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do you defrag?

post #1 of 25
3/19/04 at 5:26am
Thread Starter 
I read in an article in pcworld (feb issue i believe) that defrag doesn't really do anything. Well my hd is 70% fragmented, so I went ahead and defragged, but i'm curious if this actually provides a boost in performance. What do you guys think?
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post #2 of 25
3/19/04 at 6:03am
I reformat so often that defraging is worthless.
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post #3 of 25
3/19/04 at 6:39am
I haven't defragged in so long that I actually forgot that I could.
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post #4 of 25
3/19/04 at 7:43am
I do it once a week, I don't think i've ever experienced any sudden performance boosts, but i do it because it just may make the performace on my machine fractionally better, and i don't think it can ever hurt you to do it.
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post #5 of 25
3/19/04 at 7:46am
I do it whenever I install or uninstall any major application or game..... and if I haven't installed anything in a while I make sure I defrag once a fortnight, it just helps keep things smooth
stu
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post #6 of 25
3/19/04 at 7:53am
i defrag 1 a week, plus as the other guy said after uninstalling programs.
then i also run registry mechanic to clean up.

defrag also before installing progs.
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post #7 of 25
3/19/04 at 12:34pm
I do it every couple of weeks.
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post #8 of 25
3/19/04 at 1:55pm
I have to go with the person that I don't even remember there was a feature like that. I don't install a lot of software on my computer and all I do is use the same software over and over again. I try to do it once a year if I remember. Other then that I also try to reformat my hard drive once a year to speed it up.
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post #9 of 25
3/19/04 at 11:23pm
its been about oh... 2 Dell laptops since Ive defragged and ive had no hardrive performance porblems what so ever
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post #10 of 25
3/19/04 at 11:53pm
Sakor1 hit it on the head. Your data on your hard drive becomes "fragmented" when you add apps or data and delete them. If you did a clean install and never installed or deleted another application from that point on, your hard drive would have minimal fragmentation - maybe in the data areas. When I do a clean install, I usually defrag before I make an image of it. You would be surprised that there is a bit of fragmentation even with a clean install and a few apps like office, adobe acrobat etc. Of course before I run it, I clean up the drive a bit (empty recycle bin, clear temp internet files, history, recent file list and temp files, delete the files in the prefetch folder etc).
How often depends on your PC usage habits. Delete and add a lot of apps and data, more often - and less if you just browse the web and use email.

I also have a seperate partition for my pagefile also and make it static.

Think of defragging as trying to just optomize the hard drive by rearranging the files so they can be read optimally. (where as scandisk will try to "fix" problems.)

Now you may not see a giant difference in performance, but any bit can help. And its FREE.
I do my data partitons (lots of downloads and stuff) once every couple months and maybe my primary Windows partition once a month (after deleting the items I mentioned above).
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post #11 of 25
3/20/04 at 12:04am
I wipe my drive a couple times a year, works better than defrag imo.

B.
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post #12 of 25
3/20/04 at 12:12am
I agree with that! Thats the best way to go to get it running the cleanest. Get rid of the old stuff you never uninstalled or old junk left in the registry, like several versions of video driver references etc... Clean install is the best way to go.
It just takes more time obviously and then the reinstallation of the apps. Ghost works well for archiving an already tweaked system image for quick reinstalls. (as long a you don't have a lot of data to mess with backing up)
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post #13 of 25
3/20/04 at 12:37am
If all you do is play games, or other activities that don't make or change data much, and you don't install/uninstall, it probably wouldn't make much difference. But I create or modify a couple of gigs a day and it makes a big difference. A very noticeable difference.
So, just like doing backups, I defrag regularly.

I sort of question DELL Machina's statement about not noticing any problems. Of course you wouldn't. It's only when you do it that you notice an improvment.

I've read that doing regular backups doesn't aid performance, until you have a major crash with a drive doing a full sepeku. Up til then, its a complete waste of time.
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post #14 of 25
3/20/04 at 11:25pm
I do a reformat once a year the difference is minimal and I notice quite a bit when it comes to performance.
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post #15 of 25
3/21/04 at 8:22pm
I reformat two-three times per year and each time it's like a new machine. I love it!
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post #16 of 25
3/21/04 at 9:09pm
Defragging the hard drives is vital, because hard drives are mechanical and a severely fragmented drive can wear your hard drive down prematurely and cause mechanical failures.

Programs like Diskeeper 8 Perfect Disk and O & O and VoptXP 7 do a tremendous job of defragging the hard drives. Plus you notice tremendous performance increases when it comes to system responsiveness. Especially in searches and opening directories. Also when playing Games...

