Hard Drive Horribly Fragmented

[bkkmick]

Hi

I've just noticed that my C: drive is very fragmented, red all over the place.

Each time I run the MS de-frag tool it cleans up the drive a little bit more, but it still has a lot to do.

I know, my fault for letting it go on so long and not de-fragging, but does anyone have experience of any tools out there that can do a better job than the MS tool?

Cheers

Mick

[Thai-Spy]

You don't cite which version of Windows you're using, but here's a general solution that works quite well as a rule. It's specifically tailored for Win98SE, but surely there is an XP analog to it.

Create a small partition on your hard drive and install a minimal version of Windows on it. Boot into that new partition (it will probably now call itself the C drive), and defrag the main partition (probably now called D) from it.

If you start the defragmentation tool manually you can use some fairly obscure options.

Start > Run, then:

defrag D: /P /detailed

The "P" switch will force the defragger to move files that are normally regarded as not to be moved. However, if they are system files and are written to a damaged sector your system might be corrupted, so always run ScanDisk first on the volume you're defragging.

It never hurts to guard against losing access to your files through corruption of your primary operating system by installing another copy of the OS on a different partition. This may present license issues for XP or Vista so consult your documentation or the Microsoft website.

One very common setup is to create 4 partitions when you have only one hard drive in your PC:

C: Containing your primary operating system, device drivers, applications and files you use frequently.

D: A second copy of the OS with minimal drivers and applications.

E: A tiny partition used to store a copy of the OS install disk and critical patches.

F: For storage of less frequently used documents, archives and application installers.

Before entering into the world of boot loaders and custom disk partitions, read the instructions for those programs, then read them again, make sure you understand everything, then read them a third time.

[The Coder]

Good question! Same problem here. I began to notice accessing large files sequentially, like hibernation, was taking far longer than it should. The drive is horribly fragmented. The Windows defrag did next to nothing running it time after time. I then tried disk keeper, which is a commercial defragger and has a free eval period and it too did almost nothing. I contacted their support and they never responded. This is what my hard drive looks like *after* defrag (pink & red are bad)--scary!

[silvero]

Sysinternals PageDefrag can defrag paging files and registry hives if these are a problem.

The MS program should take care of the rest if there is enough free space to move things about.

If there isn't enough space or it simply isn't working you could try copying data off the drive, defragging what remains, then copying back.

[cdnvic]

Try Diskeepers' trial version. It does far better than the Windows default program.

[Simmo]

. This is what my hard drive looks like *after* defrag (pink & red are bad)--scary!

Your problem is you have no free space , so you can't do a full defrag. You need about 20% free hard drive space to do a thorough defrag.

[The Coder]

The defrag programs recommended 15% free space to do a good job, which I was able to free up but it didn't help. And as stated, already ran diskeeper and it didn't improve the picture and their support didn't bother to respond. The other poster who recommended creating another partition to boot on was an interesting idea, though now I'm a little tight on free space and I like a neat and tidy single partition system instead of a jumble of drive letters (though booting off another drive might be a plan). Unless there is anything earth shattering, I'll probably just wait until I build a new PC where I have a new, empty and giant hard drive and reinstall everything.

I run XP and had always thought defragging happened in the background because on rare occasions I would come to my computer and see an "error in defragfat" had occurred, lol. I ran FAT back then but now that I run NTFS and fragmentation has really gotten out of hand.

[Tywais]

Try Diskeepers' trial version. It does far better than the Windows default program.

Agreed

[dsfbrit]

You don't cite which version of Windows you're using, but here's a general solution that works quite well as a rule. It's specifically tailored for Win98SE, but surely there is an XP analog to it.

Create a small partition on your hard drive and install a minimal version of Windows on it. Boot into that new partition (it will probably now call itself the C drive), and defrag the main partition (probably now called D) from it.

I tried to create an extra NTFS partition under XP some time ago and it wouldn't let me.

I was going to look into it, but still have not got around to it as I expected to have upgraded to a new OS by now.

