FAQ's About Hardware - Hard Drives

Q: What is a hard drive and what does it do?

A: A hard drive performs the same function as a floppy disk. It serves as a storage device for your programs and documents. When you save a document, the computer makes an electronic "recording" of it which is stored on the hard drive. The next time you want to work with that document the computer goes to the hard drive and reads the document into memory so you can add to or make changes to it. Your hard drive also stores all of the application programs you use to create your documents. The advantages of hard drives over diskettes are;

• Hard drives hold much much more information than diskettes.
• Hard drives are much faster than diskettes.
• Hard drives are built into your computer so you can't misplace it.
• Hard drives are much less susceptible to damage or corruption.

Q: What do I do if my hard disk fails to work?

A: As with most computer errors, your first step is to shut down your computer and restart it. This will help you confirm weather or not you actually have a hard disk problem. If the disk is severely damaged then your computer will probably fail to restart properly. If this is the case then contact computer services, this is a job for the professionals.

If your computer restarts successfully then your hard drive is probably OK.

If you are working on a Macintosh you can also try running a program called "Disk Utility" which can be found in the Utilities folder under the Applications on your hard drive. When the Utility program starts, choose the hard drive icon on the left hand side of the window, then click the "Repair Disk Permissions" button.

If you are still experiencing problems then it is time to contact computer services.

Q: What is the capacity of my hard drive?

A: If you are working on a Windows computer double click the My Computer icon and then right click on the icon for the hard drive (usually labeled (C:)) then choose Properties from the popup menu.

You will get the following dialog box that tells you how much of your hard drive is used, how much is free and shows you a pie graph illustrating the amounts of free and used space.

For Macintosh Computers - click once on the hard drive icon to make sure it is selected, then go to the File menu and choose Get Info and you will see the following dialog box which shows you how much of the disk is used and how much is available.

Q: How do I erase files from my hard drive?

A: On Macintosh computers you erase files simply by dragging the file icon to the Trash icon in the dock, normally located in the lower right hand corner of your screen. Then go to the Finder menu and choose Empty Trash.

On a Windows computer drag the file icon to the Recycle Bin icon, normally located along the left hand side of the screen. Then right click the Recycle Bin icon and choose Empty Recycle Bin from the popup menu that appears.

Q: Is there anything I can do to retrieve a file that I erased by mistake?

A: On Macintosh computers, if you drag a file to the Trash by mistake you can click the Trash icon to open its window and drag the icon back out of the trash window. However, this will not work if you choose the Empty Trash command from the Finder menu. If you happen to empty the Trash and then realize that you deleted a file by mistake, STOP, do not do anything else, contact the Computer Services Department right away. We have software that may be able to retrieve your file just as long as you don't save any other files after emptying the Trash. If you choose Secure Empty Trash from the Finder menu then your files are gone and there is no way to retrieve them.

On Windows computers if you drag a file to the Recycle Bin you can double click it to and drag the icon back out of the Recycle Bin window. This will not work if you choose the Empty Recycle Bin command. If you do empty the Recycle Bin by mistake, STOP, do not do anything else, contact the Computer Services department right away. We have software that may be able to retrieve your file, just as long as you don't save any other files after emptying the Recycle Bin.

Q: I get an error message when I try to read or save files on my hard disk,
what should I do?

A: There are lots of different reasons that you might get errors when reading or saving files on your hard disk. When you do get an error message write it down word for word, it will help us diagnose the problem.

In the meantime if you are having trouble saving,try saving your file on a diskette or to your network folder.

If you have trouble opening a file, contact Computer Services, it could mean that your file has become corrupted or there may be other reasons (too many to list here) why it won't open. We will do our best to help you retrieve your file.

The best way to avoid the problem of not being able to open a file is to make backup copies of your most important files. You can make backup copies on diskettes or on your network folder.