Defrag problems

[Sang]

Wanted to do a defrag on this comp... But as I'm sure you know, even a minor change in the contents of the partition you're defragging is enough to make the whole process start over (to a certain degree, it doesn't do all the work again but it's still a timehog)

Well - that's my problem. The program says there has been a change on the partition even though I never did anything and it keeps restarting. I mean, I had the sucker running for 24 hours and then it was at 50%.. I decided to call it quits because holy cow

Though why does this keep happening? Any theories?

[ReaganNukem]

Make sure nothing extraneous to Windows is running in the background and disable screensaver. It could be many things, but that's usually what causes defrag to restart.

[Phait]

Do it in safe mode too.

[Scream]

Yes, assuming you're using XP and assuming you're using the included Windows defrag program, boot to "safemode with command prompt" and use the "defrag" command from the prompt as per:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283080/en-us

[Dave-ros]

Virus checkers used to trick the system into thinking something had changed on the hard drive when it hadn't -- could that be happening, or is that a relic of the Win98 days?

[Scream]

Wouldn't surprise me if it was something like that. The Windows defrag program has trouble doing it's job under the best of conditions. Safe mode command prompt is the surest bet.

[Sang]

@Reagan - I did know that for myself so that's not the problem.
@Scream - You assume wrong, this defrag is happening on my old win98 comp :)
@Phait - Sounds like good advice but I totally forgot how to start up Safe Mode in Win98.

Perhaps I could use a 3rd party program that's better at this, though?

[Geir]

Holding F8 while starting up the computer puts Windows into safe mode.

[NutWrench]

@Scream - You assume wrong, this defrag is happening on my old win98 comp :)


Turn off your screensaver. Defrag should work ok, then.

[Kevin Wolff]

Wanted to do a defrag on this comp... But as I'm sure you know, even a minor change in the contents of the partition you're defragging is enough to make the whole process start over
What the hell? Windows Defrag hasn't done anything like that since Windows ME. The 2000/XP/Vista defragmenters never need to start over when something changes. They run a little slower, but they don't start from the beginning.

[Phait]

@Phait - Sounds like good advice but I totally forgot how to start up Safe Mode in Win98.



Buy a new PC. Problem solved.