Chapter 22: PC Care and Maintenance^589
- Using a general-purpose cleaner, clean the outside of the case, being careful not
to get any moisture inside the case. - Power on the PC and monitor the POST process for errors.
Hard Disk Drives
There isn’t too much you can physically do for a hard disk drive to keep it running, be-
yond keeping an area of free airflow around it and keeping its cables and power connec-
tions snug. Because hard disk drives are sealed units, no physical cleaning needs to be
done. The preventive maintenance on a hard disk drive centers around optimizing the
storage space.
Here are the preventive maintenance activities you should perform for the hard
disk drive: Create full and partial backups of the data on the hard disk.
Run ScanDisk to the surface of the hard disk for errors.
Run the Disk Defragmenter optimization program.
Empty the Recycle Bin at least monthly.
Run the Disk Cleanup utility to remove unneeded files, such as temporary files,
Internet content, and installation files, from the hard disk weekly. You can file
this tool on the Accessories | System Tools menu.Data Backups
Backing u pyour hard disk data to another storage media that can be stored outside of
the PC and perhaps outside of the building is definitely preventive maintenance. A data
backup protects you against hard disk failure, PC problems, and worse. Hardware can
be replaced, but often your data cannot be, at least not very easily. Making a backup
copy of your files is a safety precaution that ensures your data can outlive the device on
which it’s stored. A cardinal rule of computing is to back up files regularly, and then
back u pthe backu ps.
Any removable medium can be used to make a backu pco py of your hard disk’s data.
Which medium you should use depends mostly on the amount of data you have to back
up. If you are backing up a 40GB hard disk, you probably should consider tape, but if you
are backing up a 100MB hard disk, a Zip disk will work nicely.
Most operating systems include utilities for creating a backup, and a backup utility
is usually included with most tape, recordable CD, and other writable media drives. A
variety of software packages specifically designed to perform backups are also avail-
able for purchase. Figure 22-12 shows the Windows Backup utility that is included on
the Accessories | System Tools menu.