Disk Defragmenting

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Jovis
Posts: 1454
Joined: Fri 25 Aug, 2006 20.08

Does disk defragmenting make a noticeable difference to the performance of Windows XP?

Does it make it run faster?
Dr Lobster*
Posts: 2128
Joined: Sat 30 Aug, 2003 20.14

depends how fragmented your file system is.

if you run the defragmentation tool and there is lots of red and it says 'you should defragment this volume' then you probably should.

as you probably know windows tries to make best use of the space possible on the disk so it breaks the files up into smaller pieces, if for whatever reason regularly used application files are fragmented then the time taken to load will be extended whilst the operating system pieces together all the bits of the file in the background.

defragmentation is one of those housekeeping tasks, like a full virus and spyware scan which you should do regularly - if you do it every week you'll find it only takes a couple of minutes to complete.
Jovis
Posts: 1454
Joined: Fri 25 Aug, 2006 20.08

Thanks, I'll let you know how I get on...
Jovis
Posts: 1454
Joined: Fri 25 Aug, 2006 20.08

Well I did it last night (disk defragmentation that is) and whilst I can't say it runs that much faster, it certainly starts up a whole lot quicker.
Reeves
Posts: 257
Joined: Mon 08 May, 2006 19.59

Jovis wrote:Well I did it last night (disk defragmentation that is) and whilst I can't say it runs that much faster, it certainly starts up a whole lot quicker.
...so it runs faster. :roll:
Jovis
Posts: 1454
Joined: Fri 25 Aug, 2006 20.08

Reeves wrote:
Jovis wrote:Well I did it last night (disk defragmentation that is) and whilst I can't say it runs that much faster, it certainly starts up a whole lot quicker.
...so it runs faster. :roll:
Well, once its loaded up, no it doesn't.
Stuart*
Banned
Posts: 2150
Joined: Fri 24 Jun, 2005 10.31
Location: Devon

Nah - it never makes any diffrerence to what you see. Makes 'puter more efficient that's about it.
Reeves
Posts: 257
Joined: Mon 08 May, 2006 19.59

Jovis wrote:
Reeves wrote:
Jovis wrote:Well I did it last night (disk defragmentation that is) and whilst I can't say it runs that much faster, it certainly starts up a whole lot quicker.
...so it runs faster. :roll:
Well, once its loaded up, no it doesn't.
Checked for Viruses and Spyware?
cdd
Posts: 2633
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 14.05

If your computer runs too slowly, it's 99% certain to be because you have too many programs in Start Up and running as background processes.
Click Start > Run, type msconfig, OK, then go to the Startup tab and uncheck all the boxes for applications you know you don't need. For applications you don't recognise do a google search to find out of they are essential (you'll get an instant result just by typing in the filename), if not uncheck it. Then hit OK and restart - and enjoy!
Jovis
Posts: 1454
Joined: Fri 25 Aug, 2006 20.08

I never really had a problem with slow running or start up speeds anyway. I'd already done the whole msconfig, and others. I just wondered if it would make any noticeable differences on top of that.

Sorry, I should have explained.
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