I am defragging a WinXP Home PC with multiple users and need help.

[TazExprez]

I was defragging a PC with WinXP Home with multiple user accounts. I defragged it from one of the accounts, but it did not defrag the entire HDD. Do I need to run Disk Defragmenter with every single user account? Thanks for any help.

 

[Zolty]

Is it not defraging the system files(green)? because that is normal, the only thing I can think of is you are running defrag on your OS drive and you have to many programs running. Everytime there is a change on the hard drive, such as a program saving some of its data, the defrag has to start from scratch.

 

[TazExprez]

What is happening is that once the defrag reaches about 17%, it starts compacting files and leaves about 2/3 of the files as red and green It only defrags the first few files on the screen and leaves the rest either red or green. I was thinking that this may have been happening because of the different user accounts, but I really have no idea.

 

[tiap]

It doesn't matter what user defrags as long as they have permissions.
If you want to defrag everything:
Back up or image drive
turn off system restore
disable hibernation
set to use no pagefile
reboot
run defrag with no other progs running
reboot
rerun defrag
turn on system restore
set page file to a static size (anywhere from 400mb to 4 gig)
rerun defrag
You should notice a difference and see that your green areas are now one.
You should not be given the cue that some files could not be defragged.

 

[Alex]

wow... on a side-note the default windows defrag program sucks...
and as far as it not defragging the entire drive, do what the guy that posted above me said or if you can't be bothered just log in as admin and try again, should have permissions to defrag most of the drive... (except system restore, pagefile etc)

 

[nweaver]

just leave it be, it will compact files to create space. Have you just left to to run to 100%? Also, post the report from the scan. Sometimes it looks worse then it really is, and sometimes it's worse then it looks. One thing I have learned to do is setup a static page file first thing after the install, and defrag.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: TazExprez
What is happening is that once the defrag reaches about 17%, it starts compacting files and leaves about 2/3 of the files as red and green It only defrags the first few files on the screen and leaves the rest either red or green. I was thinking that this may have been happening because of the different user accounts, but I really have no idea.

Make sure the other user accounts are logged off while you are running the defrag process. This will ensure that other applications aren't interfering with the defrag.

I wouldn't touch the pagefile (setting a static pagefile really isn't necessary and only leaves you open to potential problems later on). Is there a particular reason you are worried about the defragment job? Is the disk performance poor on the machine?

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: MrChad
I wouldn't touch the pagefile (setting a static pagefile really isn't necessary and only leaves you open to potential problems later on).

I disagree. I seem to recall MS recommending setting static page files on servers. I always set a static page file (rule of thumb is 1.5 * Ram, so you have room for a dump of physical memory). The other thing is that then your page file is not going to get fragmented. A fragmented page file will crash a server under load.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: nweaver

Originally posted by: MrChad
I wouldn't touch the pagefile (setting a static pagefile really isn't necessary and only leaves you open to potential problems later on).

I disagree. I seem to recall MS recommending setting static page files on servers. I always set a static page file (rule of thumb is 1.5 * Ram, so you have room for a dump of physical memory). The other thing is that then your page file is not going to get fragmented. A fragmented page file will crash a server under load.

*smacks head*

Pagefile access is random, so fragmentation of the file is pretty much irrelevant. I don't know what basis you have for claiming that a server will crash with a fragmented pagefile.

Anyway, I don't want to get into this argument. It's been debated 1000 times on this forum by people much more knowledgeable than me.

 

[nweaver]

Want to knkow my basis for server crashing? Personal. I have had my exchange server go caput (pingable, services all up, but not really responding to SMTP requests and such). Check defrag, 1200 page file fragments!!. Reboot box, works for a few hours and then dies again. Take box offline, defrag, setup page file (correctly) so that it's in 2 fragments instead for several hundred, and then its at 120+ days of uptime right now.


I had an old sysadmin /smack me when he looked at my page file. I may not have all the sysadmin experience in the world, but this guy worked in fortune 100 datacenter, managing ebiz boxes and corp exchange servers. He had the experience and the certs to back it up. MCSE and 8+ years in HP's datacenter. He is the one who says that a fragmented page file can "crash" a server. Keep in mind, crash is a releative term, and can be used so broadly that it shouldn't be used very often. I do not think a fragmented page file would bluescreen a server, I do think it would slow it down till it's not usable.

 

[Bozo]

Your best bet it to get a third party defrag program. O&O makes excellant defrag programs and you can use them for free for 30 days. It will defrag the Pagefile during a reboot too.

http://www.oo-software.com/en/products/oodefrag/pro.html

Bozo

 

[TazExprez]

Thanks a lot for all your help guys. I will follow all of your suggestions and hopefully I'll defrag the whole drive. Btw, I just noticed that this version of WinXP is actually the Pro version. Also, all of the user accounts on this PC have admin permissions. Thanks again.

 

[timswim78]

Oh yea. I would avoid gthe defrag utility that comes with Norton System Works. I think that it is called Speed Disk or something like that. I ran it on an XP HOME machine with an NTFS partition. I got some error after it ran, and when I rebooted, the drive was wiped clean. Luckily, I had r-tt and was able to recover most of my data files.

 

[thunderroller]

no the hdd partition is common for all user then its fine if you do it from one account

 

[thegorx]

if you backup your os partition often with an image program
and your system is set to do it reasonably fast then just back it up and restore it

then have a look at the old defragmenter

a lot of times it's faster than defragmenting