Can't Defragment Completely

G

Guest

Hello,

I am using WinXP Pro on a Dell Latitude P4 laptop with an 18GB hard disk
that has 3.5GB (18%) free space. I ran the built in disk cleanup utility and
told it to compress files because I needed the space. When I run the built
in defragmenter the display looks extemely fragmented, with red bars
everywhere. When I tell it to analyze it tells me that the disk does need
defragmenting. The first couple times I defragmented it, it did improve
slightly. Now however, the dragmenter runs quickly and there is no
improvement. The log shows that many files did not get defragmented. Can
someone shed some light on this for me please?

In the general case:

1. Are there any disk utilities that will move all files to the beginning of
the disk in addition to defragging? Sometimes the built in version does this
but sometimes it merely defragments and leaves unused space between the used
groups of files.

2. Are there any disk utilities that will move all the "unmovable" (green)
files together?

I've tried "Diskeeper" but it does no better with all these issues than the
built in utility.

Thanks,
Ray Mitchell
 
G

Guest

Ray Mitchell said:
Hello,

I am using WinXP Pro on a Dell Latitude P4 laptop with an 18GB hard disk
that has 3.5GB (18%) free space. I ran the built in disk cleanup utility and
told it to compress files because I needed the space. When I run the built
in defragmenter the display looks extemely fragmented, with red bars
everywhere. When I tell it to analyze it tells me that the disk does need
defragmenting. The first couple times I defragmented it, it did improve
slightly. Now however, the dragmenter runs quickly and there is no
improvement. The log shows that many files did not get defragmented. Can
someone shed some light on this for me please?

In the general case:

1. Are there any disk utilities that will move all files to the beginning of
the disk in addition to defragging? Sometimes the built in version does this
but sometimes it merely defragments and leaves unused space between the used
groups of files.

2. Are there any disk utilities that will move all the "unmovable" (green)
files together?

I've tried "Diskeeper" but it does no better with all these issues than the
built in utility.

Thanks,
Ray Mitchell

Try O and O defrag theres 5 different ways to do the defrag so 1 will suit
your purpose.Hope this helps
http://www.oo-software.com/en/products/oodefrag/pro.html
 
G

Gerry Cornell

Ray


The amount of free space is very important when running Disk
Defragmenter. A
minimum of 15% is required but sometimes 20% is desirable if the drive /
partition
contains one or more large files. You can run Disk Defragmenter a second
and third
time if files are still fragmented after the first run. You can put
files more prone to
fragment in their own partitions.

If you use Outlook Express regularly compacting Outlook Express before
running
Disk Defragmenter is helpful.

Disk Defragmenter provides a "Most fragmented files" list. When a
fragmented file is
larger than the largest pocket of free space available then the files is
not fragmented.
Running Disk Defragmenter a second or third time does move files around
and can
reduce / eliminate the contents of the "Most fragmented files" list. The
more free
space on the drive / partition, the more likely it is that all fragments
will be
eliminated.

Free space cannot be defragmented with the Windows XP Disk Defragmenter.
Neither can your pagefile be defragmented because the file is in use
whilst
Disk Defragmenter is running. You can purchase other Defragmenting
Utilities e.g.
Perfect Disk, which will defragment your pagefile and free space.
Another option is to
place your pagefile in it's own partition. A pagefile partition is best
located as the first
partition on a second hard drive. You should leave a small page file at
the original
location.
http://www.raxco.com/

~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
J

John

If you can, move to a different drive (or better yet delete) the most
fragmented files as noted on
the report that barcabod told you about.

that should reduce the space requirements & also do some of the work for
you.

I prefer perfect disk to O&O or diskkeeper... but only used in this way:

do an offline defrag first - no matter what it tells you to do.
then do a quick defrag only
then do a windows defrag.

I find that the smart defrag in perfectdisk is not unlike the diskkeeper
defrag - great things if you do them regularly (ie once a day).
if you don't, then just get the basics done & use ms to do the rest.

JB


Ray Mitchell said:
Hello,

I am using WinXP Pro on a Dell Latitude P4 laptop with an 18GB hard disk
that has 3.5GB (18%) free space. I ran the built in disk cleanup utility
and
told it to compress files because I needed the space. When I run the
built
in defragmenter the display looks extemely fragmented, with red bars
everywhere. When I tell it to analyze it tells me that the disk does need
defragmenting. The first couple times I defragmented it, it did improve
slightly. Now however, the dragmenter runs quickly and there is no
improvement. The log shows that many files did not get defragmented. Can
someone shed some light on this for me please?

In the general case:

1. Are there any disk utilities that will move all files to the beginning
of
the disk in addition to defragging? Sometimes the built in version does
this
but sometimes it merely defragments and leaves unused space between the
used
groups of files.

2. Are there any disk utilities that will move all the "unmovable"
(green)
files together?

I've tried "Diskeeper" but it does no better with all these issues than
the
built in utility.

Thanks,
Ray Mitchell

Try O and O defrag theres 5 different ways to do the defrag so 1 will suit
your purpose.Hope this helps
http://www.oo-software.com/en/products/oodefrag/pro.html
 

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