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Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 9:05:27 PM   
Terminus


Posts: 41459
Joined: 4/23/2005
From: Denmark
Status: offline 		How often do people de-fragment their hard drives? I keep forgetting to do it, so it takes forever when I finally get around to it...

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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 9:11:04 PM   
Don Bowen


Posts: 8183
Joined: 7/13/2000
From: Georgetown, Texas, USA
Status: offline
If you have not done it in a while, you probably need it.

Good old Windows is rather sensitive to fragmented drive and many applications (including WITP) seem to fragment them rather badly (by frequent saves of the same file name with varying sizes).

One can schedule defrag to run periodically at odd hours.

Also: clear your Internet Explorer cache, empty the recycle bin, and even run disk cleanup.

(in reply to Terminus)
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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 9:15:20 PM   
Terminus


Posts: 41459
Joined: 4/23/2005
From: Denmark
Status: offline 		I'm in the home stretch of a defrag that I've had running (with a few pauses) for about 24 hours now...

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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 9:29:47 PM   
niceguy2005


Posts: 12523
Joined: 7/4/2005
From: Super secret hidden base
Status: offline 		I'm sort of a neat freak so I probably run mine once every 3 months or so.

The problem is Windows wants at least 10% of a hard disk to run it, which on a large hard drive is a lot of room.

p.s. who doesn't empty their recycle bin at least once a day?

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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 9:31:37 PM   
TulliusDetritus


Posts: 5521
Joined: 4/1/2004
From: The Zone™
Status: offline 		With my old computer (P3): almost never... It would take like 20 hours. Or even more. Absurd. So I used a radical approach a.k.a. Attila's tactic: FORMAT C:

With me new computer: possibly never either. I'm a fan of the Traditional & Lovely "Format C". That's the most radical, fast "defragmentation" I know. I "Format C" every 2 or 3 months maximum.

And this should say it all about Micro$tuff... A "Format C:" + a new installation (3 hours or so) should never last less than a "defragmentation".

< Message edited by TulliusDetritus -- 12/11/2006 9:42:51 PM >

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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 9:37:36 PM   
witpqs


Posts: 26087
Joined: 10/4/2004
From: Argleton
Status: offline 		Do a clean install (including format the partition), then make a Ghost (or other brand) image copy of the system (C:) drive. That way re-loading when the crap hits the fan is much easier. And set your de-frag to run every couple of months.

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Post #: 6
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 9:50:36 PM   
TulliusDetritus


Posts: 5521
Joined: 4/1/2004
From: The Zone™
Status: offline 		Hey, that's an excellent tip, WITPQS I will do that next time I FORMAT C: I burn the image (Windows + hardware drivers + even other programmes) and the next time that I will "Format C:" I just have to copy & paste


< Message edited by TulliusDetritus -- 12/11/2006 10:00:28 PM >

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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 9:58:58 PM   
witpqs


Posts: 26087
Joined: 10/4/2004
From: Argleton
Status: offline 		Here are some places to find lots of useful information and references, lots of them to freeware (legitimate freeware).

http://www.leoville.tv/radio/Main/Tips

http://radified.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx
This last one was recently bought by Microsoft.

If you follow some links/references in forums on these sites you will also find freeware disk image software, although I cannot vouch for it. Ghost is a Symantec product (they bought the original producer a while back).

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Post #: 8
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 10:13:14 PM   
MarcA


Posts: 1181
Joined: 3/2/2005
From: England
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

How often do people de-fragment their hard drives? I keep forgetting to do it, so it takes forever when I finally get around to it...


How full is your drive. If it is over 85% full it can cause defrag to take a long time, some software even recommends having 30% free.

To answer your question I defrag hardly ever. I have found that it is not uncommon for the defrag to destroy some file or other, usually an inocuos windows file which causes endless problems, so I only do it when things seem to be getting very slow. Usually once a year or so.

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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 10:25:47 PM   
Terminus


Posts: 41459
Joined: 4/23/2005
From: Denmark
Status: offline 		It's about 75% full (I try not to let it get too full)...

