Why is Disk Defrag running soooo slow?

[shepard97504]

On my HP laptop with 1gb memory and 100gb HDD, defrag has become
unbearably slow. The lap top is only a few months old so I have run
defrag only 5 or 6 times max. Usually takes 20 - 30 minutes to run.
Today it took over 3-1/2 hours! At one point it was taking 10 seconds
to move each file. There is 60% free space on the drive. I run
spyware and virus checks and the computer is clean.

Any help on what I should look for as the cause of the problem?

Thanks.

 

[Bruce Hagen]

On my HP laptop with 1gb memory and 100gb HDD, defrag has become
unbearably slow. The lap top is only a few months old so I have run
defrag only 5 or 6 times max. Usually takes 20 - 30 minutes to run.
Today it took over 3-1/2 hours! At one point it was taking 10 seconds
to move each file. There is 60% free space on the drive. I run
spyware and virus checks and the computer is clean.

Any help on what I should look for as the cause of the problem?

Thanks.

Depending on how much you download, and delete, will affect the time it
takes. I Defrag once a week and it never takes more than 5 minutes, but you
may be in a different situation. If you just Defraged, and do it again, it
should only take a few minutes. If this is the case, just do it more often.

 

[shepard97504]

I tried what you said and ran defrag again right now, 1 hour after the
last defrag and before I did anything on the computer other than post
the original question. It only took 3 or 4 minutes to run this time as
it had nothing to defrag. It still seems strange that it took over
3-1/2 hours earlier. I defrag regularly and on several computers so I
am pretty familiar with how long it takes. I have never had it take
nearly that long and that was on a computer in bad shape, free space
and fragmentation wise. This computer today only had 13% fragmentation
and 64% free space when I ran it and it had only been 1 week since the
last defrag. I have run defrag on this computer before with similar
percentages and had it only take 20 minutes or so. May I did something
this past week that defrag did not like. We will see how it goes next
week.

Thanks!

 

[Phillips]

You might have had some app running in the background.
Michael

I tried what you said and ran defrag again right now, 1 hour after the
last defrag and before I did anything on the computer other than post
the original question. It only took 3 or 4 minutes to run this time as
it had nothing to defrag. It still seems strange that it took over
3-1/2 hours earlier. I defrag regularly and on several computers so I
am pretty familiar with how long it takes. I have never had it take
nearly that long and that was on a computer in bad shape, free space
and fragmentation wise. This computer today only had 13% fragmentation
and 64% free space when I ran it and it had only been 1 week since the
last defrag. I have run defrag on this computer before with similar
percentages and had it only take 20 minutes or so. May I did something
this past week that defrag did not like. We will see how it goes next
week.

Thanks!

 

[witan]

Just speculating:
If there are disk errors, defrag will take a long time -- Defrag in XP
does not check for disk errors.

As Phillips said, some background application might have been running.

I have a feeling that the "% fragmentation" is not a true measure, and
may not roughly indicate how long it will take to defrag. What probably
matters is the total *size* of the fragments that have to be moved for
defragging.

Also, my experience is that defrag works much faster on NTFS volumes
than on FAT32.

 

[shepard97504]

I actually stopped it the first time it was going so slow and then ran
it in safe mode so I don't think anything was running in the background
that interfered. I do have NTFS, not FAT32.

There are two reasons I was concerned about how slow it was going.
First, it was way slower, (on the order of hours), than ever before.
(Even slower than times when I was seting up the computer and had
installed and uninnstalled several programs between defrags. Second,
when I watched it's progress this time, I could see the name of each
file that was being moved and could see that it was taking an average
of 10 seconds on each file. Previously, the names of files being moved
would flash by so fast I could not read them.

 

[shepard97504]

Also: What is the best way to check for errors on an XP system?

