Re: Defragmenting problem

Tech-Archive recommends: Speed Up your PC by fixing your registry


<thx1138xxix@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1175077296.029200.8670@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello,

I've recently been having a problem defragmenting my hard drive, and
was wondering if anyone could help me?

My computer is a 3 year old PC running Windows XP (home version) with
SP2. I've regularly run scandisk and defragmented the drive since I
bought it and never had a problem up until a couple of weeks ago.
While defragging the drive, I received an alert that told me some
files could not be defragmented. But in the report, it doesn't say
which file it is.

So I did some research online and was surprised to see that this
problem was quite common. Everyone seemed to have a different
solution, so I started trying some of them.

Some suggested defragging the drive while in safe mode. I tried it..
and it didn't help (it took a LONG time too).

Other's suggested deleting all the old restore points and then running
the defragmenter. That didn't work.

Then I read that the pagefile might be fragmented. So I went into
settings and turned off the pagefile function.. rebooted and
defragged. That didn't work either.

There were other suggestions I didn't try like buying a defragmenting
program.. or simply reformatting the drive (definitely a LAST resort).

One thing that I noticed while researching was that the general
consensus was that it was nothing to worry about. Nonetheless.. I'd
like to be able to defrag my drive without getting that alert like I
was able to a couple weeks ago.

Anyhow.. I have just a couple of questions. First.. IS this problem
something I need to worry about? And secondly, is there a way I can
find out which file(s) can't be defragmented?

This is a copy of a report right after I defrag my drive.

Volume (C:)
Volume size = 144 GB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 9.66 GB
Free space = 134 GB
Percent free space = 93 %

Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 0 %
File fragmentation = 1 %
Free space fragmentation = 0 %

File fragmentation
Total files = 55,827
Average file size = 209 KB
Total fragmented files = 1
Total excess fragments = 395
Average fragments per file = 1.00

Pagefile fragmentation
Pagefile size = 756 MB
Total fragments = 1

Folder fragmentation
Total folders = 3,845
Fragmented folders = 1
Excess folder fragments = 0

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
Total MFT size = 74 MB
MFT record count = 59,766
Percent MFT in use = 78 %
Total MFT fragments = 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fragments File Size Files that cannot be defragmented
None



Any and all replies will be greatly appreciated!

It does seem that the pagefile has one fragment and the MFT has three.

It is not possible to defragment files which are in use, and both of these
files fall into that category. Besides such a very small number of
fragments can hardly be a problem because neither of these files are
accessed regularly from start to finish.

My own opinion is that you are over analyzing the situation.

Jim


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: defrag wont defrag with page file partition
    ... We seem to be debating two points, namely what is fragmentation and what a boot time defragmenter does. ... I sense you accept grudging that the contents of a contiguous pagefile can still be fragmented but maintain that this is not what is generally meant when users discuss what a Disk Defragmenter does. ... Fragmentation within the pagefile is probably only of academic interest as I suspect that there is no utility available which is capable of defragmenting the data. ... A system managed pagefile can grow or shrink as needed, when the file grows if there is no adjacent free space for the pagefile growth the file will become fragmented on the disk, that is perfectly normal. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: Problem with Defragmentation
    ... I do not disagree with you regarding fragmentation of the pagefile. ... place files that get constantly rewritten in a separate partition from ... makes defragmenting active files quicker and easier. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: Paging File
    ... I was doing some defragmenting yesterday and elected to have the page-file defragged as part of the process (PerfectDisk 8). ... Clearing the pagefile is something that can be done but it has to be done when the computer is shutting down, it can take a lot of time to clear out the pagefile and this can substantially slow down the shutdown time. ... Deleting and recreating the pagefile at every reboot may or would eventually lead to more fragmentation because of the usually large size of the file, when Windows boots it reads the pagefile information at the ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.general)
  • Re: "Deleting all the junk on my hard drive made my computer run faster"
    ... >> File fragmentation is always a concern once the level of fragmentation ... With respect to the supposed value of defragmenting hard disks in today's ... much older PCs (with slower and smaller hard drives) and heavily used ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Very large fragmented file
    ... I would think it unlikely that there are more than two or three MFT fragments. ... Your comment regarding defragmenting is incorrect if there is another drive or partition where you can create temporary pagefile. ... Without another drive or partition you probably cannot eliminate fragmentation of the pagefile but you can reduce fragmentation to a minimal amount. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)