Gateway 960 manual Defragmenting the hard drive, To defragment a hard drive in Windows 2000 Server

Chapter 3: Maintaining Your Server

Defragmenting the hard drive

When working with files, your operating system divides the file information into pieces and stores them in different places on the hard drive. This is called fragmentation, and it is normal. In order for your server to use a file, your operating system must search for the pieces of the file and put them back together. This process slows hard drive performance.

In Windows 2000 Server, the Disk Defragmenter program organizes the data on the drive so each file is stored as one unit rather than as multiple pieces scattered across different areas of the drive. Defragmenting the information stored on the drive can improve hard drive performance.

While Disk Defragmenter is running, do not use your keyboard or mouse because using them may continuously stop and restart the defragmenting process. Also, disconnect your server from the network while defragmenting because network communication may stop the defragmentation process and cause it to start over.

If your server is running an operating system other than Windows 2000 Server, see the operating system’s documentation for instructions on defragmenting files.

To defragment a hard drive in Windows 2000 Server:

1 Double-click the My Computer icon.

2 Right-click the hard drive that you want to defragment, for example Local Disk (C:), then click Properties. The Properties dialog box opens.

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