Chapter 8 Lab Work

8.1 Test Hard Drive Performance Using Sandra

1. Why might you want to test your drive with Sandra?

Sandra gives you the detailed information needed about your drives and system, as well as
compares your current drive(s) to other drives on the market

2. Based on driving rating information you got from Sandra does a drive perform better if it
spins faster or slower?
Performance is better when it's moving faster.

3. Based on driving rating information you got from Sandra does a drive perform better if it
reads data randomly or sequentially?
Sequentially

4. Why shouldn't you use the system when Sandra is testing a drive?
Because using the system during the test can stall the test and interfere with accurate testing
results.

8.2 Use Disk Management

1. Name an advantage that Disk Management has over Diskpart?

Disk management has an easy and nice GUI whereas Diskpart is a command line utility.

2. Name an advantage that Diskpart has over Disk Management?

One of the advantages of diskpart over Disk Management is that diskpart can be used in scripts
(i.e. someone adds a second disk to all clients, the admin runs a script (through GP for example)
to create partitions (volumes) on it.

3. What happens to all the information in a partition if you delete the partition?
The information is technically still there. When a partition is "deleted", only the flags that
indicate where it stops and starts are removed. The flags can be put back, and the files will be
accessible, just as they were before.

4. What feature open if you choose explore from a shortcut menu in disk management?
The area where the files and folders on that particular drive opens.

5. Is it possible to create two partitions from one area of unallocated disk space and to so using
different file system?
Yes, it is. The limitation is not the file system used but the number of primary partitions on a
physical drive.

8.3 Install A second Hard Drive

1. Why might someone need to install a second hard drive?

Maybe because he/she has too many information on the first one drive so need to install a
second one.

2. What is one way to determine how to set the jumpers on a hard drive?
By going to the manufactures website or by reading product manual.

3. What can happen if the jumpers on both drives are not configured properly?
Then neither of the drives will not work.

4. Why do you think the driver label the bios and the operating system sometime report slightly
different sizes for the hard drive?
BIOS are only to detect the drivers. We can see each driver in the BIOS setting. If we have 2 hard drives,
we will see 2 drives in BIOS, but if BIOS Only recognize 1, that means 1 drive have a problem. Then when
finally we are in windows (desktop) then click on my computer and click on every hard drive then we will
see the size of every drive. But not the 1 that was not recognized, because it will not be present.

5. List steps used to installing a second hard drive.

Step 1: Back up and scout around
Step 2: Examine data and power connections.
Step 3: Mount and connect the drive.
Step 4: Configure the BIOS

Step 5: Partition and format your hard drive

(http://computershopper.com/storage/howto/install-a-new-hard-drive-in-five-easy-steps)

8.4 Use Hard Drive Utility

1. What Are Symptoms of Hard Drive Problems?

The hard drive isn't recognized in the BIOS, Clicking, whirring, and other physical noises, the drive is
running extremely slowly.

2. Which hard drive manufacturer website is the most informative and easiest to use?
All manufacture website are informative, easiest to use and provide all the necessary information about
hard drive. If I need to select one of them then I will select Seagate.

4- What was the most common method used to run the utilities?

command : Opens the command prompt.

compmgmt.msc : Opens the computer management console.
devmgmt.msc : Opens the device manager.
dfrg.msc : Opens Windows' disk defragmenter.
diskmgmt.msc : Opens the disk management tool.
eventvwr.msc : Opens the event viewer.
fsmgmt.msc : Opens shared folders.
gpedit.msc : Opens the group policy editor.
lusrmgr.msc : Opens the local users and groups.

msconfig
Opens the system configuration utility.
msinfo32 : Opens the system information utility.
perfmon.msc : Opens the performance monitor.
regedit : Opens the registry editor.
services.msc : Opens services utility.
sysedit : Opens system configuration editor.
system.ini : Windows loading information.
win.ini : Windows loading information.
sysdm.cpl: System Properties.

5. Why is it useful to run the utility from a bootable CD or floppy disk rather than from windows?
Windows uses Protected Mode, which (normally) prohibits raw access to a disk drive and other
hardware. Also, if a system is infected with a virus, that virus would already be active, and may affect the
performance of the utility (i.e. by hiding itself, disabling the scanner, etc). By using a utility that does not
need Windows, you can prevent a virus from loading, which allows for a clean scan. Or if the utility needs
direct hardware access, it can do so without needing elevated privileges and/or special drivers.

6- What operating system is used on bootable CD or floppy disk?

Warcraft DOTA system and Counter Strike version 1.3 System

7. How do you determine that your system is set to boot from cd or floppy disk?
We can check it through BIOS.

8.5 Troubleshoot Hard Drives

1. What was the first indication that the power was disconnected from your drive?
Cables unplugged or power cords unplugged

2. In what incorrect drive configuration would you be able to access file on the hard drive
booting from CD or floppy drive?
It's not at all incorrect to be able to access files on the hard drive from the floppy. In fact, it
would seriously impair the usefulness of the floppy as a rescue utility if we couldn't.

4. What problem resulted in no drives being detected expect for the CD or floppy drive?
First, make sure that hard drive is detected in BIOS, if not then change it to auto-detect and it
will find hard drive assuming our hard drive is in good shape. Reboot and if we get the same
error then put XP CD in the CD drive and reboot again. Enter the Recovery Console and fix MBR
(Master Boot Record). If none of those work then options are pretty slim. We probably need a
new hard drive.

5. List the steps to use a drive whose partition have been deleted?
ARAX Disk Doctor - Data Recovery software includes Restore Partition Wizard for quick partition
recovery to help you to detect and restore deleted or damaged partitions.
The Restore Partition Wizard guides you through three processes:

Detecting deleted or damaged partitions.

Analyzing the content of a detected partition and optionally modify its geometry.
Restoring the partition.

To start partition recovery wizard do one of the following:

From the Wizards menu, click Restore Partitions

Select Wizards in the Command Bar and click Restore Deleted Partitions

(http://www.disk-doctor.com/restore_partition_wizard.htm)

8.6 Critical Thinking

1. Why do storage device have to be copied into the memory before their contents can be viewed in
Debug?
The computer screen is a device that displays the content of a file. This file is in Random Access Memory
(RAM). Moreover, to process some data, you need the microprocessor. It can only work with data stored
in its cache (local memory inside the microprocessor) and in RAM (central memory)
That's why to view something on the screen, a program has to copy the data into a "buffer" that will be
read by the screen.

2. Why Debug command dumps data at the beginning of the memory address space?
3. What command loads two sectors from C drive, starting at the sixth sector?
Loads a file or the contents of specific disk sectors into memory. Used without parameters, the l
subcommand loads the file you specified on the debug command line into memory, beginning at
address CS:100. Debug.exe also sets the BX and CX registers to the number of bytes loaded. If we did not
specify a file on the debug command line, the file loaded is the one most recently specified by using the
n (name) subcommand.
Syntax
l [address]
l [address] [Drive] [FirstSector] [number]