ThinkPad X230 - Chapter 9. Preventing Problems; Preventive Maintenance and Best Practices

Chapter9.Preventingproblems
AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,you
canavoidcommonproblems.Thischapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputer
runningsmoothly.
•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage127
•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage128
•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage129
Generaltipsforpreventingproblems
•IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanmSATAsolid-statedrive,youarenot
recommendedtousethemSATAsolid-statedriveasabootabledevice.ThemSATAsolid-statedriveis
designedanddevelopedforthe“cache”functionpurposeonly.IfyouusethemSATAsolid-statedriveas
abootabledevice,itsreliabilityisnotguaranteed.
•Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdrivegetstoofull,the
Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.
Tochecktheharddiskdrivecapacity,clickStart➙ComputerontheWindows7operatingsystem.For
theWindows8operatingsystem,opentheWindowsExplorerandclickComputer.
•Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.
•Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.
•Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedprograms.
Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.
•CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.
•Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily
backupoperation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical
drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.
•Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout
systemrestore,seeChapter5“Recoveryoverview”onpage61
.
•UpdatedevicedriversandUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.
•Proleyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand
revisions.
•Ensuredevicedriversfornon-Lenovoperipheraldevicesarekeptuptodate.Youmightwanttoreadthe
devicedriverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.
•Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minorissues
youhaveexperienced,andhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.
•Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreloadontothemachine,thefollowing
tipsmighthelpalongtheway:
–Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,andsoon.
–Makesurethatyourbatteryischargedandthatyouhavetheacpowerconnected.
–BootintoThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.
–Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.
–Ifyourcomputerusesdiscsastherecoverymedia,donotremovethediscfromthedriveuntil
promptedtodoso.
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