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Defrag?
- Thread starter gymrat
- Start date
naturally anabolic
New member
right from microsoft
Why do we need Defrag anyway?
When Windows creates a new file on your harddrive, it will search for some empty space, and save the file at that location. When a file is deleted, you will get a hole at that location which is later filled by a new file and so on. The problem is, not all files are of the same size. The solution is to split the files into smaller equally sized parts. This way, when you delete one file and save another one, the parts of the new file will fit into the holes of free space.
This works very well, but, after a while your files will be scattered all over your harddrive. When you try to read a particular file, your computer will have to search your harddrive for all the small parts. This will obviously take a lot of time. (Imagine trying to read a book with the pages in random order.)
When you run Defrag, all the small file-pieces on your hardrive will be reorganized so that all the parts of a particular file are stored sequentially, in one place. This can increase the speed of your system considerably! (Especially if it has been running for a long time without defragging.)
Why does Defrag take so long?
When Defrag is reorganizing your harddrive, it is very important that no other programs are using the harddrive. If some program decides to save a file while you are defragging, the defragmentation process will often be interrupted and start all over again. Because of this, defragmentation may take a lot of time.
Why do we need Defrag anyway?
When Windows creates a new file on your harddrive, it will search for some empty space, and save the file at that location. When a file is deleted, you will get a hole at that location which is later filled by a new file and so on. The problem is, not all files are of the same size. The solution is to split the files into smaller equally sized parts. This way, when you delete one file and save another one, the parts of the new file will fit into the holes of free space.
This works very well, but, after a while your files will be scattered all over your harddrive. When you try to read a particular file, your computer will have to search your harddrive for all the small parts. This will obviously take a lot of time. (Imagine trying to read a book with the pages in random order.)
When you run Defrag, all the small file-pieces on your hardrive will be reorganized so that all the parts of a particular file are stored sequentially, in one place. This can increase the speed of your system considerably! (Especially if it has been running for a long time without defragging.)
Why does Defrag take so long?
When Defrag is reorganizing your harddrive, it is very important that no other programs are using the harddrive. If some program decides to save a file while you are defragging, the defragmentation process will often be interrupted and start all over again. Because of this, defragmentation may take a lot of time.
Every time I try to defrag...it takes hours (like 10+) and it is still not done. I haven't done it in years...
Any idea what the problem might be?
B True
Any idea what the problem might be?
B True
b fold the truth said:
I had the same problem with my old hard drive. It may be that you need to format the drive and re-install windows. The drive may be too corupt. Another reason might be that you did not use task manager to disable all other programs that are running in the background before you defrag.
Baby Gorilla
New member
Easy....
* CPU/system speed
* Hard drive interface speed
* Sophitication of defrag (Norton Utilitites does a great job to OPTIMIZE your hard drive but it takes more work than Windows software which just fills in the holes)
* Size of hard drive
I have a 20 GB HD and a 500 Mhz Celeron system with 680MB RAM. When I defrag (10% fragmented), it takes just over an hour to defrag the whole hard drive on OPTIMIZE mode.
If you've not done this in a long time, you likely have more fragmentation to correct. If you're optimizing, you have more data to rearrange.
Also, make sure most every other program that might use the hard drive is shut down (including Task Scheduler). Anything else that tries to access the hard drive will restart the process. Not from the beginning, but it adds time to the process every time it has to restart and resume where the optimized data is still in correct placement.
A defrag operation depends on many factors.b fold the truth said:
* CPU/system speed
* Hard drive interface speed
* Sophitication of defrag (Norton Utilitites does a great job to OPTIMIZE your hard drive but it takes more work than Windows software which just fills in the holes)
* Size of hard drive
I have a 20 GB HD and a 500 Mhz Celeron system with 680MB RAM. When I defrag (10% fragmented), it takes just over an hour to defrag the whole hard drive on OPTIMIZE mode.
If you've not done this in a long time, you likely have more fragmentation to correct. If you're optimizing, you have more data to rearrange.
Also, make sure most every other program that might use the hard drive is shut down (including Task Scheduler). Anything else that tries to access the hard drive will restart the process. Not from the beginning, but it adds time to the process every time it has to restart and resume where the optimized data is still in correct placement.
c-sharp minor
Well-known member
The more often you defrag the less time it takes to defrag again.
Thanks...
Yes, it would keep starting all back over again so something must be running when I do it. Any idea how to turn everything off???
B True
Yes, it would keep starting all back over again so something must be running when I do it. Any idea how to turn everything off???
B True
Baby Gorilla
New member
Or....
If you use ALT-CTRL-DEL right, you can shut down progams manually.
Or....search the 'net for an application called "END IT ALL."
Nifty free program that force shutdowns all programs not protected (user selective).
If you use ALT-CTRL-DEL right, you can shut down progams manually.
Or....search the 'net for an application called "END IT ALL."
Nifty free program that force shutdowns all programs not protected (user selective).
K
KAYNE
Guest
I JUST DEFRAGMENTED MY COMP. IT TOOK 45 MINUTES. NOT THAT LONG CONSIDERING MY COMP IS 11 MONTHS OLD AND I HAVE NVR DF'D IT. DIDNT NOTICE ANY SPEEDUP YET THOUGH. BUT THEN AGAIN, THIS FUCKING SITE SUCKS ANYWAY WITH ALL ITS "WEBSITE NOT RESPONDING" AND "OPERATION TIMED OUT" BULLSHIT.
KAYNE
KAYNE
