Defragmenting with Vista

[blue_ashleigh]

Hello,

I started defrag on my computer since there's no evidence in the Event Log that it's run since I got the computer (it says it's due to run every Weds at 1am, although I never have my computer on then). I have Vista and my computer's about 4 months old. The defrag box has a spinny blue circle indicating that it is indeed doing something, but it's been doing since 10am (so roughly 8 hours so far). Is this normal for Vista? On my XP computer it would take max an hour to do. Is there anyway of seeing if it is infact defragmenting or just showing me a spinny blue circle?

Thanks

[aliEnRIK]

I wouldnt bother with vistas inbuilt one but use DEFRAGGLER instead as it does a better job and you can see everything its doing in realtime

[ThomasK31ly]

I think the Vista defrag utility runs as a background service, depending on the size of the fragmented disc this could take a long time.

You can run defrag from the cmd line, if you type Defrag -c -w -v

[blue_ashleigh]

Cheers
I think I'll give that a try instead.
Vista's blomming rubbish

[Bishenden]

Yeah the best thing to do is go to start -> run -> cmd then type: defrag c: -a

Similar to what Thomas mentioned but this will analyze the drive and tell you how fragmented it is. If its above 5% then run defrag c: -f

[JethroTull]

Originally Posted by blue_ashleigh

Hello,
Is this normal for Vista?

Pretty much normal. Vista' defragger is a background low-priority process that grinds away at the disk for hours. You can get verbose defrag analysis and a few more defrag options using an admin-level (elevated) command prompt, but still no drive map or progress indicator.

If you try third party defrag utilities for Vista, i suggest you go for the ones that support shadow copy services. I used to run Diskeeper 2009 Pro on my Vista laptop (now XP) and they recommended to always use the VSS option if system restore was enabled, otherwise it could lead to loss of older system restore points.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/312067
http://www.diskeeperblog.com/archive...eature_sp.html

Diskeeper is an excellent defragger, although it's not free, you can get free trial versions from their webpage.

AFAIK, none of the free defraggers are VSS compatible, so use with care.

[ih8stress]

Originally Posted by aliEnRIK

I wouldnt bother with vistas inbuilt one but use DEFRAGGLER instead as it does a better job and you can see everything its doing in realtime

Hi aliEnRIK, my son is having the same problem as blue-ashleigh. I have followed your advice on previous occasions. Can you please confirm whether defraggler IS suitable for vista as the VSS comment by Jethro Tull (great band incidentally) just goes over my 'too technical for me' head.

Thanks

[aliEnRIK]

Defraggler works fine

As for the VSS talk ~ Ive never known defraggler do anything it shouldnt, its fast, and defragging barley makes any difference anyways unles the computers SERIOUSLY fragmented

[ih8stress]

Thanks, aliEnRIK. Will let you know how I get on (for future users reference).

[ih8stress]

Quick update as promised:

Downloaded Defraggler and it ran fine. It did take AGES but I think that was because it was the first time I'd been able to defrag properly as the Vista one was useless and because I forgot to use Ccleaner to delete temp files, empty recycle bin etc first so of course it had to trawl through all that lot too, doh!

[aliEnRIK]

You should ALWAYS run ccleaner first else once youve defragged THEN run ccleaner youll have 'gaps' appear in the harddrive (Which isnt helping at all)

[ih8stress]

Wow, quick response aliEnRIK! I'll make a note of that for next time, thanks.

Meanwhile do I just leave it for now, or should I defrag again?

[aliEnRIK]

Dont bother for now. Just remember for next time

(You only need to defrag once every 6 months or so depending on how much you install etc)

[ih8stress]

Thanks AliEnRIK