If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
I was told by a computer repairman that it's not necessary to defrag my
laptop. If the hard drive gets full, remove files and always make sure I'm using a virus protection. What are your thoughts? |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
"Lisa" wrote in message ... I was told by a computer repairman that it's not necessary to defrag my laptop. If the hard drive gets full, remove files and always make sure I'm using a virus protection. What are your thoughts? Occasional defragging is beneficial, e.g. once every two or three months, depending on the level activity. You won't notice any substantial improvement in performace unless your partitions are very heavily fragmented. You should make sure that the amount of free space on each partition is around 20% of capacity or more. Defragging does *not* free up disk space. Yes, you must install virus protection. I have used Microsoft Security Essentials (http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/) since December last year and have had no problem. It's free. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
"Lisa" wrote in message
... I was told by a computer repairman that it's not necessary to defrag my laptop. If the hard drive gets full, remove files and always make sure I'm using a virus protection. The WinXP DEFRAG app first evaluates fragmentation on a drive, then advises whether defragmentation is needed or not. Ordinary WinXP users can rely on this advice. -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
On Thu, 13 May 2010 09:31:01 -0700, Lisa
wrote: I was told by a computer repairman *What* computer repairman? What company is he with? If, for example, he's with the Geek Squad, or any similar big-box store, he probably knows next to nothing and his opinions are worthless. I strongly recommend that you stay far away from such companies. that it's not necessary to defrag my laptop. It's normally very seldom necessary. You can do it, but you don't have to do it often. If the hard drive gets full, remove files That's a statement that's next to meaningless. Yes, if your hard drive gets full (or anywhere near full), you have a problem. But simply telling you to remove files without any guidance on what to remove is no real help at all. Moreover, if your hard drive gets near full, removing files is at best a stopgap measure. The problem will return quickly. The only real solution to the problem is to buy a bigger drive. and always make sure I'm using a virus protection. He got that one right for sure. However, anti-virus programs are far from equal, and which one you choose is very important. Unfortunately the two biggest sellers, Norton and McAfee, are also the two worst products. I recommend eSET NOD32, if you are willing to pay for an anti-virus, and either Avira or Avast, if you want a freeware product. And one more point. Run an anti-virus program, and *also* at least two anti-spyware programs. I recommend MalwareBytes Anti-Malware and SuperAntiSpyware. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003 Please Reply to the Newsgroup |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
In ,
Lisa typed: I was told by a computer repairman that it's not necessary to defrag my laptop. If the hard drive gets full, remove files and always make sure I'm using a virus protection. What are your thoughts? You don't "have" to defrag a disk. There are some benefits to it but nothing very serious will happen to you in general. It's possible, not likely but depending on what you use it for, for it to slow down your computer. OTOH I do defrags about monthly on most of my drives and when I'm using it, after every session of video editing/rendering. If I don't my computer will come to a screeching near-halt due to the huge, fragmented files on that one very large drive should I continue to work in video. If I wait over two or three sessions to do the defrag, then in this case there is so much work to do that it takes hours to do a defrag. But by doing it after every session it only takes around 20 minutes so I just go on and do something else while it's running or let it run overnight if I'm done for the day. Point is, the worse the fragmentation and the larger the drive, the longer it takes to defrag. Especially if the drive is allowed to get full to the point of only about 15% free space. If free space gets low enough, defrag will cease to be able to work. IMO it's best to defrag periodically. Find a schedule that works for you and doesn't take several hours to run. Start with monthly and the, two, then three, or 3 weeks, whichever way it takes you. Everyone's needs are different. But it is not specifically necessary to run defrag. HTH, Twayne` |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
Lisa wrote:
I was told by a computer repairman that it's not necessary to defrag my laptop. If the hard drive gets full, remove files and always make sure I'm using a virus protection. What are your thoughts? I can envision a situation in a data center with hundreds of thousands of transactions per minute where defragging may be of some slight benefit (assuming an NTFS file system). I can also imagine a user devoted to daily defragging experiencing a power interruption during a critical directory manipulation process. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
In article ,
says... in my opinion, if the amount of data has not exceeded 50% of the disk, then you may be wasting your time in defragging. And that's why people don't really pay attention to what you post here DB. It's not about how much free space you have left on the disk, since free space has little to do with fragmentation, other than making it worse when you have less free space. What does impact fragmentation is the number of ADD/DELETE/SIZE Changes you make to the files on the drive. I've seen a single PDF, on a drive with 800GB free space, fragmented into 29,000 parts. It would take up to a minute to load, after the defrag it took a few seconds... -- You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that. Trust yourself. (remove 999 for proper email address) |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
I'm curious. How did you know the file is fragmented into x parts? What
software did you use to see this fragmentation? "Leythos" wrote in message om... I've seen a single PDF, on a drive with 800GB free space, fragmented into 29,000 parts. It would take up to a minute to load, after the defrag it took a few seconds... |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
In article , "John" says...
I'm curious. How did you know the file is fragmented into x parts? What software did you use to see this fragmentation? Have you ever used Windows Defrag or JK-Defrag or MyDefrag? Windows Defrag will generate a report after you Analyze the disk, it shows FRAGMENTS, File Size, File Name (includes location). -- You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that. Trust yourself. (remove 999 for proper email address) |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
John wrote: I'm curious. How did you know the file is fragmented into x parts? He was talking from that small smelly hole on him bum! -- THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. LDS5ZRA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL LDS5ZRA OR HIS ASSOCIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF LDS5ZRA OR HIS ASSOCIATES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY. Copyright LDS5ZRA 2010. |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
"LDS5ZRA" wrote in message
.. . John wrote: I'm curious. How did you know the file is fragmented into x parts? He was talking from that small smelly hole on him bum! "Him" bum? Why you keep referring to your mum in such derogatory terms is beyond me. -- "Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you." |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
Ah, I see... I never really pay attention to that column until now. Thanks.
"Leythos" wrote in message om... In article , "John" says... I'm curious. How did you know the file is fragmented into x parts? What software did you use to see this fragmentation? Have you ever used Windows Defrag or JK-Defrag or MyDefrag? Windows Defrag will generate a report after you Analyze the disk, it shows FRAGMENTS, File Size, File Name (includes location). -- You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that. Trust yourself. (remove 999 for proper email address) |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
In article ,
says... There is no evidence that defragging speeds up your system in any shape or form. No something you will notice it when using your system everyday. There is plenty of evidence that file defrag improves drive system performance, only a person with limited experience would suggest otherwise. -- You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that. Trust yourself. (remove 999 for proper email address) |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
Is defraging necessary?
What about defragmentation with a RAID system? Doesn't this system eliminate
file defragmentation? I am under the impression that it is two copies of everything (one on each drive), it is a faster (and ??more stable system??) and more reliable system? Those new HDD's that are flash drives, SSD I think, they don't need defragmentation I saw in some tutorials. Since they are flash based, if I defragment my flash memory cards or my memory sticks, is this a bad idea? Thank you. "Leythos" wrote: In article , says... There is no evidence that defragging speeds up your system in any shape or form. No something you will notice it when using your system everyday. There is plenty of evidence that file defrag improves drive system performance, only a person with limited experience would suggest otherwise. -- You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that. Trust yourself. (remove 999 for proper email address) . |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|