Defragmentation of OS drive

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Guest

I just reloaded my XP Pro OS and all my other software. All of my updates are
current, no spyware, no adware, virus defintions up to date (scan runs
nightly).
OS and relevant files on C:\ drive. Pagefile on D:\ Programs on E:\ As I
reinstalled everything I would periodically run defrag on all drives and
everything worked fine. Then , yesterday (nothing new added to system), the
defrag is upable to "defragment some files on C:\ view details to see the
files". Looking at the details shows nothing different, only the usual
breakdown of number of files and the avg. number of fragments per file, just
the normal thing.

Has anyone else had this happen? If so, is there a way to find out why the
drive can't be completly defragged, or which files it is unable to cope with?


Thanks LarryO
 
larryo said:
I just reloaded my XP Pro OS and all my other software. All of my updates are
current, no spyware, no adware, virus defintions up to date (scan runs
nightly).
OS and relevant files on C:\ drive. Pagefile on D:\ Programs on E:\ As I
reinstalled everything I would periodically run defrag on all drives and
everything worked fine. Then , yesterday (nothing new added to system), the
defrag is upable to "defragment some files on C:\ view details to see the
files". Looking at the details shows nothing different, only the usual
breakdown of number of files and the avg. number of fragments per file, just
the normal thing.

Has anyone else had this happen? If so, is there a way to find out why the
drive can't be completly defragged, or which files it is unable to cope with?


Thanks LarryO
Click to expand...

Try defragging it again. Sometimes it takes two passes to get everything
defragged.

Alias
 
yes i have this problem too. it started a week ago. one file will not defrag
and the amount of defragmentation is growing each day. ive tried xp
defrag,perfectdisk and diskeeper.so im left with no alternative but to leave
it.
 
pcah said:
yes i have this problem too. it started a week ago. one file will not
defrag
and the amount of defragmentation is growing each day. ive tried xp
defrag,perfectdisk and diskeeper.so im left with no alternative but to
leave
it.
Click to expand...
How much free space do you have? Defrag works lots better with around 15%
free.
Jim
 
larryo said:
I just reloaded my XP Pro OS and all my other software. All of my updates are
current, no spyware, no adware, virus defintions up to date (scan runs
nightly).
OS and relevant files on C:\ drive. Pagefile on D:\ Programs on E:\ As I
reinstalled everything I would periodically run defrag on all drives and
everything worked fine. Then , yesterday (nothing new added to system), the
defrag is upable to "defragment some files on C:\ view details to see the
files". Looking at the details shows nothing different, only the usual
breakdown of number of files and the avg. number of fragments per file, just
the normal thing.

Has anyone else had this happen? If so, is there a way to find out why the
drive can't be completly defragged, or which files it is unable to cope with?
Click to expand...

I assume that D: and E: are additional partitions on the same physical
drive as C:

If so then there are some operational and performance implications
resulting from your having placed the pagefile in drive D:

1. System failure memory dumps are sometimes required in order to aid
in the diagnosis of errors. These dumps can only be created if the
pagefile is located on the boot drive (C:) as the operating system is
hard coded to dump the memory content to the pagefile on the boot
drive and then rename it. This is faster than creating a new file for
the memory dump.

2. If your system is being used so heavily that pagefile activity is
a performance consideration then locating it on a different partition
will result in longer travel distances for the disk drive head
mechanism, slowing overall performance. And if the pagefile is not
actually being used to any significant extent then there is no reason
to be concerned about the pagefile location.

3. Pagefile fragmentation as a performance issue, the most often
quoted "excuse" for moving the pagefile to a different partition, is
right up there with Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy -
lots of hype but nothing substantial behind it.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
=?Utf-8?B?bGFycnlv?= said:
OS and relevant files on C:\ drive. Pagefile on D:\ Programs on E:\ As I
reinstalled everything I would periodically run defrag on all drives and
everything worked fine. Then , yesterday (nothing new added to system), the
defrag is upable to "defragment some files on C:\ view details to see the
files". Looking at the details shows nothing different, only the usual
Click to expand...

MS and some other software vendors create some files that cannot be
defraggmented.
 
Ron Martell wrote:
||
||| I just reloaded my XP Pro OS and all my other software. All of my
||| updates are current, no spyware, no adware, virus defintions up to
||| date (scan runs nightly).
||| OS and relevant files on C:\ drive. Pagefile on D:\ Programs on
||| E:\ As I reinstalled everything I would periodically run defrag on
||| all drives and everything worked fine. Then , yesterday (nothing
||| new added to system), the defrag is upable to "defragment some
||| files on C:\ view details to see the files". Looking at the
||| details shows nothing different, only the usual breakdown of number
||| of files and the avg. number of fragments per file, just the normal
||| thing.
|||
||| Has anyone else had this happen? If so, is there a way to find out
||| why the drive can't be completly defragged, or which files it is
||| unable to cope with?
|||
|||
||
|| I assume that D: and E: are additional partitions on the same
|| physical drive as C:
||
|| If so then there are some operational and performance implications
|| resulting from your having placed the pagefile in drive D:
||
|| 1. System failure memory dumps are sometimes required in order to
|| aid in the diagnosis of errors. These dumps can only be created if
|| the pagefile is located on the boot drive (C:) as the operating
|| system is hard coded to dump the memory content to the pagefile on
|| the boot drive and then rename it. This is faster than creating a
|| new file for the memory dump.
||
|| 2. If your system is being used so heavily that pagefile activity is
|| a performance consideration then locating it on a different partition
|| will result in longer travel distances for the disk drive head
|| mechanism, slowing overall performance. And if the pagefile is not
|| actually being used to any significant extent then there is no reason
|| to be concerned about the pagefile location.
||
|| 3. Pagefile fragmentation as a performance issue, the most often
|| quoted "excuse" for moving the pagefile to a different partition, is
|| right up there with Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy -
|| lots of hype but nothing substantial behind it.
||
|| Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

As a performance issue, most single drive partitioning schemes are
bogus. For example he has programs installed on E:. Reinstall
XP on the C: and he has nothing as far as programs are concerned.
 
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