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Defragmenting Hard Drive

K

Kadaitcha Man

Flightless Bird
"Joel", thou clouted walleyed slave. Thou has no more brain than mine
elbows. Ye deplored:

> "Gordon" <gordonbparker@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>> I concur with those who recommend not leaving that enabled in Task
>>> Scheduler.

>>
>>Why?

>
>
> Well, frankly,


He said, in Earnest...

> I would never defrag an NTFS drive unless I had a
> specific problem that would indicate doing so. Having it churn my drive
> when I walk away for a few minutes, for the purpose of defragging, is
> downright absurd.


Dumbfuck. Walking away from any MS file system without defragging is
downright absurd.
 
L

Leythos

Flightless Bird
In article <hitb7g$m0q$1@tornado.tornevall.net>, chrisv@nospam.invalid
says...
>
> "Peter" <xx@yy.com> wrote in message
> news:Ask4n.27123$Ym4.26776@text.news.virginmedia.com...
> > I was pleased to see that Win 7 had a built in schedulable disc
> > defragmenter.
> > Today I installed Ashampoo WinOptimiser 2010 and looked at it's defrga
> > option.
> > Windows says my C: drive is 4% fragmented but Ashampoo says it's 36%
> > fragmented which sounds very high on a 2 month old PC.
> >
> > Who do I believe??

>
> If you're using NTFS, ignore both. You're still living in Windows 98 and FAT
> 32 days.


Actually, NTFS disks do fragment and the fragmentation can cause a real
performance hit. If you work with servers or databases or large files
and also happen to do more than one thing concurrently you will FEEL the
difference.

--
You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
Trust yourself.
spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
 
L

Lord Vetinari

Flightless Bird
"Peter" <xx@yy.com> wrote in message
news:Ask4n.27123$Ym4.26776@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>I was pleased to see that Win 7 had a built in schedulable disc
>defragmenter.
> Today I installed Ashampoo WinOptimiser 2010 and looked at it's defrga
> option.
> Windows says my C: drive is 4% fragmented but Ashampoo says it's 36%
> fragmented which sounds very high on a 2 month old PC.
>
> Who do I believe??


Well, Peter, you'd probably be best off assuming that Ashampoo knows what
they're doing. Just yesterday, a friend brought me his laptop HD, because
it had problems...Fraggler showed it to be 42% fragmented. If you add and
remove files a lot, it doesn't take all that long to get to that point.
Defrag on a regular basis, and it'll be no problem.
 
L

Lord Vetinari

Flightless Bird
"Roland Schweiger" <roland_schweiger@web.de> wrote in message
news:hiso7a$67v$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> "Peter"
>
>> Who do I believe??

>
> If i remember correctly,. Windows will disgard fragments > 64 MB (which
> makes sense) and maybe your Ashampoo well also treat larger truncks als
> fragments ant therefore yealds to a different percentage.
>
> However, in my opinion defragmentation is nowadays not so important than
> it used to be in the past.
> Defragmenting often will only wear out the heads of your HDD (same applies
> to frequent virus scans) and will not have much effect on the machine.


Wear out the heads? My, aren't YOU the brilliant one. The heads do not
contact the disc, dummy. Worse, your "helpful info" is entirely incorrect,
and NOT what people looking for advice need.

> Only if you copy, move around, install/uninstall tonnes of software, then
> occasional defrag is useful.


If only you'd have said that it is especially important in such a case, you
wouldn't have come off as an entirely clueless newb.

> You also don't have to schedule, defrag will work in idle time.
>
> Again, don't take defrag too important.


Again with the misinformation. What's your problem?

> Besides, if you do a defrag, it is better to make a disk cleanup first,
> then chkdsk and then defrag.


Finally! This part, at least, is entirely true. Way to go, keep it up.
 
L

Lord Vetinari

Flightless Bird
"Allen" <allent@austin.rr.com> wrote in message
news:-OtOdnX6zOa6wp8_WnZ2dnUVZ_uidnZ2d@giganews.com...
> LouB wrote:
> <snip>
>> Defragging will NOT wear out the heads. They do NOT touch anything.

>
> Based on experiences with IBM 2300 series drives in the 1960s, you'll sure
> know it if a head does touch the disc. Goodbye head, goodbye disc. Those
> drives had removable disc packs and the greatest fear was that some dust
> might settle on a disc surface while changing packs. And with 2311 packs
> holding 7.5 megabytes on 10 surfaces and 2314s holding 15 megabytes on 20
> surfaces, changing them was a constant activity. To make it worse. it took
> 90 seconds for a drive to come to a stop and another 90 seconds to come
> back up to speed, plus one to two minutes to actually change the pack,
> every pack change resulted in four to five minutes lost time. And yes, I
> did mean MEGAbytes.


Heh, I have a disc pack. I don't remember where I got it from, but it's
kinda cute, anyway.
 
