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General discussion

Fragmentation

Feb 21, 2004 2:33PM PST

I recently built a new pc.I have diskeeper trial.It seems like I am always defragmenting.Is it normal to defrag so often?One thing that I cant figure out is when I test at pc pitstop I get low disk performance.My sys. is amd 64,seagate 120 sata promise,1024 gh ram,nvidia geforce 5200,win xp sp1.Thanks for any comments.

Discussion is locked

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Re:Fragmentation
Feb 21, 2004 8:36PM PST

I see two issues here.

1. You may be using your machine as a Defragmenter rather than a PC. In short, yes, you boot the OS and a fragment will appear in some place and some where. It usually only bothers a small percentage of users that seem to want with no fragmentation. How can I write it nicely that such is not going to occur with this OS?

There should be nil effect until you do something big like install/uninall a few programs, but there is a XP Microsoft'ism in that DMA often falls out to PIO mode and a simple procedure can help.

If you do not do the procedure and indicate you've completed it, then explain if I am unclear or if the article is not clear.

PERFORM THIS SIMPLE PROCEDURE -> http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/tech/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx

TO REPEAT -> If you look, but don't do this, then you are not assured that DMA is enabled...

2. The PCPITSTOP scores are usual best of the best and not your machine. To match the PCPITSTOP scores, go get the hardware they used and exact drivers and such.

I can safely bet you have a firewall, antivirus and more runnign during the benchmark which the other users didn't to score the highest they could. But I wouldn't fret over "uncached" scores since we don't run the drive in this mode.

Bob

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Re:Re:Fragmentation
Feb 22, 2004 5:32AM PST

My sys. is dma when avail. I don't care too much about my score at pcpitstop,I was concerned with maybe having the wrong config.I.E. hdd drivers etc.My drive is scuzzy,sata/raid.I really haven't had any problems, except the red/yellow flags.My score is fine,I run their disk check utility and all's great.Thanks,Bob

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Exactly why I used strong words.
Feb 22, 2004 5:45AM PST

"TO REPEAT -> If you look, but don't do this, then you are not assured that DMA is enabled"

And sure enough, you looked and read "dma when avail" and that is NOT good enough. The article may not be worded for people to understand since time after time, people fail to execute this simple and safe procedure.

What step didn't you understand?

Did I make it clear that Microsoft admits the indication can be incorrect and just by flipping it to PIO and back will assure it?

What words will it take?

Bob

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Re:Exactly why I used strong words.
Feb 22, 2004 9:37AM PST

I did all of that all that per instructions the first time:dma when avail.click pio only, click ok,click dma. (toggle)Current transfer mode window is not avail.I fully understood ALL of the steps.

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Good. Are the motherboard drivers and SP1 installed?
Feb 22, 2004 11:04AM PST

After that, you are about as good as it gets.

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Waste of time and resources IMHO.
Feb 21, 2004 10:02PM PST

1. The article [835565] explains to use the Windows Disk Defragmenter or a third-party alternative if you prefer, but use it regularly. Every fortnight is about right if you create a lot of files; every week if you install and uninstall lots of software. Close programs, including background tasks and utilities in the System Tray ? the defragmenter can?t move any program and data files that are in use.

2. The article [835606] states that although Windows optimises some files, run Disk Defragmenter once every fortnight to keep start-up files in one piece rather than in several fragments, so they load more quickly.

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Re:Waste of time and resources IMHO. I agree. Too much ado...
Feb 21, 2004 10:11PM PST

I checked and I have defrag scheduled weekly. It's likely that I would not notice any difference if it ran daily.

Bob

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Re:Fragmentation
Feb 22, 2004 8:15AM PST

My defragmenter is scheduled to run every night.
And even though the XP defragmenter says the volume
does not need to be defragmented, it takes about
three hours each and every night for it to run.
That's a long time to defragment a 60GB hdd on an idle
XP 3000+ machine, that doesn't need defragmented.

~Dave

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Re:Fragmentation
Feb 22, 2004 4:07PM PST

If you are running Windows XP there is a built in defragmenter under the Control Panel-Performance and Maintainence. It runs an analyisis of the particular drive you want check. It works perfectly. I would Uninstall the outboard program because it is unreasonable to defragment all the time. One a week to a month depending on how many programs you have installed, and have recently installed would also be a factor. If you are on XP let that defrag program do its duty...