What does 'Defragment your PC' mean?
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When files get deleted on your hard drive it leaves behind lots of blank spaces. When you save new files the blank spaces are used up but this may mean files are split into lots of chunks. The more file operations you do the more your files are split up. This reduces performance.
Defragmenting moves all the chunks of data around your hard drive so that files have all their data next to each other.
It is worth defragmenting your hard drives every so often. What operating system are you using ?
Defragmenting moves all the chunks of data around your hard drive so that files have all their data next to each other.
It is worth defragmenting your hard drives every so often. What operating system are you using ?
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It helps to defregment the drive say once a fortnight, depending on how much useage your PC gets. Leave it defragmenting overnight, say on a Sunday, so you don't have to worry about it.
One thing to watch for - You should close as many programs running int he background as possible. If you don't, you'll find that the PC just keeps on re-starting the defragmenting process all over again, because it's detected that the drive contents have changed.
The last time I defragmented took me over 30 hours, but that was a LOT of jumbled around data it was having to sort.
One thing to watch for - You should close as many programs running int he background as possible. If you don't, you'll find that the PC just keeps on re-starting the defragmenting process all over again, because it's detected that the drive contents have changed.
The last time I defragmented took me over 30 hours, but that was a LOT of jumbled around data it was having to sort.
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Windows built-in defrag is effective but slow, Look for DiskKeeper from Executive software. It will not only handle NTFS and FAT drives rather quickly ( 40 GB badly fragged in under 1 hour ) but can also be used to defrag the NTFS Master File Table on bootup, which can take a while but will give tremendous performance increases.Originally posted by CamClub
It helps to defregment the drive say once a fortnight, depending on how much useage your PC gets. Leave it defragmenting overnight, say on a Sunday, so you don't have to worry about it.
One thing to watch for - You should close as many programs running int he background as possible. If you don't, you'll find that the PC just keeps on re-starting the defragmenting process all over again, because it's detected that the drive contents have changed.
The last time I defragmented took me over 30 hours, but that was a LOT of jumbled around data it was having to sort.
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I tried disk-keeper and it rocks!
I don't think it defragments as precisely as Windows defragementer, it seems to shuffle clusters of files around rather than individual segments, but even doing that, it keeps things in the right place, and yep, worked for me - I recommend it!
You can download a fully working trial copy for evaluation, and if you like it, you can buy it to use after the evaluation period.
You can also set it to run in the background while your're working on the PC, although I wouldn't recommend this doing anything much else from web-surfing, or running simple programs like word processors and the like.
A nice feature I saw, you can set it to run whenever your screen-saver kicks in - I.e. if you're away from the computer for a moment, like getting a soda, or a kebab, then it'll kick in, defragmenting without you knowing! Nice one!
I tried some other software out, and here's the transcripts from a couple of emails I sent to their technical support department because of a problem I was having with insufficient memory when runnign their software:
To them:
In a message dated 02/10/03 16:18:59 GMT Daylight Time, support@abexo.com writes:
Brent,
Thank you for contacting us.
Please refer to the online FAQ at http://www.abexo.com/defrag.htm
regarding insufficient memory problem.
Do not hesitate to contact us again, should you have other questions.
Best regards, ABEXO Support
I wrote back:
Hi,
Thanks for your reply, but it doesn't solve the problem of the "insufficient memory to defragment"!
This is what I've tried so far:
- Windows was already managing the swap file in Virtual memory, so I tried it with and without the windows preference setting - No joy.
- Adding an additional 30GB drive
- The additional drive defragments ok.
- I changed the virtual memory settings pointed at the additional drive, and I still get the insufficient memory message.
- The additional drive used to be the boot drive before it was replaced with the RAID-0 240GB drive - I booted up the PC with the 30GB drive, and tried to defragment the 240GB drive - Same error occured, and again, the 30GB drive would defragment.
The problems seem to be your software.
Any more suggestions would be welcome before I start having to trawl the internet for alternatives.
Brent Stevens
They then replied with this outrageous statement:
In a message dated 03/10/03 12:50:48 GMT Daylight Time, support@abexo.com writes:
Brent,
you will need to format your hard disk and reinstall Windows.
Best regards, ABEXO Support
So I replied back:
You've gotta be kidding! In order to complete this, would mean backing up around 45GB onto CDs, and then performing a re-install of windows, and a plethora of utilities and other software that I use daily - The whole process would take at least 4 days.
Fortunately, I found some other software that quite happily defragments the hard drive, thanks for your help anyway.
Brent
Crazy huh! And they never bothered replying back to say how sorry they were for having sucky soiftware!
I don't think it defragments as precisely as Windows defragementer, it seems to shuffle clusters of files around rather than individual segments, but even doing that, it keeps things in the right place, and yep, worked for me - I recommend it!
You can download a fully working trial copy for evaluation, and if you like it, you can buy it to use after the evaluation period.
You can also set it to run in the background while your're working on the PC, although I wouldn't recommend this doing anything much else from web-surfing, or running simple programs like word processors and the like.
A nice feature I saw, you can set it to run whenever your screen-saver kicks in - I.e. if you're away from the computer for a moment, like getting a soda, or a kebab, then it'll kick in, defragmenting without you knowing! Nice one!
I tried some other software out, and here's the transcripts from a couple of emails I sent to their technical support department because of a problem I was having with insufficient memory when runnign their software:
To them:
In a message dated 02/10/03 16:18:59 GMT Daylight Time, support@abexo.com writes:
Brent,
Thank you for contacting us.
Please refer to the online FAQ at http://www.abexo.com/defrag.htm
regarding insufficient memory problem.
Do not hesitate to contact us again, should you have other questions.
Best regards, ABEXO Support
I wrote back:
Hi,
Thanks for your reply, but it doesn't solve the problem of the "insufficient memory to defragment"!
This is what I've tried so far:
- Windows was already managing the swap file in Virtual memory, so I tried it with and without the windows preference setting - No joy.
- Adding an additional 30GB drive
- The additional drive defragments ok.
- I changed the virtual memory settings pointed at the additional drive, and I still get the insufficient memory message.
- The additional drive used to be the boot drive before it was replaced with the RAID-0 240GB drive - I booted up the PC with the 30GB drive, and tried to defragment the 240GB drive - Same error occured, and again, the 30GB drive would defragment.
The problems seem to be your software.
Any more suggestions would be welcome before I start having to trawl the internet for alternatives.
Brent Stevens
They then replied with this outrageous statement:
In a message dated 03/10/03 12:50:48 GMT Daylight Time, support@abexo.com writes:
Brent,
you will need to format your hard disk and reinstall Windows.
Best regards, ABEXO Support
So I replied back:
You've gotta be kidding! In order to complete this, would mean backing up around 45GB onto CDs, and then performing a re-install of windows, and a plethora of utilities and other software that I use daily - The whole process would take at least 4 days.
Fortunately, I found some other software that quite happily defragments the hard drive, thanks for your help anyway.
Brent
Crazy huh! And they never bothered replying back to say how sorry they were for having sucky soiftware!
Moderating behind the bushes!