Author Topic: Windows Disk Defragmenter  (Read 20662 times)

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Dch48

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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #30 on: August 04, 2011, 09:15:57 AM »
If you actually analyze your recovery partition with a defragger, you will see that it is usually on the order of 95% fragmented. The main reason why it is not recommended to attempt defragging it is that there is not enough free space in that partition to accommodate all of the file movement that would have to take place. It would most likely fail and leave it in a broken state.

I'll say it again, you should never defragment it unless you want to make it unusable.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 09:19:19 AM by Dch48 »

Offline CraigB

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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #31 on: August 04, 2011, 01:36:01 PM »
If you actually analyze your recovery partition with a defragger, you will see that it is usually on the order of 95% fragmented. The main reason why it is not recommended to attempt defragging it is that there is not enough free space in that partition to accommodate all of the file movement that would have to take place. It would most likely fail and leave it in a broken state.

I'll say it again, you should never defragment it unless you want to make it unusable.
Why does windows have the recovery partition ticked for defragging by default then ? there not going to set it like that if it would do damage.
I just checked my win 7 64 desktop and windows defragmenter said after an analyze that it 0% fragmented then i analyzed the same partition with defraggler and it said 53% fragmented so i defraged the recovery partition with defraggler and now it's 0%  :)

Offline DavidR

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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #32 on: August 04, 2011, 01:44:18 PM »
Perhaps because it just sees it as another HDD partition, I doubt it even knows it is a recovery partition as that in essence is no different to any other partition.

If it were a hidden partition, then perhaps it wouldn't flag it and other partitions by default.
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Offline CraigB

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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #33 on: August 04, 2011, 01:55:46 PM »
Both programs ( win defrag and defraggler ) both recognize that partition as HP Recovery but yes essentially it shouldn't be any different to the other partition.

Offline DavidR

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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #34 on: August 04, 2011, 02:10:46 PM »
Yes, but isn't that just its descriptive name rather than just a drive/partition letter, it isn't actually detecting it as a recovery partition. I name my partitions also and it would just be retrieving that partition name as Puran Defrag does on my system.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 02:14:09 PM by DavidR »
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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #35 on: August 04, 2011, 04:09:14 PM »
Why does windows have the recovery partition ticked for defragging by default then ? there not going to set it like that if it would do damage.
I just checked my win 7 64 desktop and windows defragmenter said after an analyze that it 0% fragmented then i analyzed the same partition with defraggler and it said 53% fragmented so i defraged the recovery partition with defraggler and now it's 0%  :)

a)WD does NOT attempt to defrag a partition if free space is less than 15 percent.
b)WD does NOT display file fragments larger than 64MB in statistics and it does not defrag them either.


I do not have any experience with defragging recovery partitions because a)i would get rid of it if i had it, just like i did on my Acer netbook and b)i've built my own desktop systems since i was 12 yrs old and i never ever owned a desktop brand computer(and never will) such as Dell or HP or whatever. c)Why the hell would i want to defrag it anyway ? Absolutely no real reason to defrag it.

But from the info i posted above it should be clear that WD is extremely safe and should not cause any data loss on partitions. I cannot say the same for 3rd party defraggers but MS designed WD to be really safe.

Offline bob3160

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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #36 on: August 04, 2011, 04:44:12 PM »
Quote
c)Why the hell would i want to defrag it anyway ? Absolutely no real reason to defrag it.
Something nice to do when you have time to waste.  ;D Something nice to do when you listen
to people who tell you that defragging your computer will speed up your computer.  ;D

Would you like some other stupid reasons ???
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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #37 on: August 04, 2011, 04:45:30 PM »
I am We are talking about the recovery partition Bob, not our system partitions or other partitions that our HDD's access all the time.

Offline bob3160

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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #38 on: August 04, 2011, 04:55:06 PM »
I am We are talking about the recovery partition Bob, not our system partitions or other partitions that our HDD's access all the time.
I know which I mentioned wasting time things to do. None of these thing do any good unless you have a totally fragmented drive.
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Offline CraigB

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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #39 on: August 04, 2011, 05:16:52 PM »
Why does windows have the recovery partition ticked for defragging by default then ? there not going to set it like that if it would do damage.
I just checked my win 7 64 desktop and windows defragmenter said after an analyze that it 0% fragmented then i analyzed the same partition with defraggler and it said 53% fragmented so i defraged the recovery partition with defraggler and now it's 0%  :)

a)WD does NOT attempt to defrag a partition if free space is less than 15 percent.
b)WD does NOT display file fragments larger than 64MB in statistics and it does not defrag them either.


I do not have any experience with defragging recovery partitions because a)i would get rid of it if i had it, just like i did on my Acer netbook and b)i've built my own desktop systems since i was 12 yrs old and i never ever owned a desktop brand computer(and never will) such as Dell or HP or whatever. c)Why the hell would i want to defrag it anyway ? Absolutely no real reason to defrag it.

But from the info i posted above it should be clear that WD is extremely safe and should not cause any data loss on partitions. I cannot say the same for 3rd party defraggers but MS designed WD to be really safe.

