Is defraging necessary?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lisa
  • Start date Start date
L

Lisa

Guest
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?
 
"Lisa" wrote in message

news:1AA94818-B553-4478-9F58-668B6F68C348@microsoft.com...

> 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.
 
"Lisa" wrote in message

news:1AA94818-B553-4478-9F58-668B6F68C348@microsoft.com...



> 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)
 
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
 
In news:1AA94818-B553-4478-9F58-668B6F68C348@microsoft.com,

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`
 
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.
 
In article , heybub@gmail.com

says...

>

> 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.



On a small computer with many add/delete/grow/shrink operations, defrag

can significantly impact file access times and can be very noticeable to

users if their system was badly file fragmented before the defrag.



White-Space fragmention is not normally an issue, but a file that is

fragmented into 8000 parts will have an impact on system performance.



This argument has gone on for decades, but it's the people that maintain

systems across many areas that know the benefits of defrag.



--

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.

spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
 
In article ,

databaseben@sbcglobal.net 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.

spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
 
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

news:MPG.2657727c502cb8cd98a360@us.news.astraweb.com...

>

> 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...
 
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.

spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
 
No it is not absolute necessity to defrag your HD unless you want

to kill time doing something. The nutters who have said that you

should defrag your HD every week or even every month are likely to

be loners and jobless.



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.



hth





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?



--

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.
 
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.
 
"LDS5ZRA" wrote in message

news:4BEDD14F.4C50DEA5@discussions.microsoft.com...

>

>

> 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."
 
Ah, I see... I never really pay attention to that column until now. Thanks.



"Leythos" wrote in message

news:MPG.265799b2411c095498a362@us.news.astraweb.com...

> 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.

> spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
 
In article ,

LDS5ZRA@discussions.microsoft.com 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.

spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
 
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 ,

> LDS5ZRA@discussions.microsoft.com 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.

> spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)

> .

>
 
In article ,

BrianV@discussions.microsoft.com says...

>

> 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?



File Fragmentation is the same on a RAID or non-RAID volume.



> 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?



It would depend on the Flash drive/disk, if it has some means, other

than what the OS uses, to control file fragments. Consider how and why

FILE fragmentation is created.



--

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.

spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
 
On 05/15/2010 03:43 AM, Leythos wrote:

> In article,

> LDS5ZRA@discussions.microsoft.com 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.

>

>



My goodness, I agree with Leythos. What's the world coming to?



--

Alias
 
In article ,

aka@hewhoismasked&anonymous.com says...

>

> On 05/15/2010 03:43 AM, Leythos wrote:

> > In article,

> > LDS5ZRA@discussions.microsoft.com 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.

> >

> >

>

> My goodness, I agree with Leythos. What's the world coming to?



Well, that will certainly harm my credibility, having you agree with

something I've written.



--

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.

spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
 
On Fri, 14 May 2010 23:34:02 -0700, Brian V

wrote:



> What about defragmentation with a RAID system? Doesn't this system eliminate

> file defragmentation?





No.





> I am under the impression that it is two copies of everything (one on each drive),





That's only *one* type of RAID, RAID 0.





> it is a faster (and ??more stable system??)

> and more reliable system?







In theory, yes. In practice, hardly ever.





--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003

Please Reply to the Newsgroup
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top