Advanced SystemCare is a powerful suite designed to optimize and protect your computer, but can it extend its capabilities to external drives? For users concerned about the health and security of their external hard drives, USB drives, or other portable storage devices, understanding how to scan them with Advanced SystemCare is crucial. This guide will provide you with a detailed walkthrough on leveraging Advanced SystemCare to scan external drives, ensuring they are free from errors, malware, and performance bottlenecks.
Understanding Advanced SystemCare’s Capabilities for External Drives
While Advanced SystemCare is primarily known for optimizing internal system components, its functionalities extend to managing and scanning external drives as well. By utilizing several of its built-in tools, you can effectively maintain the health and security of your external storage devices. Let’s explore how.
Scanning External Drives for Errors with Disk Check
One of the most critical aspects of maintaining any drive, internal or external, is checking for disk errors. Advanced SystemCare’s Disk Check module is designed to detect and repair these errors, ensuring data integrity and preventing potential data loss.
To use Disk Check on an external drive:
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Connect your external drive: Ensure your external hard drive is properly connected to your computer and recognized by the system.
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Navigate to Toolbox: Open Advanced SystemCare and click on the Toolbox icon located at the top right corner of the main window.
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Locate Disk Doctor: Within the Toolbox, under the Security & Repair section, find and click on Disk Doctor. If it’s your first time using it, you might need to download it.
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Select your external drive: Disk Doctor will display a list of available drives. Choose the external drive you wish to scan from the list.
This image shows the Disk Doctor tool interface, where users can select drives to scan for errors.
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Start the scan: Click the Start button to initiate the scanning process. Disk Doctor will check the selected external drive for file system errors and attempt to repair them automatically.
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Review and Repair: Once the scan is complete, Disk Doctor will present a report. If errors are found, it will automatically attempt to fix them. Follow any on-screen prompts to complete the repair process.
Regularly using Disk Check on your external drives helps prevent data corruption and ensures they operate smoothly.
Scanning External Drives for Malware and Spyware
Protecting your external drives from malware is as important as safeguarding your internal system. External drives can easily become vectors for malware if they are connected to infected systems. Advanced SystemCare’s Spyware Removal module can be employed to scan external drives for malicious software.
Here’s how to scan for spyware on an external drive:
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Connect the external drive: Make sure your external drive is connected to your computer.
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Go to Care Mode: In Advanced SystemCare, navigate to the Care tab.
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Select Manual Mode: Choose Manual Mode to customize your scan.
This image highlights the Manual Mode option in Advanced SystemCare, allowing users to select specific scan modules.
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Choose Spyware Removal: In the list of modules, ensure that Spyware Removal is checked. You can also select other modules like Antivirus Protection for a more comprehensive scan if you have the Pro version and antivirus enabled.
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Start the Scan: Click the Scan button at the bottom. Advanced SystemCare will scan your entire system, including connected external drives, for spyware and other threats.
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Review Scan Results: After the scan, review the results in the Fix screen. Advanced SystemCare will list any detected threats.
This image showcases the Fix Screen where users can review scan results and decide on actions to take.
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Fix Issues: Click the Fix button to remove any detected spyware or malware from your external drive and system.
By regularly performing Spyware Removal scans, you can ensure your external drives are not harboring malware that could compromise your system or data.
Optimizing External Drive Performance with Disk Optimization
While primarily designed for internal HDDs and SSDs, Advanced SystemCare’s Disk Optimization can indirectly benefit external drives by ensuring the overall system performance is optimized. A well-optimized system reads and writes to external drives more efficiently.
To indirectly optimize external drive performance:
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Ensure External Drive is Connected: Have your external drive connected during the optimization process.
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Navigate to Care Mode: Go to the Care tab and select either AI Mode or Manual Mode.
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Include Disk Optimization in Scan: In Manual Mode, make sure Disk Optimization is selected. In AI Mode, it’s included in the intelligent scan.
This image displays the Disk Optimization module within Advanced SystemCare, used for improving disk performance.
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Run the Scan and Fix: Proceed with the scan and fix process as described earlier. While Disk Optimization primarily targets internal drives, optimizing the system’s overall disk handling can positively impact how external drives are accessed and operated.
Additional Tips for Managing External Drives with Advanced SystemCare
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Startup Optimizer Awareness: Be cautious when using Startup Optimizer, as it primarily affects system boot processes and might not directly impact external drive performance. However, reducing unnecessary startup programs can free up system resources that indirectly benefit external drive operations.
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Software Updater for Driver Stability: While Hardware Health within Care mode focuses on internal drivers, keeping your system drivers updated via Software Updater can ensure better compatibility and performance for all connected devices, including external drives.
This image shows the Software Updater feature, helping users keep their software and drivers up to date.
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Regular Maintenance: Incorporate scanning your external drives as part of your regular system maintenance routine using Advanced SystemCare. This proactive approach can prevent issues before they escalate into data loss or performance degradation.
Conclusion: Enhancing External Drive Health with Advanced SystemCare
While Advanced SystemCare doesn’t offer features specifically labeled “external drive scan,” it provides a suite of tools like Disk Check and Spyware Removal that are perfectly capable of scanning and maintaining your external drives. By understanding how to utilize these modules, you can effectively ensure your external hard drives are healthy, secure, and performing optimally. Regularly scanning your external drives with Advanced SystemCare is a smart practice for anyone looking to protect their data and extend the lifespan of their portable storage devices.
