File Corruption
One of the most difficult software problems to trace is file corruption, because corruption occurs very easily during routine computer handling. For example, powering off the notebook before the OS has completed the shutdown process can create corrupted boot files that ultimately result in blue screens and/or continuous reboots.
Issues such as blue screens, application lockups, and other occurrences are caused by write splices. A write splice is an incomplete write to a sector of the HDD. Upon the next read of that sector, the OS encounters incomplete data, and marks this area as a bad sector. The OS remaps a reserved sector in its place.
If write splices continue to occur with increasing frequency, errors such as blue screens, application lockups, and other occurrences will result, because the HDD has reached the
File Fragmentation
Hard drive performance is also degraded when file fragmentation is not reduced by regular software maintenance. Over time, the hard drive file structure becomes fragmented due to continuous creating, editing, copying, and deleting of files. New data is written to the hard drive on a “first available space” basis. Fragmentation occurs when an entire file or application is not stored contiguously on the hard drive. Once fragmentation occurs, the hard drive throughput performance is impacted, because it must seek the data from multiple locations across the hard drive.
Read Errors
HDDs can experience issues due to read errors. In this situation, a
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&pro
dTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=4138624&prodNameId=4138625&swEnvOID=4054&swLang=13&
Other software issues may include viruses, application, and operating system (OS) bugs. To address these issues, refer to your software Help for more information.
Page 3
