Defrag

Sol00

Hi guys

I'm asking about my mum's computer, so if people need me to try stuff based on the problem, I can't for a couple of weeks.

My mum's got my old PC bought in 2003. It ran Windows XP and worked fine until I installed Vista Basic in 2007, which slowed it down immensely. When I gave my mum my PC, I did a clean install so that all my data was deleted etc.

Since then my brother has created 2 accounts; one for him and one for my mum, but for some reason, the PC seems even more slow than before.

The main problem is that when I try to defrag the hard drive, it doesn't seem to work. I left it on for 24 hours and still, it hadn't finished.

Anyone got any idea as to why it won't defrag?

Thanks

TonyMMM

1) How much RAM (memory) does the machine have ? ....what was OK for XP may not be enough for Vista, I think a machine from 2003 is unlikely to have enough RAM to cope unless you have added more since it was bought.

2) How much free space is there on the hard drive ?

Farway

You could try using "Smart defrag" which is free, instead of the built in one

http://download!!!!et.com/Smart-Defrag/3000-2094_4-10759533.html

macman

You need about 15% free space to run Defrag. Check how full your HD is.
But almost certainly as TonyMMM advises, you need 2GB to run Vista properly, a 5 yr old machine is unlikely to have more than 512Mb unless it's been upgraded. Check your RAM and either upgrade it to the max, or uninstall Vista and put XP back on it.

old_codger1

I seem to remember back in the says when I ran windows ME, (instead of linux), regularly that the defrag would run continuously and never complete because the operating system was constantly altering the 'paging file' and kept having to restart.

TBH I thought they'd solved that.

aliEnRIK

Switch off Vistas defrag and run DEFRAGGLER
http://www.filehippo.com/download_defraggler/

Sol00

TonyMMM wrote: »

1) How much RAM (memory) does the machine have ? ....what was OK for XP may not be enough for Vista, I think a machine from 2003 is unlikely to have enough RAM to cope unless you have added more since it was bought.

2) How much free space is there on the hard drive ?

I think there's about 30 odd GB left but I'm not 100% on that.

Sol00

macman wrote: »

You need about 15% free space to run Defrag. Check how full your HD is.
But almost certainly as TonyMMM advises, you need 2GB to run Vista properly, a 5 yr old machine is unlikely to have more than 512Mb unless it's been upgraded. Check your RAM and either upgrade it to the max, or uninstall Vista and put XP back on it.

I've got a feeling it is 512mb. I know a bit more about PCs now, but at the time the only part of the hardware I undestood was the HD memory which was 80GB.

Sol00

Thanks, I'll give those other defraggers a go.

macman

The HD size is not memory, it is storage. RAM is memory.
If your RAM is only 512MB (Go to Computer, right click, select Properties, General tab-RAM figure will be on there), then that's your problem. Although Windows 'officially' claim that you can run Home Basic on 512MB, in practice it will be useless. You might just get away with 1GB runing Basic, but 2GB preferable.
Defragging will only give a marginal improvement if any, because you have plenty of free disk space anyway.
Go to crucial.com and run the memory scanner to see what your RAM upgrade options are.

peter999

Sol00 wrote: »

Thanks, I'll give those other defraggers a go.

Have you checked Microsoft Support website for any similiar problems ??

Remember the problem may not be your Pc, it could be Windows XP & Microsoft software. I had similiar problem with Defrag, found problem described on Microsoft Support with a workaround.

Look at these & see if any match your situation:

Search MS Support for: defrag stops
http://support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?mode=r&query=defrag+stops&spid=global&catalog=LCID%3D2057&2057comm=1&res=20

Maybe do some other searches with other relevant words just to make sure you've covered all possibilities.

peter999