All of my disks are listed as “basic.”

Cause: Windows XP Professional supports both basic and dynamic disks, however, XP Home Edition only supports basic disks. If you are using Windows XP Professional and you want to convert the disks to dynamic disks so that you can take advantage of volume management, you can easily convert them.

My hard disk makes strange noises

Cause: Hard disks make noise when they work. Normal noises include a churning sound, or maybe even a sound like a jet engine about to take off. These noises are a normal part of the disk spinning and should be ignored. However, if your disk is making clicking or popping noises, you may have a problem, especially if other read or write errors or failures seem to be occurring.

Solution: You should get in touch with technical support because you may have a hardware problem. Also, you might try using third-party disk tools, such as Norton Utilities, which may be able to resolve problems with the disk.

My hard disk seems to behave erratically, or I get error messages

Cause: A hard disk can develop a number of disk surface and file system errors that can cause you some problems. This happens during use of the disk due to “wear and tear,” so to speak. The good news is that Windows XP gives you an Error-checking tool that can solve the problems.

To run error-checking on the disk, follow these steps:

1. Click Start--> My Computer--> Right-click the disk and click Properties.

2. Click the Tools tab

3. Click the Check Now button. A dialog box appears, that allows you to automatically fix file system problems and check for and attempt repair of bad sectors. Click both check boxes, and then click Start. Error checking begins to run, and the process may take an hour or more, depending on the size of the disk.

My computer’s hard disk is running out of space

Cause: The hard disk is used to store information. The more information you store, the less extra space the disk has. Like a clothes closet, the more stuff you cram into it, the faster it runs out of room. The hard disk in your computer can hold a lot of data, but if you are storing lots of files, especially picture or video files, you can begin to run low on disk space.

Disable hard disk drives in windows xp

By default, Windows XP spins down all hard drives after 20 minutes of inactivity to save power. This can cause significant delays when it is necessary to access the drives after this time. To increase performance and reduce wear and tear on your drives, disable this feature in Windows XP`s power options.