defragmentation how do you do it

[jasjol]

Hi
is there anyone whos has set up defragmentation in a good way?

I just run discdefrag in windows XP and my disk was very fragmented 40% and 81% filefragmentation.

- and a lot of mpg files could not be defraged.

Any ideas how to defrag more often - and how to defrag the mpg files to?

is it possible to defrag a specific file?

[jorm]

you defrag filesystems not files.

Goto control panel - > scheduled task and schedule a task to defrag.

[KingArgyle]

If you can get it, I'd recommend Perfect Disk 7.0. It doesn't a much finer grain job than the built in Defragger, and it'll re-arrange your files, so that continuous empty space is at the end. This way files aren't as likely to get fragged. I still run this once a day, between 5AM and 8AM when I typically don't have anything recording. I set it's restriction to only run 3 hours (usually completes before then).

Bewarned, the first time you run this defrag, don't be surprised if it takes about 5 hours for it to completely run.

Again, Highly recommend Perfect Disk.

[cwills]

jasjol, the Windows defrag is pretty lacking. A commerical defrag program will do a much better job, such as PerfectDisk or Diskeeper. I have both and personally like PerfectDisk better, and overall is much more stable than Diskeeper. I don't want to start a Diskeeper vs. PerfectDisk war here, they each are great programs, but in the years I've had working with each program, PerfectDisk just works better for me.

Each of these programs can also defrag other parts of your file system such as the MFT, paging file, etc. I do not believe Diskeeper will defrag NTFS metadata, whereas PerfectDisk does. Without purchasing a better defrag program, your best option is to try to free up as much space on your hard drive as possible and run the defrag program a few times in a row, it usually gets a little better in consecutive passes. If you know you have enough RAM to temporarily support no paging file, you can disable it, reboot, defrag and then re-enable it. This should give you more space for the defrag and hopefully when Windows re-creates your paging file, it will be contiguous.

There is also freeware available that may work. Sysinternals has a program called Contig (in the Utilities section) that is designed to defrag a single file, although I've never tried it. Whatever you use, you should schedule or manually defrag regularily.

[Ron22]

Check out Buzzsaw.
They have a program called Buzzsaw. It defrags on the fly everytime it detects a file has been modified.
Best part is it is free.

[capone]

Depending on your system, watch out when setting any auto/background defrag. It may effect TV performance.

[Darx-starz]

I have seen these third party tools work and yes they have added features. However, I have seen trashed filesystems when these tool were used. I prefer to use the operating systems built in tools where possible becuase:
1) I know it wont screw my machine
2) It comes at a cost I can't argue with.

If cmd line defrag is used everyday you should not have a problem.

[wfooshee]

Quote[/b] (Darx-starz @ Mar. 10 2005,07:42)]1) I know it wont screw my machine
2) It comes at a cost I can't argue with.

If cmd line defrag is used everyday you should not have a problem.

The XP defrag will defrag files, but it will not condense the filesystem, so if it doesn't have space to put a file in a defragged state, it will leave that file fragmented. Another effect of not condensing is that your free space is not collected together, meaning the next large file (recording) you create will start life fragmented.

[Pioneer4x4]

Quote[/b] (jasjol @ Mar. 09 2005,19:02)]Hi
is there anyone whos has set up defragmentation in a good way?

I just run discdefrag in windows XP and my disk was very fragmented 40% and 81% filefragmentation.

- and a lot of mpg files could not be defraged.

Any ideas how to defrag more often - and how to defrag the mpg files to?

is it possible to defrag a specific file?

If you have files that won't defrag.
1)Move them to another drive. (This will accomplish 2 things, defrag them as much as possible on the new drive, and clear up space on you fragged drive.)
2)Defrag the drive again.
3) move the file back.

PS, make sure all gbpvr services are shut down to free up memory for the defrag, and it won't detect the files missing.

[jasjol]

Thanks for all the help!

I downloaded an evaluation copy of Perfect disk.
It took 9 hours but it did defrag. (17% free space and heavily fragmented disk - so I am happy)

I guess I will have to set upp a reguraly defrag - and I will try to use the windows defrag - which I guess will work if I don't wait to long