Computer Related > Hard drive defrag Miscellaneous
Thread Author: VxFan Replies: 35

 Hard drive defrag - VxFan
Despite defragmenting my 200GB hard drive on my desktop PC several times, it keeps telling me when I run the analysis report that I should defragment it. There are several files that can't be defragmented, so have temp moved them to my external hard drive. There is approx 30% free space on the hard drive.

I must admit to not defragmenting the drive for quite some time as there was only 11% free space until I had a purge at the weekend and deleted a load of stuff from it.

Any suggestions, or other utilities that I could try.
 Hard drive defrag - rtj70
Sounds like you need to do a boot time degrag. If the software used supports this I know not. Some files can only be defragged when not used.

To free some space temporarily move or even remove the swap file and hibernate files. The latter might free up a few Gb. Then put back as you want.

You will know to do disk cleanup etc.
 Hard drive defrag - ....
Depending on how you use the machine I would add do a backup and remove the restore point files to rtj's list.

Have you tried Ultimatedefrag ? You get fifteen days free trial. Install it, set the system to record when files were last accessed, run for a few days then do a recency defrag. That will optimise the most used files to the fastest disk blocks when you go into the options.
 Hard drive defrag - L'escargot
CCleaner gets rid of unwanted rubbish. www.ccleaner.com/
 Hard drive defrag - Focusless
Don't know which tool you use, but you could always give the free 'defraggler' a go, which is from the CCleaner people.
www.piriform.com/defraggler

You can also try diskeeper free for 30 days:
www.diskeeper.com/trialware/TrialwareProducts.aspx

Of course they might just tell you the same thing.
 Hard drive defrag - Crankcase
Just a hint - I signed up for a free trial of Diskeeper a couple of years ago. I didn't pursue it (I don't recall why) but I can tell you they are they most prolific senders of nudges and general spammy type emails I've ever come across. Yes, I have used all their "unsubscribe" methods, and none of them work.

I've long since of course put them on my junk list, and empty it every so often, but they still send at least two or three mails from "Giles Heaton" every single week without fail.

 Hard drive defrag - Focusless
>> I signed up for a free trial of Diskeeper...
>> most prolific senders of nudges and general spammy type emails

Good point - yes, I also get emails from them, although not that often I don't think, and they just go straight into my (gmail) spam folder so it doesn't really bother me.
 Hard drive defrag - Bellboy
exactly the reason i reinstall avg every 60 days so i dont have to give my email address
ive only had spam from one source (no names but the hat fits)
 Hard drive defrag - VxFan
>> You will know to do disk cleanup etc.

Yep, both using MS's own disk clean up tool and CCleaner.

>> CCleaner gets rid of unwanted rubbish.

Yep, sure does.

I did try a defrag in Safe Mode last night. This took longer and seemed to be doing something more than when in normal running mode. It still said at the end that I should defragment the drive though. I also ran Chkdsk as well.

I'll try some of the other suggestions mentioned above - thanks.

Forgot to mention earlier, the operating system is WinXP Home.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 25 Mar 10 at 10:11
 Hard drive defrag - Statistical Outlier
Thy using mydefrag (www.mydefrag.com/ ) on the 'slow defrag' mode. It defrags, but also moves all the files into the right order for startup, and puts frequently used files on the fastest part of the drive surface.

Worked wonders for my laptop, and it's free.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 25 Mar 10 at 12:25
 Hard drive defrag - VxFan
Thanks for that SO. I'll take a look when I get home. Had to amend your link, btw. The closed bracket was causing it not to work.


EDIT - the link still isn't working after the amendment to it. Is that the correct url?
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 25 Mar 10 at 12:27
 Hard drive defrag - Statistical Outlier
www.mydefrag.com

The link works perfectly for me, maybe remove the last / ? If not then maybe Google the link. Odd.
Last edited by: Statistical Outlier on Thu 25 Mar 10 at 12:34
 Hard drive defrag - VxFan
It might be my work nanny filter blocking access. I'll try when I get home. Thanks again.
 Hard drive defrag - Focusless
Neither link works for me either (at home).

EDIT: "Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at www.mydefrag.com."
Last edited by: Focus on Thu 25 Mar 10 at 12:44
 Hard drive defrag - Focusless
...and same when go via google
 Hard drive defrag - VxFan
>> Thanks for that SO. I'll take a look when I get home.

Just to update, I managed to download Mydefrag (using the above link that for some reason didn't work when I first tried it).

