Using the Defrag Utility – 4027 days old

[Alakazam]

Using the Defrag Utility

WHY

Managing your storage systems properly can have a dramatic effect on how fast your computer operates, as well as maximize your storage space. When a PC stores files on a hard disk drive (hdd), it checks that file to determine how much space it will require. With this information, your PC tries to find space on your hdd that can store that file in its entirety. If your PC can't fit the file in a contiguous location, it will break the file into segments and make a note about the fragments for when it needs to retreive that file.

As your hdd fills up, the number of fragments increase. This creates a performance bottleneck when you open a file that is fragmented because the hdd has to get the file from many different locations. Defragmenting your hard drive tries to solve this problem by rearranging your files into contiguous areas.

HOW

Before starting the defrag process you should close all open programs as this will help speed up the process, this includes disconnecting from the internet. Be sure to turn of your anti-virus program and disable your screensaver if running. Defrag can be quite lengthy on todays large hard drives. Also keep in mind that defrag needs some additional space to use as a temporary holding place while rearranging files. This would be a good time to delete any unwanted programs, empty the recycle bin, clear out temp files. flush your internet cache, delete pictures you no longer need, etc.

The defrag process is very similar in most flavors of Windows. The 2 examples I will use here are for Win 9x & Win XP, to get to the defrag utility in both types of systems, click:

Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter

In Win XP you will end up with a screen similar to this one. In this example, I have decided to defrag the C drive and clicked on the analyze button to see how fragmented this particular drive is. Many times in XP, the program will tell you that it does not need to defrag the drive it has analyzed, but you should defrag it anyhow.

Just click on the Defrag button and take a little break, the program will let you know when it has finished and you can continue with another drive on your system or quit the utility.

In Win 98, the process is very much the same only this is the screen you will first see.

Now select the drive that you wish to defragment by clicking on it, in this case it will be drive E. Now click on the settings button and you will be presented with this screen. These are the settings most commonly used and are perfectly fine.

Now click on OK and away you go, this screen shows how the process is proceeding and will let you know when it is done. You can then chose to quit the utility or chose another drive to defragment.

Happy Defragmenting, Alakazam

[Quadophile]

Another thing to note by those who are not familiar with defragmentation is that the first time you do it you will need an afternoon free as your hard drive may be full of defragmented files. Depending on how much data you have on the disk and the size of the disk it could take anywhere between an hour to few hours.

Once you have swallowed the bitter pill you will find it much quicker if you continue with a frequency of once a week. If your disk is regularly defragmented you will find your pc to be running faster. Besides, increasing efficiency you will also prolong the life of the disk.

Above applies to any OS you may be using.

[Tuffie]

I have heard both pro's and con's about defragging in the Safe Mode.If I understand correctly,on 98SE if you don't defrag in the Safe Mode,some of the disk doesn't get completed.Is this a fact,or does it matter at all?I do notice that in the Safe Mode, it is much slower to defrag.Thanks for any input

[Techvillage]

There are various schools of thought on this Tuffie. Some people go to almost extreme levels of shutting down windows processes. To be honest u won't notice the slightest difference. If your are really serious about defragging you would by a standalone product anyway, such as Executive Software Diskeeper

My advice to you before running defrag, is to run scandisk, then re-boot and go in Win98SE under normal mode, don''t open any programs, just go straight to defrag and kick it off.

If u do have a million and one additional programs in your startup folder, by all means exit them before running defrag. But don't be obsessed by it.

Defrag does very well even if u left those running.

[Abe]

I have Norton SystemWorks 2002 and it comes with utilities that maintain your pc, like Disk Doctor. It seems to me that almost EVERY time i wish to defrag; the process stops and starts back up again. A window pops up stating "another application is writing to windows" and this is interupting the Defrag adding considerable time to a already long process. This happens in Windows defrag. In Disk doctor, no windows pop up but the process pauses and restarts back up again. Whats going on??? and is this just part of the process.

P.S. This is the reason my HD is 30 gigs and not 80 gigs like I would like.

[Tuffie]

What OS of Windows are you running Abe,and have you tried to do the Ctrl/Alt/Delete to see what is running?I don't use Norton,so will give this a bump to get some input

[poqal]

Zammy, thanks for the lesson. It was very informative.

When I had Win98SE I could choose all partitions and defrag would go from one to the other until done. Am I missing something in XP, or is the only way you can do it is one partition at a time?

[Tuffie]

Poqal,I use the Diskeeper Lite Freeware and I find it's very fast and a lot better than XP,IMHO.You can get it here,if you would like to try it,or if you don't already know of it

http://www.executive.com/freeware/freeware.asp

[poqal]

Thanks Tuff. As I was reading your reply I realized that I have Norton System Works around here somewhere. A friend gave it to me and I don't think I've ever even opened the box. I think it's 2002, which should work with XP. What's the comparison between the two?

[whipat]

Abe

I use a utility called End it All that closes out all running programs that interfere with Defrag, including Nortons'
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,697,00.asp

[phicks]

Originally posted by Tuffie
Poqal,I use the Diskeeper Lite Freeware and I find it's very fast and a lot better than XP,IMHO.You can get it here,if you would like to try it,or if you don't already know of it

http://www.executive.com/freeware/freeware.asp

Tuffie i downloaded diskeeper lite awhile back after seeing it here and i never did get to thank you. I really like and it does seem to go alot faster. Thanks for the tip.

[DeathStar]

I've been using DisKeeper 7.0 Workstation and it works far beyond anything I've tried; I normally don't have to use it but about once every two weeks. Great piece of software....

On a side note for those who still use W98's Defrag; it's better to uncheck the "Rearrange program Files So My Programs Start Faster" because all the program is doing is moving your most active programs to the front of the drive; as your usage patterns change, it will rearrange everything over and over again. Better to leave everything where it is on the drive as you won't really notice a difference in performance and you defrag times will drop.....Try it and see what ya think.....