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  • #2150394

    Should you ever defrag “D” disk?

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    by ddenmgt ·

    Is it ever necessary to defrag “D” disk. I was told that doing so would wipe out my computer. I’m running Window XP.

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    • #2922718

      Clarifications

      by ddenmgt ·

      In reply to Should you ever defrag “D” disk?

      Clarifications

    • #2922715

      Why defrag?.

      by Anonymous ·

      In reply to Should you ever defrag “D” disk?

      Yes do a defrag.
      Just a little info..

      Windows comes with a collection of house cleaning tools, including ScanDisk, Disk Defragmenter and Disk Cleanup, to help keep your disk in peak working order.

      Why should you bother with the housework? A couple of reasons. First, disks are hard working, mechanical devices and, like all mechanical devices, prone to failure. A little preventative maintenance can warn you of potential problems and fix minor glitches before they can do damage to your data.

      Second, the way files are organised on your drive has a perceptible impact on the performance of your computer. If your files are stored neatly, end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk is speedier.

      What is file fragmentation?

      Sometimes when you install a program or create a data file, the file ends up chopped up into chunks and stored in multiple locations on the disk. This is called fragmentation.

      What makes this happen?

      When you first install your operating system and programs on your hard disk, they are written to the disk, for the most part, in one contiguous block without any gaps. The exceptions are certain system files that must be stored in specific locations. Over time, as you create and then delete documents or uninstall programs, once-filled locations are left empty and you end up with files dotted all over the disk.

      Now, when Windows is writing a file to the disk, it looks for a suitable piece of free space in which to store it. What happens, then, when you copy a 40M database or audio file to the disk and the biggest slice of free space is only 30M? Or say you modify an existing file, appending a whole bunch of data so the file now takes up more space on the disk. To accommodate the files, Windows writes the first part of the file in one section of the disk and then scouts around for other places to store the rest of the file. The end result is that a single file may be stored in several chunks scattered about the disk.

      Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

    • #2922710

      It depends

      by nepenthe0 ·

      In reply to Should you ever defrag “D” disk?

      If your [b]D[/b] drive is a recovery partition, that should not require defragmenting. If your [b]D[/b] drive is simply another partition of the hard drive, where you can store your data files, then periodically running defragmenting software will speed transfer rates from the hard drive when you wish to access these files.

      If data files are important, back them up to an external hard drive or CD. I have never lost a data file to corruption running a defragmentation application, but there are many such applications available, and some might be capable of causing damage.

      If you are satisfied with transfer rates, don’t bother defragmenting the drive unless you’re a compulsive housekeeper who always wants to keep everything ship shape.

      • #2922700

        Utter rubbish – NAME a defragger that corrupts data !! …

        by older mycroft ·

        In reply to It depends

        I dare you!!

        “[i]..don’t bother defragmenting the drive unless you’re a compulsive housekeeper..[/i]” – coming from the guy who runs with zero antivirus and then backs-up his entire disk image religiously – [b]that’s rich!![/b]

        Where do you get these crazy ideas from?

        • #2922670

          Off Topic But You Asked…

          by rkuhn040172 ·

          In reply to Utter rubbish – NAME a defragger that corrupts data !! …

          Almost all defraggers will cause problems if you attempt to defrag a data store on a mail server if it isn’t brought offline properly first.

          I know, I know not pertinent to this discussion, but you did say “name a defragger that corrupts data”. 🙂

        • #2922665

          Sheesh !! Bet you enjoyed that. ;)

          by older mycroft ·

          In reply to Off Topic But You Asked…

          .

        • #2923482

          I Did!

          by rkuhn040172 ·

          In reply to Sheesh !! Bet you enjoyed that. ;)

          I learned a long time ago to never say “never” or “always”.

          There are few if any absolutes in life.

          🙂

        • #2923688

          Yah, but you couldn’t…

          by boxfiddler ·

          In reply to Off Topic But You Asked…

          without a specific circumstance in place! 😀

        • #2923583

          Just to mention

          by w2ktechman ·

          In reply to Utter rubbish – NAME a defragger that corrupts data !! …

          if the drive is working fine, and fragmentation is low, then the ‘don’t bother’ attitude works fine.
          In fact, the defragmentor program may even say that it is not needed.

          Ok, but for the OP it probably wasnt, however I didnt see a problem with that post.

          I do recommend defragmenting regularly. However, some things to consider when defragmenting

          Some programs do not like being used while defragmentation is running. It is a good idea to close programs before running a defragmentor.

          If you suspect any HDD issues, running a defragmentor may make things worse! In this case, opt NOT to run it, at least until a proper backup and disc scan are completed.

        • #2923553

          I should’ve set some Ground Rules, like …

          by older mycroft ·

          In reply to Utter rubbish – NAME a defragger that corrupts data !! …

          Do defrag but do it like I do it (not just as I say):

          Every Saturday morning I sit down in front of SAL9000 and fire up episodes of Thunderbirds or Fireball XL5 and have a trip down memory lane. Being that I live in a Village, its Summer, with my windows open, invariably some passers-by hear the familiar sounds of the Gerry Anderson classics and stick their head in the window for a look-see.

