Questions and Answers

Lesson 1 Review

1. What is the process of rearranging files and folders into contiguous blocks called?

   Defragmenting. Windows XP includes the Disk Defragmenter utility to analyze and defragment disks.

2. On what types of computers can you use dynamic disks?

   To use a dynamic disk, you must be running Windows XP Professional or Windows 2000 Professional. Windows XP Home Edition and portable computers do not support dynamic disks.

3. What actions must you take to revert from a dynamic disk to a basic disk? What limitations does this process impose?

   By using Disk Management, you must delete all volumes on the disk. You must then right-click the disk and select Revert To Basic Disk. All data is lost when reverting a dynamic disk to a basic disk. You must repartition and reformat the basic disk following the conversion.

Lesson 2 Review

1. If Device Manager indicates that the CD-ROM is installed and functioning, yet the device does not appear to be functioning properly, what is indicated?

   The CD media may be defective, dirty, or not readable.

Case Scenario Exercises: Scenario 8.1

One of the users for whom you provide support has two identical hard disks installed in her computer. She says that she has more than enough space on just one drive and has not stored anything on the second drive. The user has read about Windows XP Professional’s support of disk striping and wants you to help her configure these two disks as a striped volume. Both disks are currently configured as basic disks and you know you must upgrade the disks to dynamic disks to support striping. You cannot upgrade one of the disks, however. What might prevent you from upgrading the disk, and how can you resolve the issue?

To convert from a basic disk to a dynamic disk, 1 MB of free, unpartitioned space must be available at the end of the disk. This 1 MB is necessary to store the database that tracks the configuration of all dynamic disks in the computer. If Windows XP created the existing partitions, it automatically reserved the 1 MB of space required for the conversion. If the partitions were created by another operating system or utility program, there is a good chance that no free space is available. To create the 1 MB of free space required, you can delete all partitions on the disk, re-create them through Disk Management, and restore the data.

Case Scenario Exercises: Scenario 8.2

You have a user who needs to increase the amount of free space available to Windows XP Professional. The current hard disk is a 20 GB drive with 1 GB of available free space and is formatted as FAT32.

You help the user complete the installation of an additional 40 GB hard disk. You configure the basic input/output system (BIOS) to recognize the newly installed drive, and Disk Management recognizes both drives.

The user does not want an additional drive letter assigned to the new hard disk space. She does want to retain the original drive and its contents. How can you configure this computer to meet the user’s needs? What, if any, changes will she notice to the file system? What, if any, are the disadvantages of using volume mount points?

To meet all your customer’s needs, you first need to explain that the file system must be NTFS. Volume mount points are available only to NTFS partitions. To create a volume mount point, you must first convert the file system to NTFS, create a new folder on drive C, select the drive you want to add the volume mount point to from Disk Management, right-click and select Change Driver Letter And Paths For New Volumes, and choose Add Then Mount In This NTFS Folder from the Add New Drive Letter Of Path dialog box. To confirm that the volume mount point has been created, you can view the folder from Windows Explorer and note that the icon is different from the standard folder icons, or you can open a command prompt and then change to the parent folder of the volume mount point and type dir; it displays the folder as a <JUNCTION>. This solution allows you to increase the storage space available to Windows XP without assigning a drive letter to the new disk.

Troubleshooting Lab

What do you suspect is the problem? What would you suggest that the user do?

Disk Management reports dynamic disks as either Offline or Missing when it cannot detect the disk. The cause of a missing dynamic disk can be an operating system error or a problem with the drive itself. You should first have the customer attempt to rescan the disks by selecting Rescan Disks from the Action menu of Disk Management. If that does not resolve the issue, he should next try restarting the computer. If Disk Management continues to report the disk as missing, you or he should check to make sure that the drive is properly connected in the computer. It is also possible that the drive has failed and must be replaced.