Is defraging necessary?

[Lisa]

I was told by a computer repairman that it's not necessary to defrag my
laptop. If the hard drive gets full, remove files and always make sure I'm
using a virus protection.
What are your thoughts?

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

I was told by a computer repairman that it's not necessary to defrag my
laptop. If the hard drive gets full, remove files and always make sure
I'm
using a virus protection.
What are your thoughts?

Occasional defragging is beneficial, e.g. once every two or three months,
depending on the level activity. You won't notice any substantial
improvement in performace unless your partitions are very heavily
fragmented.

You should make sure that the amount of free space on each partition is
around 20% of capacity or more. Defragging does *not* free up disk space.

Yes, you must install virus protection. I have used Microsoft Security
Essentials (http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/) since December
last year and have had no problem. It's free.

 

[Don Phillipson]

I was told by a computer repairman that it's not necessary to defrag my
laptop. If the hard drive gets full, remove files and always make sure I'm
using a virus protection.

The WinXP DEFRAG app first evaluates fragmentation on
a drive, then advises whether defragmentation is needed or
not. Ordinary WinXP users can rely on this advice.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I was told by a computer repairman

*What* computer repairman? What company is he with? If, for example,
he's with the Geek Squad, or any similar big-box store, he probably
knows next to nothing and his opinions are worthless. I strongly
recommend that you stay far away from such companies.

that it's not necessary to defrag my laptop.

It's normally very seldom necessary. You can do it, but you don't have
to do it often.

If the hard drive gets full, remove files

That's a statement that's next to meaningless. Yes, if your hard drive
gets full (or anywhere near full), you have a problem. But simply
telling you to remove files without any guidance on what to remove is
no real help at all.

Moreover, if your hard drive gets near full, removing files is at best
a stopgap measure. The problem will return quickly. The only real
solution to the problem is to buy a bigger drive.

and always make sure I'm using a virus protection.

He got that one right for sure. However, anti-virus programs are far
from equal, and which one you choose is very important. Unfortunately
the two biggest sellers, Norton and McAfee, are also the two worst
products.

I recommend eSET NOD32, if you are willing to pay for an anti-virus,
and either Avira or Avast, if you want a freeware product.

And one more point. Run an anti-virus program, and *also* at least two
anti-spyware programs. I recommend MalwareBytes Anti-Malware and
SuperAntiSpyware.

 

[Twayne]

In

I was told by a computer repairman that it's not necessary
to defrag my laptop. If the hard drive gets full, remove
files and always make sure I'm using a virus protection.
What are your thoughts?

You don't "have" to defrag a disk. There are some benefits to it but nothing
very serious will happen to you in general. It's possible, not likely but
depending on what you use it for, for it to slow down your computer.

OTOH I do defrags about monthly on most of my drives and when I'm using it,
after every session of video editing/rendering. If I don't my computer will
come to a screeching near-halt due to the huge, fragmented files on that one
very large drive should I continue to work in video.
If I wait over two or three sessions to do the defrag, then in this case
there is so much work to do that it takes hours to do a defrag. But by doing
it after every session it only takes around 20 minutes so I just go on and
do something else while it's running or let it run overnight if I'm done for
the day. Point is, the worse the fragmentation and the larger the drive, the
longer it takes to defrag. Especially if the drive is allowed to get full to
the point of only about 15% free space. If free space gets low enough,
defrag will cease to be able to work.
IMO it's best to defrag periodically. Find a schedule that works for you
and doesn't take several hours to run. Start with monthly and the, two, then
three, or 3 weeks, whichever way it takes you. Everyone's needs are
different.

But it is not specifically necessary to run defrag.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[pcs365.10]

Hi Lisa,

Yes it is always recommended to do Disk Defragmentation as a maintance tool, you can use this atleast once a month. This will allow your PC to work in optimized way. Also try with Ccleaner.

Regards
Chris

 

[HeyBub]

I was told by a computer repairman that it's not necessary to defrag
my laptop. If the hard drive gets full, remove files and always make
sure I'm using a virus protection.
What are your thoughts?

I can envision a situation in a data center with hundreds of thousands of
transactions per minute where defragging may be of some slight benefit
(assuming an NTFS file system).

I can also imagine a user devoted to daily defragging experiencing a power
interruption during a critical directory manipulation process.

 

[Leythos]

I can envision a situation in a data center with hundreds of thousands of
transactions per minute where defragging may be of some slight benefit
(assuming an NTFS file system).

I can also imagine a user devoted to daily defragging experiencing a power
interruption during a critical directory manipulation process.

On a small computer with many add/delete/grow/shrink operations, defrag
can significantly impact file access times and can be very noticeable to
users if their system was badly file fragmented before the defrag.

White-Space fragmention is not normally an issue, but a file that is
fragmented into 8000 parts will have an impact on system performance.

