Disk Quota

Disk Quota is a feature in Windows Server 2003 to restrict the access to disk space. The disk contains files and folders created by different users. When the number of fifes and folders increase, it reduces the storage capacity of the disk. The performance of the disk is affected because of less free space on the disk. You can create entries for users to restrict disk space usage.

To enable disk quota:

1. Open Windows Explorer. The Explorer Window appears.

2. Select the drive to assign disk quota.

3. Select File > Properties. The Properties dialog box appears.

4. Click the Quota tab. The Quota tab appears.

The different options available on the Quota tab are:

> Enable quota management - Applies the disk quota feature for the drive.

> Deny disk space to users exceeding quota limit - Restricts disk space access to users who exceed the allocated disk space

> Do not limit disk usage - Specifies to enable users to use the entire disk space

> Limit disk space to - Specifies the disk space allocated.

> Set warning level to - Specifies to warn the user about disk space at the specified level.

> Log event when a user exceeds their quota limit - Records the event to the log when a user exceeds the quota limit.

> Log event when a user exceeds their warning level - Records the event to the log when a user exceeds the storage warning level

> Quota Entries - Displays the Quota Entry window for the selected drive.

5. Select the Enable quota management check box.

6.Click OK.

To create a Quota Entry:

1. Open the Properties dialog box of the drive you wish to create a quota entry.

2. Click the Quota tab. The Quota tab appears.

3. Click Quota Entries. The Quota Entries window appears.

4. Select Quota > New Quota Entry. The Select Users dialog box appears,

5. Enter the user name in the Enter the objects name to select text area.

6. Click OK. The Add New Quota Entry dialog box appears.

7. Click Limit disk space to option.

8. Specify the disk space as 4000 MB.

9. Specify the warning level to 3000 MB.

1O. Click OK. The Quota entry is added to the quota entries window.

Disk Defragmenter

Windows stores files in units called as clusters. The cluster size is set to a default of 4KB when the disk is formatted with the NTFS file system. Only one file can be stored in a cluster. The file is saved to multiple adjacent clusters if the size of the file is larger than the size of the cluster. When you delete a file from the disk, the cluster gets free. Therefore, a file may be saved to clusters at different places in a disk. This reduces the performance of the disk drive.

You can use the Disk Defragmenter to defragment files on a disk. Defragmenting files moves the data to adjacent clusters on the disk. This increases the performance of the disk.

To defragment a hard disk drive:

1. Open Windows Explorer. The Explorer Window appears.

2. Open the Properties dialog box for a drive.

3. Click the Tools tab. The Tools tab appears.

4. Click Defragment Now. The Disk Defragmenter window appears.

5. select a drive to defragment, for example, E.

6. Click Defragment. Disk Defragmenter defragments the drive and displays a message box.

7. Click Close.

chkdsk Tool

The chkdsk is a command line tool to scan the hard disk drive for errors and fix them. The chkdsk tool also enables to scan the hard disk drive for bad sectors and eliminate them. Bad sectors on a disk indicate damage to the disk. You must close all open files and applications before you run Chkdsk.

To scan a hard disk:

1. Open Windows Explorer. The Explorer Window appears.

2. Select the drive that you want to check for errors.

3. Select File > Properties. The Properties dialog box appears.

4. click the tools tab. The Tools tab appears.

5. Click Check now. The Check Disk dialog box appears.

The different options available on the Check Disk dialog box are:

Automatically fix file system errors - Detects and repairs the file system

Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors- Checks the disk for bad sectors and attempts to repair them.

6. Select the Automatically fix file system errors option.

7. Click Start. The Check Completion message box appears.

8. Click OK.