 

[shepard97504]

I found the check disk and ran it on a reboot. It took a long time,
but seemed to run fine and find nothing. I actually only saw it
through 88% of step 5. When I turned back to the computer after that,
it had booted to the XP logon screen. No logs or messages or anything,
so I guess it is ok.

 

[Plato]

On my HP laptop with 1gb memory and 100gb HDD, defrag has become
unbearably slow. The lap top is only a few months old so I have run
defrag only 5 or 6 times max. Usually takes 20 - 30 minutes to run.
Today it took over 3-1/2 hours! At one point it was taking 10 seconds
to move each file. There is 60% free space on the drive. I run
spyware and virus checks and the computer is clean.

Delete all internet cache files before you defrag.

 

[shepard97504]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I do that also before I defrag. I try
to get anything I don't want or need off the computer before I start.
Also do all the spyware and virus checks etc. before. And any updates
to software. The problem is not defrag itself. I have been using
defrag for years on several different computers. The question is why
on this computer, with no big changes to programs etc., defragmentation
time jumped from 20 or 30 minutes to hours and hours. It does not seem
to be doing any more work than in the past, just doing each individual
file move etc. much, much slower.

 

[Kristi]

I found the check disk and ran it on a reboot. It took a long time,
but seemed to run fine and find nothing. I actually only saw it
through 88% of step 5. When I turned back to the computer after that,
it had booted to the XP logon screen. No logs or messages or anything,
so I guess it is ok.

How much free space do you have on the partition you are defragging? Is
the page dataset in that partition?
Kristi

 

[George N. White III]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I do that also before I defrag. I try
to get anything I don't want or need off the computer before I start.
Also do all the spyware and virus checks etc. before. And any updates
to software. The problem is not defrag itself. I have been using
defrag for years on several different computers. The question is why
on this computer, with no big changes to programs etc., defragmentation
time jumped from 20 or 30 minutes to hours and hours. It does not seem
to be doing any more work than in the past, just doing each individual
file move etc. much, much slower.

You should run a utility that displays the S.M.A.R.T. drive status
information (most disk manufacturers provide their own tools, which
require booting DOS, but there are also a couple good free tools).
I like to save a copy of the information from each system when it is
new so I can detect changes in DMA mode, etc. 3rd party drivers for
DVD drives have caused problems for me in the past.

If the drives are OK I would do a 24-hour memory test.

Once you are sure the hardware is OK, run some basic benchmarks to
make sure the disk performance is up to par.

 

[shepard97504]

There is 64% free on a 100gb drive. I don't know what "page dataset"
is.

 

[shepard97504]

I am not real technical so don't exactly follow the first part of your
suggestion or what a 24 hour memory test is. But I can, (and would
like to), run benchmarks to check disk performance. What utilities do
you suggest for use?

Thanks.

 

[Kristi]

I am not real technical so don't exactly follow the first part of your
suggestion or what a 24 hour memory test is. But I can, (and would
like to), run benchmarks to check disk performance. What utilities do
you suggest for use?

Thanks.

hdtach
hth
Kristi

 

[shepard97504]

Ran hdtach but of course the results mean nothing to me. Looked at the
web site and the forums, but could not find any explanation of how to
interpret the results. Oh well.

 

[Jim Macklin]

Defrag requires a minimum of 15% free space to run, more
space available will speed the process. The bigger the
drive and the greater the number of files, will increase the
time required. Other running programs, particularly file
caching programs will slow or even block defrag. To defrag,
boot into safe mode and run the program or boot the recovery
console from the CD and use the command line...

