Hallo, I can't defrag my hard disk, but I have to,
since my laptop has become unbearably slow.

I start the defragger. Everything seems normal, but after 40-60 minutes
the program stops without complaining that anything was wrong,
yet the disk is not defragmented.

The picture below says it all. Yet I have almonst 50% of the disk free:

http://168.144.107.58/defrag.gif

I have also run a checkdisk, which took a looong time, but completed
with no error msg.

Any idea about what I am doing wrong?

thanks

Luca

What statistics is the built-in defragmenter providing about this drive?

The built-in defragmenter isn't exactly known for doing a good job. I would
suggest booting into Safe Mode and try defragmenting from there and see if
it helps. If it doesn't, I'd suggest looking into a a more rebust 3rd party
defragmenter.

- Greg/Raxco Software
Microsoft MVP - Windows File System

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

Want to email me? Delete ntloader.



"luca" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:WtaJc.2352$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> Hallo, I can't defrag my hard disk, but I have to,
> since my laptop has become unbearably slow.
>
> I start the defragger. Everything seems normal, but after 40-60 minutes
> the program stops without complaining that anything was wrong,
> yet the disk is not defragmented.
>
> The picture below says it all. Yet I have almonst 50% of the disk free:
>
> http://168.144.107.58/defrag.gif
>
> I have also run a checkdisk, which took a looong time, but completed
> with no error msg.
>
> Any idea about what I am doing wrong?
>
> thanks
>
> Luca
>

Greg Hayes/Raxco Software wrote:
> What statistics is the built-in defragmenter providing about this drive?

here are the statistics. Does it tell you anything?

thanks

Luca

Volume OPENWAVE (C:
Volume size = 19,069 MB
Cluster size = 512 bytes
Used space = 9,867 MB
Free space = 9,201 MB
Percent free space = 48 %

Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 14 %
File fragmentation = 28 %
Free space fragmentation = 0 %

File fragmentation
Total files = 78,641
Average file size = 165 KB
Total fragmented files = 39
Total excess fragments = 54,124
Average fragments per file = 1.68

Pagefile fragmentation
Pagefile size = 384 MB
Total fragments = 2

Directory fragmentation
Total directories = 7,318
Fragmented directories = 1
Excess directory fragments = 2

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
Total MFT size = 90,120 KB
MFT record count = 87,180
Percent MFT in use = 96 %
Total MFT fragments = 2

Luca

This isn't a very fragmented disk. You only have 39 files that are
fragmented (though, they appear to be very, very fragmented).

So you have a few problems:
1) The cluster size of 512bytes virtually guarantees that you will fragment
a lot. Basically any file >512 bytes has the potential to fragment. This
could also be the source of some of your perf issues since a given seek may
only result in a 512byte read instead of 4k (which is the normal default).
Unfortunately, there isn't a lot you can do at this point, since you would
need to re-format the partition to get a larger cluster size. If you ever
decide to recreate the partition, keep this in mind.

2) From the statistics, I would guess that the files that are fragmented are
very large. The page file isn't fragmented to any noticeable degree, nor is
the MFT so that's good news. I would recommend reviewing the defrag report
and looking at the files that are fragmented. There are defrag apps out
(some are free) that will defrag a single file/directory at a time. That
may work better for you.

The bundled defrag utility basically only defrags a file if there is enough
contiguous space to do so. If there isn't then it skips the file. That is
probably why it just stops after a while.


Pat

"luca" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%qeJc.2600$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>
> Greg Hayes/Raxco Software wrote:
>> What statistics is the built-in defragmenter providing about this drive?
>
> here are the statistics. Does it tell you anything?
>
> thanks
>
> Luca
>
> Volume OPENWAVE (C:
> Volume size = 19,069 MB
> Cluster size = 512 bytes
> Used space = 9,867 MB
> Free space = 9,201 MB
> Percent free space = 48 %
>
> Volume fragmentation
> Total fragmentation = 14 %
> File fragmentation = 28 %
> Free space fragmentation = 0 %
>
> File fragmentation
> Total files = 78,641
> Average file size = 165 KB
> Total fragmented files = 39
> Total excess fragments = 54,124
> Average fragments per file = 1.68
>
> Pagefile fragmentation
> Pagefile size = 384 MB
> Total fragments = 2
>
> Directory fragmentation
> Total directories = 7,318
> Fragmented directories = 1
> Excess directory fragments = 2
>
> Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
> Total MFT size = 90,120 KB
> MFT record count = 87,180
> Percent MFT in use = 96 %
> Total MFT fragments = 2
>
> Luca
>

Greg, I downloaded the evaluation copy of diskperfect and
it did the job. Thanks a lot. I now realize what piece of s*#%
the standard win2k defragmenter is.
I am writing an email to the IT guys in my company recommending them
to take a serious look at this tool to manage PCs in the whole company.

Best

Luca

Greg Hayes/Raxco Software wrote:

> What statistics is the built-in defragmenter providing about this drive?
>
> The built-in defragmenter isn't exactly known for doing a good job. I would
> suggest booting into Safe Mode and try defragmenting from there and see if
> it helps. If it doesn't, I'd suggest looking into a a more rebust 3rd party
> defragmenter.
>
> - Greg/Raxco Software
> Microsoft MVP - Windows File System
>
> Disclaimer: I work for Raxco Software, the maker of PerfectDisk - a
> commercial defrag utility, as a systems engineer in the support department.
>
> Want to email me? Delete ntloader.
>