System Restore Fragmentation

[johnnino]

I'm running Media Center Edition in Italian with System Restore points at the
1% minimum. Right now this gives me seven restore points. But an analysis
by the Windows Defrag utility shows 18 restore points fragmented. There are
groups of three or four with 43 fragments or 40 or 39. If I defragment, they
disappear -- but then they come back. A few weeks ago I found myself with
more than fifty fragmented restore points and they all had 82 fragments. It
took a long time to defragment the disk.

What's going one here? Why are system restore points fragmenting after
they've been defragmented? They're not being accessed, are they? Is it
possible to keep this thing under control?

Finally, is it possible to eliminate individual restore points in System
Volume Information once you've given yourself access to it? Or, I've noticed
that CCleaner now gives the option of eliminating single restore points. Can
it be trusted to do that?

Thank you.

 

[Gerry]

How much free disk space and how large is your C partition?

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point.


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[johnnino]

C partition is 228 GB. Free space is 151 GB.

Thanks.

 

[Gerry]

johnnino

Routine housekeeping at regular intervals comprising running Disk
CleanUp followed by Disk Defragmenter should work well on your C
partition. System restore points are rarely accessed so their
fragmentation is unimportant of itself. The problem caused by multi
ftagmented large files is that they create a situation where other more
regularly accessed files quickly become more fragmented. It is these
files which slow performance. It is the removal of many small temporary
files using Disk CleanUp ( or better still cCleaner ) before
defragmenting that tends to get overlooked. Also overlooked can be the
need to undertake housekeeping after major changes and large downloads.


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[johnnino]

Gerry,

I do a disk cleanup before defragmenting. But something curious is going on
here.

Here's the test case: I ran O&O Defrag V.4 (with boot time fragmentation of
locked files) twice until it detected no fragmented files, while the Windows
Defragmentation Utility analysis still reported about 20. Then I restarted
the computer -- but Windows would not load -- only a dark screen with the
cursor working. I was forced to turn off the computer power. Then I
switched on. Windows loaded. But the defragmentation analysis told me I had
645 fragmented files. Among the most fragmented was one System Restore point
(16MB) with 248 fragments and 27 others (each 5MB) each with 83 fragments.
As far as System Restore is concerned there are only 6 restore points in the
system.

I don't understand why these restore points are being resuscitated and why
they all have so many fragments.

After the blockage, did Windows return to an earlier configuration without
telling me?

Any ideas?

 

[Gerry]

johnnino

Let me say firstly that I have never used O&O Defrag. I have also never
used a boot time Defragmenter. I understand why some users favour boot
time defragmentation but I am not convinced about the benefits it
brings. Leaving that aside I have some thoughts about the points you
raise.

Comparison of the results of one defragmentation tool with another do
not seem to work as they can implement different strategies for
optimising performance. Many rely on the same information base as the
Microsoft provided tool. Your O & O Defrag probably falls into this
category. I see v4 was released in March 2002, which is not long after
the Diskeeper products. Currently I have Defraggler installed and if you
analyse with Disk Defragmenter after running Defraggler the Most
fragmented List is invariably populated with several files showing
insignificant fragmentation.

The pagefile can be problematic with regard to fragmentation. This will
particularly be so where memory usage exceeds the available RAM memory.
Even where it does not there will always be a pagefile. There are two
ways that I know of to prevent the pagefile from causing file
fragmentation. You can have a dedicated pagefile partition -the
recommended way is to have the partition as the first partition on a
second drive leaving a small 50 mb pagefile on the C ( Windows )
partition. The other way, which I currently use, is to have a single
pagefile on C with a minimum = maximum setting. The second approach can
be difficult to achieve unless when you create it you have something
like 50 - 60% free disk disk space, The reason being the pagefile likes
to occupy the centre of the volume. Either of these approachs removes
the pagefile permanently as a contriibutor to file fragmentation. A boot
time defragmenter ceases then to have any relevance.

I suspect the pagefile is what you mean when you refer to locked files.
The MFT table is probably another "locked" file but I do not believe it
needs defragmenting given that the Microsoft Defragmenter defragments it
but leaves it in only 2 or 3 fragments.

System Restore points often show up in the Most Fragmented Files list.
Using the More Options, System Restore option in Disk CleanUp is the way
I tidy up before running Disk Defragmenter. The problem you are seeing
could be the result of the timing of Automatically Created restore
points. It is not something I have ever felt the need to investigate so
I cannot say for sure what the answer is. Sometimes I feel I would like
to keep more restore points but I can hardly remember needing to restore
to an earlier pooint. Of course if you want the comfort of a restore
point you always have the option to manually create a restore point
before making a significant change to your system.

"return to an earlier configuration". I do not know. The Registry
contains three Control sets. The CurrentControlSet -the one in use.
ControlSet001 - a backup copy of the CurrentControlSet. ControlSet002 =
Last known Good, a safe mode boot option. That's as far as I can go.

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[johnnino]

Gerry,

Thanks for the extensive reply to the points I raised.

There is, in fact, a close correspondence between the files turned up by the
Windows Defragmenter and O&O Defrag. I use the Windows version for analysis
because it is quite fast. I don't know why the O&O analysis takes so long --
maybe is also laying the groundwork for the actual defragmentation.

I don't see my pagefile fragmenting much, though I am planning to install a
second drive for backups and to hold the pagefile, so I appreciate your
reminder to leave a small pagefile on the C partition. MFT doesn't seem to
present any problem either. It's always in three fragments.

Among the locked files with some fragmentation, O&O listed one System
Restore point (38 fragments) and a dozen or so log files, notably those of
the firewall and the anti-virus.

By "earlier configuration", I meant "last known good". I was wondering if
after a failure to launch, Windows had taken it upon itself to resort to the
last known good configuration without giving a notification -- with the
result that old System Restore files were somehow reanimated (even though
they didn't show up in the System Volume Information folder).

At the moment, since defragmenting two days ago, I haven't seen the
proliferation of System Restore files or their fragmentation. Maybe this is
sorting itself out. Thanks for all your help.