How can I defragment MFT? (11 fragments)

[newsrider3]

There must be a defragger that will defrag MFT somewhere. Where? It probably
only needs to be done once. My experience is that the same number of
fragments remains in MFT "forever". I've had 3 fragments in MFT in former
installations and lived with it OK, but this one has 11, so I'd like to get
rid of them. The benefit of faster disk access is important to me. It would
make the access faster, wouldn't it? It's a 160G 7200rpm Maxtor hd with 4
partitions at present, 1 primary and 3 logical drives in an extended
partition.

 

[johnf]

Have a look at Diskeeper Pro -
http://www.executive.com/coverpage.asp

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Turn off Virtual Memory, or defrag in safe mode

 

[newsrider3]

At your suggestion I restarted my computer in safe mode, opened the XP
defragger, and clicked the "Analyze" button. It showed 3 MFT fragments
immediately. So the other 8 fragments disappeared, as if by magic, even
without running a defragmentation! I then ran a defrag, turned off virtual
memory, defragged again, etc but the 3 MFT fragments remain.

I looked (the "Analyze" operation) at all of my drives and partitions, and
all of them have 2 MFT fragments, except the primary partition with my XP
Home op system which has 3 fragments - according to the XP defrag utility. I
guess I need to know if that's normal, and the best possible, or if there's
any way to reduce all of those to 1 MFT fragment? I also wonder if the XP
defrag utility is reporting the correct number of MFT fragments? I seem to
recall that there's a special MFT refresh command/operation available
somewhere. I also wonder if there is really a hard drive access slowdown due
to the 3 MFT fragments? So I have lots of related questions...

 

[David Candy]

The MFT changes size. I've only seen it grow but it might shrink as well. No defragger can defrag the MFT. Programs that do so need to run well before windows starts. 3 is irrelevent.

Your first defrag after you've installed your software the important one. Your software doesn't not move by itself. So 90% of your files once defragmented will never fragment again. That leaves data files. How many word documents do you open at the same time? 1 fragmented file is generally irrelevent (under most circumstances) and you are only working with one file at a time. Files are usually cached, and some files are read into the cache before your program can ask for them the first time. Fragmentation is irrelevent for cached files.

Run defrag sometimes when bored. And don't waste your life thinking about it at other times. Windows also defrags the files you are likely to use every three days to speed the pre-reading into the cache.

 

[newsrider3]

I don't have Word.
I only use Windows XP prefetch for boot files, if that's what you mean by
cache, not for applications. Reference:
Windows XP Prefetch Clean And Control 1.2.0
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2495
So if the windows XP defragger works as you say, it looks like I need a
better defragger, one which ignores the "cache". I never liked the XP
defragger anyway. It always sticks some stuff way out in the middle of the
drive, so the hd heads must go get it, slowing things down. I want all of my
hard drive data near the beginning of the disc for fastest access.
Well, I worry about it. When my computer gets sluggish, I defrag and
everything else possible to try to speed it up again. The XP op system is
horribly slow. Yes, I have a fast processor, lots of ram, etc., but it's
still slow. Windows 98 was better.
--
newsrider3
(not a MS-MVP)


"David Candy" <.> wrote in message
The MFT changes size. I've only seen it grow but it might shrink as well. No
defragger can defrag the MFT. Programs that do so need to run well before
windows starts. 3 is irrelevent.

Your first defrag after you've installed your software the important one.
Your software doesn't not move by itself. So 90% of your files once
defragmented will never fragment again. That leaves data files. How many
word documents do you open at the same time? 1 fragmented file is generally
irrelevent (under most circumstances) and you are only working with one file
at a time. Files are usually cached, and some files are read into the cache
before your program can ask for them the first time. Fragmentation is
irrelevent for cached files.

Run defrag sometimes when bored. And don't waste your life thinking about it
at other times. Windows also defrags the files you are likely to use every
three days to speed the pre-reading into the cache.

 

[David Candy]

Defragging won't speed it up. Perhaps you should dump all your optimising fraud opps I mean software.

You DO NOT EVER NEED TO DEFRAG. The defrag is designed for large servers.

If your computer is slow urn off all the sh1t. And stop installing more software. Reenable App caching.

What makes you think that the heads are anywhere near the beginning of the disk. They spend most of there time 3 gb into the disk. Windows write from whereever the heads are to the end. You are more likely to read what you've written.

Windows spends an amazing amount of effort on self tuning. Developed in labs. You are not and never will be qualified to tune windows.

Use your computer and stop tuning it.

And fragmentation is usually IRRELEVNT. So if someone turns off app caching it suddenly become a bit more relevent, but not much.

 

[Al Dykes]

The MFT changes size. I've only seen it grow but it might shrink as =
well. No defragger can defrag the MFT. Programs that do so need to run =
well before windows starts. 3 is irrelevent.

Your first defrag after you've installed your software the important =
one. Your software doesn't not move by itself. So 90% of your files once =
defragmented will never fragment again. That leaves data files. How many =
word documents do you open at the same time? 1 fragmented file is =
generally irrelevent (under most circumstances) and you are only working =
with one file at a time. Files are usually cached, and some files are =
read into the cache before your program can ask for them the first time. =
Fragmentation is irrelevent for cached files.

Run defrag sometimes when bored. And don't waste your life thinking =
about it at other times. Windows also defrags the files you are likely =
to use every three days to speed the pre-reading into the cache.

--=20
----------------------------------------------------------

I'm pretty sure that a commercial defrag product can defrag
MFT and it does it at boot time. I've used Perfect DIsk from Raxco
for years and recommend it.

Defrag os over-rated, but I've seen serious performance
problems caused by fragmentation of a single heavily used
file that was easily foxed with a defrag. It your disk
is less than half full, don't worry about defrag unless
you have a performance problem.

 

[Al Dykes]

Defragging won't speed it up. Perhaps you should dump all your =
optimising fraud opps I mean software.

You DO NOT EVER NEED TO DEFRAG. The defrag is designed for large =
servers.

If your computer is slow urn off all the sh1t. And stop installing more =
software. Reenable App caching.=20

What makes you think that the heads are anywhere near the beginning of =
the disk. They spend most of there time 3 gb into the disk. Windows =
write from whereever the heads are to the end. You are more likely to =
read what you've written.

Windows spends an amazing amount of effort on self tuning. Developed in =
labs. You are not and never will be qualified to tune windows.

Use your computer and stop tuning it.

And fragmentation is usually IRRELEVNT. So if someone turns off app =
caching it suddenly become a bit more relevent, but not much.

Troll.

having said that, defrag is over-rated if there's lots of free space
and you are a normal user of MS Office, IE, and mail.

There ar some cases where defrag can solve performance problems.

 

[newsrider3]

Thanks. I gave it a try. It generally defragged my MFT's to 1 fragment at
boot-time, but after returning to windows there were still the 2-3 fragments
present. So there was no improvement in that regard. Unless someone can tell
me otherwise, it appears to be impossible to defrag MFT to less than 2-3
fragments in Windows XP Home (SP2). Has anyone been able to do so?

Diskeeper suggested expanding some of my MFT's to prevent future
fragmentation if the number of files increases. I did so, and hope that
didn't do any harm. I've uninstalled it and - so far, so good.

Of course I completely disabled my firewall(s) and anti-virus before playing
around with Diskeeper to prevent interference. Afterwards I couldn't
reactivate my firewall (ZA) normally, so had to uninstall/reinstall it - no
big deal. Appropriate system restore points were made but I doubt that I'll
need to use them. All seems OK.
--
newsrider3
(not a MS-MVP)

Have a look at Diskeeper Pro -
http://www.executive.com/coverpage.asp