Page 6 - September_Newsletter_2020

As expected, rotating hard disks get slower as you move towards the end of the disk due to the dif-
ference in rotational speed between the middle and outer edges of the disk. For SSD’s the testing
has shown that there is little difference as you move through the disk, except that, often, the start
of the disk is slower. The exact reasons for this are still under investigation, but it is thought that as
the earlier part of the disk will be in use, some of the slowdown will be due to relocated sectors
when small files are updated. An SSD will typically have data stored in large “pages” which can
include a number of files. When one of these files is updated, the SSD has to mark the original ar-
ea as stale, and store the update elsewhere. Then, during idle time, it will pick up these amended
files and the ones that surround the stale file, merge them and write the data out to a new page, and
mark the old page as free. This process is known as “Trim” and is automatic on updated versions
of Windows 7, and all versions of 8.1 and 10.

This test utility will shortly be available for free download, and has been called “HowFast”.

Steve now has to bolt the new, faster, and AHCI compliant software onto the older disk analysis
processing ready to release version 6.1 of Spinrite. In preparation for this, he has set up a new fo-
rum (https://forums.grc.com) which will be the support area for the next version of Spinrite. The
HowFast utility will also be available from there. Registrations are now open for the forums, and
you can login either using a traditional username/password, or using SQRL.

If any member has problems registering, please let me know as I am a moderator on the forums, so
should be able to push things through.

Alan

Scratch

When we were young, I'm sure most of us were told - "Don't scratch it".

However, these days, we can all SCRATCH and enjoy it!

SCRATCH (https://scratch.mit.edu/about) is an online programming language which is aimed
primarily at youngsters to encorage them to 'program'.

Some of you at this point will be thinking - "I'm never going to do that!"

Well, maybe not, but perhaps your grandkids are already using it, and it would be great to be able
to see what they've done and maybe suggest other ideas to them.

If they are not using it, you could introduce them to it.

I started off writing a little spelling program for my grandson and am now writing something to
help him with numbers.