xp defrag problem

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dug dog
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2008/05/04 23:00:44 (permalink)

xp defrag problem

I hope somebody can help with this. I'm trying to defrag my hard drives. I am accessing thru the run/all programs/system accessories route as i've done many times before. The defrag screen comes up and I can select a drive to analyze or defrag, but for some reason, when I select a drive and hit "analyze" or "defragment", nothing happens. There is no problem accessing data from either of the drives and I was able to perform a disc clean up on both drives. The device manager says that both drives are working properly.

Any thoughts?
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    Dan DAmico
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/04 23:45:50 (permalink)
    Does it work in safe mode?

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    #2
    dug dog
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/05 06:48:25 (permalink)
    I'm not sure what safe mode is or how to access it.

    Forgot to mention last nite (I was tired) that at one point I had disabled a bunch of services using msconfig as recommended by some folks on the forum. I have since turned them all back on, but that has made no difference.
    #3
    Fog
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/05 07:11:50 (permalink)
    dug dug , when you try to defrag the drive.. is there less than 20% free? if so that maybe the problem

    you could always try

    http://www.defraggler.com/

    in the meantime it's in beta, but works ok for me.

    also use this >

    http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

    it will show you where all your folders are, and the size they take up.

    hopefully your running a decent av + firewall? if not maybe you have a virus thats attacked the defrag , if you haven't got a decent av

    www.filehippo.com

    do a trial of zone alarm, then switch it to the free one

    also avg off the same site.. again free

    run ccleaner, do "cleaner" + "registry" tab.. see what it finds to fix, repeat until zero errors on registry tab.. or when it gets to a few.

    reboot after , see if things improve.

    if you don't do a regular virus scan , I suggest you do that also.




    #4
    dug dog
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/05 07:37:08 (permalink)
    Fog:

    Thanks for the reply. Lots of free disk space.

    The computer in question is not hooked up to the net, but i suppose it's possible that some files that have been transferred to it could have been infected.

    Gonna try some of your suggestions tonite.

    Cheers

    I'm wondering if running the XP repair option from the installation disk might help.
    post edited by dug dog - 2008/05/05 08:09:15
    #5
    DW_Mike
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/05 08:37:27 (permalink)
    I use AusLogics Disc Defrg. It's free and works faster and better then the stock one.
    http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag

    Mike

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    #6
    Dan DAmico
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/05 08:41:21 (permalink)
    You can access safe mode by pressing the F8 key after your computer POSTS, but before Windows loads.

    Have you tried checking for errors before drefragging?

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    #7
    mwd
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/06 21:30:01 (permalink)
    Have you logged in with another profile that does not have Administrative rights?

    Otherwise I would agree with Dan... you have some bad sectors and it won't let you defrag until they are repaired.
    #8
    dug dog
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/07 08:27:11 (permalink)
    Thanks to all for replies.

    Here's what I ended up doing. First, I loaded the free AVG anti virus and ran that. It detected nothing. So then I thought, maybe do a system restore to an earlier date and see if that does anything. That's when I realized that the system restore option under system tools sub menu was not even showing up. Now what?

    I'm not particularly well versed in checking for system errors and poking about in the registry, so after doing a bit of research I decided to run the system repair from the XP installation disk. (I had no idea this would take almost as much time as a brand new installation.) Anyway, that seems to have solved my problems for the time being, at least. I'm gonna have to keep a close eye on things for a while.

    Also, I'll probably look into the other defrag tools recommended as I find the XP version to be pretty slow.
    post edited by dug dog - 2008/05/07 08:28:23
    #9
    mwd
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/07 09:15:54 (permalink)
    I say this not to scare you but rather a 'heads up.

    You have excercised some fairly invasive measures to fix a problem that you don't know the origin of.

    I would check all your programs for correct operation. Sometimes XP Repair is not registry friendly and you have to reinstall the application.

    If I were you I would start making plans to do a data backup, rearrangement and round up all your install disk for a fresh reinstall. Develop an ongoing data strategy and it would be a good time to add extra drives it you need them.

    You may not need to do this but I would rather be prepared than caught by surprise.

    Also VoptXP makes a great defrag as does O & O, Diskeeper and others.
    #10
    mcourter
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/07 11:43:41 (permalink)
    With Microsoft's onboard defrag, I used to have the same problem: it just didn't appear to be doing anything, but that was on some older computers. In recent years, I use Norton Utilities Speed Disk to Optimize (same thing as defrag). I know Norton is less than popular in these parts, but I've NEVER had a problem with Norton in the 15 years I've used them.

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    foxwolfen
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/07 15:01:53 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: dug dog

    I hope somebody can help with this. I'm trying to defrag my hard drives. I am accessing thru the run/all programs/system accessories route as i've done many times before. The defrag screen comes up and I can select a drive to analyze or defrag, but for some reason, when I select a drive and hit "analyze" or "defragment", nothing happens. There is no problem accessing data from either of the drives and I was able to perform a disc clean up on both drives. The device manager says that both drives are working properly.

    Any thoughts?

    If that happens again, before taking the drastic step of a restore or repair, runs a full chkdisk. The problem may be due to a bad sector that the analyzer is stumbling on. Running a full scan (you may need to schedule it to run at boot time as many files are locked in a running system) will report errors and attempt to fix sectors ( or simply flag them as not usable if it cant).

    http://www.updatexp.com/windows-xp-chkdsk.html

    Also if a drive is very heavily fragmented, it can seem to take a long time to start. How long did you wait (2 min minimum is recommended, but it can take up to 10 or more)?

    Cheers
    Shad

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    #12
    xxtraloud
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/07 15:11:37 (permalink)
    the problem is most likely due to some background service not running.

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    #13
    mcourter
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/07 15:22:30 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: foxwolfen


    ORIGINAL: dug dog
    Also if a drive is very heavily fragmented, it can seem to take a long time to start. How long did you wait (2 min minimum is recommended, but it can take up to 10 or more)?
    Cheer
    Shad

    That's particularly true of the onboard defrag

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    dug dog
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    RE: xp defrag problem 2008/05/16 07:35:43 (permalink)
    Update:

    Well, it's been about a week and a half now and everything seems fine. I ran a disk check as suggested and that turned up no errors. So now I'm just taking a wait and see attitude. A bit of a head scratcher as to what originally went wrong and why. I HAVE taken the preventive measure of backing up all my important data to another hard drive and to DVD as well.

    Thanks again to all for their assistance.
    #15
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