I have been running the built-in XP defrag over and over. My hard disk is
only 60% full, but the defrag gives up after doing a little work. The disk
is still a compete mess! Are there alternative defrag programs that I could
download, that I could trust? TIA, Paul

Paul H wrote:
> I have been running the built-in XP defrag over and over. My hard
> disk is only 60% full, but the defrag gives up after doing a little
> work. The disk is still a compete mess! Are there alternative
> defrag programs that I could download, that I could trust? TIA, Paul
=================================
Maybe the freeware 'Auslogics Disk Defrag'
would be worth a try:

Auslogics Disk Defrag
http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag

--

J. Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

On 12/10/2009 7:20 PM, Paul H wrote:
> I have been running the built-in XP defrag over and over. My hard disk is
> only 60% full, but the defrag gives up after doing a little work. The disk
> is still a compete mess! Are there alternative defrag programs that I could
> download, that I could trust? TIA, Paul

I use:
http://www.mydefrag.com/ (freeware)
and
http://www.piriform.com/defraggler (freeware) - To defrag your entire
hard drive, or individual files/dirs.

O & O is pretty good I think.

> I have been running the built-in XP defrag over and over. My hard disk
> is
> only 60% full, but the defrag gives up after doing a little work. The
> disk
> is still a compete mess! Are there alternative defrag programs that I
> could
> download, that I could trust? TIA, Paul
>

Maybe "desperately" is a little harsh, but it annoys me that 30 files are
too large to be defragmented when there is plenty of empty space available
if it were to be gathered together. I would prefer if the defrag process
ran until sufficient contiguous empty space existed so every large file
could be defragmented, or the defrager program told me that this is not
possible because of immovable fragments. I've also tried "Auslogics Disk
Defrag" with a better display and quicker but the same results. I'll try it
in safe mode.

"Pete Puma" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
Paul H wrote:

> I have been running the built-in XP defrag over and over. My hard disk is
> only 60% full, but the defrag gives up after doing a little work. The
> disk
> is still a compete mess! Are there alternative defrag programs that I
> could
> download, that I could trust? TIA, Paul


I'll assume you are desperately trying to defrag because you are
experiencing slow speed. The defragger will quit when your file system is
sufficiently pooched.

Therefore, Run > cmd > chkdsk /f

or use the tool above the one that comes with the built-in defragger and set
it to schedule a check. Use the event viewer (Run > cmd > eventvwr) to see
what the results were.

You definitely want to make sure that your file system is OK before moving
all of your data around. Defragging is very overrated and check-disk is very
underrated. As XP is not a journaled file system like Vista and 7, it is
more than likely to get out of whack--and it does.

Paul H wrote:
> Maybe "desperately" is a little harsh, but it annoys me that 30 files are
> too large to be defragmented when there is plenty of empty space available
> if it were to be gathered together. I would prefer if the defrag process
> ran until sufficient contiguous empty space existed so every large file
> could be defragmented, or the defrager program told me that this is not
> possible because of immovable fragments. I've also tried "Auslogics Disk
> Defrag" with a better display and quicker but the same results. I'll try it
> in safe mode.
>
> "Pete Puma" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Paul H wrote:
>
>> I have been running the built-in XP defrag over and over. My hard disk is
>> only 60% full, but the defrag gives up after doing a little work. The
>> disk
>> is still a compete mess! Are there alternative defrag programs that I
>> could
>> download, that I could trust? TIA, Paul
>
>
> I'll assume you are desperately trying to defrag because you are
> experiencing slow speed. The defragger will quit when your file system is
> sufficiently pooched.
>
> Therefore, Run > cmd > chkdsk /f
>
> or use the tool above the one that comes with the built-in defragger and set
> it to schedule a check. Use the event viewer (Run > cmd > eventvwr) to see
> what the results were.
>
> You definitely want to make sure that your file system is OK before moving
> all of your data around. Defragging is very overrated and check-disk is very
> underrated. As XP is not a journaled file system like Vista and 7, it is
> more than likely to get out of whack--and it does.
>
>
I believe most defrag programs will skip files beyond a certain size,
since defraging them would require a lot of work and lots of empty space
on the disk, for a very limit benefit.

You have to realize that most defrag programs require a given percentage
of empty space on the disk to work correctly. To defrag large individual
files, you need to use a specifically design program. I believe
> http://cid-94a12102e5094675.skydrive...fragmenter.zip
fits this bill.

But whichever way you look, make first a backup, then run chkdsk before
you attempt anything.

--
John Doue

Paul H wrote:
> Maybe "desperately" is a little harsh, but it annoys me that 30 files are
> too large to be defragmented when there is plenty of empty space available
> if it were to be gathered together.

There isn't plenty of space and that's the problem. Move the files to a
larger partition if possible.

--
C

On Dec 10, 7:20*pm, "Paul H" <NoSpamphobergNoS...@att.net> wrote:
> I have been running the built-in XP defrag over and over. *My hard diskis
> only 60% full, but the defrag gives up after doing a little work. *The disk
> is still a compete mess! *Are there alternative defrag programs that I could
> download, that I could trust? *TIA, Paul

What does "gives up" mean?

What does "complete mess" mean?

Is there something in the Analysis Report that need explaining? You
can copy/paste it here.

If you are running from the Windows interface, don't expect to see one
huge blue block when you are done.

Look in the Event Log for messages from the defrag process to see if
the problem is real or imagined.

JacobH wrote:
> C wrote:
>> Paul H wrote:
>>> Maybe "desperately" is a little harsh, but it annoys me that 30
>>> files are too large to be defragmented when there is plenty of empty
>>> space available if it were to be gathered together.
>> There isn't plenty of space and that's the problem. Move the files to
>> a larger partition if possible.
>
> 40% isn't enough freespace? Something is dreadfully wrong somewhere if
> that's the case!
> Maybe move those 30 files off the drive, defrag it then move them back
> and try again?
>

Nope, you need more space. Percentage means nothing; it's how much space
is available which you haven't indicated. Are these files on the C drive
or another partition? I had the same problem with Outlook's .pst file
and I moved it to the D partition which has over 200 GB free. Haven't
had a problem since.

--
C

Try this one. Freeware. Works fine for me.
MyDefrag v4.1.2
HTH

"Paul H" wrote:

> I have been running the built-in XP defrag over and over. My hard disk is
> only 60% full, but the defrag gives up after doing a little work. The disk
> is still a compete mess! Are there alternative defrag programs that I could
> download, that I could trust? TIA, Paul
>
> .
>