Disk Drives and 'Computer' (or 'My Computer') - Basic Classes

1. About 'Computer' (or 'My Computer')
2. Explore and Browse Drives
3. Checking Drive Space on your Disks
4. Viewing and Changing Drive Settings

1. Double Click 'Computer' (or 'My Computer') on the Desktop which opens two panes.
2. Click on Start >> 'Computer' (or 'My Computer') which opens two panes.
3. Open Windows Explorer. 'Explorer' shows a view of the file system starting with the selected folder. Choose 'Computer' (or 'My Computer') from the list.

1. Expand: If there is an arrow or a plus sign next to the drive, 'Expand' will show all of the folders or files in the right pane.
2. Explore: Starts Windows Explorer with the view of this drive.
3. Open: Opens a separate window for viewing the contents of the drive.
4. Search: Opens the Find Utility, which then helps you locate folders and files on the drive. This is discussed later in this lesson
5. Sharing and Security: Opens the Sharing Tab on the drive Properties page.
6. Groove Folder Synchronization: Opens a File Sharing Workspace. Clicking on the 'Learn More' link opens up the Groove Help File.
7. Backup: Makes a backup copy of the disk in a special file located in either another drive or removable media.

'Backup' is defined as saving entire sections of a drive onto a backup medium. It has been a part of the 'Backup utility" and will be covered later in the course.

Now 'Folder Synchronization' is the term used for synchronizing files and folders to keep them up to date, either on other media or on the internet 'Cloud' storage. Read Microsoft Groove Help or Synchronization Help for more information.

8. Copy: Makes an exact copy of the disk. Used mainly to copy files to and from removable media and disks.
9. Format: Opens a dialog box so you can initialize disk, USB drives and hard drives for use on your computer.

Be careful not to format your drive accidentally, as this operation erases all files. This utility is used mainly to format removable disks.

10. Create a Shortcut: Creates a shortcut on the desktop. This has gone away in newer operating systems
11. Rename: Renames the disk to a more suitable name of your choosing.
12. Properties: Displays the Properties dialog box so you can view and change information and settings for the drive.

See the section 'Viewing and Changing Drive Settings'.

If there is a network drive or a removable media drive, the following options are available:

13. Disconnect: If your system is connected to a network, you may see drive icons for drives that are located on remote network servers.

This option will appear on the menu of network drive icons so you can disconnect the drive. This also breaks the connection and removes 'Mapped' drives. If you have several 'drives' that are no longer used, this is how to disconnect them and remove them from the list.

14. Sharing: Same as the option 'Sharing' above but with a twist; This one opens the Sharing dialog box so you can make this drive accessible to other people whose computers are connected to your computer.

You'll see this only if you are on a network.

15. Eject: this option ejects a removable disk so you can insert another disk. It is grayed out if the disk is not removable.
16. Lock: this option locks a removable media disk. It is grayed out if the disk is not removable.
17. Copy Disk: Copies the information from one disk to another, usually another floppy disk.

1. Pie Graph: Given in percent used and percent free.
2. Status bar: On the 'View' menu select 'Status Bar'.

The Status Bar shows the words Displays the properties of the selected items'. The Status Bar remains open on windows for information on what is happening and display any changes as they happen. If you cannot see enough information the drag the right side of the status area of the screen to enlarge it.

It is important to know how much space is left on your drive. If you try to copy or move a file when the disk is full you get an error message. But worse is when you copy multiple files and the operation fails suddenly with a 'Disk Full' message! What to do?

This will be covered when you study the class on Copying, Moving and Dragging Files.

Viewing and Changing Drive Settings

Right click the drive object again and choose 'Properties' on the menu.

From this dialog box in the 'General' Tab, you can change the name of the disk or the drive by typing a new name in the Label field and clicking the OK Button. In the lower half of the dialog box,you can see how much disk space, how much is in use, and how much is still available.

We will cover the other utilities in another Lesson.

Click the 'General' tab again then click 'Cancel' to return to 'Computer' (or 'My Computer').