On 3/9/2009 4:18 PM PT, Gerry wrote:

The first thing is that volumes C and D do not have the normal 4 kb cluster
size. This can occur in certain situations if they are converted from FAT32
to NTFS without taking precautions. See the link which follows:
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm
The Default Cluster Size for the NTFS and FAT File Systems
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314878/en-us

Other than reformatting I do not know how to correct the error. Of course
with your C volume that involves reinstalling Windows XP and all that
entails.

Interesting. I did NOT set up these partitions and OS (think it was a
preinstalled image from IT since I remember having to get IT to set up
my account).

Can PartitionMagic v8.01 fix this (of course, backup)? If so, then how
much speed improvements am I expecting? Are you saying defragging won't
fix this slow issue?


How many drives are there? Are all volumes on the same drive or are they on
physically separate drives?

1 physical Maxtor HDD and three MS partitions (C:, D:, and E. And
there a Dell partition so that's four in total.


The problem with your C volume is more than likely the transaction log. What
is generating the log and what is recorded in the log? Some logs open using
notepad and you can delete older data leaving the more current information.

Not sure what it is. I see a bunch of lines like:
S2G: 5 8275
S2G: 5 8275
S2G: 5 8275
S2G: 5 7918
S2G: 5 7918
S2G: 5 7918
S2G: 5 7918
S2G: 5 7918
S2G: 5 7918
Process Explorer and Unlocker doesn't say who has this file opened.


The size and fragmentation of the file will be preventing effective
defragmentation by the Microsoft Defragmenter. You also have a number of
other log files. Do these also contain old data which you do not need to
keep?

When you run the Microsoft Disk Defragmenter does it complete leaving one or
two of the larger files or does it give up? You should always run cCleaner
(or Disk CleanUp ) before running Disk Defragmenter. If it completes leaving
some files run Disk Defragmenter again and see if the number of fragments
reduce. If this does not work download and run Defraggler. Given the amount
of free space on volume C I would expect Disk Defragmenter and / or
Defraggler to resolve the problem

I don't know. I will try again. I will try JKdefrag this time.


The problem with your D volume is the same as volume C but much more severe.
I would suspect the problem has been created by placing the images on the
volume when the volume is in a fragmented state. You might avoid the problem
in future by running Disk CleanUp and Disk Defragmenter before putting the
images on the volume. You have 3 large files, which if temporarily removed
from the volume, would enable Disk Defragmenter to work, although it might
take quite a time. Defraggler might work with the files still on the volume.

I can run it overnight or weekend if needed. I have had these VMware
images for years. The PC is pretty old (3-4 years old).


Do you have access to an external cradle and another hard drive, which you
could connect to your computer. You can then copy the large files to the
external drive deleting the original copies using Shift+Delete to bypass the
Recycle Bin, run Disk Defragmenter and copy the files back. You should find
the large files copied are only in a few fragments and not multi fragmented
as before.

I will try that if things get worse.


Your E volume should not cause defragmentation problems.

Yeah, it looks nice.
--
Phillip Pi
Senior Software Quality Assurance Analyst
ISP/Symantec Online Services, Consumer Business Unit
Symantec Corporation
www.symantec.com
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