Troubleshooting Disk Defragmenter

Does the Windows Disk Defragmenter restart before it's had a chance to fully defrag your drive? If so, Dave Cook can show you how to fix it...

It's pretty much a fact of life that, over time, the files on a computer's hard drive become disorganised and fragmented. To restore order and speed up the process of reading and writing data, you need to run a special utility called a disk defragmenter.

The basic Disk Defragmenter supplied with Microsoft Windows is just that - basic! Frankly, the best thing about this defragmenter (click Start, then Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and Disk Defragmenter) is that it's supplied free.

The downside is that it sometimes restarts itself before it has fully defragged the drive.

There are various reasons why this happens. One of the most common problems is a lack of available disk space. For example, not a lot of people know that you must have at least 15 percent free space before Disk Defragmenter will completely defragment a partition.

Note also that you can't defragment a partition that Windows has marked as containing errors. To troubleshoot this possibility, use the Check Disk utility, or at a DOS prompt enter chkdsk c: /f (substituting c: for the drive letter in question).

Other factors that should be taken into consideration are programs running in the background. This could be a screensaver, a virus checker, or a multitude of other applications or utilities. If the Windows Disk Defragmenter on your computer fails to conclude satisfactorily, it's worth shutting down these programs before running Disk Defragmenter.

Closed For Business

Be aware that most applications can be closed by pressing ALT+F4. However, a number of tasks that permanently run in the background are not quite so easy to shut down.

Assuming that you're disconnected from the Internet, right-click any icons in the System Tray (the small area of the screen next to the clock on the Start menu) and click Exit or Close to shut them down. Restart the Disk Defragmenter and try again.

If Disk Defragmenter still can't fully defragment the drive, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to bring up the Task Manager (Windows XP/2000) or (in earlier Windows versions) the Close Program diagram box.

It will now be a matter of trial and error to find which applications are interfering with Disk Defragmenter. To stop an application, select the application or component and click End Task. The program should then prompt for confirmation. But don't forget to close any open files before doing so.

By contrast, the End Process button on the Processes tab in Windows XP zaps a program or process immediately. So treat this particular option with care.

Lastly

We'd like to offer you two final snippets. Firstly, because Windows Disk Defragmenter doesn't defragment files in the Recycle Bin, always remember to empty the Recycle Bin before running the utility.

And finally, consider purchasing a third-party defragmenter. They're inexpensive, immeasurably better than the freebie version supplied with Windows, and most if not all can work in the background without slowing down system performance.

 

Dave Cook