So I've read some stuff online on how to detect if your HardDrive is dying on you and one sounds familiar. Like weird beeping noises (rarely happens to me). My computer dose act a little sluggish at times. I used to use so many emulators during it's time with me in the past years ago like GB, GBA, GC, N64 PS1, and some I cant remember (I've heard emulators eat your computer and make them slower). I used to render many videos and use the computer at the same time (which I've heard is not a good thing to do). I did install Yahoo Messenger today and Skype few months back. It would be slow when I have a flash drive plugged in for a long period of time. I would sometimes fall asleep and leave my computer on all night then get back into using it when I wake up so sometimes it would be on for nearly 48 hours (I heard it doesn't really do much damage because I have a desktop). It was acting slow just now but I shut it off just so it'll cool down. If any of that helps then that is all. I have a Windows Vista, I've had it since 2008. I have heard it's best to get a new computer every 5 years or so but I dont know whats the newest windows computer (I dont want a Mac). I dont use my current computer for anything except for the internet, Yahoo Messenger, and Skype. I use VLC player for music and videos. I do burn CDs with Windows Media Player. I rarely do anything with it relating to gaming except recently Chain of Memories for GBA (JPN) for video game reviewing purposes and nothing else. If I do get a new computer, Im just really going to use it for the internet, Skype, burning CDs, and VLC Player and nothing else. So what do you think? Do you guys think it's time for me to get a new computer? Or should I wait a bit longer until it becomes un-usable?
Since you've never used that, that's most likely your problem. After a while, files become fragmented and cause slowdown, so you should run it on a regular basis. Once a month, you should have it analyze your computer, and if it says that "you should defragment this volume", then do it; if it doesn't, then you're fine. Give that a try and report back. :smile:
I'll give a more detailed explanation. Think of a hard drive as a bunch of cabinets with a few pages of the file in each one. Each cabinet is called a fragment. By default, these pages are all near each other and in a row so that you can access the file easily. The closer together each page is, the less work your computer has to do to recover all of the pages. Now, what happens when you delete a file? The cabinets stay in the same place, they just register as empty. If the file you deleted was between two other files, then your computer reads a certain amount of blank space between two files. It tells you that those cabinets are now empty. What happens when you save or create a new file after deleting that one? On Windows file systems, the file is placed into that empty space between the other files. If the file is bigger than the file you deleted, then some of the pages take up the cabinets left by the old file, and the rest of the pages either go to the end of the drive or to another blank spot where you deleted another file. Now that file is spread out across the drive and will take longer to access. When fragments of the same file are spread out across the drive, the file is said to be fragmented. If the new file is smaller than the file you deleted, then it will fit but there will still be some empty cabinets there and the next file you add will be in the same situation. What happens if you delete some other files along with the file that was just fragmented? The cabinets that it was in are registered as empty like the first one. But now, the cabinets are spread out, and the next file you save will be spread out even more than the first one. The problem builds up each time you delete and create. The drive becomes more fragmented, and your computer has to work twice as hard to get all of the pages for each file. Defragmenting your hard drive reorganizes the cabinets in rows again. The worse the fragmentation, the longer it takes, but it can significantly speed up your hard drive. On an unrelated note, Linux file systems keep track of where each page is located and automatically reorganizes and lines the pages up every time you delete a file, so fragmentation never happens.
There's a lot you can do before proclaiming your current computer "dead." As was mentioned, defragmenting can certainly help. You should also install all available system and driver updates, remove unused programs and files (preferably before defragmenting), scan for viruses or malware (Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is my combo for this), run a disk cleanup, and so on. Maintaining your computer isn't hard but it does take setting up a schedule and sticking to it. To defragment: Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter First analyze the disc, then defrag. To remove unused programs: I would recommend using the freeware Revo Uninstaller for this. The difference between doing it straight from your Control Panel is that Revo will remove all traces of the program--the provided uninstallers commonly leave traces of the program in file form and within your registry. Get rid of whatever you don't use. To remove unused files: Just go through all your files & folders, delete that which you don't need or use. If you still want to keep something but access it infrequently, I would recommend compressing it to a .zip or equivalent file (7z is my favorite). To scan for viruses: You hopefully have an anti-virus already, but if you're using some kind of paid solution, or none at all, I would seriously recommend trying Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast. Both are free and terrific. Either should be easy to use. To scan for malware: Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and install it. Run a full scan because you probably haven't before if you've just installed it; remove infected items. You should run this occasionally, but a quick scan will suffice in the future. To run Disk Cleanup: Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup Select the C: drive, unless you've customized this. I usually remove Temporary Internet Files, Offline Webpages, empty the Recycle Bin, Setup Log FIles, Temporary Files, and all Error reports. Other things you can do: Run CCleaner. If your computer is still sluggish after this, I'm sure we'd be happy to help you find a new one; likewise, if there are unsolved problems, we may also be able to address them.
