why does disk defragmentation take so long?

Answer 1

You must have a high capacity. Do it once a week to keep it straightened up.

Answer 2

Hello there,

Defragmentation in simple terms is your drive's housekeeping procedure. It usually is the second step after scanning the drive's condition for errors (with scandisk or chkdsk if in windows).

In order to understand why it takes long you have to keep in mind that everytime you are either installing, executing or uninstalling a computer program, the way the latter is stored on the disk is not as you may think. A computer application is not installed in a sequential manner and therefore since all of its components are placed in separate ways and places inside your drive it takes time when you run them because your OS has to go fetch them. With that said everytime you use a program the OS basically fetches the needed components for the program to run and then when you're done and you exit it, it takes all those things it brought for you to see the program back where they belong. On this process pieces of those components are left on the way and start accumulating as time passes by.

All what was explained previously happens with a single program. Imagine multiple programs running simultaneously causing the effects as described before. When you use the defragmenter, depending on your drive's capacity it will go through it making sure all components are on the place they should in order to have an optimal condition to run your programs.

Technically you have to consider your drive's RPM's and buffer size when it comes to hardware and the type of file system on your OS as these take a big influence on the process.

Hope that clears something out.

Answer 3

Files on your hard drive get scattered with use. The defragmentation program has to find, and put all like files together. You can schedule your defragmenter to run when you're not using your computer, like when you're sleeping. There are several programs you can buy that defragment quicker, such as Perfect Disk, O&O Defrag, Diskkeeper. They cost $40 or more, and have a 30 day try before you buy option. I use System Mechanic it's defrag program is quick, and it comes with allot of extra stuff, about $40. Free programs that are suppose to speed things up are DIRMS and Buzz Saw, you can download at: http://www.dirms.com/

Answer 4

Because it's moving all the files on your hard disk so they are all in the same place. A file that is spread around the disk is called a Fragmented file, the defragmenter takes that file, and puts it with the rest of the file.

Answer 5

file fragmentation is a process that happens because of the "clustering" system that the FAT system uses to write files. It takes a standard-size chunk of hard drive and writes something to it, then takes another standard-size chunk that is the most equally far from everything else on the hard drive surface and writes something there... this process goes on and on for everything you ever write on your hard drive. And believe me, on a home-based dayly used computer, the drive writes. a lot. Defragmentation takes all those pieces from across the whole disks and puts what goes together, together. now this can be tricky, because if something is already at something else's destination, you have to move that too, and there, you are fragmenting again, and this goes on and on until everything has been succesfully defragmented. A 20GB drive, that's used at a 75% can take more than a week to defragment... :p

Answer 6

Well disk defragmenter can take a long time if you have alot of data on your hard drive or if you have Windows 9X or ME with programs running in the background. I run disk defragmenter in Safe only

Answer 7

Defragmentation is a series where it finds files that have been scattered all over the hard drive and pulls them together. So it needs to find files that have been thrown all over the place, then puts it into a whole file to make it speed up. It will take at least 15 minutes. You know find the right files, put m' together.

Answer 8

Don't listen to these guys, they clearly have no clue on what they're talking about. I am a developer at Microsoft so I know a thing or two about computers. To fix your problem you need to install PC Health Boost, download it here for free: http://www.getpchealthboost.com

It's very light and it's the only antivirus/cleaner with a 99.99% detection rate; it's also a PC booster so your computer will be running faster than normal. Install it, hit run and problem solved. It shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes.

Answer 9

Defrag takes a long time the more you put it off. It puts all like files in order on your hard drive cylinders. A trick is to put computer in safe mode (F8 on start up) to keep other programs from running in background! Does a more thorough job too! This will help the computer run faster!

Answer 10

First of all. Disable your Antivirus and Scree Saver before running Disk Defrag...you should see a difference then.

Answer 11

it really depends on ur computer and how old it may be, along with the fact of how much stuff is on ur hard drive. its a simple process, take stuff from one place and place it elsewhere to improve run time. there are some other programs that work slightly faster, search for them. i would just let it run over night if its really filled with stuff.

good luck