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Excessive file fragmentation

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by ebbourg, 2005/06/27.

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  1. 2005/06/27
    ebbourg

    ebbourg Inactive Thread Starter

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    Using WinXP. 36% of my files are fragmented. A regular WinXP defrag does nothing to take care of these files. What should I do about this? My PC is running with it's regular speed (meaning my PC isn't running slowly). Or should I do nothing at all?

    ED R
     
    ebbourg,
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  2. 2005/06/27
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    That level of fragmentatation is rather high, especially if your drive is formatted FAT32 rather than NTFS. I would recommend Diskeeper from Executive Software - the same folk who wrote the cut down version in XP, but it's not free. The free version, Diskeeper Lite, with no automation is still available here Give it a try..
     
    PeteC,
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  4. 2005/06/27
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    I agree with Pete that the fragmentation seems high but there may be an explanation. Did You clear all temporary files, including the Temporary Internet Files cache prior to checking the fragmentation level?

    Depending on the settings, several hundred MBs of TIFs may accumulate and as soon as You get rid of those, there is significantly less fragmentation.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  5. 2005/06/27
    ebbourg

    ebbourg Inactive Thread Starter

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    All tmp files are deleted.

    ED R
     
    ebbourg,
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  6. 2005/06/27
    ebbourg

    ebbourg Inactive Thread Starter

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    Downloaded "Diskeeperlite" and used it to defrag and the frag volume went from 34% to 10%.

    Yippee!!!!

    ED R
     
    ebbourg,
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  7. 2005/06/28
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    Good news!

    I too use Diskeeper Lite but I hardly ever defrag. I have used the computer for a few months now since the latest defrag and after having installed the latest batch of updates to Windows, I had DL analyse the system partition.

    Fragmentation percentage was 0 (zero), total files 24,000 - fragmented files 191 - excess fragments 731.

    After emptying the TIF cache (limited to a few MB), total files 23,000 - fragmented files 160 - excess fragments 683.

    After defrag, total files 23,000 - fragmented files 0 - excess fragments 0.

    I suggest that You rerun Diskeeper Lite a few times and hope that it gets even better.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  8. 2005/06/28
    Dennis L Lifetime Subscription

    Dennis L Inactive Alumni

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    Hi Guys

    Don't mean to jump in with a related experience, but thread name is relevant.
    About a year ago checked my HD storage/Disk Defragmenter/analysis.
    Stated 13%, I prefer it 6% or less. Going through the "Most fragmented files" view, noticed a recently burned 4.5GB ISO file listing. It showed the lions share of fragmented files. Deleted the file, ran analysis, back down to 3%. Since then I always check "which files" are showing high fragmentation. If file no longer needed, they go to byte heaven. Helps to keep drive lean and mean.
     
    Last edited: 2005/06/28
    Dennis L,
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  9. 2005/06/28
    ebbourg

    ebbourg Inactive Thread Starter

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    How do you find out which files are the most fragmented?

    ED R
     
    ebbourg,
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  10. 2005/06/28
    Dennis L Lifetime Subscription

    Dennis L Inactive Alumni

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    Right click on My Computer
    Select Manage
    Left panel tree view - click on "Disk Defragmenter "
    Right panel view - click on "Analyze" button.
    After Windows processes request, should issue a message screen ....
    select / click on "View Report ".
    You see two display views --------
    Top view displays volume information.
    Bottom view displays Most Fragmented Files
    You can also print, save to file or defrag from this display.
     
    Dennis L,
    #9
  11. 2005/07/01
    Dave H 628

    Dave H 628 Inactive

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    Disk Defragmentation

    I've always stayed on top of my drives, usually defragmenting when things get to about 10%. I used to use Norton Speed Disk, but had a couple of drives it just wouldn't do anything with (and they had plenty of free space to work with).
    I downloaded the trial version of Diskeeper, and not only did it take care of fragmentation Speed Disk wouldn't touch, it did it quicker and gave better final results than I'd ever seen with Speed Disk!
    Diskeeper also has the ability to defragment the page file, which no other utility (that I know of) will touch.
    I bought the pay version of Diskeeper and haven't looked back!
    Dave H
     
    Dave H 628,
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  12. 2005/07/01
    tccottrell

    tccottrell Inactive

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    Diskeeper Wonderful EXCEPT for one hazard

    I use Diskeeper Pro and love it. However, and this is a very strong however, I do not recommend ever using the set and forget mode. I tried that on a one week old high end dell laptop, thought all was well, and then used a commercial registery compression utility. Diskkeeper had apparently started a behind the scenes degrag (which doesn't clearly show up) and the result was hosing the computer - trashed the registry and trashed a system file. A day later I had reloaded the Dell after spending 4 hours with their tech support. Bottom line, I'm back to doing ABSOLUTELY nothing with the computer when it defrags. I have it on my high end desktop also. It completely degrags a 160 gig hard drive in under 5 minutes (I have 2 mg of RAM).
     
    tccottrell,
    #11
  13. 2005/07/02
    mazaprin

    mazaprin Inactive

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    About Diskeeper

    This is for Tccottrell:
    I have been using Doiskeeper since version 7 and I now have version 9 Pro.
    I also have Registry Compressor (maybe this is the utility you are referring to)
    and you recommend never using "Set & Forget" in Diskeeper because it may interfere with the Registry Compression process...

    There is an easy way to fix that:
    I always use Set & Forget for automatic defrag. BUT... I set a custom Defrag schedule for all drives and I choose "All days EXCEPT Sunday" (or any other day of your choice). That way I can Create a weekly Full System Backup Image with Acronis True Image 8.0 to my External HD every SUNDAY when there will be no sudden automatic Defrag that may interfere with the image creation and I also use the "Registry Compressor" (when needed) ONLY on a Sunday. If you set it that way to a Custom automatic Defrags schedule for "All days except ONE day of the week of your choice" you will never have this problem.

    Diskeeper 9 Pro is the leading Defragmenter on the market and it is worth its price. :rolleyes:
     
    mazaprin,
    #12
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