PC Help : Defrag your PC .....

[ROYC75]

How often should 1 defrag the hard drive ?

Reason I ask is, I went on line today to see the items I list on a wire service, no listings were seen. Yet I call the service, all items listed, my screen shows nothing ?

They told me I had to defrag my pc ...... Is this right ? Anybody know about this ?

[Eleazar]

If you run the defrag utility and it says your drive is only 3% fragmented or something, and that you dont need to , then you don't need to.

In my experience usually telling someone to run a scandisk and defrag is kind of the computer support "i dont know what's wrong and don't want to bother finding out" answer.

[Pants]

What kind of OS do you have.

If it's not WinXP Pro or Win2000Pro, defrag as often as you can (once a month maybe), just leave it overnight as it takes a while. Especially if you have a large disc or haven't done it in a while.

[KCTitus]

I recommend every 6 months or so, but it's better to re-format and wipe the drive annually.

[Bob Dole]

Bob Dole defrags his every 2 hours. You may need to do yours more frequently if you have an older drive and a monitor smaller than 19".

[Bob Dole]

Bob Dole defrags his every 2 hours. You may need to do yours more frequently if you have an older drive and a monitor smaller than 19".

Bob Dole forgot to ask about your chair. Sometimes the chair can effect the performance.

[ROYC75]

Windows XP.... it's moving files for whatever reason it may be.

What is the purpose of this ? I'm not a guru with pc's .

As the support team said, this will alow my screne to see the items I'm looking for ?

Everything else seems to be working just fine .

[milkman]

I recommend every 6 months or so, but it's better to re-format and wipe the drive annually.

How does one do this?

[Saulbadguy]

How often should 1 defrag the hard drive ?

Reason I ask is, I went on line today to see the items I list on a wire service, no listings were seen. Yet I call the service, all items listed, my screen shows nothing ?

They told me I had to defrag my pc ...... Is this right ? Anybody know about this ?
That should really make no difference at all. Thats probably the thing you could do to your PC that would help the problem the LEAST.

[ROYC75]

I recommend every 6 months or so, but it's better to re-format and wipe the drive annually.

Please explain, This is one area I know very little about .

I use my pc for work and personal, reason why I have so much time to be on here and work too.

Will I lose anything I need to keep, files, templates, folders, records, etc. when I re-format ?

[Boozer]

I've found that running your computer through the dishwasher from time to time can be helpful.

[Saulbadguy]

How does one do this?
Backup files to a CD or whatnot, put in the magical "restore" cd that came with your computer, or in some instances the "restore" utitility is on the hard drive of the computer.

I myself just have a 30 gig partition that I have Windows and all my programs installed on, and whenever I need to reformat, I just have to wipe that partition, and everything else is safe.

[Saulbadguy]

Please explain, This is one area I know very little about .

I use my pc for work and personal, reason why I have so much time to be on here and work too.

Will I lose anything I need to keep, files, templates, folders, records, etc. when I re-format ?
No, it won't hurt anything at all. I just don't think it will fix your problem.

[Pants]

Defragging makes your PC work faster. Pretty much it's like organizing the files on your computer. To accsess it, go to Control Panel, then System Tools.

Formatting = wiping EVERYTHING off your hard drive and starting all over, like having a brand new PC.

[Saulbadguy]

I really don't defrag too much anymore. I used to make a habit of it, but now computers are so fast I just don't notice too much.

[Eleazar]

I dont defrag either, all I do is a complete system restore (fdisk, etc.) about twice a year.

I save everything that I dont want to lose in the My Documents folder. Then when it's time to restore, I burn that folder to a CD and fdisk the machine. Keeps things running fairly well.

To me though it seems unlikely that the defrag is going to help whatever's keeping him from being able to see auctions or whatever on a website.

[KCTitus]

Actually, defragging anymore is pretty negligable as far as improving performance. Older FAT systems really caused performance to slip, but with XP it doesnt really do that much unless you're running near capacity on your hard drive. That said, it's allways a good thing to do.

Ive found that burning CD's works faster with a defragged HD.

Formatting/Wiping is starting over. Basically completely erasing the hard drive, re-installing the OS then your programs and restoring your data files--so it would require before you begin the process to backup ALL of your data. It's time consuming, but can solve all software problems/quirks.

[milkman]

Thanks Titus.

[AeroSquid]

i use Diskeeper Pro (http://www.execsoft.co.uk/home/html/home/diskeeper/diskeeper.htm) and it defrags anytime the screensaver comes on. also after i install any game or app. i run dual raptors in raid 0 so i like to keep them as fast as possible. slow hard drives suck.

[ROYC75]

Whoo Hooo.... something tells me this is going to be a long slow process..... being defrag'n for 25 minutes and it's at 4 %...........

