MCSA/MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-270): Installing ...

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Lesson 5 Maintaining Disks with Disk Defragmenter, Check Disk, and Disk Cleanup
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Figure 10-22 shows the Disk Defragmenter dialog box after you have analyzed the C
drive. Windows XP Professional displays another Disk Defragmenter dialog box, indicating
that you need to defragment the volume. You can view a report that shows more
details about the fragmentation on your volume, close the dialog box and run the
defragmenter at a later time, or defragment the volume now.
Figure 10-22 Use the Disk Defragmenter window to analyze the fragmentation on a volume.
If there is not enough fragmentation to require you to defragment the volume, Windows
XP Professional displays a Disk Defragmenter dialog box, indicating that there is
no need to defragment the volume at this time.
The following list provides some recommended guidelines for using Disk Defragmenter:
■ Run Disk Defragmenter when the computer will receive the least usage. During
defragmentation, data is moved around on the hard disk, and that process is
microprocessor-intensive. The defragmentation process will adversely affect
access time to other disk-based resources.
■ Educate users to defragment their local hard disks at least once a month to prevent
accumulation of fragmented files.
■ Analyze the target volume before you install large applications and defragment the
volume if necessary. Installations complete more quickly when the target media
has adequate contiguous free space. Additionally, accessing the application after
installation is faster.
■ When you delete a large number of files or folders, your hard disk might become
excessively fragmented, so be sure that you analyze it afterward. Generally, you
should defragment hard disks on busy file servers more often than those on single-user
client computers.