Re: Managing XP system space for the MFT
From: Guess Who (chippe01_at_REMOVETHIShotmail.com)
Date: 08/18/04
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Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 20:10:08 -0400
Does it specifically say that 12% of the partition is used for the MFT?
What about the Recycle Bin? By default it reserves 10% of each Partition.
I always turn it down to 1%. If you turn off system restore, it should no
longer allocate any space to be reserved, but who knows?
"Svend Cr" <nomail@mail.com> wrote in message
news:9545BD5573ECE471AE@127.0.0.1...
> Bob, you have written an interesting post.
>
> Like you, I find that it is easier to image the whole partition
> although I only have space to keep the last three images.
>
> I have never had to use XP's restore and would far prefer to just
> copy back an image of the whole partition.
>
> As I understand it XP doesn't recover all file types. In fact,
> today I switched off system restore for my system drive (it was
> already off for all other drives) because I can't really see I will
> want to use its features. Am I missing something perhaps?
>
> However the starneg thing is that my third party compression
> software (Diskeeper and Perfect Disk) report that about 12% of the
> whole partition is still being reserved by XP for system uses
> Presumably this is for the System Volume Information folder.
>
> How can I free that valuable space up?
>
> Svend
>
>
>
> "Bob Harris" <rharris270[SPAM]@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> You may be confusing the MFT with system restore. The MFT is
>> like a bigger (maybe better) version of the FAT. It is used
>> to keep track of where pieces of files are on the disk.
>> Unlike a FAT, it also keeps track of where the files used to
>> be, and that allows for some auto-repairs not possible with
>> FAT. For a number of reasons it is better if the MFT is
>> contiguous, or few pieces, instead of many fragments.
>> Diskeeper can reduce the number of MFT fragments via its
>> boot-time defrag, but it rarely eliminates all of them. That
>> is OK/normal. The MFT usually has some extra space in it,
>> maybe a lot of extra space. That space is not really wasted,
>> just reserved. It will be the last place XP writes a file,
>> only after all other sace has been used. You do not need to do
>> anything about the size of the MFT. Leave it alone!
>>
>> If you feel that you are running out of space, buy a larger
>> hard drive, or install a seond hard and transfer your personal
>> files to it.
>
>> As for system restore, that can eventually use several Gigs of
>> space. You need to decide whether having more than a few
>> restore points is valueable. In my case I delete all but the
>> last restore point, via a right-click on C: in windows
>> explorer, properties, disk cleanup, more option, etc.
>> However, I do complete backups up the C: partition to an
>> external USB disk before installing new software, and
>> periodically, even if ther have bee no changes to the system.
>> I retain these complete images for months, so I can "restore"
>> C: to last week, last month, or even last year in minutes. I
>> do this because system restore is less than 100% reliable,
>> and/or does not backup all important files, and/or does not
>> backup non-system files. Look into a good backup/restore
>> program. Hint: Microsoft does not make one.
>
>
>
>
>> "Svend Cr" <nomail@mail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Executive Software's Diskeeper 8 shows me two unexpected
>>> things about my XP Pro system:
>>>
>>> (1) The MFT on the system partition (called C) is in SIX
>>> parts.
>>>
>>> (2) On another NTFS partition (called D) there is a
>>> surprisingly large amount of space (12% of total partition
>>> space) reserved for system requirements. However I switched
>>> off XP's "system monitoring" for this drive long ago.
>>>
>>> Defragging with Diskeeper 8 from within XP and at boot-time
>>> does not get the MFT into fewer than 2 parts. And the
>>> defragging does not reduce the excess space allocated to the
>>> system.
>>>
>>> -----
>>>
>>> Is there a way I can see what system free space there is for
>>> use specifically by:
>>>
>>> (A) The MFT ?
>>> (B) System restore points in the System Volume Information
>>> folder ?
>>>
>>> Most importantly, how do I get the MFT into a single part and
>>> also give it enough space?
>>>
>>> I have used a reg hack (from
>>> http://www.tweakxp.com/tweak123951.aspx) to give the MFT a
>>> medium space allocation but it doesn't seem to have made a
>>> difference.
>>>
>>> I have never had to use XP system restore points as I back up
>>> whole partitions by making duplicates of them. So I don't
>>> mind if I have no space at all on any drive for system
>>> restore points.
>>>
>>> Svend
>>>
>>>
>>> ===========================================================
>>> Defragger data follows in case it helps.
>>>
>>>
>>> Volume 60_WinXP (C:):
>>> Volume size = 6,793 MB
>>> Cluster size = 4 KB
>>> Used space = 4,663 MB
>>> Free space = 2,129 MB
>>> Percent free space = 31 %
>>> Defragmentation method = Max Disk Performance
>>>
>>> Fragmentation percentage
>>> Volume fragmentation = 0 %
>>> Data fragmentation = 0 %
>>>
>>> File fragmentation
>>> Total files = 44,872
>>> Average file size = 151 KB
>>> Total fragmented files = 0
>>> Total excess fragments = 0
>>> Average fragments per file = 1.00
>>>
>>> Paging file fragmentation
>>> Paging/Swap file size = 100 MB
>>> Total fragments = 1
>>>
>>> Directory fragmentation
>>> Total directories = 3,660
>>> Fragmented directories = 0
>>> Excess directory fragments = 0
>>>
>>> Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
>>> Total MFT size = 92,523 KB
>>> MFT records In Use = 48,607
>>> Percent MFT in use = 52 %
>>> Total MFT fragments = 2
>>>
>>> -----
>>>
>>> Volume 60_DATA [39GB] (D:):
>>> Volume size = 39,942 MB
>>> Cluster size = 8 KB
>>> Used space = 25,030 MB
>>> Free space = 14,912 MB
>>> Percent free space = 37 %
>>>
>>> Fragmentation percentage
>>> Volume fragmentation = 0 %
>>> Data fragmentation = 0 %
>>>
>>> File fragmentation
>>> Total files = 58,992
>>> Average file size = 507 KB
>>> Total fragmented files = 0
>>> Total excess fragments = 0
>>> Average fragments per file = 1.00
>>>
>>> Paging file fragmentation
>>> Paging/Swap file size = 0 bytes
>>> Total fragments = 0
>>>
>>> Directory fragmentation
>>> Total directories = 5,018
>>> Fragmented directories = 0
>>> Excess directory fragments = 0
>>>
>>> Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
>>> Total MFT size = 125 MB
>>> MFT records In Use = 64,032
>>> Percent MFT in use = 49 %
>>> Total MFT fragments = 2
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>>
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