Defragmentation frequency

[quset]

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

 

[Jim]

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

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

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.

 

[HeyBub]

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.

 

[Big_Al]

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.

 

[R. McCarty]

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.

 

[C]

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.

 

[db]

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[C]

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

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

 

[Unknown]

How can you make such a ridiculous statement?

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.

 

[Twayne]

In

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

You are posting the erroneous nonsense. Get real and then get a life.

 

[Twayne]

In

How can you make such a ridiculous statement?

You must be referring to computers that are used maybe twice per decade.
Otherwise you're an idiot and I hope you follow you own advice faithfully.

 

[thanatoid]

How can you make such a ridiculous statement?

What the **** are you babbling about now? When will you realize
that top-posting is NOT ACCEPTABLE?

<SNIP>

[And learn to <SNIP>, FFS.]

 

[Leythos]

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.

It doesn't matter how much free space you have or what size drive, the
real and only valid question is how fragmented are files - meaning how
many files are not stored in contiguous segments on the drive.

The more you add AND delete AND add to/from your computer, even if you
have 100TB of free space, the more you will fragment files.

While a small percentage of file fragmentation will be almost
unnoticeable, it can be noticed when you hit a significantly larger
amount for files that you access frequently.

 

[Tim Slattery]

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.

There's no reason to get your hard drive perfectly defragged before
writing something to a DVD. The way it's stored on the hard drive has
NOTHING to do with the way it's written to the DVD.

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?

It's not correct.

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

It's the case for neither.

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

As often as you like, I suppose, but really you don't need to worry
about it.

 

[Unknown]

Please respond to the correct poster.

In

You must be referring to computers that are used maybe twice per decade.
Otherwise you're an idiot and I hope you follow you own advice faithfully.

 

[Bill Sharpe]

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

You certainly don't have to defrag before burning CD's.

One approach is the run Windows Defrag and just analyze the disk.
Windows will let you know how defragmented the disk is and whether or
not a defrag is necessary. That "necessity" is just a Microsoft opinion,
as far as I'm concerned.

I use my XP machine daily and create,edit, move and delete a lot of
files. I defrag about once a month, which is probably more often than
needed. Every other month, as the Dell tech suggested, is probably fine
but running defrag often should not damage your system.

One caution is that defrag may run into problems if your hard disk is
nearly full. Of course you may be susceptible to other problems
eventually if this is the case.

Bill

 

[HeyBub]

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.

From where do these computers come on which you work?

It's unlikely they are from a home user and more likely they are found in a
corporate environment where the employees spend the preponderance of their
day downloading either naughty movies or funny cat pictures.

And how do you measure the improved efficiency after defragmentation?

 

[HeyBub]

How can you make such a ridiculous statement?

Good question. Here's one technical explaination:

"It is already clear that NTFS is a system which is predisposed to
fragmentation inspite of official statements. But it doesn't suffer from it.
All internal structures are constructed in such way that fragmentation does
not hinder to find data fragments fast. But it doesn't save from the
physical effect of fragmentation - waste disk heads motions."

 

[R. McCarty]

Most all the computers I referenced are home computers. Most if not
all running XP with a very few using Windows Vista. Most Corporate
or small business machines are pre-configured to handle defrag as a
part of the Server policies.

There are several tools for quantifying how fragmentation affects the
system performance. One common thing on the XP machines is when
users purposely delete the contents of \Prefetch. Once layout.ini
is rebuilt and the ProcessIdleTasks is run you can easily see response
times improve in both boot cycle time and application start up. Those
are the direct result of file ( & Driver) placement and defrag.

Raxco at one time had a tool that actually caused volume fragmentation
so you could measure before and after results using Perfect Disk. I
know that current releases of Perfect Disk and Diskeeper have charts
that show the volume performance statistics based on fragmentation level.
So you can visually see how much performance loss is occurring from
the % of fragmentation.

I recommend both Perfect Disk & Diskeeper ( fee based ) and a
program called Defraggler ( Free ) for more comprehensive defrag than
the built-in Windows defrag tool provides.