Disk can be almost full:
One common misconception amongst PC users is that when the disk gets full PC
gets slow.
Disk is for storage and how
much you store does not have an affect on how the PC performs. Leaving about
10- 20 % of disk space free may be necessary so that system has enough
capacity to handle any temporary system space requirements such as swap
space, temp files etc. Leaving the above mentioned amount of disk space free and
using all the rest of the space would have no bad affect on the system
performance.
Coming back to the influence
of hard disk on PC performance, look for factors like seek time, RPM,
Interface (IDE, SATA, SCSI etc), and cache memory on disk.
Seek time is the amount of
time disk requires to seek data. Specified in milli seconds this can be
an influential parameter. RPM can be 5400 and 7200 on IDE drives and SCSI
drives come in 10,000 and 15,000 RPMs. When the RPM increases performance
increases.
IDE is the most common
interface and SATA
is beginning to make inroads. SCSI is used in higher-end systems for better
performance and reliability. Support of these interfaces on the PC is
important and must be verified before purchase. SCSI is not a commonly used standard on
the PCs however IDE and SATA are. However SCSI is very much available for
PCs if you wish to.
Another factor is the cache
memory on the disk. Normally higher disk capacity means better technology
and performance. However this must be evaluated through the parameters
discussed here.
Defragmentation :
Over a period of time, use of the hard disk
by the system causes files to be stored in non – contiguous sectors
requiring the disk to stop at several places to be able to retrieve a single
file. Such a situation is known as fragmentation. Clearing this
fragmentation and making the files contiguous again is called
defragmentation.
In fact the affect of
defragmentation is not significant in improving PC performance. However a
moderate improvement in performance can be achieved through defragmentation.
Next :
PC Security &
Performance.