L

Lord Vetinari

Flightless Bird
"Leythos" <spam999free@rrohio.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.25be8c4f5433fac298a0b8@us.news.astraweb.com...
> In article <hitb7g$m0q$1@tornado.tornevall.net>, chrisv@nospam.invalid
> says...
>>
>> "Peter" <xx@yy.com> wrote in message
>> news:Ask4n.27123$Ym4.26776@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>> > I was pleased to see that Win 7 had a built in schedulable disc
>> > defragmenter.
>> > Today I installed Ashampoo WinOptimiser 2010 and looked at it's defrga
>> > option.
>> > Windows says my C: drive is 4% fragmented but Ashampoo says it's 36%
>> > fragmented which sounds very high on a 2 month old PC.
>> >
>> > Who do I believe??

>>
>> If you're using NTFS, ignore both. You're still living in Windows 98 and
>> FAT
>> 32 days.

>
> Actually, NTFS disks do fragment and the fragmentation can cause a real
> performance hit.


Yup. The drive I defragged yesterday, for a friend, had made him very
nervous, because the extreme fragmentation was making the drive chatter a
LOT.

> If you work with servers or databases or large files
> and also happen to do more than one thing concurrently you will FEEL the
> difference.
>
> --
> You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
> voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
> Trust yourself.
> spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
 
L

Leythos

Flightless Bird
In article <hj4v7b$t08$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
vetinari@ameritech.net says...
> > Actually, NTFS disks do fragment and the fragmentation can cause a real
> > performance hit.

>
> Yup. The drive I defragged yesterday, for a friend, had made him very
> nervous, because the extreme fragmentation was making the drive chatter a
> LOT.
>


Just imagine how much chattering it was doing before the defrag.

Depending on the actual sound, chattering can be a sign of a drive going
bad, but not always.

--
You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
Trust yourself.
spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
 
L

Lord Vetinari

Flightless Bird
"Leythos" <spam999free@rrohio.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.25bfed9cb52e65a098a0c4@us.news.astraweb.com...
> In article <hj4v7b$t08$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
> vetinari@ameritech.net says...
>> > Actually, NTFS disks do fragment and the fragmentation can cause a real
>> > performance hit.

>>
>> Yup. The drive I defragged yesterday, for a friend, had made him very
>> nervous, because the extreme fragmentation was making the drive chatter a
>> LOT.
>>

> Just imagine how much chattering it was doing before the defrag.


heh....you might like to reread what I said, there.

> Depending on the actual sound, chattering can be a sign of a drive going
> bad, but not always.


Usually, the damned things die fairly quietly. In this case, there was no
doubt as to the problem....the drive was purchased new in July, and hadn't
been used since September (his laptop stopped booting up).
 
D

David Simpson

Flightless Bird
"Lord Vetinari" <vetinari@ameritech.net> wrote in
news:hj7nl3$bom$1@news.eternal-september.org:

> "Leythos" <spam999free@rrohio.com> wrote in message
> news:MPG.25bfed9cb52e65a098a0c4@us.news.astraweb.com...
>> In article <hj4v7b$t08$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
>> vetinari@ameritech.net says...
>>> > Actually, NTFS disks do fragment and the fragmentation can cause a
>>> > real performance hit.
>>>
>>> Yup. The drive I defragged yesterday, for a friend, had made him
>>> very nervous, because the extreme fragmentation was making the drive
>>> chatter a LOT.
>>>

>> Just imagine how much chattering it was doing before the defrag.

>
> heh....you might like to reread what I said, there.


MyDefrag is a very good free defrager. Can't do the super system files,
but works great for all other files. For heavy add/delete drive (like a
TV media server) you can set it to defrag (no optimize) only. Takes
about 5 minutes a night to do my 4TB plus of disk space, plus lots a
flexabity if you can get your head around his scripting! Then once in a
while a do a defrag and optimize. (4 hours a drive!)



--
_______________________________________________
/ David Simpson \
| dsimpson@NOnyxSPAM.net |
| http://www.nyx.net/~dsimpson |
|We got to go to the crappy town where I'm a hero.|
\_______________________________________________/
 
L

Lord Vetinari

Flightless Bird
"David Simpson" <d-simpson@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Xns9D06D52096254dsimpsoncomcastnet@127.0.0.1...
> "Lord Vetinari" <vetinari@ameritech.net> wrote in
> news:hj7nl3$bom$1@news.eternal-september.org:
>
>> "Leythos" <spam999free@rrohio.com> wrote in message
>> news:MPG.25bfed9cb52e65a098a0c4@us.news.astraweb.com...
>>> In article <hj4v7b$t08$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
>>> vetinari@ameritech.net says...
>>>> > Actually, NTFS disks do fragment and the fragmentation can cause a
>>>> > real performance hit.
>>>>
>>>> Yup. The drive I defragged yesterday, for a friend, had made him
>>>> very nervous, because the extreme fragmentation was making the drive
>>>> chatter a LOT.
>>>>
>>> Just imagine how much chattering it was doing before the defrag.

>>
>> heh....you might like to reread what I said, there.

>
> MyDefrag is a very good free defrager.


So is Defraggler....and Defraggler has a much more amusing name.

> Can't do the super system files,
> but works great for all other files. For heavy add/delete drive (like a
> TV media server) you can set it to defrag (no optimize) only. Takes
> about 5 minutes a night to do my 4TB plus of disk space, plus lots a
> flexabity if you can get your head around his scripting! Then once in a
> while a do a defrag and optimize. (4 hours a drive!)


