Following on from our previous article on the defragmentation program, the next in our series of System Tuneup is on another of Microsoft’s maintenance suite, Scandisk.

In our previous article, we explained the nature of filesystems and how they allocate the data on the drive. A heavily fragmented filesystem is often fully laden, causing sluggishness, errors and commonly, drive deterioration.

Defined: Sluggishness and Errors

Often with a fragmented drive, the data becomes cluttered, and sometimes written wrongly on a drive. Cross-linking, and invalid file fragments are a common problem in this environment.

To combat this, Scandisk runs a check of all of the files on a disk and checks them for cross-linking, lost and invalid fragments, and other errors. So, what are these problems?

Defined: Drive Deterioration

Most hard drives manufactured after 1997 spin at a rotational 5,400 revs per minute or higher. Newer hard drives spin commonly at 7,200 – 10,000 rpms. Even your car engine doesn’t cycle that quick! Naturally with any device that spins that quickly, general deterioration will occur due to the heat generated inside the device.

Drive failure is common when a drive is old, or has suffered extreme physical shock. Once a drive spindle is damage, it can fall on the actual disk layer, causing physical damage. When this occurs, it is typically irreparable.

Specks of dust can appear on a drive, causing read and write errors. This type of fault can be rectified.

Solution: Scandisk

Scandisk directly resolves these issues by analyzing the data on a drive and moving the data to their correct locations. For physical errors on a drive, Scandisk flags the exact sector on the drive as bad, which will deny any attempts to write or read on that particular sector.

To run scandisk, click on your Start button, followed by a click on the Run button. Inside the box that appears, simply type scandisk

Scandisk itself has two options, Standard and Thorough.

The Standard option of Scandisk performs a scan on the File Allocation Table and corrects any system problems. This scan solves fragment problems. This scan can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes.

The Thorough option of Scandisk performs the Standard scan, as well as performing a physical scan of the drive. This scan takes anywhere between 1 and 4 hours.

Select the scandisk option you prefer, and then the drives you wish to scandisk (usually A, C or D drives). Select the “Automatically fix errors” check box down the bottom, and click Start.

How often should I scandisk, and can I speed up the process?

Generally, Windows will run a brief scandisk (similar to a Standard scan) every time Windows is not shutdown properly. Beyond this, it’s good practice to run a scandisk before you run a defragment.

I’ve heard of Symantec’s WinDoctor? Which is better?

Symantec’s Windoctor is included as part of the Systemworks or Utilities suites. Symantec have programmed their applications in a way that performs these tasks quicker than the native Microsoft versions.

Norton Utilities is available as part of Norton Systemworks Professional ($159.95), or separately for $79.95.

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