Do you know of a 'freebie' partitioner that works.

thanks

Edited November 6, 2006 by dsfbrit

[Thai-Spy]

You don't cite which version of Windows you're using, but here's a general solution that works quite well as a rule. It's specifically tailored for Win98SE, but surely there is an XP analog to it.

Create a small partition on your hard drive and install a minimal version of Windows on it. Boot into that new partition (it will probably now call itself the C drive), and defrag the main partition (probably now called D) from it.

I tried to create an extra NTFS partition under XP some time ago and it wouldn't let me.

I was going to look into it, but still have not got around to it as I expected to have upgraded to a new OS by now.

Do you know of a 'freebie' partitioner that works.

thanks

Partman is very good tool for this and the developer also created (or at least once linked to) a boot manager. But be advised we've only sought to use it on Win98SE and don't know if it works with XP or other Microsoft OSes.

[lingling]

The defrag programs recommended 15% free space to do a good job, which I was able to free up but it didn't help. And as stated, already ran diskeeper and it didn't improve the picture and their support didn't bother to respond. The other poster who recommended creating another partition to boot on was an interesting idea, though now I'm a little tight on free space and I like a neat and tidy single partition system instead of a jumble of drive letters (though booting off another drive might be a plan). Unless there is anything earth shattering, I'll probably just wait until I build a new PC where I have a new, empty and giant hard drive and reinstall everything.

I run XP and had always thought defragging happened in the background because on rare occasions I would come to my computer and see an "error in defragfat" had occurred, lol. I ran FAT back then but now that I run NTFS and fragmentation has really gotten out of hand.

Copy all your documents, pictures, music, etc to another drive (external hdd, other pc, whatever), empty the explorer temp files, the user temp files directory etc. Run defrag repeatedly until it has nothing to do and then copy everything back. (run a single copy operation at a time, not multiple)

[fisherd3]

www.dirms.com also does aprogram called buzzsaw that defrags as you go along, free version and pay for 'full features' one of the few programmes I have actually bought

[Tywais]

I run XP and had always thought defragging happened in the background because on rare occasions I would come to my computer and see an "error in defragfat" had occurred, lol. I ran FAT back then but now that I run NTFS and fragmentation has really gotten out of hand.

Did you try to run the defrag when booted in 'Safe Mode'. There are a lot of open system files & drivers that may have a problem being moved. That's the way I always defrag my system without any problems.

[meadish_sweetball]

Try Diskeepers' trial version. It does far better than the Windows default program.

Agreed. My favourite defrag app.

[dsfbrit]

You don't cite which version of Windows you're using, but here's a general solution that works quite well as a rule. It's specifically tailored for Win98SE, but surely there is an XP analog to it.

Create a small partition on your hard drive and install a minimal version of Windows on it. Boot into that new partition (it will probably now call itself the C drive), and defrag the main partition (probably now called D) from it.

I tried to create an extra NTFS partition under XP some time ago and it wouldn't let me.

I was going to look into it, but still have not got around to it as I expected to have upgraded to a new OS by now.

Do you know of a 'freebie' partitioner that works.

thanks

Partman is very good tool for this and the developer also created (or at least once linked to) a boot manager. But be advised we've only sought to use it on Win98SE and don't know if it works with XP or other Microsoft OSes.

thanks for the feedback - I will wait until the new OS comes out and then upgrade my laptop as well so it isn't really worth a lot of effort to do this - I reckon Vista should be here in the New Year sometime.

[astral]

Try Diskeepers' trial version. It does far better than the Windows default program.

Agreed. My favourite defrag app.

Mine as well.

As it is the C: drive you will probably need to choose Boot Time Defrag from the menu to affect all the files Windows keeps open.

It is well worth buying the programme. It will run in the free time on your computer and keep the disks in tip top condition.

[Maytin]

Try Diskeepers' trial version. It does far better than the Windows default program.

Agreed. My favourite defrag app.

AGREED - DID THIS TODAY - JUST GREAT.

DONT WORRY ABOUT ALL THE PARTITIONING - JUST USE THIS PRODUCT.

MAYTIN

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