Defragmenting C Drive

  • Thread starter milefile
  • 31 comments
  • 1,525 views
milefile

milefile

10,832
When I do it, it keeps starting over and never seems to get past 10%. Anyone know why? I've never done it before. I have a 40 gig drive and about two years worth of stuff on it. Do I just need to be more patient? The thing that made my quit it was that it kept starting over. I think it said "disk contents changed... starting over."
 
Press ctrl+alt+delete and close everything down except Explorer. I had the same problem and when we rang up a help desk thats what they told us.
But it's best to get a second opinion from someone here, there has been many a time when I've been wrong.
 
Restart in ms-dos mode and run defrag from there. I don't know how exactly but if you know the basic DOS commands I'm sure it's easy.
 
Originally posted by Klostrophobic
Restart in ms-dos mode and run defrag from there. I don't know how exactly but if you know the basic DOS commands I'm sure it's easy.
Click to expand...

usually
c:\windows\defrag.exe ,
c:\windows\system\defrag.exe ,or
c:\windows\system32\defrag.exe
 
My PC does something similar. I have a 30 GB HDD. It does eventually get past 10%.

I should do my next defrag in DOS. I'm not sure of how much of a difference it would make; I think it just takes a while to move some of the larger files.
 
That 10% thing happens alot to my laptop. I just set it up and let it go while i go out or to work.

I think it has something to do with missing links and stuff to files.
 
It has something to do with the system tray, those programs are open and are using the hard drive, just close all of them except explorer in the ctrl-alt-delete menu like I said before and it will work. Thats why I always do, but who listens to me?
 
Originally posted by Cobraboy
It has something to do with the system tray, those programs are open and are using the hard drive, just close all of them except explorer in the ctrl-alt-delete menu like I said before and it will work. Thats why I always do, but who listens to me?
Click to expand...

that would be nice if it worked for me laptop:D I tried that, and it kept starting over at about 10%, then it would go to 13%, then a little higher and so forth.
 
Originally posted by space
that would be nice if it worked for me laptop:D I tried that, and it kept starting over at about 10%, then it would go to 13%, then a little higher and so forth.
Click to expand...

WTF? me latptop? what am i, a pirate? arg, me laptop, shiver me timbers!
 
Firstly: These days, if you have a reasonable amount of free space on your drive, you don't really need to worry about defragmenting. Drives are so fast these days that it doesn't give much of a speed advantage.

Secondly: If you want to defragment your drive, you would do better buying something like Norton Utilities. The Speed Disk component of NU is actually intellligent, tracking your usage of files, and placing strategic files next to each other, so that, for example, all the files needed to start Word are placed together, in order. This allows your drive to simply stream the contents into memory, and does provide a significant speed improvement.

The W98 defrag routine is worthless.
 
Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
Firstly: These days, if you have a reasonable amount of free space on your drive, you don't really need to worry about defragmenting. Drives are so fast these days that it doesn't give much of a speed advantage.

Secondly: If you want to defragment your drive, you would do better buying something like Norton Utilities. The Speed Disk component of NU is actually intellligent, tracking your usage of files, and placing strategic files next to each other, so that, for example, all the files needed to start Word are placed together, in order. This allows your drive to simply stream the contents into memory, and does provide a significant speed improvement.

The W98 defrag routine is worthless.
Click to expand...

I was going off of this information, and the fact that my computer has slowed some:

"In the course of troubleshooting Windows 95/98 problems, I have found that Windows is extremely sensitive to hard disk fragmentation. Even with gigabytes of free disk space, fragmentation can slow Windows to a crawl and cause lockups, crashes, etc. "
 
Originally posted by milefile
I was going off of this information, and the fact that my computer has slowed some:

"In the course of troubleshooting Windows 95/98 problems, I have found that Windows is extremely sensitive to hard disk fragmentation. Even with gigabytes of free disk space, fragmentation can slow Windows to a crawl and cause lockups, crashes, etc. "
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, W98 doesn't really help you to locate problems like this.

I would suggest though, as a result of working with 95 and 98 machines for the last three years, that slowdowns rarely result from excessive disk fragmentation (assuming the drive has a reasonable amount of free space). Usually there is a hardware conflict or a memory leak. But like I say, W98 doesn't really help you find these things. I hate it a lot.
 
You should also try Diskeeper 7, i use it regulary to defrag my c:\ drive and it works at a reasonably fast speed on my 75.4gb HDD
 
Um, to speed up your defraging, it also helps to have plenty of free space on the hdd to give some swap space and allow more clusters to be moved in a single process rather than having to use 5 processes for the same amount. I use Norton Speed Disk, it works great, also has a great key that tells you the different types of files and how it moves them. It also lets you either save the lost clusters or delete them:fire:
 
Also, starting the computer in safe mode usually does the trick on our old 98SE computer.

I've never tried Norton Speed Disk. Is there anywhere I could download a trial?

OA
 
The system I have now should be able to run XP. Why I don't have it: When my mom and grandfather went to get the PC in Sept. 2001 *kicks self for not going w/ them;) :P *, they went to a pothead PC guy who said 98SE was better than XP *lying asshole;) *. In other words, if i went w/ them, my PC would've had XP and a good graphics card.:D *But stupid me didn't go w/ them, so i'm stuck w/ 98SE and a garbage graphics card (our pothead PC guy thought once again that it was good; the damn thing can't even run GTA3 w/ out serious framerate problems:rolleyes: , which is why i don't have it in.:( )
 
Originally posted by RVDNuT374
The system I have now should be able to run XP. Why I don't have it: When my mom and grandfather went to get the PC in Sept. 2001 *kicks self for not going w/ them;) :P *, they went to a pothead PC guy who said 98SE was better than XP *lying asshole;) *. In other words, if i went w/ them, my PC would've had XP and a good graphics card.:D *But stupid me didn't go w/ them, so i'm stuck w/ 98SE and a garbage graphics card (our pothead PC guy thought once again that it was good; the damn thing can't even run GTA3 w/ out serious framerate problems:rolleyes: , which is why i don't have it in.:( )
Click to expand...
Bah. Get your computer built. It is cheaper than buying a PC.

Example: My Dad's AMD Athlon 2000+, WinXP Home, 512mb, GeForce 4 MX 64mb computer cost him about $2,700 to get built by the computer place we go to. To get that exact same computer at a place like Harvey Norman (Australian shop) would probably cost aroun $3,500. I have my Dad's Athlon computer now and I swapped that **** GeForce 4 MX 64mb for my GeForce 4 Ti4200 128mb.
 
Originally posted by duo17
Also, starting the computer in safe mode usually does the trick on our old 98SE computer.

I've never tried Norton Speed Disk. Is there anywhere I could download a trial?

OA
Click to expand...
Kazaa. It's like a 400kb download.
 
He said trial, not full version.

If the win 98 defrag keeps restarting just shut down as many processes as possible. Although the best thing you can do to a Win98 box that is running slow is just, back up your data, reformat and re-install.

Then there is no need for a defrag.
 
What graphics card does your PC have, RVD? Also, I'd suggest saving for an XP upgrade if you can.... :)


GF4s are only getting cheaper, too.... :D
 
Originally posted by risingson77
What graphics card does your PC have, RVD? Also, I'd suggest saving for an XP upgrade if you can.... :)


GF4s are only getting cheaper, too.... :D
Click to expand...
Yes, because the new Geforce FX is coming out soon.
 

Latest Posts

Back