King of Camelot
Camelot's King
I just defraged my hard drive yesterday and it just finish today after about 30 hours. Guess thats what happens when i haven't done it in 2 years.
Hard Drive Defragmation
- Thread starter King of Camelot
- Start date
Your poll should say how long does defraging your hard drive take. 
I usually defrag every couple of months. It rarely takes over 3 - 4 hours. (40 gig drive)
I've yet to defrag my almost 1 yr old computer. Maybe I'll try tonight but I can't stand the noise. Wow, 30 hours.... 
Say, what're the actual benefits of defragging?
Say, what're the actual benefits of defragging?
Furry Spatula
...
Dragon, the benefits are that you have faster access to files. What defragmenting does more or less is takes all files that are related and sticks them together, thus the hard drive does not need to move the heads around to other sections of the disk. You may notice that your computer will load up faster after defragmenting. A good idea is to set your comp to defrag every 3 weeks on a sunday night. Also you dont need to defrag unless uninstall and delete stuff. What happens if you delete stuff is the middle of your drive then the next time a file is written it will take that spot in the middle, so if the total installed ammount is greater than that free ammount, the files will be placed into 2 or more blocks.
If I didn't describe that well just tell me and i'll try to make it more coherent.
If I didn't describe that well just tell me and i'll try to make it more coherent.
I haven't defragged my HDD since I installed Windows XP....one of the benefits of this OS....you don't have to!!!! (it does in the background)
If you defrag your HDD when running XP you actually slow your computer down.
When I did defrag, the amount of time it took depended on the OS....Windows 2000 seemed to take FOREVER for a 40 Gig HDD. Windows 98 was pretty speedy...might have to do with the difference between FAT32 and NTFS 5.0......
If you defrag your HDD when running XP you actually slow your computer down.
When I did defrag, the amount of time it took depended on the OS....Windows 2000 seemed to take FOREVER for a 40 Gig HDD. Windows 98 was pretty speedy...might have to do with the difference between FAT32 and NTFS 5.0......
Plexus
Architeuthidae puericomedentis
usually takes 1 hr- 1.5 hr. (80 gigs)
Furry Spatula
...
Hmm another benefit to Linux. Well we have a RedHat version at my house but we uninstalled it. Im too lazy to learn it and too busy, my dad's just too lazy, and my brother moved out. He's workin on his PHD in UCLA to use fiber optics to send coded messages that cannot be intercepted. That and some other stuff. So he was doing some simulations on our computers here when he was on a break while working on his masters so he wanted a stable system.
Its usually 2 hours for 4 hard-drives. About 50-60 gig in total, its partitioned for more efficiency. The Blocks are smaller thus less wasted space. Plus we have a system drive, my dad's drive, my drive and a backup drive. So its nice and organized
Its usually 2 hours for 4 hard-drives. About 50-60 gig in total, its partitioned for more efficiency. The Blocks are smaller thus less wasted space. Plus we have a system drive, my dad's drive, my drive and a backup drive. So its nice and organized
Switch625
I don't care.
I don't really know, for sure. I have my computer set to automatically defrag the hard drives once a week, in the wee hours of the morning.
I also update my virus definitions weekly.
You can't be too careful.
I also update my virus definitions weekly.
You can't be too careful.
last week i defragged the HD of my notebook for the first time this year (win2k), it seemed to take forever. win98 is much faster defragging but then a fat32-partition fragments much faster than a ntfs-partition so you have to do it more often.
I didn't know that XP defrags automatically, maybe I will have to buy it after all (I'm still looking for a concrete advantage over win2k that would justify the cost).
I didn't know that XP defrags automatically, maybe I will have to buy it after all (I'm still looking for a concrete advantage over win2k that would justify the cost).
BlueMonday
Can I Kick It?
I defrag every week, so defragging all 90 gigs takes less than an hour and a half. The only real pain in the ass occurs after I reformat, repartition, and reinstall all my software. That's when defragging can take hours on end. Windows 98 sure does defrag much faster than the other Windows OSs, and having 7200 RPM hard drives also makes a noticeable difference over the old 5600 RPM ones I used to work with.
Lab Monkey
Peace thru ultraviolence!
My original config when I bought my machine actually didn't allow me to de-frag it (it refused to continue after an hour or so), so I left it be, but after a year my computer was crashing every 15 minutes, so I needed to just re-install the system disk - now it can de-frag, but I forgot to back-up some of my work, and lost quite a few decent pictures, bloody Windows ME.
Speaking of anti-virus software..and protections. What do you guys use for a firewall?
As for partitiong your HD. It really depends on what you want to do.
Myself I got 3 partitions across the one drive, more out of neccessity rather than choice.
Machine 1
1. W2000/Nov 5.1(10GB)
2. W98ME (20GB)
3. RedHat 7.1 (5GB)
But if you continusously installing/deleting games etc. I'd say partition into a system drive C (logical) and a Virtual (usually extended) partition for your games. I found in the long run it makes things alot easier. As, if their is a problem with your games drive, and if needs to be reformatted. You don't need to re-do your system drive.
As for Defragmentating, yeah disk access time is naturally improved. But the most important benefit is not losing your HD. As the more de-fragged your drive gets, the damn thing can crash on you. And I've seen the results - an INCHE wide mark cut out of the disk media by the seeker head, on crash.
The standard recommendations are run defrag when your drive is about 30% fragmented or once a month is sufficent. It depends on how frequently you install and delete new software. When you get to around the 70% frag mark, you could be losing a drive soon!
*Never ever forget a boot disk, even those of us who know better forget that rule
*
As for partitiong your HD. It really depends on what you want to do.
Myself I got 3 partitions across the one drive, more out of neccessity rather than choice.
Machine 1
1. W2000/Nov 5.1(10GB)
2. W98ME (20GB)
3. RedHat 7.1 (5GB)
But if you continusously installing/deleting games etc. I'd say partition into a system drive C (logical) and a Virtual (usually extended) partition for your games. I found in the long run it makes things alot easier. As, if their is a problem with your games drive, and if needs to be reformatted. You don't need to re-do your system drive.
As for Defragmentating, yeah disk access time is naturally improved. But the most important benefit is not losing your HD. As the more de-fragged your drive gets, the damn thing can crash on you. And I've seen the results - an INCHE wide mark cut out of the disk media by the seeker head, on crash.
The standard recommendations are run defrag when your drive is about 30% fragmented or once a month is sufficent. It depends on how frequently you install and delete new software. When you get to around the 70% frag mark, you could be losing a drive soon!
*Never ever forget a boot disk, even those of us who know better forget that rule
*I never defrag. because I don't know how to.
This is a pity because netscape navigator, along with some other stuff have been crashing every couple of hours or so for the last week. I usually get my brothers to do it, but alas they are not to be found.
This is a pity because netscape navigator, along with some other stuff have been crashing every couple of hours or so for the last week. I usually get my brothers to do it, but alas they are not to be found.
floppa21
Crusty Manhole
Do you think they defrag the computers at work? They must, right?
is that true?
i got xp a while ago, and installed norton system doctor or whatever it is called, which monitors the level of disk fragmentation, and automatically defrags if it gets above a certain level (in my case, i keep it at 90% defraged at all times before it defrags itself)
