/2K
OS family, it has a command line utility called "Chkdsk," which performs
much better.

Start > Run > Cmd > Chkdsk.exe /? for the correct syntax and
available options.

Alternatively, double-click My Computer > right-click the desired
hard drive > Properties > Tools > Error-checking/Check Now. This will
run Chkdsk, normally on the next reboot.

However, unless you are actually experiencing a specific problem
related to your hard drive's file system, there's no real need to run
Chkdsk. The utility is not designed to be used as part of any period
maintenance plan.

If not, why is it there?

Chkdsk is there to help detect/repair errors. Defrag is there to be
used. Most people see improved performance if they keep their hard
drives defragmented.


--

Bruce Chambers

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