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How often do I need to defrag my drive?
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snorkel
Junior Member
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18. March 2005 @ 04:57 |
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I have two harddrives (each one is 160 GB). I am running XP on my C drive.
I use shrink and dvd decrypter for my movie backups. I save the ISO file to a folder that I set up on my second drive.
After I am done burning my movie onto a dvd5, I always delete that ISO file from my HDD.
Do I need to defrag if I am deleting the movie from my harddrive?
I have read a lot of posts lately about people complaining about Shrink being really slow, and others are suggesting that they defrag their drive.
I have no current problems with Shrink being slow.
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Gringle
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18. March 2005 @ 05:01 |
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I usually check once a, week XP will say if a defrag is required.
gtingle
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18. March 2005 @ 05:07 |
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Two 160GB hard drives probablly don't need to much defragin'.. However for your system to run smooth and fast it would be a good idea to Defrag at least your HD with the operating system on it once a week. As Gringle has already stated you can just set Windows to do this automatically for you. Just choose a time you would normally not be on your computer. Mines during the day when I'm at work :-)
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ScubaBud
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18. March 2005 @ 05:51 |
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snorkel
On sort of the same subject about defragging for speed, how do you have your virtual memory setup on your PC, especially since you do have dual HD's? Maybe now would be a good time to do a defrag of both drives before setting or changing virtual settings, and having the larger page file on your secondary drive, setting both min and max to the same to prevent constant resizing, and just a small amount on your primary, just incase of a premature memory dump. Rule of thumb is 3 times your stick memory for a maximum setting. Below is a jpg of how I have my settings with dual 160?s.
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vike
Junior Member
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18. March 2005 @ 08:40 |
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Just a suggestion, but I defrag my HD before I burn a movie. I've noticed that when I run a defrag analysis before I burn that sometimes the VTS files have between 80 and 150 fragments. Once I even had one split into over 1000 fragments. Ever since I've been defragging before burning, my coaster rate has gone down significantly, especially when using mid grade media such as Ritek, Prodisc etc.
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Gringle
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18. March 2005 @ 13:18 |
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just a bump, 'bout learning.
.
El gringle..
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18. March 2005 @ 13:24 |
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I de-frag everynight. I set my virtual memory to 3000mb, my max is 3072mb. I also disc clean up, adaware, spybot & a square my PC every night. My cookie folder, twice a week.
Gif by Phantom69
 This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 18. March 2005 @ 13:26
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brobear
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18. March 2005 @ 15:10 |
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I have an 80 and a 250GB HD setup. I think the last time I defragged was over a month ago. Really didn't need to then. If I were to start noticing problems or slow downs, then I might do the defrag. I do a lot of DVD backups from HD files. So there is a lot of files being added and deleted. There are 2 schools of thought on defragging. Some people say to do it regularly and others say is isn't as necessary with the newer larger drives. I go along with the latter group and I've not had any problems with my PC. However, I do clean with adware and virus tools on a weekly basis, and I clear files from memory as needed. Disk cleanup is important and emptying the Norton protected files is critical if one adds and deletes files a lot and they have a Norton protected Recycle Bin.
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18. March 2005 @ 15:15 |
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Us BB's think a lot alike... Most the time :-)
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dlc2000
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18. March 2005 @ 16:09 |
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i defrag once a week as my raid setup seems to fragment more quickly than my single drive setup did . i suppose this is normal for a raid 0 setup as i have not had any other issues .
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brobear
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18. March 2005 @ 16:09 |
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BB
Yep... it appears so. I partitioned my drive and put the OS and programs on one partition and leave it alone as far as adding and deleting a lot of files. That saves a lot of defragging and helps keep the system running smooth.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 18. March 2005 @ 16:17
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brobear
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18. March 2005 @ 16:16 |
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dlc2000
Most drives get fragmented quickly when being used. Just look at the map in the defrag utilities. The question is, when does it actually become a problem? Due to the way RAID 0 functions, you're going to see fragmented files quickly. However, it doesn't bother anything unless you start having read errors and/or a slow down. After all, RAID 0 is for speed. I'm not saying not to defrag, just a lot of people waste time doing it too often. Do to individual differences in usage, the schedule really depends on the user.
Currently the XP "Disk Defragmenter" utility calls for my drives to be defragged. I use the Norton Speed Disk utility when I do do it. Even though XP calls for defragging, I'm not having any problems or slowdowns and don't intend to defrag the drives for some time.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 18. March 2005 @ 16:26
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. March 2005 @ 16:36 |
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Defragmenting your hard drive.
Definition of defrag- mentation. As you use your computer, files get spread out all over your hard disk drive. That slows it down because it takes longer to find the data it needs. When you defragment, you optimize your disk, which puts all the files in one place and speeds up disk access.
Prepare to Defragment
Start by preparing your hard drive for optimization. You should uninstall any unneeded programs, remove any data files you no longer want, empty the recycle bin and, most importantly, make sure to back up your data. Defragmentation is generally a safe process, but it's not worth taking any chances.
