JD said:
Hi,
Can somebody show me how to schedule MS defragmenter, which is a
windows based program requiring human input? Does it provide a
command line mode to make it possible to schedule it? Any help is
much appreciated.
JD
I forgot just where I got this from but here it is.
Automated, Unattended Defragmentation
The normal, manual way to run Defrag is to click to Start/Control
Panel/Performance and then select "Rearrange items on your hard disk to make
programs run faster." All those clicks, and all that verbiage, simply starts
the Defrag.Exe program (usually located in the Windows/System32 folder).
When you run Defrag this way, it comes up with a graphical front end that
requires still more pointing and clicking to make anything actually happen.
So, this approach is useless for automated defrags when no one will be there
to point and click as needed.
You get the same results if you search for "Defrag" in XP's help file: The
primary search results ("Using Disk Defragmenter" and "Disk Defragmenter")
offer links to the graphical, manual version of Defrag.
But Defrag can run just fine with no graphical front end at all and that's
the key to using it in an automated fashion. To use Defrag (and other,
similar system tools) this way, you launch the tool via a command line plus
any "switches" you want to use to modify the file's behavior. (If you're not
familiar with these terms, don't worry
To see how simple this really is, open an empty XP "command window": Click
to Start/Run and then type the word "command" (without the quotes) in the
Run line, and click OK. A command window, usually a mostly black box, will
open. There'll be a blinking prompt at the end of a line of text. The text
indicates your location within your hard drive's folder structure; and the
blinking prompt shows you where anything you type will be entered. You can
type any valid XP command there and XP will perform the action. You also can
launch programs by typing the name of the tool, and that's what we're
interested in here.
Almost all command-line tools offer simple, built-in help that you access
simply by adding " /?" or " -?" (without the quotes) to whatever command or
tool you're trying to learn about. For example, we're interested in Defrag
here, so type DEFRAG /? (note the blank space after DEFRAG) and hit enter.
This calls up simple help about Defrag in the form of a list of available
Defrag options, and a template showing you how to enter Defrag commands in
the correct format and order.
Using the Defrag help text as a guide, you can see that manually triggering
Defrag is simplicity itself: The command "DEFRAG C:" (without the quotes)
would tell Defrag to work on your C: volume or drive, for example. "DEFRAG
D:" would tell Defrag to work on the D: drive. "DEFRAG C: -a" would tell
Defrag to analyze how much your C: drive is fragmented, but not to actually
perform a defragmentation. And so on.
In fact, if you type DEFRAG C: now, and hit enter, Defrag will run. But
don't do it yet, because we're looking to automate the process, not to run
it manually
Command-Line Automation
Using the above example, you've seen how "commands" are just simple lines of
text. You can enter these manually, one at a time, but you also can use a
special kind of plain-text file to record the commands once, for reuse many
times.
For example, open a new, empty Notepad and enter one line of plain text:
DEFRAG C:
Now, click to Notepad's File/Save As menu. Navigate to your Desktop in the
"Save In" portion of the dialog. In the "Save As Type" scroll box, scroll
down to the "All Files" type (instead of the default "Text Documents").
Finally, in the "File Name" area, name your new file "DEFRAG C.BAT" (or any
similar, obvious name ending in ".BAT"). Then, click Save. The file should
be added to your desktop with a .BAT extension (instead of a .TXT
extension).
You've just created a simple "batch" file (that's what the .bat file
extension means). It's a special purpose plain-text file that's used as a
kind of script to send commands to the operating system. In this case, the
file contains just one command, but you can add many commands--in fact, a
whole "batch" of them (hence the name)--and they'll be processed one at a
time, in the order you list them.
For example, if you have other drives or partitions, you can either defrag
them via separate batch files (a "DEFRAG D.BAT" file could contain just the
line "defrag d:" for example), or you can enter the lines serially into one
batch file. I have a batch file called "DEFRAG_ALL.BAT" for example, and it
contains these lines:
DEFRAG C:
DEFRAG D:
DEFRAG E:
DEFRAG F:
When run, "DEFRAG_ALL.BAT defrags C, then D, and so on, one after the other
until the last command is processed.
You can trigger a batch file either by manually clicking on the file,
or--this is the key to automating any command-line task you add to a batch
file--you can use Task Scheduler to run the batch file whenever you want.
Done this way, whatever commands you place in the batch file will run at the
designated time, one after the other.
Using Task Scheduler To Complete The Process
Click to Start/Control Panel/Performance and Maintenance and then click on
"Scheduled Tasks." Once the Task Scheduler opens, click on "Add Scheduled
Task" and a "Wizard" will open to guide you through the process. Click Next.
When asked to "Click The Program You Want Windows To Run..." select the
Browse button, and navigate to the batch file you just created in the
previous step. Once you've selected the batch file, a new dialog will open,
asking for a name and rough schedule for the new task you're creating. Enter
the name you want, and then select an appropriate rough schedule. For
example, if you want your system to defrag every day, select "Daily." Click
Next.
