Disk utility
type of computer program
A disk utility is a utility focused on the functionality of computer disks. A disk utility may support one or more of the following capabilities: disk partitioning, logical volume management, changing drive letters and other mount points, renaming volumes, disk checking, and disk formatting. Typically, an operating system (OS) includes a disk utility for basic operations, and often other utilities are available for an OS.
Examples
Cleaner
A disk cleaner deletes unnecessary or unwanted files to free up disk space, reduce clutter, or protect user privacy. Such files may include temporary files, trash, old backups, web caches, and privacy-related data such as HTTP cookies, local shared objects, and log files.
Disk cleaners are distinct from antivirus software (which deletes malware), a registry cleaner (which cleans the Windows Registry) or data erasure software (which securely deletes files).
Compression
Examples:
DriveSpace for Windows
DiskDoubler for MacOS
SquashFS for Linux
Checker
A disk checker attempts to identify and correct invalid or corrupted disk areas and should not be confused with a disk cleaner, which deletes unnecessary files.
Some disk checkers can perform a whole surface scan to attempt to find any possible bad sectors, whereas others scan only the logical structure of files on the hard disk.
Operating systems often include one such tool. For example:
CHKDSK
fsck
Layout
Disk formatting and disk partitioning tools generate low-level disk layouts and file systems. An operating system typically supplies one or more of such utilities.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Disk utility” is type of computer program. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Disk, utility and type, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Disk utility” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.