My friend was totally unaware of defragging. He knows now, and shouldn't
have such difficulties in the future.
 
O

Ophelia

Flightless Bird
"Lord Vetinari" <vetinari@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:hja8cb$voc$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> "David Simpson" <d-simpson@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:Xns9D06D52096254dsimpsoncomcastnet@127.0.0.1...
>> "Lord Vetinari" <vetinari@ameritech.net> wrote in
>> news:hj7nl3$bom$1@news.eternal-september.org:
>>
>>> "Leythos" <spam999free@rrohio.com> wrote in message
>>> news:MPG.25bfed9cb52e65a098a0c4@us.news.astraweb.com...
>>>> In article <hj4v7b$t08$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
>>>> vetinari@ameritech.net says...
>>>>> > Actually, NTFS disks do fragment and the fragmentation can cause a
>>>>> > real performance hit.
>>>>>
>>>>> Yup. The drive I defragged yesterday, for a friend, had made him
>>>>> very nervous, because the extreme fragmentation was making the drive
>>>>> chatter a LOT.
>>>>>
>>>> Just imagine how much chattering it was doing before the defrag.
>>>
>>> heh....you might like to reread what I said, there.

>>
>> MyDefrag is a very good free defrager.

>
> So is Defraggler....and Defraggler has a much more amusing name.
>
>> Can't do the super system files,
>> but works great for all other files. For heavy add/delete drive (like a
>> TV media server) you can set it to defrag (no optimize) only. Takes
>> about 5 minutes a night to do my 4TB plus of disk space, plus lots a
>> flexabity if you can get your head around his scripting! Then once in a
>> while a do a defrag and optimize. (4 hours a drive!)

>
> My friend was totally unaware of defragging. He knows now, and shouldn't
> have such difficulties in the future.


PAH! Dontcha know it is now called 'defragling'? Huh? but don't ya?? <g>


--
--
https://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/
 
L

Lord Vetinari

Flightless Bird
"Ophelia" <Ophelia@Elsinore.me.uk> wrote in message
news:7rrpgiFdb3U1@mid.individual.net...
> "Lord Vetinari" <vetinari@ameritech.net> wrote in message
> news:hja8cb$voc$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>> "David Simpson" <d-simpson@comcast.net> wrote in message
>> news:Xns9D06D52096254dsimpsoncomcastnet@127.0.0.1...
>>> "Lord Vetinari" <vetinari@ameritech.net> wrote in
>>> news:hj7nl3$bom$1@news.eternal-september.org:
>>>
>>>> "Leythos" <spam999free@rrohio.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:MPG.25bfed9cb52e65a098a0c4@us.news.astraweb.com...
>>>>> In article <hj4v7b$t08$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
>>>>> vetinari@ameritech.net says...
>>>>>> > Actually, NTFS disks do fragment and the fragmentation can cause a
>>>>>> > real performance hit.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yup. The drive I defragged yesterday, for a friend, had made him
>>>>>> very nervous, because the extreme fragmentation was making the drive
>>>>>> chatter a LOT.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Just imagine how much chattering it was doing before the defrag.
>>>>
>>>> heh....you might like to reread what I said, there.
>>>
>>> MyDefrag is a very good free defrager.

>>
>> So is Defraggler....and Defraggler has a much more amusing name.
>>
>>> Can't do the super system files,
>>> but works great for all other files. For heavy add/delete drive (like a
>>> TV media server) you can set it to defrag (no optimize) only. Takes
>>> about 5 minutes a night to do my 4TB plus of disk space, plus lots a
>>> flexabity if you can get your head around his scripting! Then once in
>>> a
>>> while a do a defrag and optimize. (4 hours a drive!)

>>
>> My friend was totally unaware of defragging. He knows now, and shouldn't
>> have such difficulties in the future.

>
> PAH! Dontcha know it is now called 'defragling'? Huh? but don't ya?? <g>


Shouldn't that be "defraggling"? Heh. I beg of you to accept my excuse, I
wuz tarred, tarred to thuh bone.
 
G

Gilgamesh

Flightless Bird
"Peter" <xx@yy.com> wrote in message
news:Ask4n.27123$Ym4.26776@text.news.virginmedia.com...
> I was pleased to see that Win 7 had a built in schedulable disc
> defragmenter.
> Today I installed Ashampoo WinOptimiser 2010 and looked at it's defrga
> option.
> Windows says my C: drive is 4% fragmented but Ashampoo says it's 36%
> fragmented which sounds very high on a 2 month old PC.
>
> Who do I believe??
>
> Peter
>
>


It depends upon the definition of fragmented.

The definition I have seen on MS utilities is that it just looks at the
files to see if they are contiguous.

Other better utilities not only look at the files but also at the free disk
space and the type of file. For example the .exe files can be positioned at
the the start of the disk to improve access speeds and also move other files
toward the front of the disk (or back depending upon your settings) so that
the free space is also reasonable contiguous and there is less chance of new
files you create being fragmented. The better utilities will do this even
if MS Defrag says the file is already contiguous.
 
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