I've now managed to defragment the hard drive. Took a couple of goes and when I run an analysis report with the one supplied by MS, it tells me that I don't need to defragment this volume.

Thanks once again. My desktop PC hasn't been this fast in ages. It'll be interesting though when I move the files back across from my external drive if things will stay that way.
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 14:30
 Hard drive defrag - Pat
Thanks for that link SO, I downloaded mydfrag yesterday and it worked wonders on the desktop on Vista. So I've just put it on the laptop which is XP Professional, and it's certainly improved that too!

Pat
 Hard drive defrag - rtj70
Fragmentation of files (especially large files) has always been a problem. Shame there are no free ones for a Mac. Some will argue it's not needed but I have some very large files that could do with defragmentation (video ones from a camcorder).
 Hard drive defrag - Pezzer
Thanks for this it has pepped up my machine very nicely
 Hard drive defrag - Iffy
...www.mydefrag.com...worked wonders for my laptop, and it's free...

The link led me to something called PC Medkit which costs $29.

Thinking about my Grand National winnings - easy come, easy go - I decided to invest.

Early indications are it has pepped up the laptop a bit, so money well spent.
 Hard drive defrag - spamcan61
yeah I have a range of spamcanxx googlemail accounts for signing up to stuff I'm not sure about.
 Hard drive defrag - Statistical Outlier
How strange. I'm happy to send a copy of the program to anyone that can't get it - contact me via the mods.
 Hard drive defrag - Statistical Outlier
Actually, the page must be cached, clicking through to the download link doesn't work.

So, for seven days or the first 100 downloads you can get the executable from here:

www.yousendit.com/download/THE1Z294ZEs5bEJjR0E9PQ

(I've uploaded my copy via YouSendIt.com).

I've virus scanned it etc, but please satisfy yourself it's okay before you use it.

SO
 Hard drive defrag - sherlock47
I just downloaded a copy from Cnet - reputable source

tinyurl.com/pnjt8f

running it in 'Monthly Optimise' mode at this very time. - so called because it takes a month to run? ;)
 Hard drive defrag - Statistical Outlier
Does that mean I get to be a disreputable source? :-)
 Hard drive defrag - sherlock47
>> Does that mean I get to be a disreputable source? :-)
>>

I smiled after I had typed it, (but decided to leave as was!) - my original intent was to indicate it was not some dodgy Russian site for pirated software.

;) - not a wink just an indication of monocular vision
 Hard drive defrag - Focusless
>> So for seven days or the first 100 downloads you can get the executable from
>> here:

It's ok - I'm using a proper OS that doesn't need defragging [ducks]
Last edited by: Focus on Thu 25 Mar 10 at 15:01
 Hard drive defrag - ....
>> It's ok - I'm using a proper OS that doesn't need defragging [ducks]
>>

I've got Vista 64 bit too :)
 Hard drive defrag - Statistical Outlier
Don't worry, I don't class Vista 32 bit as a proper OS either.
 Hard drive defrag - Roger.
I have used "Mydefrag", but my current favourite is the free version of Auslogics Disk Defrag, also free. You can set it to start with Windows and automatically defrag your disk when the disk is idle.
There is also the "optimise" option and all in all I think it is faster than Mydefrag.
 Hard drive defrag - Tooslow
I'll second defraggler. Works with all versions of Windows and doesn't care how many bits your processor has. Some defraggers do constantly want you to run them, they're probably from a broken home and need a lot of love.

Incidentally you can get into problems with disk space evaporating on Vista if you don't allow a defrag to run to completion but I see you're on XP.

JH
 Hard drive defrag - Stuartli
I use the Austlogics Disk Defrag (freeware) - quite speedy and very efficient. See:

download.cnet.com/Auslogics-Disk-Defrag/3000-2094_4-10567503.html

IIRC the Lite version of Diskkeeper was the basis for the earlier Windows operating systems' built-in defrag utility.
Last edited by: Stuartli on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 09:55
 Hard drive defrag - ....
Diskeeper brings back memories. 1989 DEC VAX working in Ops.
 Hard drive defrag - Tooslow
I was working on IBM stuff then and I remember carefully allocating dummy files on new disks so that when I defined the VTOC & catalog (for VSAM) they were 1/3 of the way into the disk. Received wisdom said that gave the best perfromance. Not sure I believe it but it all added to the fun.

JH
 Hard drive defrag - Zero
you'll be telling me next you fiddled with your SMP/E and concatenated your data sets.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 21:53
 Hard drive defrag - Tooslow
Yes, but never in public :-)

JH
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