3rd party defrag

[Turtle_Wrangler]

Aight. Problem. Windows defrag sucks incredible amounts of arse.
The problem specifically is that ive got so many "unmoveable files" and files with too many fragments to defrag, that windows defragmenter comes to a complete halt (usually as soon as it encounters a file it cant defrag).
so, I need a good 3rd party defragmenter I can run on boot.
Any suggestions?

[tikdoph]

What version of Windows? :D

[Turtle_Wrangler]

XP pro.

[tikdoph]

It's more likely that something running in the background is interfering with the defragmentation, rather than it being a problem with Defrag itself. If a program running in the background accesses the hard disk while Defrag is running, then it's going to interfere with the defrag which is then going to start all over again from scratch. I would suggest disabling your screen saver, and then booting into Safe Mode. This should prevent whichever PITA is interfering with the process from loading up when Windows starts. The try running Defrag again.

Those unmovable files are exactly that... unmovable. They're protected system files, so whether you're using Windows Disk Defragmenter or something like Norton Utilities, those files ain't movin'. While it looks messy on the map of your hard disk, the fact that these files are unmovable is by design.

I use Speed Disk from Norton Utilities to defrag my hard disks. Just make sure that whichever defrag program you use, you let it run while the computer isn't being used (like when you go to bed), and if possible, really try to avoid pausing or stopping the process while it's running. This can sometimes cause file corruption, as I've found out to my dismay.

Let us know how you go.

[Turtle_Wrangler]

mainly had two problems. one was a 560 meg prog in 1,172 fragments. I burned that one to cd (like the last couple that were givin me huge fragments) and erased it completely from my harddrive.
There was another 2 meg file in 612 fragments (wtf?) which got successfully defraged last attempt.
Im running yet another defrag now, which is going rather well. Even the unmovable files are being compressed well (dont ask me how, though i wont complain)
After this thing finishes, Ill copy the problematic files back to my harddisk, and hopefully, itll they'll be in one peice. Not thousands.

[Turtle_Wrangler]

meh. worst of the files is down to 5 fragments now. Im happy enough. Still not perfect, but ill live.

[tikdoph]

While fragmentation isn't desirable, it's not necessarily a bad thing... until it starts to affect system performance.

Basically fragmentation can cause two things to happen.

1. It slows down the speed with which files are accessed. For example, take a 20Mb file that's not fragmented. The head that reads data on your hard disk only has to go to one location to open that file. Now take the same file, 6 months down the track, that's been fragmented into 100 parts, and the head on the hard disk has to go to 100 locations on your hard disk to open the file. As fast as today's hard disks are, it's still gonna slow things down a little.

2. It increases the risk of files being corrupted. Going back to the previous example of the file fragmented into 100 parts... sure, the computer knows where all those bits and pieces are, but like anything, the more complex something is (in other words, the less simple it is), the more can go wrong, and what can go wrong is that sometimes those bit and pieces can get lost. I've had a situation where I was unable to open a program despite taking several steps to fix it. In the end, the problem was solved by simply defragging. United we stand, divided we fall... or something like that. ;)

Basically, fragmentation is a necessary evil. If a file is too big to fit into an available space on your hard disk, it has to be broken up into smaller parts and distributed to wherever there is space. The problem occurs when this is allowed to go on unchecked over time. If you use the computer a reasonable amount every day, I would probably recommend defragging once a month or so. Oh, and do it manually. Don't rely on the Windows Task Scheduler to do it for you as the computer may not even be on when it's timed to do the defrag.

One last thing. While I recommend regularly defragging your hard drives, any process that accesses your hard disk and moves things around on it carries some small risk with it of screwing things up. Sure, it's a pretty small risk, but you know what Murphy's Law says. In light of this, I would also recommend backing up your important data on a regular basis, because you never know when something will go wrong... because given time, it probably will. ;)

[MisterBishi]

Windows defrag sucks donkeys balls, seriously, it's about 10 times slower than something like Diskeeper.

Also, once you've defragged a few times to get fragmentation down as little as possible, you can put it in "Set it and forget it" mode so that it defrags again every day without hogging resources, and because fragmentation is low already you dont even notice it happening.

[thingy]

How good a job does diskkeeper do though? I quite liked the defrag of Symantec Speed Disk, but I can't find a way to get my hands on it and it alone which is rather sucky.

[MisterBishi]

I've only ever used it on my own desktop but it seemed pretty damn good to me.

I had to run it about three times at first to get the fragmentation right down, but then it kept it that way pretty much constantly.

[Lurgen]

Try Diskeeper Pro. Much faster than the stock Windows version, ripped through half a terabyte of highly fragmented disk in less than an hour. Better yet, it has a screensaver mode that allows it to do it's work when you aren't around. We use it on servers too, with excellent results (anybody ever tried to defrag 4 terabytes of data with Windows Defrag? Fuck that for a joke).

[midg3t]

Norton Utilities has a good defragger (called Speed Disk).

[Goat Boy]

Diskeeper
Executive Software International, Inc.

Free on your local P2P!

[RASPUTIN]

I use diskkeeper pro and find it pretty good.

Hehe lurgen I find funnier the idea of 4 terrabytes of data on a windows box. You must really hate your data :)

[Bifrost]

Excellent. This is information that I have needed for ages and hadn't been arsed asking anyone...

I agree with the general consensus that Windows defrag is utter sphincter subs...IMHO Windows defrag is the equivalent of running some program which uses 100% of the CPU for 4 hours - ie it does absolutely nothing to your disk or your data, it just wastes your time...

PS: Disk fragmentation is not a "necessary evil", it's a result of Microsoft not being able to manage memory or disk addressing properly. I have never had to defragment any of my Linux or Unix boxes - even the ones with 1500 users running transactional non-oracle databases.