Yes, checking and occasionally rebuilding indexes was common. Moving from disks that spin around, and hence have rotational delay, to solid state drives is probably the "newest" innovation. I read an article in "Popular Mechanics", in 1967 or 68. My SQLITE apps are about 3 times faster on the removable devices I bought last year. In 1990, for an IMS database, I suggested moving the indexes to separate disks, but my manager started shaking and trembling, so I dropped the suggestion.