On 3/10/2009 12:57 PM PT, Gerry wrote:

Earlier you queried whether there might be speed improvements from changing
the cluster size. This is not an easy one to answer as any performance gains
are difficult to measure and often subjective. The performance benefits
coming from a larger cluster size arise from a reduced rate of file
fragmentation where the average file size is large. You are of course trying
to resolve a situation where file fragmentation has become a serious problem
so ideally you would not want something that speeds up fragmentation. You
will see a noticeable improvement if you can eliminate fragmentation but
this will only last for a while until you need to cleanup and defragment
again. I suspect that the preliminary disk cleanup helps as much as
defragmentation. Apart from resolving severe fragmentation defragmenting is
only one measure contributing to better system performance. Other factors
are often more important. The CPU capacity and the amount of RAM are the
more important normal bottlenecks holding back system performance but there
are a number of other factors which can apply. I do not think changing the
cluster size is worthwhile given the likely benefits.

Yeah, it's a tedious process to complete too. Also, risky if something
goes wrong.


You would see an improved system performance if you could increase the
available free disk space to 25 to 35% but this is not easily measurable.

OK.


You have a pagefile on volume E, which is part of a single drive. Most
people, who have diverse views on best practice regarding the pagefile,
would not consider this helps system performance. You should either have a
single pagefile on volume C or have a dedicated pagefile partition as the
first partition on a second hard drive leaving a small pagefile in volume C.
Which is best causes many heated debates between the two opposing
viewpoints but no one would advocate what you have to achieve best
performance.

OK.


The logic underlying the partition structure is unclear to me. What is meant
to be the purpose of each partition? I cannot see the benefit to be gained
from moving files from C to D as both have limited free space. I cannot see
any system restore points. Has system restore been turned off. With regard
to C you might look at the points detailed below, which may marginally help.

IT disabled system restore feature (enabling it gets denied). I guess it
is the same reason why you think it is useless.


Another default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary
internet files, especially if you do not store offline copies on disk.
The default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to
offline copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer
select Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files,
Settings to make the change. At the same time look at the number of days
history is held.

I don't use offline feature. TIF is at 1%.


The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

I lowered from 30% to 5% to see how that goes. I usually keep my recycle
bin almost empty.


Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System
Information, Tools, Dr Watson and verify that the box before "Append to
existing log" is NOT checked. This means the next time the log is
written it will overwrite rather than add to the existing file.

Already unchecked.


If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of
your C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows
folder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$
etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed
the text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If not
compressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder and
select Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before Compress
contents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amount
gained by deducting the size on disk from the size. Folder
compression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.

Yes, it is in NTFS and has compress feature. I do delete old hotfixes,
SP2 upgrade, etc.

I find it strange for IT to make my D: drive the local Windows account
directories/folders. It seems like they made C: for system stuff, D: for
data stuff, etc.
--
Phillip Pi
Senior Software Quality Assurance Analyst
ISP/Symantec Online Services, Consumer Business Unit
Symantec Corporation
www.symantec.com
-----------------------------------------------------
Email: YMC (remove SYMC to reply by e-mail)
-----------------------------------------------------
Please do NOT e-mail me for technical support. DISCLAIMER: The views
expressed in this posting are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the
views of my employer. Thank you.