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Defragmentation - a few queries

shutter
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Defragmentation - a few queries

I am in the process of defragging my hdd... and watching the pretty little coloured squares jumping about, a few queries come to mind...
originally, (before defrag started) the capacity figure was 107.6 Gb.... during defrag this figure is slowly rising.... why?   surely the same amount of info is still on the drive
Over 120 files with a total size of over 60Gb are fragmented.....into nearly 5,000 fragments.....
how do files become fragmented.... (I notice that most of the  files have only 1 fragment ....)

EDIT EDIT EDIT.....
"quick defrag " finished....... capacity has increased to  109.1Gb  ! ! !
46 REPLIES 46
VileReynard
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

I bet you are stuck with Windows NTFS.  Cheesy
Each of those fragments isn't necessarily full.
So perhaps the free capacity increases as you reduce the number of fragments?
AFAIK NTFS holds really small files in the MFT (might be wrong, though), so if you have small amounts of data outside the MFT then these correspond to single fragments?
Have a look at Wikipedia, perhaps.

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jelv
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

Files become fragmented because windows allocates the sectors of the file sequentially. On a new system all is well, but as time goes on files get added and deleted, new files then then fill in the holes left behind by the deletions; if the size of the hole isn't big enough for the file being created it gets fragmented.
Incidently I don't know whether you are using the tool provided in Windows, but I would recommend defraggler.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
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artmo
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

I defragged my XP system at the weekend and it took less than an hour.  I then did my Vista one and this took 5 hours to complete. 
shutter
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

@Axis of evil ......I do have Linux mint 9 Isadora. as a dual boot, but I do not use it, because of previously mentioned "difficullties" in the way it is not user friendly unless you are a GEEK... which I am most definitely not.
@ Jelv....Your explanation sounds "logical"  (Mr. Spock ) ! ! !  .... but does not explain how I have lost 2 GB of space , just by shifting around a few files to fit in bigger spaces.!...
yes I was using Defraggler..... (just done the quick defrag...... now running the full time one)
@ Artmo.... I will let you know how long it takes..... not that I am worried about that. .... It doesn`t prevent me from doing anything I would normally do...

Oldjim
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

a lot of defrag programs - not all - first move files away from the first part of the disk to make room for the ones that are going to be defragged and moved ino a contiguous space.
This can creat the impression of needing more space.
This is why defrag often doesn't work at all or properly if there is very little free space.
shutter
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

Just finished the "full scan".... so it took about 1.5 hours....
now the capcacity reads......76.8GB ! ! ! ! ! ! ...
74% fragmentation
6 files
73 fragments
Think I`ll give it another go! ! ! ..  Cheesy
Just done an "analysis".....
38 fragmented files 31.6Gb
241 total fragments
41% fragmentation...
definitely giving it another go ! ! !  Grin
VileReynard
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

Quote from: shutter
originally, (before defrag started) the capacity figure was 107.6 Gb.... during defrag this figure is slowly rising.... why?   surely the same amount of info is still on the drive
EDIT EDIT EDIT.....
"quick defrag " finished....... capacity has increased to  109.1Gb  ! ! !

Quote from: shutter
Just finished the "full scan".... so it took about 1.5 hours....
now the capcacity reads......76.8GB ! ! ! ! ! ! ...
Just done an "analysis".....
38 fragmented files 31.6Gb

76.8 + 31.6 = 108.4 so you have lost/gained a few hundred MB Cheesy

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shutter
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

The graphic showed almost three quarters of the circle as "used space"... when it reported the capacity  as 107.6 Gb (used space)
now the graphic shows just over 50% of the circle as "used space".... reporting capacity of  76.8 (used space)
make of that what you will.... but to me. it means there is more free space AFTER defrag than before....  Cheesy
orbrey
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

That's what I'd expect - iirc the filing system (in this case NTFS) divides the hard drive up into sectors, each of which is a specific size - I think for NTFS the default is 4096 bytes, or 4KB.
Basically any of these sectors that has any data in it is counted as used, even if it isn't completely full.
Defragmenting stores all the files sequentially so you should have many more sectors completely full after a defrag, rather than a lot of sectors only partially used (but still reporting as full). I think that's where the extra space has come from.
shutter
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

That second "full defrag" has certainly made the "files" graphic look a lot more tidy... the results are

3 fragmented files (31.3Gb)
10 total fragments
41% fragmentation
The "used space" graphic still shows a bit more than 50% (used space) and that is counted as 76.8 Gb with 64.9Gb as "free space"..
So ..... still showing 41% fragmentation...  and still showing 31 Gb as the value for "fragmented files"... but only 10 fragments as opposed to 241.....
as the saying goes....... "One More Time...... "
shutter
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

Well, the last "Full Defrag" has now finished.... and it has made no difference to the previous results... so I think I should be happy my  HDD is now, well and truly "De-fragged"...  Cheesy
Steve
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

Shutter... You do know that de-fragging like a maniac puts wear and tear and stress on your disk right? Once every 3 months or so Is fine.
If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
shutter
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

So... I promise not to do another defrag, for at least 6 months !....  Cheesy
(thanks for the warning !  Wink )
MrT
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Re: Defragmentation - a few queries

It might be worth trying another program (in 3 months time!). I use Smart Defrag which I find is much better and faster than Defraggler.  Smiley