Defrag from Win98

[S.B.]

I have Win98 on C: partition and XP on another partition (dual boot).
Is it unwise to defrag the XP partition from Win98 (ie. with 98 as the
currently operating OS?

 

[Tim Slattery]

I have Win98 on C: partition and XP on another partition (dual boot).
Is it unwise to defrag the XP partition from Win98 (ie. with 98 as the
currently operating OS?

That shouldn't do any harm.

 

[Yves Leclerc]

If the XP partition is formatted as NTFS, then Win(* should not be able to
see it.

Y.

 

[Malke]

That shouldn't do any harm.

I'm sorry, but I must disagree with Mr. Slattery here. I believe it will
be extremely unwise for you to defrag your XP installation from the
Win98 installation, even if both os's are using FAT32.

Malke

 

[Tim Slattery]

I'm sorry, but I must disagree with Mr. Slattery here. I believe it will
be extremely unwise for you to defrag your XP installation from the
Win98 installation, even if both os's are using FAT32.

And I stand by my original post. No harm will be done.

 

[Grant]

And I stand by my original post. No harm will be done.

I second that. No harm will be done. It may actually work out better, because
there won't be any files in use that defrag can't move.

 

[Steve Shattuck]

I'm sorry, but I must disagree with Mr. Slattery here. I believe it will

be extremely unwise for you to defrag your XP installation from the
Win98 installation, even if both os's are using FAT32.

DUH! There is absolutley no reason not to defrag a fat 32 partition, no matter what OS resides there.

Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

Remind me not to buy here if this is a reflection of your expertise.

 

[CS]

DUH! There is absolutley no reason not to defrag a fat 32 partition, no matter what OS resides there.

That's not what Malke is saying. He's saying WHEN booted into Win98,
DO NOT attempt to defrag your XP installation from Win98 using its
defrag program regardless of whether or not it's FAT-32. I also
agree with him as I have experienced an OS disaster some years ago by
doing that very thing.

The Win98 defrag program is only concerned with the Win98 OS and what
files need to be moved and not moved - etc. It knows nothing about
XP boot files or placement. Tim Slattery has been lucky thus far if
he in fact is completely defragging a dual boot system from one or the
other OS. Because he hasn't had problems, doesn't mean it's the
right thing to do.

Also - there are several Tech Support people representing popular
defrag programs who post in this echo. (Perfect Disk, Executive
Software) who agree with Mr. Malke.

Regards.

 

[Malke]

That's not what Malke is saying. He's saying WHEN booted into Win98,
DO NOT attempt to defrag your XP installation from Win98 using its
defrag program regardless of whether or not it's FAT-32. I also
agree with him as I have experienced an OS disaster some years ago by
doing that very thing.

The Win98 defrag program is only concerned with the Win98 OS and what
files need to be moved and not moved - etc. It knows nothing about
XP boot files or placement. Tim Slattery has been lucky thus far if
he in fact is completely defragging a dual boot system from one or the
other OS. Because he hasn't had problems, doesn't mean it's the
right thing to do.

Also - there are several Tech Support people representing popular
defrag programs who post in this echo. (Perfect Disk, Executive
Software) who agree with Mr. Malke.

Thanks for making that clear, CS. You said it far better than I
originally did, but that is exactly what I meant. In addition, the
Win98 defragger (while better than Win95's) isn't really very good and
many people used a third-party one instead. I wouldn't trust the Win98
defragger to work on a different operating system, and by the same
token, one shouldn't use XP's defragger (while booted into XP) on
Win98. And I'm a she. "Malke" (my real name) means "Queen". I tell my
loved ones that is appropriate, and for some strange reason they laugh
at me! ;-) Thanks again for the great clarifying post.

Happy Holidays,

Malke