I have a laptop with badly fragmented C drive. I do not have the battery on my laptop. Also I do not have an UPS .I have two questions.
1) If power failure occurs while the defragmentation uility is running, will it wreck my C drive on the Laptop and render my laptop useless ? Will I be forced to reinstall the operating system again ?
2) If it runs too long , can it be cancelled without hurting the C: drive ? Is there a cancellation option on the defragmentation menu ?
My Laptop has Windows/Xp SP2.
Thanks for all the helpfull suggestions in advance !
2007-05-24 13:30:51 · 8 answers · asked by gary b 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Laptops & Notebooks
Question 1
The answer is a definite Maybe. If the drive of some or the important files get corrupted, Yes. It could occur multiple times with no effect at all and then the next time your drive is dead. How good is your luck?
Question 2
Defrag running for ''Too Long" is most likely due the size of the drive and the percentage of defragmentation of the files on it.
The bottom line is it takes what it takes. Yes there is a Cancel Button, and defrag is "Non-Destructive", so you should be able to stop without effects.
Good Luck
2007-05-24 13:43:46 · answer #1 · answered by Ernie B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it can be canceled at any time (There's a cancel button)... and resumed later. If your drive is in bad shape, the defragmentation could take several hours.
Hardware/power failure during a defrag can possibly corrupt files. The laptop's power management software should see it coming though, and shutdown safely.
A defrag is really very simple, it's doing exactly what it sounds like it's doing. Over time, as files are saved, moved, and deleted... the file's data on the disk gets fragmented (split up). A defrag just puts the data back were it should be, so it can be accessed faster. It does this by copying parts around. (A drive needs a certain amount of free space to do this.. i forget the %, it'll tell you if you don't have it). So a defrag being stopped at any moment is not very dangerous at all.
2007-05-24 13:37:03 · answer #2 · answered by Tim 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Defrag is quiet safe, even during power failure, what it does is simple, it moves 'blocks' once moved, it will inform Windows of new position of the block, so if you have a power cut, it just wont update the last unsuccessful move.
Saying that, a regular back is essential, I seentoo many times things go wrong for unknown reasons, ie, defrag on a faulty drive CAN cause data lost.
2007-05-24 13:35:55 · answer #3 · answered by Cupcake 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't you have an adapter which would allow you to run your laptop via AC?
If so, I would go that route. To expedite the process, I would go into Safe Mode to run Disk Cleanup, Scandisk, and defrag. These should be done every two weeks anyway and the more frequently you run them, the less time they take.
2007-05-24 13:35:55 · answer #4 · answered by TheHumbleOne 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can cancel the optimization process, usually without doing any damage at all, your best bet would be to plug itin at bedtime and just let it do it's thing, it will even recover from a power outage!
2007-05-24 13:35:51 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the first answer is no it will not hurt your hard drive it will just stop the defrageing prosses.
the next anwer is yes you can stop the defrageing prosses
tuste me i have a laptop and did that.
e-mail me.
2007-05-24 13:37:37 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
i can stop the defragmentation on my laptop. of course i have windows vista
2007-05-24 13:55:03 · answer #7 · answered by chatiry 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
just closing the defrgmenter shouldn't hurt the computer
2007-05-24 13:36:05 · answer #8 · answered by merenbloomer1010 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