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How to defrag a HDD properly

Dyno said:
I don't think defragging on Vista or Windows 7 would make much of a difference. Something is definitely different with Vista/Windows 7 compared to XP. I'm running PerfectDisk 11 and that's all you need. Another thing, don't defrag if you're running SSD, no need too.

"Why not to defrag SSD"
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=Why+not+to+defrag+SSD&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=bcdf8cbbf06dc4f
Click to expand...

vista and 7 automatically schedule defrags when you arent watching. thats why its not as 'neccesary' any more.
Fragmented -> defragmented = faster
Defragmented -> sorted = faster again
superfetch helps too, but as we've just been told - losing 10-15s off load times in a large game is totally worth the effort.


all these free defraggers only do the 'fragmented files' method, as i listed in the first post. read the differences in the methods carefully, and you'll see WHY you want a proper defragger.
 
agreed mussels i love the time saved in crysis and other games i seriously think if im saving 5-15 minutes a day off my LOADING times thats just awesome :toast:
 
If you use Adobe CS4 suite, you'll appreciate the directory consolidation/sorting in addition to defragging; it definitely improves the Bridge thumbnail extraction/preview times for folders with large numbers of RAW files. A defragged drive with directories consolidated is much easier to work with than a fragmented one. The Diskeeper version I use has auto-everything lol...auto directory consolidation as well as auto sequencing/placement based on frequency of access. You can also manually specify files/folders for placement but it's not recommended for some reason.

Don't quote me on this, but I think DK's i-faast benchmarks the file system to find out the fastest logical blocks (since logical block does not always correspond to the physical block) to use for most frequently used files.
 
I've heard a lot of good things about JK defrag. It's free and has all the optimization options. However it is console based and you need to learn all the commands first. I'm personally pretty happy with defraggler - simple and fast.

Edit: Apparently they've renamed the project to mydefrag and have added a GUI
 
How would I put my Windows 7 in a partition? Never done that sort of thing before but would be interested to try it along with this defragging method. Any help would be appreciated :)
 
LifeOnMars said:
How would I put my Windows 7 in a partition? Never done that sort of thing before but would be interested to try it along with this defragging method. Any help would be appreciated :)
Click to expand...

you have to do it when you install windows.
 
Mussels said:
you have to do it when you install windows.
Click to expand...

Not 100% true( Does increase your chances though ) as i did it when i got my laptop. Although i did defrag it to make sure as many files as possible were at the start of the disk 1st.

Then it was as simple as using disk management and right clicking HDD and resizing it.
 
AsRock said:
Not 100% true as i did it when i got my laptop. Although i did defrag it to make sure as many files as possible were at the start of the disk 1st.

Then it was as simple as using disk management and right clicking HDD and resizing it.
Click to expand...

i dont trust disk management resizing, i always end up with a corrupted drive.
 
Mussels said:
i dont trust disk management resizing, i always end up with a corrupted drive.
Click to expand...

Yes i could happen but can happen with any software. Funny though it never happened to me with Vista or win7. It is rare i do it though and when i do i backup every thing 1st which your supposed to anyways.
 
Very nice Mussels, good stuff.

I have all my games on a separate HDD so there for just a normal defrag would be good enough for this?

Same with my OS and storage drive there all on different HDD's.
 
Melvis said:
Very nice Mussels, good stuff.

I have all my games on a separate HDD so there for just a normal defrag would be good enough for this?

Same with my OS and storage drive there all on different HDD's.
Click to expand...

definitely do a name based defrag on the games drive.
 
Here's a question : I KNOW why most all defraggers use the "safe" / Non-Volatile method of Read->Write->Clear->Read->Write->Delete So lets not waste time discussing that, What I want to know is - are there any defragmenters that use RAM to perform VOLATILE defragmentation?

The thing is, I have some large and severely backed up drives that get fragmented rather quickly, defragmenting them is a MAJOR problem as it takes a ffking AGE AND A HALF, and interferes with operation (Again lets not waste time discussing WHY lets just work on the actual question)

Now If it was defragmenting by caching directly to ram between the read-write of the move mathematically it would complete 60%+ faster and I KNOW this because I once HAD a very primitive defragmernter for DOS/Win98 that did this, and it was actually FASTER than 60% faster.