Defragmenting Process
Now you're ready to defragment. Go to the Control Panel, select Administrative tools, then System Tools, and choose Disk Defragmenter. You can then select Analyze and Windows will tell you if you need to Defragment or not. Click on Defragment. This would be a good time for a coffee break. It takes a while to defragment a hard drive, especially if you've never done it before.
Defragmenting Makes a Difference
After you're through, all your files will optimized and in one place. You should notice an improvement in the speed of your computer right away
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dlc2000
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18. March 2005 @ 16:44 |
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thanks for the info , i defrag once a week with diskeeper and run check disk once a month . diskeeper seems to work very well with the raid . i use my 200 gig seagate mainly for storage and anything that isnt needed by the os . how true is it that defraging too often can cause the drive to become worn out quickly ?
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brobear
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18. March 2005 @ 17:23 |
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It's shortened only by the usage it takes to do the defrag. You're constantly writing to a drive anyway. Defragging is simply rewriting everything into a neat bundle. So, the added hours of work will shorten the lifespan by that much more usage.
BB
I hate to say it, but that post on "defrag- mentation" was a little melodramatic. Where did you find that? It made it sound as though the results are often spectacular. When I do a defrag the results are usually only minimal at best.
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. March 2005 @ 17:36 |
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Well for us experts ;-) that keep the drives snuffy and clean it isn't going to make much of a difference. In fact I just ran the Analyze on mine and it is only fragmented 9%.
However the average Joe blow that has never defragged his/her HD will notice a very big improvement. Trust me on this one BB ;-)
Melodramatic!! HA! MelloYellow maybe?
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. March 2005 @ 17:38 |
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Psssst,
Don't tell, but I haven't Defragged my HD in 4 months :-)
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brobear
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18. March 2005 @ 18:45 |
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About 3 or 4 for me. Then it was following a batch of programming changes.
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dlc2000
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19. March 2005 @ 05:20 |
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i'll be cutting back on defragging to maybe once a month to see how it goes with the raid . i just figured i needed to defrag more often as the raid fragments more quickly than a single drive . 12 times a year shouldnt be too tough on these drives i would hope .
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brobear
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19. March 2005 @ 06:04 |
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dlc2000
You may find you need defragging more as the drives fill up. Lots of data and programs and little free space make for a slower environment, especially when it's fragmented. So, you'll need to keep an eye on things and see what works best for your particular PC. A lot depends on usage and the setup. If I were you, I'd try pushing it at least once to see how far the system will go without having to be defragged. From that you can adjust accordingly. I can tell you real fast, if you depend on the windows utility to let you know when you need to defrag, you're doing it too often.
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Moderator
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19. March 2005 @ 09:27 |
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i'd only do it say once a month or so. no need in unnecessarily wearing out ya poor old hard drive. i rarely bother myself as pc only gets used for dialling up work and dvd copying. the dvds only get ripped to the same area of disk anyway. I support Solaris stuff all day at work where defragging is just not necessary HOWEVER have been known to defrag Veritas-controlled discs. Not because they needed defragging, just because we could!.
I can't schedule my pc to defrag when im not at home as i live on a boat and don't trust leaving pc unattended. have watched one catched fire once (i use AMD cpu now and wouldn't like to thing what would happen if fan/heatsink failed thanks)
as for raid 0 setup thats nice that you can do that stuff on pc's these days. Not something i can use at work tho!- i use mostly RAID10 on JBOD disk arrays, or RAID5 on our SAN. Even have some old RAID5 standalone disk arrays which are pretty clever
:)
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ScubaBud
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20. March 2005 @ 16:58 |
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Just a Heads Up or FYI about Nero and Defrag.
Thought I'd mention what happened to me after I decided to do a little overdue house cleaning myself and defrag my HDD's. Everything went well and I did see a good improvement in my PC after the defrag and resetting of the Virtual Memory onto a ?clean? drive. Today, I decided to watch a DVD I burned a while back on my PC but couldn?t get it to play in my DVD-ROM or Burner. Nero's Showtime would fire up but when I clicked on play, after a few seconds I would get an error message. I decided to reload Nero package one and package two, (package with Showtime,) just for kicks and it did corrected the problem.
Not saying it will happen with anyone else?s, but just incase I figured it wouldn't hurt to post this here in a defrag thread. <G>
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brobear
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20. March 2005 @ 20:26 |
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Good point to emphasize ScubaBud. They do say to have things backed up when one goes to defrag. If data can be lost, it is only reasonable to assume programs can be affected as well.
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fishbulb
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21. March 2005 @ 18:59 |
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could someone explain how to schedule my comp to defrag at a certain time? i know how to defrag manually from the start menu, accessories, etc. but when i look in my schedule tasks under control panel, i can't figure out how to set it.
thanx.
btw, i have two 160 gig hd's. i'll need to schedule both.
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brobear
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21. March 2005 @ 20:15 |
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Utilities like Norton's Speed Disk have a schedule feature in the program. You can set a time or let it defrag at a set fragmentation threshhold. The schedule wizard in Windows is accessed by opening "Add Scheduled Tasks" in the Scheduled Tasks folder in Control Panel. However, I couldn't find a single command that would start Disk Defragmenter. Possibly someone can help there. I don't see a function in the utility itself to set a scheduled defrag.
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