I use my home PC (XP SP3) to burn CD’s and movies.
I start off by transferring 2-4 GB of data from USB drives to the HHD.
After the transfer, I run Disk clean and then Defrag. Often, Defrag shows
blocks of fragmented files. Sometimes I have to run Defrag multiple times in
order to clean them up before burning the CD's.

I was speaking w/ a Dell tech rep yesterday about my new laptop (Windows 7
64 bit) & he indicated that running Defrag too often may damage my system -
for W 7, he said to just run it every other month.

I would appreciate your opinion as to whether this is correct?
1) would such be the case for both XP and Windows 7?
2) How often is OK for each of these respective OS?
TIA

"quset" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:33B09657-1F0C-4172-BF22-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I use my home PC (XP SP3) to burn CD's and movies.
> I start off by transferring 2-4 GB of data from USB drives to the HHD.
> After the transfer, I run Disk clean and then Defrag. Often, Defrag shows
> blocks of fragmented files. Sometimes I have to run Defrag multiple times
> in
> order to clean them up before burning the CD's.
>
> I was speaking w/ a Dell tech rep yesterday about my new laptop (Windows 7
> 64 bit) & he indicated that running Defrag too often may damage my
> system -
> for W 7, he said to just run it every other month.
>
> I would appreciate your opinion as to whether this is correct?
> 1) would such be the case for both XP and Windows 7?
> 2) How often is OK for each of these respective OS?
> TIA
(1) Don't see how defragmenting too often damages the system. It surely
doesn't hurt the drives.
(2) Every now and then is soon enough. In my case, I tend to defrag every
few months whether it needs it or not.
I have never had trouble with fragmented files bothering backups to CD or
DVD.
Jim

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:21:01 -0800, quset
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I use my home PC (XP SP3) to burn CD’s and movies.
> I start off by transferring 2-4 GB of data from USB drives to the HHD.
> After the transfer, I run Disk clean and then Defrag. Often, Defrag shows
> blocks of fragmented files. Sometimes I have to run Defrag multiple times in
> order to clean them up before burning the CD's.
>
> I was speaking w/ a Dell tech rep yesterday about my new laptop (Windows 7
> 64 bit) & he indicated that running Defrag too often may damage my system -


Sigh! That's complete nonsense, and he doesn't know what he's talking
about.



> for W 7, he said to just run it every other month.
>
> I would appreciate your opinion as to whether this is correct?



There's no answer that's right for everyone. It depends on how you use
your computer and it depends on how much you use your computer.

You should defragment your drive when doing so results in a speed up.
Here's what I recommend. Pick some arbitrary interval--for example
once a month. Defragment on that interval a few times, and assess
whether the computer generally feels faster after doing so. If the
answer is yes, defrag more frequently. If the answer is no, defrag
less frequently.

Repeat a few times, and you'll soon settle into a frequency that works
well for you.

Every other month isn't unlikely to be a good frequency.



> 1) would such be the case for both XP and Windows 7?


No real difference for different operating systems.



> 2) How often is OK for each of these respective OS?


See above.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

quset wrote:
> I use my home PC (XP SP3) to burn CD's and movies.
> I start off by transferring 2-4 GB of data from USB drives to the HHD.
> After the transfer, I run Disk clean and then Defrag. Often, Defrag
> shows blocks of fragmented files. Sometimes I have to run Defrag
> multiple times in order to clean them up before burning the CD's.
>
> I was speaking w/ a Dell tech rep yesterday about my new laptop
> (Windows 7 64 bit) & he indicated that running Defrag too often may
> damage my system - for W 7, he said to just run it every other month.
>
> I would appreciate your opinion as to whether this is correct?
> 1) would such be the case for both XP and Windows 7?
> 2) How often is OK for each of these respective OS?
> TIA

Assuming: 1) NTFS file system, 2) Ample unused space on the drive, and 3)
Usage is within that of 90% of computer users, THEN the appropriate time
interval between defragmentation runs is measured in decades.

There is usually no compelling reason to defragment an NTFS volume.

quset said this on 1/23/2010 6:21 PM:
> I use my home PC (XP SP3) to burn CD’s and movies.
> I start off by transferring 2-4 GB of data from USB drives to the HHD.
> After the transfer, I run Disk clean and then Defrag. Often, Defrag shows
> blocks of fragmented files. Sometimes I have to run Defrag multiple times in
> order to clean them up before burning the CD's.
>
> I was speaking w/ a Dell tech rep yesterday about my new laptop (Windows 7
> 64 bit) & he indicated that running Defrag too often may damage my system -
> for W 7, he said to just run it every other month.
>
> I would appreciate your opinion as to whether this is correct?
> 1) would such be the case for both XP and Windows 7?
> 2) How often is OK for each of these respective OS?
> TIA

The only reason for damage just might be the wear and tear on the servo
motor for moving the heads as it does exercise the heads a lot. The
drive motor is spinning no matter what.

Your conclusion doesn't meet with my "Real World" experience. I work
on computers all the time that have never been defragged. Sometimes the
total fragmentation level is in excess of 25-30%. These are systems that
have been running anywhere from 2 to 5 years. Because of the extreme
fragmentation some file fragments may exist all the way to the last portion
of clusters on the volume.
Doing a full defrag on those machines can take hours to complete. If they
had been defragged on almost any schedule the performance of the PC
would not have degraded as much as they had when they came in for
servicing.
I really wish people would not try to convince others that NTFS volumes
do not need defragmenting. The only case in which that might be true is
if the physical drive itself is an SSD.