Good on you for building your own computer at 12 ( your special ) ::) maybe you can try to build your own netbook and then you wont have to buy brand versions of those either, and quite frankly you couldn't build this computer for the price that i paid for it.
I also know that there is no reason to defrag the recovery partition but i wanted to for a test, is that alright with you !
And lastly i fail to see anywhere above that you posted where you have shown that it is safe to defrag recovery, that is why i tested it myself.


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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #40 on: August 04, 2011, 07:48:11 PM »
a)I mentioned that i've been building my own pc's just to explain why i don't own any brand name desktop pc's. I build my own pc's simply because i enjoy doing it and i like to select and buy every component separately. That's not bragging it's simply explaining why i don't own any brand name desktops.

b)Yes i would probably build my own laptop if i did not get this netbook for an amazing price. How does 20 euros sound for a netbook ?

c)Of course it is alright if you want to defrag your recovery partition, i never said you shouldn't, simply that i see no real reason for doing it. What you do with your machines is none of my bussines. You can set them on fire for all i care.

d)If you can't understand why i posted that info on WD(and i am talking about WD not defrag programs in general) then perhaps you need to re-read my post. And if you don't understand it, well then that's your problem.

e)What the hell are you getting so worked up about ?

Offline justinlee

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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #41 on: August 04, 2011, 07:48:49 PM »
Below is some advice i got from a guy called 'Digerati' a Microsoft MVP on w7forums.com

Make of it what you will...

The alternative defraggers are, at best, a waste of disk space, at worse, a waste of money too. It is important to note that if you need to defrag, then defragging is simply treating the symptom, and not the cause of the problem. The cause of the problem is the USER has failed to keep a sufficient amount of "free" disk space available. And the cure is to free up or buy more disk space.

Whenever you defrag a drive, the second, and I mean that literally, the second you start to use that drive again, fragmentation starts again. Temporary Internet files, cookies, OS temp files, revised documents and other files, now a different size, will be moved and/or split, starting the fragmentation process again. For this reason alone, it is pointless to use a more aggressive program to eke out one more percentage point of defragging. All that extra effort is lost, almost immediately.

The absolute best way to minimize the adverse affects of fragmentation is to ensure you have ample free space on the drive. If you are defragmenting because you are low on disk space, it is senseless, and counterproductive to download yet another program that takes up more space.

To optimize defragging, boot into Safe Mode, run Windows Disk Cleanup to purge your system of 1000s of cookies and temporary files. Reboot into Safe Mode again to delete any files Disk Cleanup (or CC) could not delete while running, then run defrag.

Note: Do NOT run any defragger (including Windows 7 defragger) automatically via a schedule. The scheduled defragging will be counterproductive due to the 1000s of temp files on the disk.

Note 2: I am not saying the alternative defraggers are no good, I am just saying they are not needed, and are a waste of disk space. Windows' own is just fine, and already there.
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Hard_ROCKER

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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #42 on: August 04, 2011, 08:38:08 PM »
I actually agree with Digerati(he knows what he is talking about btw), but his post is assuming that you have all your data on a single partition on a single HDD. Not all of us have that kind of a setup.

Dch48

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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #43 on: August 04, 2011, 10:27:45 PM »
Quote
c)Why the hell would i want to defrag it anyway ? Absolutely no real reason to defrag it.
Something nice to do when you have time to waste.  ;D Something nice to do when you listen
to people who tell you that defragging your computer will speed up your computer.  ;D

Would you like some other stupid reasons ???
The second one is not stupid actually, it can speed up the computer if the fragmentation is excessive. For the gamers among us, it also can make a big difference if the game files (some of which can be as large as 4gb) are fragmented causing excessive seeking by the HD during game play. It is true though that today's hard disks are so much faster than the ones that existed when defraggers came into vogue that defragmentation now has far less impact on overall system performance than it did back then.

Having said that, defragging the recovery partition will have no effect at all on performance since it's very rarely, if ever, accessed.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 10:30:38 PM by Dch48 »

Offline bob3160

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Re: Windows Disk Defragmenter
« Reply #44 on: August 04, 2011, 10:33:53 PM »
Quote
c)Why the hell would i want to defrag it anyway ? Absolutely no real reason to defrag it.
Something nice to do when you have time to waste.  ;D Something nice to do when you listen
to people who tell you that defragging your computer will speed up your computer.  ;D

Would you like some other stupid reasons ???
The second one is not stupid actually, it can speed up the computer if the fragmentation is excessive. For the gamers among us, it also can make a big difference if the game files (some of which can be as large as 4gb) are fragmented causing excessive seeking by the HD during game play. It is true though that today's hard disks are so much faster than the ones that existed when defraggers came into vogue that defragmentation now has far less impact on overall system performance than it did back then.

Having said that, defragging the recovery partition will have no effect at all on performance since it's very rarely, if ever, accessed.
If you had read the following, you would have realized that that statement was already made. :)
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=82380.msg674777#msg674777
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