is it safe and alright to defrag one OS partition from the second OS which we have installed (and vice versa)?

Question

i have seen that if i defrag c: partition from the windows xp (fat32 file system) which is installed on c:, then its quite slow process. i have windows 98 SE (also on fat32) on d:. i want to ask is it safe to defrag c: from windows 98 (which boots from d:) and to defrag d: from windows xp (which boots from c:) in terms of boot sectors or any boot records etc

basically i am asking can i defrag two OSes from each other. and will it be safe? will it be faster than defraging partitions from their own OSes?

Answer 1

Since they use the same file system, it is possible if the drives can "see" each other.
I have never heard of anybody wanting to do it that way before though.

As to how SAFE it is, I could not say for sure, but instinct tells me NOT SAFE; "generally" you want to defrag the drive from the operating system that USES that drive, even if it IS the slow way, since in defrag it moves the files around and the OS that uses the drive has to know where to find the moved files.
I note that DIFFERENT OS's STORE information differently, and when one OS moves another OS's files they might be unusable by the OS that created them.

Answer 2

I agree, that's no longer a physically powerful thought to place in 2 OS's on the comparable stress, lots much less complicated & extra secure to characteristic a 2d HD & homestead windows help document has training how set up boot selection on startup.