Care and feeding of an old hard drive?

ETTiNGRiNDER · Post by **ETTiNGRiNDER** » Sun Sep 14, 2014 2:18 pm

So I've noticed that the HD on my older computer (spec here) seems to be loading the games more slowly and getting choppy from time to time. Ordinary defragging hasn't helped, but uninstalling some stuff and then defragging does seem to have made an improvement. Scandisk doesn't report any errors even with the thorough mode.

Should I be worried that the drive is failing or is the Windows 98 SE defragger just not that good? I would think it should put files that belong in one directory all together, but looking at the pattern of gaps when I uninstall something, it doesn't seem to.

Are there any good disk diagnostic and defrag programs that'll work on the 9x series Windows and are better than the defaults?

As a side question, if/when I do replace the drive with a newer one, is there any good info out there on how to hook a newer drive up to an older mobo? The rig in question is pre-SATA tech.

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Sun Sep 14, 2014 4:10 pm

Please, please, please! Take good care of your old computer!!!!!!!!!!!! It is a classic. I had a Windows XP computer and at one point even Windows 95 original install discs. Unfortunately, I thought the graphics were not up to par. Now I am with a modern system (Win8). It is not classic and fun like the old days. I would say try not to defrag too often. If you must maybe once a year. It seems to put heavy stress on the hard drive.

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Sun Sep 14, 2014 4:13 pm

Even with DOSBox you lose that big clunky box feel of DOS. Of course it is limited unless you have XP.

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Sun Sep 14, 2014 4:20 pm

Then with your hard earned systems - my father tells me to always backup and I never regret it ever since. Even in my community college days the mainframes have at least 8 backups at a time. Imagine all the students losing their 5 months of semester programming work. Yikes!

My mother works hard to bring in food for the family. She never graduated. So keep everything you have. Even that little disc you think is not worth much can save you a lot of headache in figuring out what you programmed before.

Maybe it was a picture of your love ones that is important. Another reason that backup is important.

(So everything is precious)

I know hoarding is a no-no so if you see someone who needs help, at least "try" to give something. It is sometimes the thought that counts. Or in this case, a perfect word of a gift.