W2K Defrag Free Space Required

[Mike]

I get this message when trying to defrag:

Volume C: has 14% free but only 8% is available for use by
Disk Deframenter. To run efficiently, Disk Defragmenter
requires 15%. Do you want to run anyway? YES or NO

I have nothing compressed on entire drive. I disabled anti-
virus (so tried to limit open files). I even minumized
and/or eliminated Recycle Bin's and IE temp cache (didn't
affect the numbers).

What is "available? (8% of the 14%)
What happens if I say YES?

Have only one drive and one partition. Win 2000 Pro SP4,
everything up to date so I believe.

Michael
p.s. posted this to "general" also (sorry for duplication,
not sure how this posting really works)

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----
I get this message when trying to defrag:

Volume C: has 14% free but only 8% is available for use by
Disk Deframenter. To run efficiently, Disk Defragmenter
requires 15%. Do you want to run anyway? YES or NO

I have nothing compressed on entire drive. I disabled anti-
virus (so tried to limit open files). I even minumized
and/or eliminated Recycle Bin's and IE temp cache (didn't
affect the numbers).

What is "available? (8% of the 14%)
What happens if I say YES?

Have only one drive and one partition. Win 2000 Pro SP4,
everything up to date so I believe.

Michael
p.s. posted this to "general" also (sorry for duplication,
not sure how this posting really works)

.

It's saying that you have almost no space on your hard
drive. Letting it start the defrag probably won't hurt
anything, it will just take a long time...

MD

 

[Al Dykes]

I get this message when trying to defrag:

Volume C: has 14% free but only 8% is available for use by
Disk Deframenter. To run efficiently, Disk Defragmenter
requires 15%. Do you want to run anyway? YES or NO

I have nothing compressed on entire drive. I disabled anti-
virus (so tried to limit open files). I even minumized
and/or eliminated Recycle Bin's and IE temp cache (didn't
affect the numbers).

What is "available? (8% of the 14%)
What happens if I say YES?

Have only one drive and one partition. Win 2000 Pro SP4,
everything up to date so I believe.

Michael
p.s. posted this to "general" also (sorry for duplication,
not sure how this posting really works)

Go on a hunt for files that are no longer needed. Exit all your
applications and do some of the following;

Uninstall any software you don't use or need.

Look in the cache directories for any browsers you use
and delete the files.

Search your directory tree Find any directory named tmp, temp, or
"temporary internet files". Delete the contents of these folders. If
you get an error about files in use, you've still got an application
running.

starting from c:\ do a "dir/s user.dmp" command and delete any files
named user.dmp

You can delete "service pack uninstall" files; Look for
C:\WINNT\$NtServicePackUninstall$
Blow it away.

Go into your mail application. delete trash, and compress the folders.

In file explorer search for all files larger than 10MB. If any of these
are obviously junk, delete them.

Assuming you've got XP with an NTFS file system you can compress
anything, how much it gets you depends. mp3 and jpg files don't
get any smaller. My Documents is a good candidate for compression.
So are temp folders.

empty the trashcan

How much did that get you ?


Good luck.

 

[Mike]

-----Original Message-----


It's saying that you have almost no space on your hard
drive. Letting it start the defrag probably won't hurt
anything, it will just take a long time...

MD
.

Even the 8% available out 14%? This is ok? Disk is
pretty small, I'm just wondering what the differce is
betten "free space" and "available free space" (for Disk
Defrag, I mean). Thanks just the same...
Michael

 

[Andy Vaya]

The operating system is reserving a small slice of your disk for
housekeeping on shutdown and startup, temp files, and for potential swapfile
expansion.

 

[Al Dykes]

The operating system is reserving a small slice of your disk for
housekeeping on shutdown and startup, temp files, and for potential swapfile
expansion.

What operating system are you using, what file system, and how big is
the disk ? What defrag software (probably what came with the system.)
How old is the system.

 

[Greg Hayes/Raxco Software]

Mike,

Free space with the NTFS file system is located in 2 different areas -
INSIDE of the MFT Reserved Zone and OUTSIDE of the MFT Reserved Zone.

If you look at the properties of a drive, the free space total is the total
of these two areas and you as a user a full access to both areas - however,
the file system will avoid putting files INSIDE of the Reserved Zone unless
you get into a low free space condition.

Defragmenters under Win2k are NOT allowed to use the free space INSIDE of
the Reserved Zone.

What this message means is that while you have 14% total free space, only 8%
is available OUTSIDE of the Reserved Zone and usable by a defragmenter. The
built-in defragmenter is hard pressed to defragment with less than 10%.

- 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.