Defragmenter, Free vs Available Space

G

Guest

Hello,
I have Win 2000 Pro (all latest SP & updates). On a Micron TransPort ZX
(fairly small HD, 6GB).

Defragmenter says there is 18% Free space, however only 2% is available for
use by Defragmenter. It requires 15%, Do I still want to run... Yes or No

In past, saying yes would eventually get "done", perhaps serveral
reboot/repeats. By it seems now, the descripency is too large, and I think
the files fragments are bigger than the free space it has, as will do anymore
of the files.

What is Free Space vs "Available" Space? More important, how to [clearly]
make more available? I've tried some archiving (skewed effect, i.e. more
Free, hardly any more available). I run Chkdsk often. Does Compressed
folders affect these spaces?

Help?

Thanks
Michael
 
P

prince_amir

Subject: Defrag

If u run on NTFS system u dont need to defrag the system
if u need just burn some of the files or trabsfer them to another place until u finish defrag and then return them but basicly NTFS system dont need defarg
 
G

Guest

Thank yoiu so much for replying my good prince! However, that wasn't my
question.

I do need to defrag (pretty often), past peformance degrades noticebly.
Archiving (to a CD or a Thumb drives) is perhaps possible, I did try that
still the "available" space is unaffected (apparently).

btw: using win 2000 defrag MMC module, not any other (better) tool.
Also,. the things I have on the HD is what I need (& want), not archived.

I think what has made me notice the problem recently, is a much larger
number of "larger" files, that I think don't fit in the available free
fragments. (Gak!) I don't see any "white" indications at all in the color
bar.

Yet I have "18%" free space (what the difference between the defrag's 2%
availiable?)

Really thanks anyway...
Michael
 
G

GHalleck

Michael said:
Hello,
I have Win 2000 Pro (all latest SP & updates). On a Micron TransPort ZX
(fairly small HD, 6GB).

Defragmenter says there is 18% Free space, however only 2% is available for
use by Defragmenter. It requires 15%, Do I still want to run... Yes or No

In past, saying yes would eventually get "done", perhaps serveral
reboot/repeats. By it seems now, the descripency is too large, and I think
the files fragments are bigger than the free space it has, as will do anymore
of the files.

What is Free Space vs "Available" Space? More important, how to [clearly]
make more available? I've tried some archiving (skewed effect, i.e. more
Free, hardly any more available). I run Chkdsk often. Does Compressed
folders affect these spaces?

Help?

Thanks
Michael


"Free space" is the amount of unused space available for
partitioning in the hard drive. "Available space" is the
amount of formatted, or working, space that is available
within the partition. Not all "free space" can be made
into available space.
 
G

Guest

Hey
I was reading the facinating geo-political XP vs NT thread below...and about
to logoff and here you are!

Not all free can be made available? Can any?

Amoung other things, a recent "update" (Frameworkd 1.1 to 2.0) put me over
the edge. Has since been uninstalled, but left much in its wake.)

So I'm saying the gap between these spaces has recently increaded (was 10%
available or so., then never a problem deframenting). 2%, that doesn't seem
to be affected, is disturbing?

Thanks!
Michael


GHalleck said:
Michael said:
Hello,
I have Win 2000 Pro (all latest SP & updates). On a Micron TransPort ZX
(fairly small HD, 6GB).

Defragmenter says there is 18% Free space, however only 2% is available for
use by Defragmenter. It requires 15%, Do I still want to run... Yes or No

In past, saying yes would eventually get "done", perhaps serveral
reboot/repeats. By it seems now, the descripency is too large, and I think
the files fragments are bigger than the free space it has, as will do anymore
of the files.

What is Free Space vs "Available" Space? More important, how to [clearly]
make more available? I've tried some archiving (skewed effect, i.e. more
Free, hardly any more available). I run Chkdsk often. Does Compressed
folders affect these spaces?

Help?

Thanks
Michael


"Free space" is the amount of unused space available for
partitioning in the hard drive. "Available space" is the
amount of formatted, or working, space that is available
within the partition. Not all "free space" can be made
into available space.
 
S

sherwindu

Sounds like your best solution is a second drive or a larger replacement for what
you
have now. If you have the room on your current drive, you could backup your
drive
and repartition your current drive with a larger space, and restore it back.
Another
possibility is a product like Norton System Works, which may have a more
intelligent
defragger. It is not clear how you have your disc partitioned and what your
available
space is, so it is hard to make recommendations. Running that tight on Windows
2000
is bound to bring other forms of grief, even if you can defrag it.

Sherwin D.
 
G

Greg Hayes/Raxco Software

Michael,

With NTFS, free space is located in 2 different areas - inside of the MFT
Reserved Zone and outside of the MFT Reserved Zone. By default, the
Reserved Zone is 12.5% of the drive. Microsoft's defrag APIs under Windows
2000 do NOT allow defragmenters to use the free space inside of the Reserved
Zone. This message by the built-in defragmenter indicates that of the 18%
free space available on the drive, only 2% of the free space is outside of
the Reserved Zone and usable by a disk defragmenter.

You may wish to consider a defragmenter that is better able to work with
this low amount of usable free space.

- Greg/Raxco Software
Microsoft MVP - Windows File System

Disclaimer: I work for Raxco Software, the maker of PerfectDisk - a
commercial defrag utility, as a systems engineer in the support department.

Want to email me? Delete ntloader.
 
M

Max Wachtel

michaelj_SPAMME_waltrip@hot_NOT_mail.com AKA Michael W on 12/11/2005 in
Hello,
I have Win 2000 Pro (all latest SP & updates). On a Micron TransPort
ZX (fairly small HD, 6GB).

Defragmenter says there is 18% Free space, however only 2% is
available for use by Defragmenter. It requires 15%, Do I still want
to run... Yes or No

In past, saying yes would eventually get "done", perhaps serveral
reboot/repeats. By it seems now, the descripency is too large, and I
think the files fragments are bigger than the free space it has, as
will do anymore of the files.

What is Free Space vs "Available" Space? More important, how to
[clearly] make more available? I've tried some archiving (skewed
effect, i.e. more Free, hardly any more available). I run Chkdsk
often. Does Compressed folders affect these spaces?

Help?

Thanks
Michael
******************Reply Separator*************************
You need to free up some space.
Have you tried any cleaning tools like CrapCleaner?
max
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