Defrag Doesn't Do Anything

[PrinceAli0 0]

Hey All,

Got a 40 Gig drive thats about 45 to 50 % free and when I Defrag, upon completion it tells me that some files cannot be moved. The problem is when I load up Defrag again it analyzes my drive and tells me that I should Defrag the drive that just took 3 hrs to complete. Whats up with this. Any Ideas?

 

Thanks

PrinceAli0

[ghayes 0]

What files does the built-in defragmenter say remain fragmented?

 

- Greg/Raxco Software

[Lactic.Acid 0]

"Buy" a copy of Diskeeper. That reboots and defrags without WinXX running, so it can move everything.

 

The problem is when you're running an OS, certain files are always used and the OS can't just stop using them. kernel32 for instance. If Windows stopped using the kernel it would go haywire (and we all know Windows never goes haywire otherwise, right?). Because of that, the file can't be moved, copied, accessed, looked at with a funny face, etc. without Windows bombing out on you.

/L.A

[ghayes 0]

"Buy a copy of Diskeeper. That reboots and formats without WinXX running, so it can move everything.

 

The problem is when you're running an OS, certain files are always used and the OS can't just stop using them. kernel32 for instance. If Windows stopped using the kernel it would go haywire (and we all know Windows never goes haywire otherwise, right?). Because of that, the file can't be moved, copied, accessed, looked at with a funny face, etc. without Windows bombing out on you."

 

This above is absolutely incorrect. There are only certain files that can NOT be defragmented online - among them the pagefile, hibernate file, directories on FATx partitions and non MFT metadata on NTFS partitions. Other than that, the Microsoft defrag APIs, (which are part of the operating system and defragmenters such as the built-in defragmenter, PerfectDisk, Diskeeper, O&O Defrag, Ontrack, Defrag Commander all use), allow files that are open by other users/processes/applications to safely be defragmented online. It is these MS defrag APIs that handle all of the low level I/O synchronization that is needed to allow this to happen. A boot time defrag (which the built-in defragmenter can't do) is required to defragment the above mentioned files.

 

In addition, Diskeeper (as well as any other defragmenter) has no ability to format a partition during boot time - or any other time.

 

- Greg/Raxco Software

 

Disclaimer: I work for Raxco Software, the maker of PerfectDisk - a commercial defrag utility and a competitor to the defrag products listed above, as a systems engineer in the support department.

[Lactic.Acid 0]

I stand corrected! =) My apologies

/L.A

[bilston 0]

How come I just defragmented my system partition using Diskeeper before XP starts then (as in when chkdsk runs)? And after checking the state of the drive in Windows, it does infact now show that the Pagefile is one big cluster, as opposed to lots of seperate ones.

My system starts quicker now too, which is nice