"HeyBub" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> quset wrote:
>> I use my home PC (XP SP3) to burn CD's and movies.
>> I start off by transferring 2-4 GB of data from USB drives to the HHD.
>> After the transfer, I run Disk clean and then Defrag. Often, Defrag
>> shows blocks of fragmented files. Sometimes I have to run Defrag
>> multiple times in order to clean them up before burning the CD's.
>>
>> I was speaking w/ a Dell tech rep yesterday about my new laptop
>> (Windows 7 64 bit) & he indicated that running Defrag too often may
>> damage my system - for W 7, he said to just run it every other month.
>>
>> I would appreciate your opinion as to whether this is correct?
>> 1) would such be the case for both XP and Windows 7?
>> 2) How often is OK for each of these respective OS?
>> TIA
>
> Assuming: 1) NTFS file system, 2) Ample unused space on the drive, and 3)
> Usage is within that of 90% of computer users, THEN the appropriate time
> interval between defragmentation runs is measured in decades.
>
> There is usually no compelling reason to defragment an NTFS volume.
>

R. McCarty wrote:
> Your conclusion doesn't meet with my "Real World" experience. I work
> on computers all the time that have never been defragged. Sometimes the
> total fragmentation level is in excess of 25-30%. These are systems that
> have been running anywhere from 2 to 5 years. Because of the extreme
> fragmentation some file fragments may exist all the way to the last portion
> of clusters on the volume.
> Doing a full defrag on those machines can take hours to complete. If they
> had been defragged on almost any schedule the performance of the PC
> would not have degraded as much as they had when they came in for
> servicing.
> I really wish people would not try to convince others that NTFS volumes
> do not need defragmenting. The only case in which that might be true is
> if the physical drive itself is an SSD.

I really wish people like you wouldn't post such erroneous nonsense.

--
C

defragmenting the drive is a good idea.

you can actually do as often as you like.

however, you will soon realize that the
more frequent you defrag the more
boring it can become.

one thing to defrag are the registry files.

however, this can be done by a utility
called pagedefrag and is a freeware from
microsoft.com

if you set it to run a boot time, the
registry hives, including other system
files will be defragged before windows
loads the desktop.

incidentally, because hard drives
are extremely fast and if you have
a large drive, say over 80 gig's
defragging user files and third
party programs won't really be
necessary,

unless you get bored.

lastly, be sure to run a check
disk before defragging.

it will help ensure that the
file system is indexed with the
master file table.


--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>

"quset" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:33B09657-1F0C-4172-BF22-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I use my home PC (XP SP3) to burn CD’s and movies.
> I start off by transferring 2-4 GB of data from USB drives to the HHD.
> After the transfer, I run Disk clean and then Defrag. Often, Defrag shows
> blocks of fragmented files. Sometimes I have to run Defrag multiple times
> in
> order to clean them up before burning the CD's.
>
> I was speaking w/ a Dell tech rep yesterday about my new laptop (Windows 7
> 64 bit) & he indicated that running Defrag too often may damage my
> system -
> for W 7, he said to just run it every other month.
>
> I would appreciate your opinion as to whether this is correct?
> 1) would such be the case for both XP and Windows 7?
> 2) How often is OK for each of these respective OS?
> TIA

C wrote:
> R. McCarty wrote:
>> Your conclusion doesn't meet with my "Real World" experience. I work
>> on computers all the time that have never been defragged. Sometimes the
>> total fragmentation level is in excess of 25-30%. These are systems that
>> have been running anywhere from 2 to 5 years. Because of the extreme
>> fragmentation some file fragments may exist all the way to the last
>> portion
>> of clusters on the volume.
>> Doing a full defrag on those machines can take hours to complete. If
>> they
>> had been defragged on almost any schedule the performance of the PC
>> would not have degraded as much as they had when they came in for
>> servicing.
>> I really wish people would not try to convince others that NTFS volumes
>> do not need defragmenting. The only case in which that might be true is
>> if the physical drive itself is an SSD.
>
> I really wish people like you wouldn't post such erroneous nonsense.
>

Sorry, I misread your post and thought you were recommending not defragging.

--
C

How can you make such a ridiculous statement?
"HeyBub" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> quset wrote:
>> I use my home PC (XP SP3) to burn CD's and movies.
>> I start off by transferring 2-4 GB of data from USB drives to the HHD.
>> After the transfer, I run Disk clean and then Defrag. Often, Defrag
>> shows blocks of fragmented files. Sometimes I have to run Defrag
>> multiple times in order to clean them up before burning the CD's.
>>
>> I was speaking w/ a Dell tech rep yesterday about my new laptop
>> (Windows 7 64 bit) & he indicated that running Defrag too often may
>> damage my system - for W 7, he said to just run it every other month.
>>
>> I would appreciate your opinion as to whether this is correct?
>> 1) would such be the case for both XP and Windows 7?
>> 2) How often is OK for each of these respective OS?
>> TIA
>
> Assuming: 1) NTFS file system, 2) Ample unused space on the drive, and 3)
> Usage is within that of 90% of computer users, THEN the appropriate time
> interval between defragmentation runs is measured in decades.
>
> There is usually no compelling reason to defragment an NTFS volume.
>