Lesson 10 Chapter 3 - Storage and Maintenance Migration

Question 1

For what type of drive is the disk cleanup utility useful for?

Answer 1

SSDs and HDDs

Question 2

What’s a cluster issue that only happens to HDDs?

Answer 2

Individual clusters sometimes go bad and stop storing data accurately

Question 3

How do you flag the corrupted clusters on a HDD so the read/write mechanism can avoid it?

Answer 3

Use a drive-checking utility to find and flag them (error checking/scandisk/diskcheck)

Question 4

What is the drive-checking utility that finds and flags bad clusters called in the newer version of Windows and the older one? (2)

Answer 4

Newer Windows: Error Checking
Older Windows: Scandisk (and really old MS-DOS days: check disk)

Question 5

Besides physical bad spots errors, what else can error-checking tools fix? [rare issues nowadays]

Answer 5

Fix logical problems in the MFT (master file table)

Examples: files with invalid names, clusters with no filenames associated (lost chains), and lost links between parent and child files/folders

Question 6

How do you access Error Checking? (6 steps)

FE, TP, RCD, P, T, EC

Answer 6

1. File explorer
2. This PC
3. Right click drive
4. Properties
5. Tools
6. Error Checking

Question 7

How does a file become fragmented over time?

Answer 7

When changes are made to a file, the file has to be written to a different spot on the disk

(take longer to open and save, and slows down disk’s average access time)

Question 8

Initially, how is data written on HDDs, location-wise?

Answer 8

HDDs write data sequentially so an entire file is co-located in the same spot (for faster read/write times so the head doesn’t move so far)

Question 9

Do SSDs have an issue with fragmented files?

Answer 9

No, they have no read/write head so it’s equally fast to access any data location at any time

Question 10

What does it mean to defragment a file to improve HDD performance?

Answer 10

The defrag utility relocates the parts of the file so they are in contiguous sectors

Question 11

What is another name for defragmenting a file? What is the Windows utility to defragment called?

Answer 11

1. Another name for defragmenting = optimization
2. Windows utility = Optimize Drives

Question 12

What is the executable of the utility Optimize Drives? What is the command-line version of the utility? (2)

Answer 12

1. executable is dfrgui.exe
2. command line executable is defrag.exe

Question 13

How do you find the Optimize Drive utility?

Answer 13

The same way you access Error Checking
right click the drive in This PC > Properties > Tools > Optimize

Question 14

Why don’t you need to use the Optimize Drive utility on an SSD? What does it get done instead?

Answer 14

SSDs don’t need defragmenting like HDDs but they do get retrimming done that Windows does automatically.

It improves the SSD’s overall longevity

Question 15

What is the utility called that deletes unneeded files to free up disk space?

Answer 15

Disk Cleanup

Question 16

What are 3 things to consider when choosing a new storage device to migrate data to

FF, C, T

Answer 16

1. Form factor - will it fit? right connections available?
2. Capacity - ideally should have more than before
3. Technology - do I want to upgrade it from HDD to SDD for less issues?

Question 17

When you make a clone of a device, what does that mean?

Answer 17

It makes an exact, sector-by-sector copy including the boot sector

(new drive will work exactly like the old one including its boot capability)

Question 18

Does cloning require a new copy of the OS? Would a user lose their data, applications, or settings when you clone their storage drive? (2)

Answer 18

1. Cloning does not require a new copy of the OS
2. The user does not lose any data, apps, or settings

Question 19

What is the ideal way to copy over data from an old hard drive to a new one?

Answer 19

Cloning

Question 20

If you’re not able to clone a drive, what’s an alternative method when installing new storage? (4 steps)

Answer 20

1. Make backup copies of all important data, files, and settings
2. install a new copy of the OS on new storage
3. install it in the system
4. then copy all the backed-up files onto the new storage device

Question 21

What are the 5 steps to do a general cloning migration?

back, how will you, run the, shut, start

Answer 21

1. Back up important data (to an external drive or cloud)
2. How will you connect both storage devices to the PC at the same time? Drive enclosure can convert internal storage to external, connect via USB or eSATA
3. Run the disk-cloning utility to clone the old one to the new one
4. Shut down PC, swap devices
5. Start PC. If it doesn’t work, retrace the steps to troubleshoot.

Question 22

Disk Optimization and Error checking are accessed in the same window, T or F?

Answer 22

True