Defragmenting Problem.

AdamZ

AdamZ

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Feb 24, 2005
Messages
14,866
Location
Montgomery County PA
Display Name
Display name:
Adam Zucker
I read the other day that you should defrag your computer every three months. Its been a loooong time since I defraged my home computer and it was a bit sluggish so I went to defrag it and Wow lots and I mean LOTs of fragmented files so I hit defragment and it goes for a bit and then says can't defrag any more. when I started my free space was 15% so I try it again and now it says its 14% and that I need 15% free space to defragment. So I delete some programs that I never use and a sample X-plane file that was a promo that I never used and it still says 14% the Defragmenter says I have 71.7GB capacity and 10.67 GB free 14%. Following is the information on what I have. Any thoughts on how I can get the darn thing defragmented and pick up some speed?

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name DGFTS661
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model Dimension 4700
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 1 GenuineIntel ~2992 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. A05, 11/23/2004
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"
User Name DGFTS661\Adam
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 120.42 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 1.20 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
 
Did you empty your recycle bin after deleting files? If not, they're still taking up space.
 
wow whoda thunk that spike would have a good Tech answer. That just bought me about 3 GBs and up to 19% free space. Thanks Spike. I'll see how the defrag works now.
 
I'll try that Kgruber. Spikes suggestion helped somewhat but I still have a ton of red ( fragmented files on the grid)
 
UltimateDefrag or O&O are the two defraggers I use. O&O has a boot-time defragger which can move system files that the post-boot defraggers can't touch (because they're in use).

If you're keeping the computer for a while, consider buying a bigger disk and using a program like TrueImage to migrate everything on your existing disk to the bigger one. With a good USB external disk, TrueImage is also a terrific way to back up multiple systems.
 
Ok I downloaded the Auslogics defrager and I used the disc clean up and the defrager. It did defrag but ony by 1.6% there are still so many fragmented files any other suggestions?
 
I thought sure this thread was about Cirri.
 
Adam,

I'm puzzled why the system can't do more defragmentation with that much free space, unless the disk is REALLY fragmented and there's no big segment of free space anywhere.

I suggest trying to defragment the free space if your software has that option -that should give you a big block of contiguous free space (even if it fragments your files a bit more), and THEN try and defragment the data portion. You may find that having the big block of free space makes the data defrag work better.

Alternatively, if you can get an external or network disk, pull off your data files to create more free space. There is probably also a service pack uninstall directory where all the hotfixes you've gotten from windows update (you DO keep it current, right) put the older versions of stuff. You can delete that if you're happy with the way the system is operating and not rolling out changes.
 
Great, free utility I use for cleaning up drive space:

http://www.stevengould.org/index.php?Itemid=69&id=15&option=com_content&task=view

Download it, run it, and you'll get a lot of space back, then you should be able to run that defrag. It has several levels of "clean up"; one can just delete temporary files and browser history, another can delete that and cookies, another can delete all personal info, and another can wipe the drive... so make sure you run it at the right level! If you're "nervous", it can run a "test" and tell you what it would delete at each level.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top