Your SOFTWARE's Fundamental Data database is a large database in which large amounts of financial data are constantly being added and deleted.
Deleting data creates space for new data, but often new data must be split between a number of smaller locations. When that new data is later deleted and further data added, the new data will be put into those locations and often into other locations as well. Over time the data files becomes increasingly fragmented, i.e. spread over a number of locations in the database rather than being in one continuous file at a single location.
A fragmented database will run substantially slower than a defragmented one, both at time of data download and at the point of retrieval for calculation and display by Your SOFTWARE's pages and tools.
The Fundamental Database Maintenance tool is a three step process.
To perform the maintenance process requires a significant amount of free disk space. This is because the process first creates a new file, then copies data from the old file to the new file and then, when finished, removes the old file.
The process therefore requires there to be free hard disk space approximately 2 times the size of the current database.
The first step therefore is to ascertain the size of the existing database and then assess the size of available hard disc resources.
If there is insufficient free hard disk space a warning message will appear prompting you to create the necessary free space.
For more information on this warning and how to correct it, go to the Insufficient Disk Space section below.
The tool will first defragment the database.
Depending on the level of fragmentation, the process can take up to thirty minutes.
The level of fragmentation is mainly dependent on the length of time since the last defragmentation, however, the size of the hard-drive, the number and types of other programs running on the PC, and other resource issues can also have their effect.
Once defragmentation is complete, the tool will have mapped the location of all files and fragments of files.
The tool will then reconstruct the database with all its current data in a more orderly compilation, then compress and save the newly reorganized database for maximum efficiency in the future.
Users should run the Fundamental Database Maintenance every 2-3 months.
Note - The maintenance process can be performed as often as users like. The more frequent the maintenance, the shorter each maintenance session will take.
The Fundamental Database Maintenance tool's command is located in the Maintenance submenu of the Tools menu:
Click on the Fundamental Database Maintenance command to run the tool dialog.
Click Start Maintenance.
The Data Base Resources Assessment takes place in the behind the scenes, if there is insufficient space, a Warning dialog will appear and the maintenance process will be halted until sufficient space is made available.
Assuming there is sufficient disk space, the to begin the Defragmentation process will commence:
The process will automatically progress to the Compression stage:
When the maintenance process is complete, the following Information dialog appears:
Click OK to close it, and then click Close to close the Database Maintenance Tool dialog.
If the Data Base Resources Assessment detects that the currently free hard disk space is insufficient, the following warning will appear:
The Fundamental Database Maintenance process will not be allowed to proceed until sufficient free disk space has been created.
Make a note of the amount of disk space required, then click OK to close this dialog and exit the Fundamental Database Maintenance process.
Go to Windows Explorer and remove the amount of data files from the C: drive as indicated in the Warning dialog.
Once sufficient free space has been created, restart the Fundamental Database Maintenance process.
If sufficient free space has been created, the Warning dialog will not appear, and the second step of the Fundamental Database Maintenance Process, the Defragmentation step, will begin.