This argument has gone on for decades, but it's the people that maintain
systems across many areas that know the benefits of defrag.

 

[Db]

I think the question is
a little ridiculous.

you should do your own
analysis and determine if
defrag is beneficial for
you and your system.

---------------------
the train of thought is that
most computers have
faster and larger hard drives
with "lots" of room in the
gigabytes and terabytes

and because there is plenty
of room for fragmented files
and disk access speeds are
very fast, defragging
has little affect on performance.

however, there was a time
that small hard drives did
require defragging.

in my opinion, if the amount
of data has not exceeded
50% of the disk, then you
may be wasting your time
in defragging.

but the above is subjective
and there is really no rule
of thumb and you will have
to determine if your disk
needs defrag or not.

on the other hand, if your
tripping an acid, then it may
be entertaining to stare at the
defrag screen and watch all
the colorful little blocks move
around.

~db

 

[Leythos]

in my opinion, if the amount
of data has not exceeded
50% of the disk, then you
may be wasting your time
in defragging.

And that's why people don't really pay attention to what you post here
DB.

It's not about how much free space you have left on the disk, since free
space has little to do with fragmentation, other than making it worse
when you have less free space.

What does impact fragmentation is the number of ADD/DELETE/SIZE Changes
you make to the files on the drive.

I've seen a single PDF, on a drive with 800GB free space, fragmented
into 29,000 parts. It would take up to a minute to load, after the
defrag it took a few seconds...

 

[John]

I'm curious. How did you know the file is fragmented into x parts? What
software did you use to see this fragmentation?

 

[Leythos]

I'm curious. How did you know the file is fragmented into x parts? What
software did you use to see this fragmentation?

Have you ever used Windows Defrag or JK-Defrag or MyDefrag?

Windows Defrag will generate a report after you Analyze the disk, it
shows FRAGMENTS, File Size, File Name (includes location).

 

[LDS5ZRA]

No it is not absolute necessity to defrag your HD unless you want
to kill time doing something. The nutters who have said that you
should defrag your HD every week or even every month are likely to
be loners and jobless.

There is no evidence that defragging speeds up your system in any
shape or form. No something you will notice it when using your
system everyday.

hth

I was told by a computer repairman that it's not necessary to defrag my
laptop. If the hard drive gets full, remove files and always make sure I'm
using a virus protection.
What are your thoughts?

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Copyright LDS5ZRA 2010.

 

[LDS5ZRA]

Ya, and you're a ****ing idiot who can't figure out how to type a
paragraph.

Ya with a name like Wally tells me everything I need to know about
a nutter like you.

hth

--
THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND. LDS5ZRA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL LDS5ZRA
OR HIS ASSOCIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER
INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF
BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF LDS5ZRA OR HIS
ASSOCIATES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL
DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Copyright LDS5ZRA 2010.

 

[LDS5ZRA]

I'm curious. How did you know the file is fragmented into x parts?

He was talking from that small smelly hole on him bum!

--
THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND. LDS5ZRA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL LDS5ZRA
OR HIS ASSOCIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER
INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF
BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF LDS5ZRA OR HIS
ASSOCIATES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL
DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Copyright LDS5ZRA 2010.

 

[Michael]

He was talking from that small smelly hole on him bum!

"Him" bum? Why you keep referring to your mum in such derogatory terms is
beyond me.

 

[John]

Ah, I see... I never really pay attention to that column until now. Thanks.

 

[Leythos]

There is no evidence that defragging speeds up your system in any
shape or form. No something you will notice it when using your
system everyday.

There is plenty of evidence that file defrag improves drive system
performance, only a person with limited experience would suggest
otherwise.

 

[Brian V]

What about defragmentation with a RAID system? Doesn't this system eliminate
file defragmentation? I am under the impression that it is two copies of
everything (one on each drive), it is a faster (and ??more stable system??)
and more reliable system?

Those new HDD's that are flash drives, SSD I think, they don't need
defragmentation I saw in some tutorials. Since they are flash based, if I
defragment my flash memory cards or my memory sticks, is this a bad idea?

Thank you.

 

[Leythos]

What about defragmentation with a RAID system? Doesn't this system eliminate
file defragmentation? I am under the impression that it is two copies of
everything (one on each drive), it is a faster (and ??more stable system??)
and more reliable system?

File Fragmentation is the same on a RAID or non-RAID volume.

Those new HDD's that are flash drives, SSD I think, they don't need
defragmentation I saw in some tutorials. Since they are flash based, if I
defragment my flash memory cards or my memory sticks, is this a bad idea?

It would depend on the Flash drive/disk, if it has some means, other
than what the OS uses, to control file fragments. Consider how and why
FILE fragmentation is created.