Fragmentation Issues

[Morpheus]

Anyone able to assist with files that wil not defrag? I have the log and will post it if I get replys.

Thanks, and glad to be new member!

[Charley]

/me is a newb here but just giving out some ideas.

Perhaps it is a system file which can only be defragmented with boot time defragmentment.

Perhaps it is a file to which you don't have access to.

[sultan_emerr]

/me is a newb here but just giving out some ideas.

Perhaps it is a system file which can only be defragmented with boot time defragmentment.

Perhaps it is a file to which you don't have access to.

I agree. In ten years of running defrag, there has always been some files that will not defrag.

[TheTerrorist_75]

Do you defrag in regular or safe mode? I have always defragged in Safe Mode so that less programs are running in the background. Also some anti-virus programs run resident in either mode and won't allow you to defrag them. It is not unusual to see a few files that couldn't be defragged.

[martymas]

you can also defrag in the command prompt using vista

but you need to have adminstrative permission

in win exp

go to run- type -cmd

press enter or ok

at the blinking curser

type defrag c:

press enter

if you need to defrag your

prefetch folder as well

at the prompt type

defrag c: b:

this is done in win xp

marty

[buggered if i can find adminstrative permission in vista]

[Morpheus]

thanks for the suggestions everyone, it like 2 gig worth of files...I do regular mode win xp and do one at least once a month...no more than 2 per month...i will try the safe mode or command promt way next time I do one...

What is the "safe" amount of defrags you could run in a month? Or am I doing too many as it is?

[TheTerrorist_75]

If you formatted the drive as NTFS it hardly ever should need to be defragged. Check it every 3 months if you wish. Defrag only if it shows a lot of red.

If it is formatted FAT32 check it once a month if you wish. My system is FAT 32 and I may defrag once every 2-3 months.

[Morpheus]

awesome thanks for the help...

basically all i know about comp is self taught, never had any formal training, what I do know is from trial and error, reading info on the web, and helpfull people and sites like this!

[roswell]

The reason why some files cannot be defragmented by the windows defragger is usually (1) fragmented system files such as the master file table (MFT) or paging file (PF), (2) lack of sufficient disk space, or (3) a combination of the two.

The windows defragger requires > 15% free space to defrag. Also, it is unable to move/defragment the MFT and PF despite the fact that support for MFT movement is actually built into the defrag API. Only advanced commercial defragmenters such as Diskeeper 2008 (non-freeware) can defrag the MFT, and newer DK versions don't even require a boot-time defrag for this- most of the MFT is defragged within windows itself...automatically in the background, no less. Defragging the paging file, however, requires a boot-time defrag. The problem with fragmented system files is that due to the unmovable fragments shredding the free space, sometimes the defragmentation of normal files is also prevented due to lack of contiguous free space.

Same story with free space. Due to the limitations of the windows defragger, you'll need to free up some space via disk cleanup or move files temporarily to other media/HDDs, or else again go for something like Diskeeper 2k8 that will defrag in less than 8-10% free space.

[Pete_C]

I like using speeddefrag

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/speedefrag.html

SpeeDefrag is a simple program, that restarts your computer and runs defrag.exe with optimized windows settings before loading your desktop, which allows for faster and more thorough defragmentation. Once the defrag process has finished, it can optionally shut down your PC, otherwise reboot it.

It is free and will generally defrag the components which are missed during a normal defrag.

It uses your existing windows defrag, so there are no conflicts or problems. It just allows scheduling and configuration not normally present.

Some like the free version of auslogics

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/adiskdefrag.html

But let me caution that since all defrag utilities use different methods (algorythms) to decide which file goes where (do you sort by name, size, date created, frequency of use, file type , a combination or what?) that you must use tweakui to disable the built in windows defrags "optimize drive in the background when idle) or you will wind up with dueling defrags where one says you are defragged and the other shows really bad disorganization and they keep moving files back and forth.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloa...ppowertoys.mspx

Under general section

[CurlingSteve]

Is defragging really that big an issue anymore?

Newer hard drives have caches and controllers that seem (to me anyway) handle fragmented files as fast as contiguous ones.

It's been a while since I've perceived performance improvement from a defrag session.

That said, I let Vista/XP handle my defragging.

My theory is that the OS is trying to maximize its performance even if it leaves some files fragmented.

Another trick that sometimes helps is to offload a bunch of files to another drive (as in backup), delete the originals, defrag, then reload the files to the primary.

That's kind of a manual defrag, but it did work fairly well back when I worried about fragmentation.