Is defragging necessary on NTFS?

[Jeff]

On another newslist, dealing with file encryption, I read that defragging is
not necessary on a NTFS file system and may be not advisable to do too often
because it can increase file corruption. I use PerfectDisk to defrag and
every time I use it, it seems that my HHD partitions are very fragmented
even though this is a single use notebook. So:

Is defragging necessary on a NTFS? How often? Downsides to defragging?
Does it increase the chances of file corruption?

Jeff

 

[Leythos]

Is defragging necessary on a NTFS?
YES

How often?

Depends on to many factors, only you can know for your system.

Downsides to defragging?
None

Does it increase the chances of file corruption?

Anytime the disk is in use the is a chance, it doesn't just increase
because of Defragging it.

 

[Little Brother]

No. It is not necessarily necessary. You could install Windows XP and never
defrag and go for years without goving it a thought. Many do.

However, good practice says NTFS partitions probably should be defragged on
occasion:

First, after installing Windows or getting a new PC home, do a defrag. Do a
couple runs.

Thereafter, except in some more exotic circumstances, the home and
small/medium business user probably should only defrag once a month or so.
More often puts wear and tear on the drive.

And that's it.

There was a woman who posted to this newgroup who had some huge file, often
changed, available to many other users, and needed to keep it defragmented.
It was huge and changed so often that it would quickly fragment. It was
accessed so often by external computers that it became a performance issue.
So she defragmented the partition it was on several times a day.

On the other hand, people who don't have a huge changing file, accessed
constantly by thousands probably don't need such an intense schedule. Once a
month is plenty plenty for most computers.

 

[Jeff]

Thanks. That is pretty much what I do. Maybe once a week or so but I do
use my notebook about 8 hours a day.

Jeff

 

[Gordon]

First, after installing Windows or getting a new PC home, do a defrag. Do
a couple runs.

Why? the purpose of defragging is to put files back into contiguous sectors
after having been used: If the PC is new, or has had a clean install then
the files haven't BEEN used, have they? What a load of rubbish.

 

[Gordon]

Thanks. That is pretty much what I do. Maybe once a week or so but I do
use my notebook about 8 hours a day.

Absolutely no need with NTFS - once a month is all that's normally
necessary, even with heavy use.

 

[Little Brother]

The installation routine fragments the files for some reason. Do a check
right after a clean install .. you will usually see lots of files are
fragmented whether the drive is Maxtor, Fujitsu or WD - it doesn't matter.
It takes at least a couple runs of the defragmenter utility to get them all
defragmented and properly compacted.

 

[R. McCarty]

Rubbish ? - after installation the drive will be fragmented. Try to install
a Service Pack and look at the fragmentation map afterwards. Besides
most all OEM PCs leave the factory in a fragmented state. Drive platters
spin, heads pivot - even a fresh install of XP will be highly fragmented.

 

[Jeff]

Absolutely no need with NTFS - once a month is all that's normally
necessary, even with heavy use.

Thanks. Good to know.

Jeff

 

[--Alias--]

Why? the purpose of defragging is to put files back into contiguous sectors
after having been used: If the PC is new, or has had a clean install then
the files haven't BEEN used, have they? What a load of rubbish.

The installation routine "uses" the files. Sorry, bu you're wrong.

Alias

 

[Gordon]

The installation routine "uses" the files. Sorry, bu you're wrong.

Alias

Well I've never found it necessary to defrag either a new machine OR one
that's just had a clean install - in 20 years.

 

[--Alias--]

Well I've never found it necessary to defrag either a new machine OR one
that's just had a clean install - in 20 years.

The next time you do a clean install, run the defragger's analyzer and
tell me how many thousands of files are fragmented and get back to me.
Thousands. Then install Office and analyze it again.

Alias

 

[-~Alias~-]

Well I've never found it necessary to defrag either a new machine OR one
that's just had a clean install - in 20 years.

The next time you do a clean install, run the defragger's analyzer and
tell me how many thousands of files are fragmented and get back to me.
Thousands. Then install Office and analyze it again.

Alias

 

[Saul Goldblat]

Well I've never found it necessary to defrag either a new machine OR
one that's just had a clean install - in 20 years.

A year after having installed Windows XP to a 20GB NTFS formatted partition,
I did my first defrag, using the native command line utility. It took ~5
minutes.

In this example the pagefile is on the same partition as the OS. Next time
I'll try the pagefile on the outermost partition of a separate hard drive.

HDTach/Sandra benchmarks were virtually identical before and after
defragging.

 

[Leythos]

HDTach/Sandra benchmarks were virtually identical before and after
defragging.

Benchmarks create new files to test with, or read old files in some
cases. They are not a good indicator of performance gains - flawed
testing methods will not provide a good reference.

What you need to do is test something like response time for a seek on a
SQL database that has been file fragmented, not just data fragmented.
You could also test copy between two drives (physical) where both are
fragmented, then do same after they are defragmented....