How Long Does A Defrag Take?

[MysteryJKR]

My comp is gettin odd. hehe. I really think it needa a defrag but id like to know from you experienced lit forum goers on how long it takes to get done?

It has to depend on the amount of space you have and how much is taken up I figure, and other things to but is there like an average length of time?

My comp really needs a reformat but I got wayy to much stuff I dont wanna lose and I dont have any blank cd's to burn all my stuff onto.

So yea. Thanks.

Im computer savy. computers have always been a huge part of my life but iim a defrag virgin. lol. so let me know guys.

 

[Weird Harold]

If you've never done a defrag, a 1Meg partition is going to take 20 to 30 minutes. Drive C: takes longer, because it will keep restarting everytime a file changes, and defrag itself apparently changes a file on drive C:

If you've got a BIG drive, (30 Meg or so), don't plan on doing much with your computer for two to three hours.

Make sure you run Scandisk before defragging. The "thorough" check to check the drive surface would seem to be indicated here, and that's going to take another ten to 15 minutes per Meg of drive or so.

A lot depends on how fast your drives are, how much RAM you have, and what kind of processer is doing the work.

Anothe factor that will slow things down for Defrag is how much room there is on the drive -- A mostly empty drive defrags very quickly, while one that is 90% full will defrag very slowly compared to other drives of comparable size.

 

[MysteryJKR]

i think that restarting thing you were talking about keeps happening to me.

Last time i tried to defrag i left it on for almost 2 days and it didnt seem to be doing anything.

I have a 13 gig hard drive, 450 mhz. pentium 3 processor. hmm i have a bit over 4 gigs left.

that tell ya anything else? hehe.

 

[Weird Harold]

Last time i tried to defrag i left it on for almost 2 days and it didnt seem to be doing anything.

Try booting up in safe mode: Hold the Control key down while the computer boots, and you'll get a menu of modes to boot up in.

It sounds like you've got something other than the operating system updating files.

A quicker if more expensive way to defrag: Install a second hard drive, copy everything from the original drive, delete everything on the original dirve, and copy everything back. (make sure you get all of the hidden files!) This is quicker, but will mess up some programs that are copy protected by noting the location of the files as they install.

Defragging in "safe mode" eliminates everything except the basic operating system from RAM, which speeds up the process as well as preventing any drivers or utility programs from writing to the disk and resetting defrag.

 

[MysteryJKR]

will defraggin in safe mode do anything to my files? or will everything be ok and it will go faster? cuz you said it eliminates everything accept for the must have things so that threw me.

 

[Weird Harold]

will defraggin in safe mode do anything to my files? or will everything be ok and it will go faster? cuz you said it eliminates everything accept for the must have things so that threw me.

Safe mode doesn't do anything to the disk, just what is loaded into memory when you boot up.

For example, it won't load your virus protection software, realplayer, scanner driver, networking drivers, some CD-ROM drivers (Like AdapTEC's Direct-CD), and other programs that run from the system registry or startup menu.

You won't have access to things like a web-cam or you internet provider, all you have access to is the bare minimum operating system. Everything coms back when you reboot in normal mode, because normal mode loads everything just as it always does.

Safe mode is used for troubleshooting and removing programs that won't let the system boot or run properly -- it's just a quick and easy way to shut-down programs that may be causing a problem.

 

[MysteryJKR]

thanks man.

 

[Guest]

I use a great program called power defrag. it restarts your computer and then defrags with nothing but itself working i have a 8 gig and it takes bout 30mins.

you can get it from

http://www.powerdefrag.com.

it uses microsofts defrag program.

 

[Lord]

heh

i have 17 gigs 450 mhz and i have little under 1 gig left +) imagine how long it takes for me...once i left it on all night(12 hrs) not even 1% done when i woke up in the morning