Preparing Your Hard Drive

Use these tools to increase efficiency, reduce errors, and make space available for an OpenSolaris partition.

Run the Windows Defragmentation Utility

1. Open Windows Explorer, type Computer in the address line,and press Enter.
   A list of the computer's storage devices appears.
2. Right-click on the target drive and select Properties.
   A new window appears, detailing the target drive's properties.
3. Select the Tools tab.
   A list of system utilities is displayed.
4. Open the Defragmentation utility by clicking Defragment Now.
   A window with defragmentation options appears.
5. Run the Defragmentation utility by clicking Defragment now.
   You may work on your computer while the utility operates, but doing so slows it down. Depending on the size of your hard drive and how often you defragment your files, this takes between ten minutes and and two hours.

Run the Windows Error-Checking Utility

1. Open the Error-Checking utility by clicking Check Now on the window displaying the list of system utilities.
   A window appears.
2. Click Start.

• If the disk check begins, wait until completion. This can take take up to two hours.
• If a message reading “Windows can't check the disk while it's in use” appears, click Schedule disk check.

1. Restart your computer.
   Wait for the computer to restart. This can take up to two hours if you scheduled a disk check with the CHKDSK utility.