PerfectDisk and BootTime defrag problem

[paul fiera]

Hi guys

I'm having a strange problem with PD boot-time defragmentation.
Doing a boot-time defrag on my C: drive runs with no problems.
On my E: drive, where I have only applications, the boot-time
defragmentation starts, begins analyzing, end the analysis, moves
just one directory - although there are many directories fragmented
according to the analysis report -, and quits and reboots without
error messages.

Then, from XP, doing a SmartPlacement Defragment, only moves some
files leaving many fragmented files.

As I said before, on drive C: it runs flawlessly, and I've managed to
get 0 files defragmented (sometimes after 2 passes).

What would the reason be?

E: drive is FAT32, 15 GB and has about 3 GB used. XP Home edition.

Best Regards
Paul

 

[Richard Urban]

You have the 2nd partition formatted as fat32. The boot time defrag (and
even the standard defrag) is not as thorough when formatted as such. I
converted all of my 8 partitions to NTFS to overcome this problem.

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[paul fiera]

Thanks, Richard.

I don't think that is the real problem. My second HD has also 3 FAT32
partitions and they defragment both at boot-time and online with no
problem.

On my 1st HD, both the primary partition and the 3rd partition also
have no problems at all. It's only the 2nd partition with the
applications where I can not defrag or consolidate directories.

Cheers
Paul

 

[paul fiera]

Correction.

You were right. The problem exists also in the 2nd drive secondary
partitions.

So, what I suspect is that PD has a problem defragmenting and
consolidating directories on FAT32 secondary partitions on XP.

Cheers
Paul

 

[Alex Nichol]

I don't think that is the real problem. My second HD has also 3 FAT32
partitions and they defragment both at boot-time and online with no
problem.

I don't think it is either. What happens on that drive if you do a
not-boot time defrag?

 

[Vaughn McMillan - Executive Software]

Hi -

This may seem too obvious, but have you contacted Raxco's Tech Support
to ask this question? They can be found at www.raxco.com, and they
should be able to help you get this sorted out.

I hope this helps -

Vaughn McMillan
Executove Software

 

[paul fiera]

Thanks Alex.

I uninstalled PD and reinstalled it again. This time on the C: drive,
the primary partition.

That allows me to do an off-line defragment of drive e: (the 1st
logical disk of the extended partition) without boot-time
defragmentation.

Unfortunately, the results are the same. It analyzes the drive and
finds:

Directory fragmentation:
Fragmentation Factor: 2
Number: 5
Excess fragments: 23.

I choose off-line defragment, it starts, and finishes showing:
Excess fragments before: 23
Excess fragments after: 23

without moving the directories. This means, that no matter how many
passes I try afterwards with SmartPlacement, a lot of files remain
fragmented.

The curious thing is that this does not happens on my C: drive.


Here is a layout of my system:

XP Home
P4 3.0 Ghz
1 Gig RAM

2 Physical Drives:
C: Primary Partition on boot device - System - 10 GB - FAT32
E: 1st Logical drive on Ext. Partition - Applications - 16 GB - FAT32
F: 2nd Logical drive on Ext. Partition - Graphics - 16 GB - FAT32
G: 3rd Logical drive on Ext. Partition - Storage - 22 GB - FAT32

D: Primary partition on 2nd physical drive - SWAP - 10 GB FAT32
H: 1st Logical drive on Ext. Partition - Projects - 32 GB - FAT32
I: 2nd Logical drive on Ext. Partition - Games - 33 GB - FAT32

PerfectDisk Demo Workstation v.6.0 build 29

Many Thanks
Paul