In a previous post, (pc running slow) I talked about the different computer components and how changing them out or upgrading them could really improve a computer that is running slowly.  Today, I will  cover the hard drive component more thoroughly and discuss how hard drive upgrades and hard drive maintenance can help increase computer speed.

What you should know about your hard drive:

• How much total space does it have?
• How much free space is available?
• How many RPMs does it run at?

To find out the total space on your hard drive, left-click the “Start” Button, then right-click on “My Computer”.  A menu will appear at the point of your click, so now select “Explore” from the menu.  This view of Windows Explorer has two window panes.  The left pane is for the folders and the right pane is for your drives, shared folders and your documents folder.  In the right pane, look for Local Disk C: and you will notice that the total disk space and the amount of total free space is listed there for you.

If the free space on your disk is less than 10% of your total drive space, then you really may want to think about replacing the drive with a larger drive or you should do some serious cleaning to free up some space.  When you have multiple programs open and your computer’s memory is maxed, it looks to use more of the hard drive’s paging file to help with memory operations.  When your hard drive is just about full, it makes it hard to find files over the span of the whole drive and this can slow down disk access.

Hard drives usually come in 3 speeds: 5400, 7200 and 10000 rpm.  The 10000 rpm drive are more expensive but well worth it if you hope to increase pc speed.

Hard Drive Maintenance

What can you do to make sure your hard drive continues to hum along without delay?  I have listed below what you can do to maintain your hard drive which will also help to increase your computer speed.

1. First Disk Clean up (See more on this here: Slow Computer Fix
2. We want to remove unwanted files, so run CCleaner next
3. Look through the documents and download folders for files you don’t need and delete them (use caution)
4. Scan Disk is good at fixing hard drive errors
5. Download and install Defraggler, start pc in safe mode, then run Defraggler. Disk Defragment software.

After completing these steps, you should notice a pc speed boost and your hard drive will thank you because it doesn’t have to work as hard.  If you are wanting to learn more about how to increase your computer speed, check back soon as I hope to post many more articles on the subject.

Cheers,

Steve