Defrag Needed?
 

I have a brand new 60GB 7200RPM Maxtor hard drive, running on a motherboard
that supports ATA100 max, Does any of you know whether a defrag is needed?

TIA,
jkb

You should defrag now and then. Whether it is needed at this time I do not
know. Try it and see what it says

--
Jon Hildrum
DTS MVP

www.hildrum.com
"jkb" nospam@none wrote in message
...
I have a brand new 60GB 7200RPM Maxtor hard drive, running on a motherboard
that supports ATA100 max, Does any of you know whether a defrag is needed?

TIA,
jkb

Well, I've only just installed Windows - and already filled up 14GB. That's
mainly why I'm asking, because I don't want to waste time and because I'd
like to do it(it it's needed) before my hard drive gets any fuller.

Thanx,
jkb

Then defrag it. I'm curious how you just installed Windows and already filled 14GB.
Is this a new computer with files copied from elsewhere, or a new hard drive, or
what? I usually do a defrag after an installation of Windows and my basic extra
programs.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"jkb" nospam@none wrote in message ...
Well, I've only just installed Windows - and already filled up 14GB. That's
mainly why I'm asking, because I don't want to waste time and because I'd
like to do it(it it's needed) before my hard drive gets any fuller.

Thanx,
jkb

I would always do a defrag after a major installation. 14G is quite a bit.
Do it and keep doing it on a fairly regular basis. It does not take that
long unless you let it get completely messed up.

--
Jon Hildrum
DTS MVP

www.hildrum.com
"jkb" nospam@none wrote in message
...
Well, I've only just installed Windows - and already filled up 14GB.
That's
mainly why I'm asking, because I don't want to waste time and because I'd
like to do it(it it's needed) before my hard drive gets any fuller.

Thanx,
jkb

There's no need to defrag if all you've done is an install. Defrag only
becomes significant if you have deleted files, creating odd-sized spaces on
disk, then added more files. There's some deletion that goes on during an
install, but not enough to be concerned about.

OTOH, if the drive isn't fragmented and there isn't any application usage
history then defragging won't do anything, and it will complete very
quickly. I would always recommend doing Scandisk before defragging.

The reported amount of disk space used does not indicate anything about the
fragmentation on the drive.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"jkb" nospam@none wrote in message
...
Well, I've only just installed Windows - and already filled up 14GB.
That's
mainly why I'm asking, because I don't want to waste time and because I'd
like to do it(it it's needed) before my hard drive gets any fuller.

Thanx,
jkb

Then defrag it. I'm curious how you just installed Windows and already
filled 14GB.

I've installed a lot of software already, Like FS2004. Rise of Nations,
couple of utilities and some other space-using games. And took 6GB worth of
downloads off another hard drive.

Is this a new computer with files copied from elsewhere, or a new hard
drive, or
what?

No. As I said - I just am a person that uses hard drive space pretty fast.
:-)

I usually do a defrag after an installation of Windows and my basic extra
programs.

I didn't bother with that. If I reinstall Win98 sometime - I'll do that.

Thanx for your advice,
jkb

I would always do a defrag after a major installation. 14G is quite a bit.
Do it and keep doing it on a fairly regular basis. It does not take that
long unless you let it get completely messed up.

Thanx. What would you define as a regular basis?

jkb

There's no need to defrag if all you've done is an install. Defrag only
becomes significant if you have deleted files, creating odd-sized spaces
on
disk, then added more files. There's some deletion that goes on during an
install, but not enough to be concerned about.

But, I have filled 14GB already, and probably will do more. Especially as
I'm looking into video-editing. :-)

OTOH, if the drive isn't fragmented and there isn't any application usage
history then defragging won't do anything, and it will complete very
quickly. I would always recommend doing Scandisk before defragging.

How do I tell whether it's fragmented or not? I use my hard drive A Lot.

The reported amount of disk space used does not indicate anything about
the
fragmentation on the drive.

But won't space used affect largely the time it takes?

Thanx for your help,
jkb

If you are looking into video editing, you might be better served by
stopping what you are doing now, and creating a separate partition on the
fastest drive you have just for the temp files created during editing, then
completing your installation, for video 60GB even is not too big (may not be
big enough)
Look also into tweaking system.ini settings to change the shell for the time
you are doing video work, to the video editor instead of explorer
Win98se can be tweaked into a very fast video editing platform
maxtor 40 & 160GB drive, each partitioned into a 8GB bootable OS clones and
32, 72&80GB extended partitions
_
"jkb" nospam@none wrote in message
...
| There's no need to defrag if all you've done is an install. Defrag only
| becomes significant if you have deleted files, creating odd-sized spaces
| on
| disk, then added more files. There's some deletion that goes on during
an
| install, but not enough to be concerned about.
|
| But, I have filled 14GB already, and probably will do more. Especially as
| I'm looking into video-editing. :-)
|
| OTOH, if the drive isn't fragmented and there isn't any application
usage
| history then defragging won't do anything, and it will complete very
| quickly. I would always recommend doing Scandisk before defragging.
|
| How do I tell whether it's fragmented or not? I use my hard drive A Lot.
|
| The reported amount of disk space used does not indicate anything about
| the
| fragmentation on the drive.
|
| But won't space used affect largely the time it takes?
|
| Thanx for your help,
| jkb
|
|