Disk deframention

Little House on Unaka | April 9, 2014 | don-o

[don-o]

My laptop suddenly was less responsive. I regularly run disc cleanup and defrag, using the built in Win 7 tools. On a whim, I installed Defraggler and it shows my HD 14% fragmented.

I was stuned.

[PieterCasparzen]

My laptop suddenly was less responsive.

The word suddenly is a clue: did you one day create gigabytes of files on your laptop ? If you did not create a lot of huge files all at once, but instead used more disk space gradually over time, as is typical, then there should not "sudddenly" be a change in performance. (this is possible if you were running a database server, but you're not).

I regularly run disc cleanup and defrag, using the built in Win 7 tools. On a whim, I installed Defraggler and it shows my HD 14% fragmented.

Noticeable decrease in responsiveness because of disk fragmentation would only occur when reading or writing the disk.

Disk reads and writes tend to not to be very large for normal user PC's. The largest would typically be images/pictures. So, for example, once you've read an image file from disk and displayed it on the screen, the disk I/O is done.

If the unresponsiveness goes on pretty much all the time, i.e., your PC is just doggy, herky-jerky, etc., then you've got either malware (you picked up from a web ad, email, etc.) running and don't know it, or some of the applications you run have problems.

Is only your web browsing slow ? other applications ? or all applications ?

First off, I try disconnecting physically from the internet. Malware can sometimes be feverishly working using your internet connection. You can experiment by disconnecting the wire/cable from the internet is the sure way to stop all your network traffic.

[don-o]

As other have observed, the best thing you can do is get an SSD.

I have seen several suggest this. I have no clue what it is or how to follow the suggestion.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Get an SSD, no more problems

[roamer_1]

Got it running now, and it's saying it will take more than 1 day to complete.

Defraggler's timer is off - it gets better as it goes. It'll be an hour or two the first go around, thereafter it will be quicker.

[PieterCasparzen]

SSD is not needed for most users.

It’s a solid-state hard drive, i.e., no disk, just memory chips.

[don-o]

Thanks PC. First thing I did was run MalWarebytes quick scan. Came up clean.

I have done nothing except web surfing.

As I mentioned, she’s pretty much back to normal for responsiveness.

[FredZarguna]

It's a Solid State Disk drive. There are no platters. The drive is actually all solid state memory. Depending on numerous things, it can be 10 to 40 times faster than a hard disk.

Definitely do NOT buy this one: HP-ioDrive2-Duo-G2-IO-Accelerator-solid-state-drive-2410-GB-PCI-Expre

[don-o]

Yep. Dropped considerably - now 15 hrs to go

[deadrock]

Get CCleaner. It is free. It gets rid of temp files, etc. Then do the standard spyware and anti virus run. Then do a defrag.

[FredZarguna]

Have a look at a good sampling of the Samsung SSD's on this page. Samsung SSD's at Amazon

[Cboldt]

Oh G

[don-o]

You. Are. Killing. Me. Here.

[FredZarguna]

Not true.

[PieterCasparzen]

Wow, so, just out of curiosity,

of your 455G,

what are the Used and Free amounts ?

[don-o]

13% used 87 free

[steve86]

I’ve been using Defraggler for years and have observed the completion time estimates swing wildly. Mine can oscillate between 15 minutes and 5 hours. I don’t pay much attention - just let it do its thing. Be sure to schedule at least one boot-time defrag also. Different versions of Defraggler have various options for free-space consolidation and moving large files to end of drive, also. But any kind of defrag is good for the stage you’re at.

[don-o]

Yes. As I said, it is back to normal for responsiveness. I am still boggled that the MS tool was obviously not doing its job very well.

Maybe I SHOULD get a Mac.

Surprised that has not been suggested.

[steve86]

No fragmentation considerations with either Linux file systems or SSD.

[KoRn]

If you’re running a SSD, don’t ever defrag your drive. Not only does it not make a difference, it can shorten their life.

[DJ Frisat]

I patiently read through all the replies to see if anyone mentioned this, as it would have been my advice! I heartily concur!