Defragmentation

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris J
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C

Chris J

2 questions:
If hard drive defragmentation is interrupted (stopped)
before completion, does it leave copies of files it
temporarily made on the hard drive, or are these deleted?

Is there any way to determine the identity of which files
are fragmented (or are then fixed by defragmentation)on
the hard drive?

Thanks, Chris
 
Start | All Programs | Accesories | System Tools |
Disk Defragmenter |

Click the volume that you want to check for fragmented files and folders,
and then click Analyze.
1.. When Disk Defragmenter finishes analyzing the volume, it displays its
analysis of the volume in the Analysis display. It also displays a dialog
box that tells you whether you need to defragment the volume.

2.. Click View Report to view the analysis report, which displays more
detailed volume information and a list of the most fragmented files.
 
Wes

Recently I have been reflecting on the value of the comments in the Dialog box.

The comments are based on the state of the parturition / drive as a whole. Like all generalisations they can be wide of the mark in specific situations. If you have a file population that is constantly changing -you defragment, sneeze and in an hour you have a message "You need to defragment the volume". I have another situation where 98% of the population stays the same but I am constantly accessing and changing the 2%. For that partition the message "You need to defragment the volume" never appears. However, the Analysis Report reveals those files are split into multiple fragments so if I took the Dialog Box at face value I would never defragment files I constantly use.

I would be interested to know what the programmer now thinks about the value of his comments in his dialog box. In my view they need to be taken with a pinch of salt. The user needs to study the Analysis Report and make their own judgment. Unfortunately this is not as easy as it first appears.


~~~~~~

Regards.

Gerry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

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

I pay no attention to the comments. I just look at the most fragmented
files.
 
-----Original Message-----
Wes

Recently I have been reflecting on the value of the comments in the Dialog box.

The comments are based on the state of the parturition /
Click to expand...
drive as a whole. Like all generalisations they can be
wide of the mark in specific situations. If you have a
file population that is constantly changing -you
defragment, sneeze and in an hour you have a message "You
need to defragment the volume". I have another situation
where 98% of the population stays the same but I am
constantly accessing and changing the 2%. For that
partition the message "You need to defragment the volume"
never appears. However, the Analysis Report reveals those
files are split into multiple fragments so if I took the
Dialog Box at face value I would never defragment files I
constantly use.
I would be interested to know what the programmer now
Click to expand...
thinks about the value of his comments in his dialog box.
In my view they need to be taken with a pinch of salt. The
user needs to study the Analysis Report and make their own
judgment. Unfortunately this is not as easy as it first
appears.
~~~~~~

Regards.

Gerry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

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


"Wesley Vogel" <[email protected]> wrote in
Click to expand...
message news:v7Qxc.2223$eu.1436@attbi_s02...
.
Click to expand...

Defragging to the extent you are doing it is not necessary.
I recently (finally) threw out an old computer that had
been in the back of a closet for years. The processor was
a 386 SX16, it had 2mb of RAM and a 40mb HD. The drive was
physically much larger than current drives, and it was
comparatively *much* slower in rotation speed, seek and
read/write times. Back in the day, clever and resourceful
programmers developed utilities that would help to squeeze
out every bit of speed possible due to the inherently
lethargic nature of the hardware. Defraggers were such
utilities.

Think about it. A slow hard drive mechanism attempting to
access a comparatively miniscule amount of data across
a comparatively vast expanse of platter space. Defragging
was a real boon, especially for users with (then) large
database or spreadsheet files.

Today's hard drives are small and lightning-fast by
comparison. Data is stored on much smaller platters,
spinning much faster, and is accessed by heads that have a
much shorter distance to travel. The instances when any
real performance gains are realized by defragging are rare.

This is not to say that there are not times when defragging
is useful, but to do it on a frequent basis, and to fret
about it, is time wasted. Some folks seem to have an
obsessive-compulsive desire to tweak, and no amount of
reasoning will convince such people that they need to find
something significant to worry about. But that's what they
need to do.
 
Does the defragmentation process involve temporarily
making copies of files are they are moved around on the
hard disk? Does this pose any copyright problems that you
are aware of?

Thanks, Chris
 
You can only have one copy of a file in the same folder. However, the information ( data ) making up the file may be scattered all over the hard drive / partition depending on where the system has found available space to write the data. Fragmentation can particularly occur where the data is being constantly changed. Disk Defragmenter reads all the data relating to the file, writes the data to contiguous space on the hard drive and erases the data where it was written. An adequate supply of free space is needed if Disk Defragmenter is to find contiguous space for larger files. During the brief period between reading and writing the data will be held in "memory". Others better qualified can no doubt give you a better technical explanation!

I would doubt that any Court of Law would interpret defragmenting an existing file as reproducing copyright protected material. You need to ask yourself whether the material is subject to copyright, whether you have complied with all terms and conditions when you obtained a copy of the material and equally complied with all terms and conditions if you pass a copy of that material to another. Anyone owning the copyright has the exclusive right to reproduce the subject of the copyright but that does not prohibit others from reproducing the material with permission complying with all stated terms and conditions and any implied by custom or common usage. Unless the copyright has been registered damages for breach are not enforceable. Just because someone has put a copyright sign on material does not mean that the copyright has been registered.

More information is given here.
http://www.whatiscopyright.org/

Please note I am not qualified to advise on law and what I have written above is just my understanding of the subject.

~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

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

Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.

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