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Post #: 10
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 10:32:07 PM   
niceguy2005


Posts: 12523
Joined: 7/4/2005
From: Super secret hidden base
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: mantill

quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

How often do people de-fragment their hard drives? I keep forgetting to do it, so it takes forever when I finally get around to it...


How full is your drive. If it is over 85% full it can cause defrag to take a long time, some software even recommends having 30% free.

To answer your question I defrag hardly ever. I have found that it is not uncommon for the defrag to destroy some file or other, usually an inocuos windows file which causes endless problems, so I only do it when things seem to be getting very slow. Usually once a year or so.

Mantill, I don't disagree with you at all, but how incredibly useless and idiotic is a system with a large hard drive that you have to keep 30% open to run routine maintenance proceedures on! Extremely poor form. . This is a major pet peeve of mine. With today's hard drive sizes the percent required for maintenance should be going down, not up. Windows used to require 5%

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Post #: 11
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 10:46:39 PM   
witpqs


Posts: 26087
Joined: 10/4/2004
From: Argleton
Status: offline 		It's worse than that. If you really want performance from the drive, then keep it under 50% full. And defragmented, of course.

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Post #: 12
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/11/2006 11:22:18 PM   
niceguy2005


Posts: 12523
Joined: 7/4/2005
From: Super secret hidden base
Status: offline 		Well, I personally don't need top of the line performance, but the idea that drives have increased in size by an order of magnitude the last few years is really a bit of a sham. While the physical media can store more, the OS can't make proper use of it.

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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 12:11:53 AM   
MarcA


Posts: 1181
Joined: 3/2/2005
From: England
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: niceguy2005


quote:

ORIGINAL: mantill

quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

How often do people de-fragment their hard drives? I keep forgetting to do it, so it takes forever when I finally get around to it...


How full is your drive. If it is over 85% full it can cause defrag to take a long time, some software even recommends having 30% free.

To answer your question I defrag hardly ever. I have found that it is not uncommon for the defrag to destroy some file or other, usually an inocuos windows file which causes endless problems, so I only do it when things seem to be getting very slow. Usually once a year or so.

Mantill, I don't disagree with you at all, but how incredibly useless and idiotic is a system with a large hard drive that you have to keep 30% open to run routine maintenance proceedures on! Extremely poor form. . This is a major pet peeve of mine. With today's hard drive sizes the percent required for maintenance should be going down, not up. Windows used to require 5%


You don't need to have it that free but if you are going to defrag you will want to back up and remove some stuff, otherwise it will take forever, as Terminus is finding. After defraging you can put it back on.

I have just checked and the dos defrag command can't even fully defrag a drive 85% full. I assume the new superduper windows console version has a similar limitation as it is almost certainly the same or similar program with a GUI



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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 12:21:17 AM   
wworld7


Posts: 1727
Joined: 2/25/2003
From: The Nutmeg State
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

I'm in the home stretch of a defrag that I've had running (with a few pauses) for about 24 hours now...


Doing it every sixty (60) days makes the process go quicker. I usually do it the last day of the month at night.

Flipper

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Post #: 15
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 12:34:21 AM   
Jevhaddah


Posts: 626
Joined: 11/24/2005
From: Scotland
Status: offline 		I always start my PC in 'Safe Mode' before doing a defrag, it shaves several lifetimes off the time it takes with no horrible nasty screen savers and back ground apps running to interupt it.

Cheers

Jev

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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 12:48:47 AM   
pompack


Posts: 2582
Joined: 2/8/2004
From: University Park, Texas
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

How often do people de-fragment their hard drives? I keep forgetting to do it, so it takes forever when I finally get around to it...


As an ex-hardware-speed-freak, I defrag once a week. I schedule it for 0200 Saturday morning so I don't have a clue how long it takes (but it's less than four hours). And yes I keep the disk at less than 50%.

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Post #: 17
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 1:47:30 AM   
Halsey

 

Posts: 5069
Joined: 2/7/2004
Status: offline 		At least 3 times a week.
Sometimes more.

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Post #: 18
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 1:57:59 AM   
ny59giants


Posts: 9869
Joined: 1/10/2005
Status: offline
quote:

I'm sort of a neat freak so I probably run mine once every 3 months or so.