Usage:
defrag <volume> [-a] [-f] [-v] [-?]
volume drive letter or mount point (d: or
d:\vol\mountpoint)
-a Analyze only
-f Force defragmentation even if free space is low
-v Verbose output
-? Display this help text


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm




| Ran hdtach but of course the results mean nothing to me.
Looked at the
| web site and the forums, but could not find any
explanation of how to
| interpret the results. Oh well.
|
|
| Kristi wrote:
| > On 10 Oct 2005 13:12:30 -0700, (e-mail address removed)
wrote:
| >
| > > I am not real technical so don't exactly follow the
first part of your
| > > suggestion or what a 24 hour memory test is. But I
can, (and would
| > > like to), run benchmarks to check disk performance.
What utilities do
| > > you suggest for use?
| > >
| > > Thanks.
| >
| > hdtach
| > hth
| > Kristi
| > --
| > Shuttle AN35N Ultra, GeF4Ti4200, XP2600+Barton, 786mb
| > XPSP2+
|

 

[shepard97504]

As noted a couple of times above, free space is not an issue. The
problem is that with no real changes to programs installed etc.,
defragging went from taking 20 to 30 minutes one week to taking hours
the next week. The defrag actually takes 10 times or more longer to
move an indidual file now. It's not doing more work than it was a week
ago, just doing the same work at a much, much slower speed and I can't
figure out why.

 

[Jim Macklin]

from my original answer, "Other running programs,
particularly file

caching programs will slow or even block defrag. To
defrag,
boot into safe mode and run the program or boot the
recovery
console from the CD and use the command line"

You have something running, perhaps spyware or a virus,
maybe some new software that is acting as a server, that is
running and writing new data to the hard drive while it is
being defragged. Many programs, even screensavers can slow
or stop defrag. To paraphrase Clairol and Smokey Bear,
"Only a hacker knows for sure what is on your hard drive and
Only you can prevent problems."
"[N]o real changes to programs installed" means that were
some changes that you think were minor. One or more of
those changes is the problem. Turn off some programs,
disable some services, even uninstall some of the most
recent changes and see what happens.



--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm



| As noted a couple of times above, free space is not an
issue. The
| problem is that with no real changes to programs installed
etc.,
| defragging went from taking 20 to 30 minutes one week to
taking hours
| the next week. The defrag actually takes 10 times or more
longer to
| move an indidual file now. It's not doing more work than
it was a week
| ago, just doing the same work at a much, much slower speed
and I can't
| figure out why.
|
|
|
|
| Jim Macklin wrote:
| > Defrag requires a minimum of 15% free space to run, more
| > space available will speed the process. The bigger the
| > drive and the greater the number of files, will increase
the
| > time required. Other running programs, particularly
file
| > caching programs will slow or even block defrag. To
defrag,
| > boot into safe mode and run the program or boot the
recovery
| > console from the CD and use the command line...
| >
| > Usage:
| > defrag <volume> [-a] [-f] [-v] [-?]
| > volume drive letter or mount point (d: or
| > d:\vol\mountpoint)
| > -a Analyze only
| > -f Force defragmentation even if free space is
low
| > -v Verbose output
| > -? Display this help text
| >
|

 

[shepard97504]

The defragging is being run from safe mode. I also regularly use
AdAware, Scanspyware, and Microsoft Antispyware. Also have Norton AV.
There actually were no programs installed or updated during the week
between the 30 minute defrag and the onset of the slow defrag. In my
previous post, by no real changes I meant I created a few new Word
documents, received some email, and did the usual amount of web site
visits.

I do appreciate all the advice. I'm just not having any luck appling
any of it to figure out what happened.


..

from my original answer, "Other running programs,
particularly file

caching programs will slow or even block defrag. To
defrag,
boot into safe mode and run the program or boot the
recovery
console from the CD and use the command line"

You have something running, perhaps spyware or a virus,
maybe some new software that is acting as a server, that is
running and writing new data to the hard drive while it is
being defragged. Many programs, even screensavers can slow
or stop defrag. To paraphrase Clairol and Smokey Bear,
"Only a hacker knows for sure what is on your hard drive and
Only you can prevent problems."
"[N]o real changes to programs installed" means that were
some changes that you think were minor. One or more of
those changes is the problem. Turn off some programs,
disable some services, even uninstall some of the most
recent changes and see what happens.