defraging

[ndbdesign]

I've got a general question concerning defragmenting.I'm in the process of swapping out a hard drive.As i'm doing this i realized that the pc hasn't been defraged in almost 2 years.(very bad i thought)I mean i do mine like every month if it needs it(which it usually doesn't).

So i tell the people to defrag overnight,i call the next morning nothing the drive won't defrag.Now if i'm in the process of swapping out drives won't the defrag status just transfer over to the new drive? So i'll just have a new drive that's just as fragmented as the old one(correct?).

I'm wondering about just starting all over with a totally fresh install of everything,to get a clean drive.What do you feel would be the best course of action? Or any suggestions that might be helpful.

Thanks and have a Great Day,
ndb @ NDB Design

 

[Required]

Depending on the way you copy the files from one disk to the other one, the files should be defragmented.
If the files are copied one at a time, all its fragments will be read from the old disk and it will be written in one fragment on the new disk.
A commercial defragmentation tool might do a better job by distributing the files on the most appropriate zone of the disk in order to achieve better performance and to reduce fragmentation during further disk activity.
You can find some interesting information at

http://www.nstl.com/

.

 

[dinosnake]

BTW, a common problem to cause defrag not to run is STIMON.EXE, the Still Image Monitor. On systems I've worked on when running it freezes defrag.

Turn it off in /Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information/Tools (menu)/System Configuration Utility, last tab. Your mileage may vary...

 

[Tel69]

This is the million dollar question.
Starting afresh is GREAT for getting rid of DLL's that are left behind from programs long ago un-installed,
Tidying up the registry, but even a fresh install of Windows will end up with files fragmented. (Go Windows)
It's the infamous temporary file syndrome.

Just in the same way copying the files between the hard drives will still end up with fragmentation, but definately not as bad as what it currently is.
Windows doesn't try to put things in a nice order.
If it copies 3000 1k files there will be gaps between them.
Gaps Windows will try to use.

If you were thinking of taking an image of the drive using Ghost or the such and writing the image to the new drive then you will end up being just as fragmented as what you started off with.

I like to start afresh, but it's a pain to re-install everything. (And yes when I'm finished installing everything I run a defrag)

If I was you I'd probedly just copy the files across and go from there.