Some of you guys mentioned you format and reinstall the OS 1 or 2 times a year & it's better to do that than defrag your hard drives. I'll clue you in on something, your drives are already 20% to 40% fragmented after you install the OS & then if you do all the updates your supposed to do they can be as much as 50% Fragmented...
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post #17 of 25
3/22/04 at 3:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by PoorBoy
Some of you guys mentioned you format and reinstall the OS 1 or 2 times a year & it's better to do that than defrag your hard drives. I'll clue you in on something, your drives are already 20% to 40% fragmented after you install the OS & then if you do all the updates your supposed to do they can be as much as 50% Fragmented...
I think most of them are aware of this, and defrag right after the install. Why they say it is a better option is because it totally wipes everything, meaning all those little files, pics and other useless knicknacks you accumulate over time but never use will be gone as well.

stu
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post #18 of 25
3/22/04 at 4:20am
I never defrag but let me explain why.

I have two 60GB HD's installed in my notebook and about once a week I'll Ghost from one hard drive to the other and then right back again. When performing disk to disk images using Ghost, the target drive will always be left defragmented, even when the source drive is heavily fragmented. This is using Ghost's default file by file backup setting and not the byte by byte option. I performed a disk to disk backup earlier today and you can tell from the results that other than IE's cache my primary drive is defragmented:
HTML Code:
Volume (C:)
    Volume size                                = 55.89 GB
    Cluster size                               = 4 KB
    Used space                                 = 36.15 GB
    Free space                                 = 19.74 GB
    Percent free space                         = 35 %

Volume fragmentation
    Total fragmentation                        = 0 %
    File fragmentation                         = 1 %
    Free space fragmentation                   = 0 %

File fragmentation
    Total files                                = 85,140
    Average file size                          = 500 KB
    Total fragmented files                     = 390
    Total excess fragments                     = 638
    Average fragments per file                 = 1.00

Pagefile fragmentation
    Pagefile size                              = 1.50 GB
    Total fragments                            = 1

Folder fragmentation
    Total folders                              = 3,795
    Fragmented folders                         = 11
    Excess folder fragments                    = 243

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
    Total MFT size                             = 99 MB
    MFT record count                           = 88,975
    Percent MFT in use                         = 87 %
    Total MFT fragments                        = 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fragments       File Size       Most fragmented files
33              140 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\0HMVKTAR
32              132 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\SDU7KTQR
31              132 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\OPA745E3
31              128 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\09UZG1MF
31              132 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\OD2FW9IR
31              128 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\8H63WDEN
30              124 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\CLE741MN
29              128 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\O9MN8LUZ
29              1 KB            \WINDOWS\system32\config\system.LOG
19              1 KB            \WINDOWS\system32\config\software.LOG
15              1 KB            \Documents and Settings\Administrator\ntuser.dat.LOG
12              208 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\MSHist012004032120040322\index.dat
7               1 KB            \Documents and Settings\NetworkService\ntuser.dat.LOG
6               1 KB            \WINDOWS\system32\config\default.LOG
5               195 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\09UZG1MF\vid1a[1].jpg
5               79 KB           \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\OD2FW9IR\Banner_WFO[1].gif
5               69 KB           \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\8H63WDEN\inspiron_04c[1].jpg
5               97 KB           \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\SDU7KTQR\xps-03[1].jpg
5               126 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\SDU7KTQR\ebMain_54_19[2].js
5               94 KB           \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\SDU7KTQR\xps-01[1].jpg
4               148 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\0HMVKTAR\vid1n[1].jpg
4               192 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\SDU7KTQR\vid1j[2].jpg
4               177 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\09UZG1MF\vid1b[1].jpg
4               37 KB           \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\O9MN8LUZ\Radeon6[1].jpg
4               38 KB           \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\OPA745E3\Radeon5[1].jpg
4               38 KB           \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\OPA745E3\Radeon3[1].jpg
4               33 KB           \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\OPA745E3\Radeon1[1].jpg
4               41 KB           \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\OPA745E3\Radeon2[1].jpg
4               253 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\09UZG1MF\MySystemsList[1].aspx
4               167 KB          \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\09UZG1MF\PCA-site-header_01[1].gif
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post #19 of 25
3/22/04 at 4:54am
I defrag my windows systems on whims or after installing things. I use partitioning to reduce fragmentation.

I usually have a Program Partition, a Data Partition, and a download partition. The Program Partition is where all the programs are stored and only needs to be defraged after installing a program. The Data partition is where I store all my data, it only needs defraging after a month or two. The download partition fragments the fastest, I defrag usually after I have moved files off the drive onto CD/DVD. Sometimes I will have a couple gig encoding partition for video encoding/editing.

The only time I reformat/restore from images is when I'm playing around with different OSs. Reformating has always been in my opinion an admission of defeat. It can often be easier, but it is to me admitting that you don't know enough to be able beat the problem and shortcomings of the software. Overall, from that phillosophy I've learned a lot, and can generally rescue any computer brought to me from the dead, unless it is a burning wreckage.
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post #20 of 25
3/22/04 at 5:54am
So Somms, in effect, you defrag nearly weekly, but as part of your ghosting procedure. No different than doing a full automatic defrag and save to a second drive.

I have to admit, that's a fantastic way to go. Always fresh, clean and orderly. Plus a weekly backup as well. Do you have it automated so it's done without your impetus?
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