Using the XP Native Defrag or a 3rd Party utility ?
If all content exists on a single partition - You're unlikely to improve
the Defrag time. Using data segmentation (Different content on a
separate partition) would help since certain data doesn't fragment to
the extent the System partition will. Most times it's very large data
modules (Streets & Trips, Encarta, Game data modules) that cause
the processing time for Defrag to take so long. However, some
consideration is required when partitioning a Large drive. You need
to place data in diminishing importance/frequency of use further onto
the drive partitions.
C: \XP - D:\User Data - E- Multimedia (Music & My Pictures.
It's actually best to use separate drives for data segmentation.
Personally, I use Raxco's Perfect Disk Version 7.0. They offer a
30-Day fully functional trial. It' works best using both a Off-Line
defrag 1st, followed by a on line session. It fully supports the XP
Prefetch/Layout.Ini facility.
The download can be found at:
http://www.raxco.com