The problem is Windows wants at least 10% of a hard disk to run it, which on a large hard drive is a lot of room.

p.s. who doesn't empty their recycle bin at least once a day?


This is not called being a "neat freak" it is called having some strong OCD tendencies (Obsessive Compulsion Disorder). I don't think your the only one who plays WitP that has these tendencies.
It helps with a game that requires so much micro-management.

I am a Mental Health Counselor and have some of OCD tendencies of my own. Just ask some of my co-workers.

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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 2:23:54 AM   
Captain Cruft


Posts: 3652
Joined: 3/17/2004
From: England
Status: offline 		Surely the answer to this question depends on whether you are using FAT or NTFS?

I know little about these things but would assume that since NTFS is more recent it would be a lot more efficient.


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Post #: 20
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 3:20:42 AM   
Valgua


Posts: 218
Joined: 11/10/2006
From: Uppsala, Sweden
Status: offline 		I defrag once a week and it takes me no more than ten minutes.

Filippo


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Post #: 21
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 3:27:30 AM   
tsimmonds


Posts: 5498
Joined: 2/6/2004
From: astride Mason and Dixon's Line
Status: offline 		I do disk cleanup followed by disk defrag every week. Takes 30 minutes max. . I stomp spyware and delete temporary internet files every day.

< Message edited by irrelevant -- 12/12/2006 3:35:58 AM >

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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 8:15:27 AM   
ckk

 

Posts: 1268
Joined: 10/18/2000
From: Pensacola Beach FL
Status: offline 		thanx for reminding me . its been weeks

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Post #: 23
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 9:20:57 AM   
06 Maestro


Posts: 3989
Joined: 10/12/2005
From: Nevada, USA
Status: offline 		It really depends on how much a machine gets used, including installing and un-instaling programs. I normally don't let my pc's go over 15% fragmentation. Even if the XP anylizer says that a defragment is not needed, I do it anyway. This means that each pc gets a defrag every 1 week to 1 month.

I don't know if this is still an issue, but on older OS's the system itself would fragment-and would NOT defrag. This would occur when a hard drive became badly fragmented over a long period of time. The only solution in that case was a complete reformat-no repair.

It takes about 10 minutes to do a defrag on my favorite- 25% full of a 320GB on RAID 0.

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Post #: 24
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 10:13:51 AM   
Przemcio231


Posts: 1901
Joined: 10/11/2005
From: Warsaw,Poland,EU:)
Status: offline 		Defragmentation and what that might be??? well i never had one in my life and my system works fine for what like 2 years now...

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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 3:34:32 PM   
Sardaukar


Posts: 9847
Joined: 11/28/2001
From: Finland/Israel
Status: offline 		I do it either once a month or when I install/remove large programs. Really useful when playing some "HD-intensive" games.

< Message edited by Sardaukar -- 12/12/2006 3:43:56 PM >

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Post #: 26
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/12/2006 4:39:25 PM   
Oliver Heindorf


Posts: 1911
Joined: 5/1/2002
From: Hamburg/Deutschland
Status: offline 		I once destroyed my HD defragmentic it in 2002. a colleague had the same  last year. 

I use M$ only to play games, Linux 10.1 here for most of the time.


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RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/13/2006 11:44:06 PM   
captskillet


Posts: 2493
Joined: 3/1/2003
From: Louisiana & the 2007 Nat Champ LSU Fightin' Tigers
Status: offline 		You know ...........YOU ARE GOOD FOR SOMETHING AFTER ALL.............tks for the reminder.............I just need to go into Sys Works and setup a sched to do it around midnight Sunday on a weekly basis.

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Post #: 28
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/13/2006 11:45:25 PM   
Terminus


Posts: 41459
Joined: 4/23/2005
From: Denmark
Status: offline 		Gee thanks... I think...

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Post #: 29
RE: Heavily OT: A small unscientific poll... - 12/14/2006 1:47:36 AM   
Mike Scholl

 

Posts: 9349
Joined: 1/1/2003
From: Kansas City, MO
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

How often do people de-fragment their hard drives? I keep forgetting to do it, so it takes forever when I finally get around to it...



Just did..., and thank you for the reminder. It needed it badly...

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Post #: 30
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