Disk Defragment?

Question

I want to defragment my hard disk but it takes a long time to complete. My question is if i run a few programs while defragmenting will it affect the process? or will it make it even slower to complete?

Answer 1

Yes, turn off as many programs as possible, I believe that some folks even defrag in Safe Mode. Disconnect from the Internet, then turn off your anti-virus and firewall. Turn off as many of the programs in your system tray as you can. (Don't forget to turn your AV and FW back on before you reconnect to the Internet). Your pc is trying to shuffle files all around and using programs makes its job more difficult.

Answer 2

You can run Defrag as a process in the back ground, but start it at the Command Prompt with the command as :
defrag c: -f
This will force a defrag. You may have to run this as much as 4 times, but it will allow you to work as the process runs, but it will drag unless you change the priority of the process to a lower one.
You need a services control util to do that

Answer 3

Best way to defragment is to partition a large hard disk into smaller partitions.

Suppose you have a 80GB hard disk.Use partition soft ware and partition the hard disk into smaller partitions of 10 GB each.Now you can defragment the partitions and that reduce time and gives you more flexibility while working with programmes on other partitions.So now you can defragment fast as well use other programmes.

Answer 4

Using the built in defragmenter of Windows XP, yes it will take longer, previous versions reset all the time unless the computer sat perfectly still, however...

That's why I use Diskeeper, it'll cost you about $30 for the home version but it's worth every penny, it can run on a live volume that is in use, it can prevent fragmentation in the first place and if you so choose will run a boot time defrag, http://www.diskeeper.com/

Answer 5

You run the risk of corrupting data if you run programs while defragmenting the disk. I recommend you start the defragmentation right before going to bed, thus the program runs overnight and is ready in the morning.

Answer 6

It will take longer and you'll be working at a slower pace and eventually get so frustrated you might be tempted to chuck the system out the window :)

Start your defrag just before you go to bed then you wont have to sit around waiting for it to finish.

Answer 7

Ya, while defragmenting you shouldn't run any process it will affect the operation of the process and there is a chance to made a bad clusters..

Answer 8

If you run programs they open files that cannot be moved. they will not corrupt the data as explained by others, but will cause the process to run slower due to the swapping of files and memory. Just let it run with no programs for faster results.


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Answer 9

yes it will slow it right down...ur best bet is to run defrag when u do not want to be on the computer for awhile...even get it to do it before u go to bed or something

another trick i learned to help speed up the process is to turn ur screensaver OFF (u can turn it back on after defrag is done)

Answer 10

yes it will slow the process down. It is trying to arrange what you are doing also. Try setting it to defrag @ night then go to bed and in the morning it will be done..Thanks