In the next dialog, you can refine the schedule a bit: Pick a start time, a
start date, and a frequency. For example, if you want Defrag to run every
night in the middle of the night, you'd pick a suitable "Start Time" (say, 3
a.m.), select the "Every Day" option, and then set the start date to be the
very next night. Click Next.
Depending on how your system is set up, you may then be presented with a
dialog asking for your password; this will allow the automated task to get
past any logins that may be required to run the scheduled task. Just enter
your normal password, as indicated, and click OK. (Note: Most
system-maintenance tasks run best from an account with Administrator
permissions.)
The Wizard will then tell you that your basic scheduling is done, but also
will offer an "Advanced Properties" check-box option. Select this option,
and click Finish.
When the Advanced Properties opens, click the Settings tab. If this is the
only automated task you'll have running, many of the options on the Settings
dialog may not matter. But if there's any chance of another task running at
or near the same time as the new task you're creating, set the "Idle Time"
options accordingly. I find I get good results from setting the task to
start "only if the computer has been idle" for at least 10 minutes; and to
"retry the task" for four hours, or 240 minutes. Although Task Scheduler
isn't great about preventing tasks from competing with each other, these
settings will help to prevent such contention. Note the "Power Management"
options on the same dialog. For laptops, the "Don't Start if the computer is
on batteries" and "Stop task if battery mode begins" may be useful to
prevent your system from running itself down when you're not connected to a
wall socket. But all systems--laptops and standard PCs--can benefit from the
"Wake the computer to run this task." This setting will bring your PC out of
sleep or standby mode, if necessary, to run the scheduled task.
Close out the open dialogs, and click Next.
If you do nothing further, the task should run at the next-scheduled run
time. But if you want to test your new task to make sure everything's set up
OK, you can manually trigger it now: Still in the Task Scheduler, right
click on the task you just created and select Run.
If the task is a long one--and defrags can take a long time indeed,
especially if not run very often--you may wish to abort the task once you're
sure it's running OK. Then you can use your PC normally.
At the end of the day, let your PC's power-control system put the PC into
sleep or standby mode (not fully off). At the appropriate time, the PC will
wake up, and run the scheduled task to completion
Advanced Users: Extending The Process
Any command--any command at all--that you can enter manually can also be
placed in a batch file and run from the Task Scheduler in the above fashion.
But you also can gang many tasks into one batch file, which simplifies
scheduling and also ensures that one task will finish before the next one
starts. I find this latter feature the strongest argument in favor of using
batch files for system maintenance. Yes, you can enter command-line
arguments directly into Task Scheduler, but to prevent multiple tasks from
overlapping or running simultaneously, you'd either have to depend on Task
Scheduler's imperfect ability to detect whether or not another task has
completed or use sheer guesswork in building your schedule to allow
sufficient time for one task to end before another begins. A sequential
batch file avoids these problems.
For an example of a more complex batch file, see "CleanXP.Bat" which uses
some "hidden" features of XP's System Agent tool and the Disk Cleanup
Wizard, along with a series of manual commands, to rid your hard drive of
all manner of hard-to-remove Temp files, potentially hundreds of megabytes
worth.
You can easily add the Defrag command (as explained earlier) to the end of
the CleanXP batch file, letting your hard drive reorganize itself after each
cleaning.
Or, you could go even further by using a single batch file to clean your
drive, reorganize itself, and then back up your files.
This may not be obvious because XP's backup "Wizard" has its own built-in
scheduling function; on its own, it won't integrate with other cleanup
functions. But you can use the Backup Wizard to build the proper command
string for an automated backup, and then lift and use that string in your
own cleanup procedure.
Here's how: You first create a scheduled backup the normal way, using XP's
Backup and Restore Wizard. Step through the complete process, including
setting up all the time and date. It doesn't matter what schedule you
choose, as long as you complete all the steps in the Wizard.
When you're done, open the Task Scheduler, find the backup task you just
created, and right click on it, selecting Properties. A dialog box will then
open. Copy the entire contents of the "Run" line in the Task tab. The Run
line may be very, very long because it contains the complete command for
triggering the backup you just created, including all options. Paste this
line, exactly as-is, to the end of your cleanup/defrag batch file; it will
run as the last step in the batch process, and perform a backup exactly as
you set it up in the Backup and Restore Wizard. In fact, you can go back to
Task Scheduler and delete or disable the Wizard-created backup, as it's now
redundant.
[A note to Windows 2000 users: Alas, even though XP is built on Win2K
technology, things are not always so simple: For example, to automate
Backups in Win2K, you have to use a more complex and indirect command line
to open the Management Console, and run the Defrag "snap-in" from there. See
"Reader Defrag Tips And Info: Win2K" for more information.]
Limited Only By Your Imagination
XP can run any command-line program or standalone command this way, letting
you build custom maintenance sequences that do exactly what you want, when
you want, in the exact order you want. It's enormously powerful,
surprisingly easy, and limited only by your ingenuity.