YES the move is volatile and if the power fails waah waah waah... but I don't care, the drives are hell'a backed up AND even if not I'd be more than happy to risk it what with my UPS's and so on.

So to wrap up all my blather : Does anyone know of a defrag app that can perform RAM cached / VOLATILE defragmentation? (For Win7-64 and so on?), and save me a huge pile of time....
 
no, none do that method. too risky.

just use a proper defragger (that uses the same organised method each time) and subsequent defrags will be much quicker.
 
Mussels said:
definitely do a name based defrag on the games drive.
Click to expand...

Do i tick any of the boxes under the Folder/File options?

or just select Folder/File name and start the defrag?
 
Melvis said:
Do i tick any of the boxes under the Folder/File options?

or just select Folder/File name and start the defrag?
Click to expand...

depends if you want to sort them - i suggest doing as i show in the OP (theres pictures!), and pick folders for high and low performance.
 
Mussels said:
no, none do that method. too risky.

just use a proper defragger (that uses the same organised method each time) and subsequent defrags will be much quicker.
Click to expand...

AAGH - what part of I'm already doing that and its not acceptable and I don't care about the risk as it is utterly void between the backup drives and the UPS's did you miss?

(Said playfully - not bitchfully like it sounds)

Its a couple of 2TB drives that are like 80% full of THOUSANDS of files that all change in size on a daily basis, believe me there is no QUICK defrag ever...

I know I may be Splat out of luck on this front, but there must be somebody somwhere that has seen one?
 
BazookaJoe said:
AAGH - what part of I'm already doing that and its not acceptable and I don't care about the risk as it is utterly void between the backup drives and the UPS's did you miss?

(Said playfully - not bitchfully like it sounds)

Its a couple of 2TB drives that are like 80% full of THOUSANDS of files that all change in size on a daily basis, believe me there is no QUICK defrag ever...

I know I may be Splat out of luck on this front, but there must be somebody somwhere that has seen one?
Click to expand...

you're asking about something so unwanted, that you're gunna hafta code it yourself :P
 
Mussels said:
you're asking about something so unwanted, that you're gunna hafta code it yourself :P
Click to expand...

Sounds like a challenge! :)

Heh - naah.. I was once a mighty force back in the days of 16Bit, but I'm too old for such levels of hackery today... Damn object oriented BS! Get off mah lawn!! *waves walker in the air*
 
so this should seriously be stickied. and for some reason it leaves my disk 6.14% fragmented, its killing me! i can figure out how to select the fragmented files and defrag them, maybe someone can help me
 
Have you tries a boot time defrag. That 6.14% might be MFT, system, volumes shadow copy files, page and other files that are lock while in the OS.

If your software has an option for boot time defrag of those files use that...

Or, you can try this:Puran Defrag Free Edition 7.1

Main Features Include -

Puran Intelligent Optimizer - PIOZR
Directories Consolidation for speed boost
Optimization by Freeing Space
Automatic Defragmentation for worry free defrag
Boot Time Defragmentation for system files like MFT
Low Priority Defrag for work while defrag experience
Individual File/Folder Defrag for selective defrag
GUI and Console Command Line Defrag Supported
Restart/Shutdown After Boot Time Defragmentation
File/Folder Exclusion or exclusion by wildcard facility
File Deletion or deletion by wildcard facility
Native support for 64Bit Windows
Supports Windows Xp/2003/Vista/2008/7

:)
 
overclocking101 said:
so this should seriously be stickied. and for some reason it leaves my disk 6.14% fragmented, its killing me! i can figure out how to select the fragmented files and defrag them, maybe someone can help me
Click to expand...

like viper said, those are quite likely to be files that are 'in use' - you cant defrag em.


The only way to get everything defragged properly is to move the drive to another machine and defrag it there, or use a boot time defragger (which i have little experience with, as most dont work with x64 OS)
 
Mussels said:
like viper said, those are quite likely to be files that are 'in use' - you cant defrag em.


The only way to get everything defragged properly is to move the drive to another machine and defrag it there, or use a boot time defragger (which i have little experience with, as most dont work with x64 OS)
Click to expand...

Or dual boot from one OS to the other :).
 
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