The sanctuary of the MFT-zone

Hello all!

While having fun with a few Ghost Images, I went to Diskeeper to se what had happened fragmentation-wise. When I compared an Image of the system partition when it was fresh, with what it looks like today - two weeks later, I was confused by what I saw.

I have learnt that the MFT-zone is a place where there is "No Trespassing ". The MFT-zone is restricted to anything but the MFT. Compare the two screenshots and notice that the MFT-zone has been moved. The MFT was in two fragments but is today in three fragments.

What is responsible for that, XP itself ...... ...... or Diskeeper?

Thanks for Your time,
Christer

 

I read another thread and was directed to a FAQ at the Diskeeper site:

Occasionally, my teflon coated memory comes handy ...... ...... when what I should have remembered is outdated anyway ...... ...... !

It seems likely that it is the same behaviour on the file system used by XP, NTFS 5.1.

When the MFT-zone was moved, the already used part stayed put and that resulted in an increase from 2 to 3 fragments. Now, I begin to understand why the MFT get defragmented even if only, as in this case, ~1.6% of the MFT-zone is used.

When I went to Diskeeper to check the size, I was again surprized. After having fooled around a bit yesterday, I restored an Image of the system as it was in the "today" screenshot in post #1. The "thedayafter" screenshot below is how it looks now, after restoring the Image and a few hours use. The MFT-zone is back in its "fresh" location and in 2 fragments.

Christer

 

I'd like to point out that restoring the Image has nothing to do with this. Ghost does move things around when restoring an Image but it leaves the MFT-zone in its location.

The "fresh" screenshot wasn't really fresh but it was after restoring an Image the first time. The "original" screenshot below is prior to ever restoring an Image - as the installer put it.

If You compare the "original" with the "fresh ", it can be seen that a chunk of green and some green scatters have been moved to the front of the partition which was previously occupied by what the installer copied from the CD. Restoring the Image, rearranged the system files to a faster part of the partition and moved the install files elsewhere. It also moved the pagefile a bit towards the front.

The MFT-zone has not been moved and the already used part stayed put.

Am I boring everyone?

Christer