Guess I got all day.....

I have noticed that it's a little slow here lately when I give it a comand.

But how this is going to help me see the loads I have listed on a website is beyond me ?

Again, everything else appears to be fine.

[ROYC75]

OK, now I know why I usually have a PC guy come and update, clean up the pc..... This is an area I know nothing to speak of....

BTW, what is OS ?

[Eleazar]

OK, now I know why I usually have a PC guy come and update, clean up the pc..... This is an area I know nothing to speak of....

BTW, what is OS ?

Operating System. Like Windows XP, Windows 2000, etc.

[KCTitus]

But how this is going to help me see the loads I have listed on a website is beyond me ?

It wont...and you shouldnt be running any other programs while defragging.

[Iowanian]

"what is an Operating System"
Iowanian Jennings.

[ROYC75]

It wont...and you shouldnt be running any other programs while defragging.

Oh cool, I have 13 applications currently open and working !

So do I stop the defrag and do it tonight ?

[Pants]

Oh cool, I have 13 applications currently open and working !

So do I stop the defrag and do it tonight ?

Yeap, like I said, it's best to leave it overnight, as it is a long process. Especially if you haven't done it for a while or have a large dics.

[ROYC75]

Yeap, like I said, it's best to leave it overnight, as it is a long process. Especially if you haven't done it for a while or have a large dics.


OK, time to stop it and yes, I have never done it.


Thanks.

[Saulbadguy]

i use Diskeeper Pro (http://www.execsoft.co.uk/home/html/home/diskeeper/diskeeper.htm) and it defrags anytime the screensaver comes on. also after i install any game or app. i run dual raptors in raid 0 so i like to keep them as fast as possible. slow hard drives suck.
36 or 75 gigs? :D I'm running the old 36's..I want to upgrade. :)

[KCTitus]

Oh cool, I have 13 applications currently open and working !

So do I stop the defrag and do it tonight ?

Yes, and turn your screen saver off while doing it, just remember to turn off your monitor so you dont get any burn in.

[Chief Henry]

I defrag and sacn disk both every month....Thats what our Computer Tech guy tells us....fwiw

[ROYC75]

I guess it's just a wierd day, I shut that program down, restarted it up, it came up like last time, sent me my usual greetings and so on... this time everything was available to my commands. :hmmm:

OH well...........

Thanks guys, chance are it was an error by there system that wasn't allowing me access.

[Saulbadguy]

And the first thing we always try...restart the program, or restart the computer!

[KCTitus]

And the first thing we always try...restart the program, or restart the computer!

You arrogant, condescending bastard!

[phisherman]

If any tech support guy ever tells you that something on the Internet that you can't see is a result of your machine not being defragged, tell them they're high.

Fragmentation is still a problem on PC's, but w/ the increased popularity of Windows 2000 and XP, fragmentation has become less of a problem. Also, if you use NTFS, defragging isn't even needed. This really bit me a lot as a field tech; the damn help desk would say that the user needed his drive defragged to make the internet run faster.
:banghead:
:cuss:

I really chewed out a lot of phone techs because the defrag answer is for when they don't have a freakin' clue what to do and they want someone else to go and fix the problem. In either case, the user at their desk wants their drive defragged and it isn't easy to tell someone who knows nothing about computers that the help desk of a major company is wrong. Ah, the trials and tribulations of tech support. Thank god I don't do that anymore!
bp

[KCTitus]

...Also, if you use NTFS, defragging isn't even needed...

Yes, it is, MS in their 'wisdom' just didnt produce a utility to do it. The fact that they did with XP proves they were wrong.

[phisherman]

I didn't mean that it was non-existant, but the efficiency of NTFS w/ file fragments renders defragging almost unnecessary unless you're moving very large bits of data on and off of your disk, which I know some people do.

not trying to play know-it-all, just letting people know that the "defrag your pc" diagnosis is hardly ever really the problem.

bp

[Mr. Laz]

And the first thing we always try...restart the program, or restart the computer!


this is an highly underrate issue imo ROFL ROFL



seriously you'd be surprised how many people run their machine 24/7 and then freak out when they have to reboot and things are completely screwed up.


reboot your computers regularly people!!




it's where problems tend to show themselves

[ROYC75]

FWIW, I turn mine off daily. It booted just fine today, all programs came up normal until 1 program apparently didn't download properly over the internet link. It welcomed me to the site as usual, my co. name, personal name, etc., but when I gave it a command, it changed screens but none of the 44 loads I had posted showed up.

After all of the defrag talk, I closed it down after a 5% scan and reopened the website again.

Again, I was wondering why a defrag would help this as well, so I asked .

All is well....... Thanks for the help, it's just my dumb luck I didn't go ahead and close it, reopen it to start with.