Defragmentation of BackUp files

  • Thread starter Thread starter PaulFXH
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PaulFXH

Hi

Ever since I backed up my 30GB of music from my external USB HDD to my
internal HDD, defragmentation analysis of the internal HDD by Diskeeper
Lite shows an enormous amount of Red (fragmented files) both BEFORE and
AFTER defragmentation.
Despite this, the actual numbers presented do not indicate any huge
fragmentation problem.
However, I am a little suspicious that my computer is just a little
more sluggish than it used to be.
Anybody had a similar experience with back-up file defragmentation?

TIA
Paul
 
PaulFXH said:
Hi

Ever since I backed up my 30GB of music from my external USB HDD to my
internal HDD, defragmentation analysis of the internal HDD by Diskeeper
Lite shows an enormous amount of Red (fragmented files) both BEFORE and
AFTER defragmentation.
Despite this, the actual numbers presented do not indicate any huge
fragmentation problem.
However, I am a little suspicious that my computer is just a little
more sluggish than it used to be.
Anybody had a similar experience with back-up file defragmentation?

TIA
Paul
Click to expand...

Likely Diskeeper Lite, like Windows XP Defragmenter, is not defragging files
that are in use when you run the programs. Some per-cent of fragments files
is not a problem. In My Computer, right click on your drive and select
Properties and than the Tools tab. Click on Defragment and select your
drive. At the bottom, click on the Analyze Button. IMO, if the Analyze
report is that you do not need to defrag, then do not worry about the
fragmented files.

If you still want to worry, boot to Safe Mode where fewer files are in use.
Run your Diskeeper Lite programs in Safe Mode.

Don
 
Don MI said:
report is that you do not need to defrag, then do not worry about the
fragmented files.

Don
Click to expand...

I just installed a sound card and my hard drive had over 1000 fragmented
files and XP said it wasn't necessary to defrag. BS! I've seen it say it
wasn't necessary with over 4000 files. It lies.

Alias
 
Likely Diskeeper Lite, like Windows XP Defragmenter, is not defragging files
that are in use when you run the programs. Some per-cent of fragments files
is not a problem. In My Computer, right click on your drive and select
Properties and than the Tools tab. Click on Defragment and select your
drive. At the bottom, click on the Analyze Button. IMO, if the Analyze
report is that you do not need to defrag, then do not worry about the
fragmented files.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply, Don
My concern is not so much the % fragmented files, which is never more
than 10%, but the amount of RED (indicative of fragmentation) which
shows up in the diskeeper analysis chart. This ONLY happened AFTER I
backed up 30GB of music files from an external HDD to my system disk.
Now, these back-up files CANNOT be in use during the defrag. So that's
not the explanation.
I should mention that I am not at all facing a major disaster here but
would like to know if anybody else has had a similar experience with a
large back-up file folder causing strange behaviour of the defrag tool.
If you still want to worry, boot to Safe Mode where fewer files are in use.
Run your Diskeeper Lite programs in Safe Mode.
Click to expand...

Diskeeper Lite won't run from safe Mode on my computer saying it cannot
connect to the Diskeeper Service. As Diskeeper has taken the place of
the WinXP defragger, I cannot do any degfragging from Safe Mode.

Paul
 
Paul

I can only guess. You may want to review the Diskeeper Support FAQ as there
are some comments about Diskeeper stopping defrag when disk condition is
optimum vice defragging all files.

In my configuration, Safe Mode with Networking allows internet access. Don't
know if yours will also.

Still, I would not worry about under 10% fragmentation. Perfect defrag is
neither needed nor if you achieve perfect defrag will it long remain so. If
I recall correctly, early versions of Norton had a 25% default for
recommending a defrag.

Don
 
4:10 PM 6/17/2006

Hi Paul:

Does it seem odd to anyone that backing up the music files does not seem to
have created contiguous files on the internal hdd? Especially if the drive
has lots of headroom, it should have done exactly that. What program or
utility was used to "backup" the files? Was compression part of the backup?

Mark
 
Callmark1 escreveu:
4:10 PM 6/17/2006

Hi Paul:

Does it seem odd to anyone that backing up the music files does not seem to
have created contiguous files on the internal hdd? Especially if the drive
has lots of headroom, it should have done exactly that. What program or
utility was used to "backup" the files? Was compression part of the backup?
Click to expand...

Hi Mark
Thanks for the reply.
I used the Windows back-up utility (ntbackup.exe).
Compression was not used as part of the back-up. Indeed, the 30GB I
backed up came in at around 28GB when backed-up.
The HDD to which I did the back-up has 80GB total space of which 25GB
were in use before the back-up.
Please note that I'm trying to figure out which of the contradictory
messages I'm getting from Diskeeper is more correct:
One the one hand, it says there are 1.06 fragments per file (I just ran
Diskeeper now)
OTOH, about 80% of the area representing the files/folders on the drive
are shown in a RED color (Red being indicative of a fragmented file).
Even after defragging, no less than 70% of this area is colored Red.
This DID NOT happen before I backed up the music files to the C:\
drive.
Anybody got an explanation?
Paul
 
Don MI said:
Paul

I can only guess. You may want to review the Diskeeper Support FAQ as there
are some comments about Diskeeper stopping defrag when disk condition is
optimum vice defragging all files.

In my configuration, Safe Mode with Networking allows internet access. Don't
know if yours will also.
Click to expand...

Don, I tried Diskeeper in Safe Mode with Networking and it didn't work
there either.. It doesn't seem to be an internet related issue.
Still, I would not worry about under 10% fragmentation. Perfect defrag is
neither needed nor if you achieve perfect defrag will it long remain so. If
I recall correctly, early versions of Norton had a 25% default for
recommending a defrag.
Click to expand...

My concern is totally based on the fact that the preponderance of a Red
color in the depiction of the files/folders both BEFORE and AFTER
defragging is not consistent with the reported low numbers of remaining
file fragments.
This DID NOT happen before I backed up the music files.
Is this an unprecedented occurrence?
Paul
 
1:47 AM 6/18/2006

You might try wearing a tin foil hat while de-fragging:
http://www.zenapolae.com/files/images/38741502_l.jpg

Other than that I am stumped. I guess I would tend to trust the text data
before the GUI since the GUI representation is "built" from the data and not
vice versa. If it is presenting sleepless nights for you, you could perhaps
uninstall Diskeeper and see if the XP de-frag comes up with the same result.

Mark
 
Callmark1 escreveu:
1:47 AM 6/18/2006

You might try wearing a tin foil hat while de-fragging:
http://www.zenapolae.com/files/images/38741502_l.jpg

Other than that I am stumped. I guess I would tend to trust the text data
before the GUI since the GUI representation is "built" from the data and not
vice versa. If it is presenting sleepless nights for you, you could perhaps
uninstall Diskeeper and see if the XP de-frag comes up with the same result.
Click to expand...

I'm planning a clean-install of WinXP before the end of this month. The
last time I did this, a very significant numbers of unexplained
peculiarities which had crept into my machine just dissappeared.
I would be almost prepared to bet that this particular strangeness will
too.
Failing that, there's always the tin hat option.
Paul
 
I agree. The trivial yet annoying wierdness just creeps into the OS over
time. Nothing like a fresh clean install.
 
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