          While all this is going on, my gaming rig is locked into minimal boot, offline, running a set routine for clearing out all the usual detritus, then running Registry Mechanic on deepscan and then defragmenting the registry, then invoking PerfectDisk across all 1.25TB of hard drives.

          That gives plenty of time for a chat, more coffees and more Thunderbirds / XL5.

          Sundays is a different affair. ZEN-ORAC becomes the media centre for the day, while SAL9000 has a clean out.

          I just assumed everyone would know the system was effectively down before defragmenting. 😀

    • #2922682

      Yes

      by rob miners ·

      In reply to Should you ever defrag “D” disk?

      if you have Data on there that you periodically or constantly access. No if the Data is only a copy of your entire DVD collection.

      • #2923578

        But, But

        by w2ktechman ·

        In reply to Yes

        then they wont stream as well 🙁

        BTW — who would put their DVD collection on D:?? Isnt it usually just a CD burner?? :^0

        • #2923574

          Mate, I have seen it :D

          by rob miners ·

          In reply to But, But

          and then they complain when they can’t add another DVD because the Drive is full. 😉
          They don’t even think to use F: and burn it off. :p

          or was that E: or G:
          These days when I go to the fridge I am not sure if I came to get somthing or I have just put something back. :p

        • #2923569

          I have seen it too

          by w2ktechman ·

          In reply to Mate, I have seen it :D

          actually, I know someone who got a network disk array just for that reason — oops, I meant it was for cd’s and DVDs AND pictures.

    • #2923650

      Only once

      by mjd420nova ·

      In reply to Should you ever defrag “D” disk?

      Each unit that I have that has had an older drive added from an older system, that is when I’ve built a new system, loaded the OS and got all the software to play nice together, I’ll install the old drive as the “D” drive so I’ll have access to all the things I saved to that older unit system drive. Makes it simpler than searching through backup disks to find those wallpaper, pictures, video, audio and data files I want available from the older system. Usually it is only a week since the last defrag when I idled the unit but I’ll defrag it once more and then begin to use it as a spare storage drive depending on how much space is left. No need to defrag anymore. Normally a defrag is needed to get updates and upgrades of your OS and software coordinated into contiguous order to facilitate quicker loading of the OS and other programs.

      • #2923581

        ???

        by w2ktechman ·

        In reply to Only once

        “Normally a defrag is needed to get updates and upgrades of your OS and software coordinated into contiguous order to facilitate quicker loading of the OS and other programs. ”

        I never used defrag to get updates for my OS :^0 :^0 How does that work :^0

        Ok, I think a correction from what you meant is in order.
        Defragmenting the disk is primarily for both Data that gets changed often AND for updated OS files. However, oft changed data is the primary reason for the need to defrag.

      • #2923575

        Ah guys isn’t the CD/DVD ROM the default D drive?

        by cg it ·

        In reply to Only once

        if so, how does one defrag a CD/DVD?

        I think this question was the Wednesday 5:00pm funny from ddenmgt….

        • #2923571

          That my friend is a Defragging good question ;)

          by rob miners ·

          In reply to Ah guys isn’t the CD/DVD ROM the default D drive?

          The Key word here is ‘Disk’ not ‘Drive’. I missed that. 😉

          Bloody good pickup. 🙂

          But then again if the OP is calling a Disk a Drive. It then becomes a Drive and not a Disk. It really depends on when the other Partitions are created as to whether it is D: or not. 😉

        • #2923550

          No no no – it’s whether it’s Disk or DISC …

          by older mycroft ·

          In reply to That my friend is a Defragging good question ;)

          Honestly, do I have to always point out that it’s all in the spelling. Oops! Touchy subject!

          DISK would be 11 inch, 8 inch, 5 1/4 inch, 3 1/2 inch, or hard.

          DISC would be CD, or DVD.

          Thumb drives don’t count – they don’t rotate so cannot be called circular. 😉

        • #2923541

          Bloody Hell Mate!

          by rob miners ·

          In reply to No no no – it’s whether it’s Disk or DISC …

          I always thought that a disc was a record. You know the old 78rpm’s. I’m gonna cut a disc, make a record 45rpm. :p

          Jeeze how far behind are we? 🙂

          I had to turn my clock back 20 years when I moved up here. ]:)

        • #2923568

          Well it all depends

          by w2ktechman ·

          In reply to Ah guys isn’t the CD/DVD ROM the default D drive?

          when you defrag your cd or dvd, does it corrupt the drive???

          Maybe the Windows defragger is not being used. Maybe, the cd burner will try to re-write the disc(s) and that is the source of the corruption :0

          Hmmm, free downloads from nasty sites — trust==NO

        • #2923564

          Nothing happens :)

          by rob miners ·

          In reply to Well it all depends

          when I tried it with Vista from the Command Line. The PC is still working though. :p

        • #2922347

          well when he mentioned drive D I thought huh?

          by cg it ·

          In reply to Nothing happens :)

          the BIOS assigns the first HDD as C: and the CD Rom D: so when the poster said defrag D: I thought 😀 especially when he mentions screwing up the computer…why would defraggind a HDD with the drive letter assignment D: screw up a computer? Must be a joke…

        • #2922319

          Someone is having a lend

          by rob miners ·

          In reply to well when he mentioned drive D I thought huh?

          of someone. 🙂

          It is certainly getting a bit of attention. 🙂

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