Defrag Problems

When I start to defrag my drive in Windows 98. The window
gets to 1% and then starts over. Does anyone have any
suggestions, could there be something running in the
background that I am not aware of . Any help would be
appreciated.

Thanks

See the defrag and scandisk troubleshooters located he
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/how_to.html

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"Lennie" wrote in message
...
When I start to defrag my drive in Windows 98. The window
gets to 1% and then starts over. Does anyone have any
suggestions, could there be something running in the
background that I am not aware of . Any help would be
appreciated.

Thanks

Your virtual memory is the problem. Right click 'My
Computer' and go to the last tab. There should be
something on there saying 'Virtual Memory' click
properties or advanced and turn OFF virtual memory. Then
run defrag. REMEMBER TO TURN VM BACK ON AFTER DEFRAG!
-----Original Message-----
When I start to defrag my drive in Windows 98. The window
gets to 1% and then starts over. Does anyone have any
suggestions, could there be something running in the
background that I am not aware of . Any help would be
appreciated.

Thanks

.

I used to do that. And I swear it is a better Defrag. However...

(1) It is possible one may not be able to reboot with VM off. That would
be the case, if one has only 32 MB RAM. There was one poster who said he
had 64 MB & could not reboot when he turned off VM. However, "Scanreg
/Restore", choosing the most recent backup, should reset VM to being on.

(2) DO NOT "START, Programs, MS-DOS Prompt", with VM off. I had an
orderly crash doing that. Repeating the experience online to better
report it, my second crash doing it was HORRENDOUS-- it had a heartbeat!
Also, some apps will open a Windows DOS box on their own; so, beware!

Here is what I have done now...

(a) Set swap file minimum size to 300 MB, & reboot back to windows.
Do so at "Control Panel, System, Performance tab, Virtual Memory
button". This will create a 300 MB space for a swap file. It will not be
entirely contiguous. Set the minimum only.
(b) Boot to DOS
(c) SMARTDRV
(to speed up the following considerably)
(d) COPY Win386.swp Win386.jnk
(This fills in gaps between files, so that later Win386.swp will
be contiguous.)
(e) REN Win386.swp Win386.old
(Win386.swp will recreate at boot.)
(Win386.old is zero bytes, or I am a madman.)
(f) Boot to Windows
(Now, you have Win386.jnk, Win386.old, plus a new Win386.swp.)
(g) In Explorer, delete Win386.jnk & Win386.old. Hold Shift as clicking
to Delete to prevent it goes into the Recycle Bin!
(h) Do whatever you normally do, to keep the following from constantly
restarting.
(i) Scandisk (Thorough, usually w/o write checking)
(j) Defrag

Now I had my buffer between the swap file & the rest of my files. This
is meant to keep the swap file out of the way of the rest of the system
during a Defrag. There may have been some little bit of the swap file
still among the other files, but the vast bulk of it was one contiguous
block 300 MB away! I saw it, by pausing Defrag before it ended &
scrolling past a sea of white to the sea of red!


Notes:
1. This need be done but once this way, except should you subsequently
delete Win386.swp. Anyhow, mine has stayed put!
2. The 300 MB swap file has moved to the root folder C:\, because a
minimum size was specified.
3. You still have a "C:\Windows\Win386.swp", but it is zero bytes in
size.
4. It has been promised "C:\Win386.swp" will never move physically on
the hard drive. Those 300 MBs will stay put. However, should the swap
file get larger than that, the excess will intermix with other files.
When the swap file shrinks, it will then return to the 300 MB area.
5. The purpose of Win386.jnk was to give the system room for growth,
before it must use disk space on the other side of the swap file. (It
does appear to work that way.)

Is it all worth it? I really think it did make a difference.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

wrote in message
...
| Your virtual memory is the problem. Right click 'My
| Computer' and go to the last tab. There should be
| something on there saying 'Virtual Memory' click
| properties or advanced and turn OFF virtual memory. Then
| run defrag. REMEMBER TO TURN VM BACK ON AFTER DEFRAG!
| -----Original Message-----
| When I start to defrag my drive in Windows 98. The window
| gets to 1% and then starts over. Does anyone have any
| suggestions, could there be something running in the
| background that I am not aware of . Any help would be
| appreciated.
|
| Thanks
|
| .
|

On Thu, 8 Jul 2004 14:15:37 -0400, PCR, wrote:

[...snip steps a-j...]

I create a separate partition, say D:, 256 megs.
Control Panel = System = Virtual memory??
Set swap file to D:\
Min swap file size 256
Max swap file size 256
Reboot

This is intended to keep Windows from constantly growing/shrinking the
swapfile, save wear+tear on the drive, and speed things up. A nice side
effect is that the swap file starts off contiguous and stays contiguous.

--
Walter Dnes; my email address is *ALMOST* like
Delete the "z" to get my real address. If that gets blocked, follow
the instructions at the end of the 550 message.

Yea, that's another solution, thanks. However, it is said, a Max should
never be set, because, in a perhaps rare circumstance, there may be a
serious crash. Also, it is said, the partition that holds the swap file
should be the first Primary partition of another HDD altogether, if not
C:\. Finally, should something go wrong with the other partition, it
will revert to C:\; so, don't fill it.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Walter Dnes (delete the 'z' to get my real address)"
wrote in message
...
| On Thu, 8 Jul 2004 14:15:37 -0400, PCR, wrote:
|
| [...snip steps a-j...]
|
| I create a separate partition, say D:, 256 megs.
| Control Panel = System = Virtual memory??
| Set swap file to D:\
| Min swap file size 256
| Max swap file size 256
| Reboot
|
| This is intended to keep Windows from constantly growing/shrinking
the
| swapfile, save wear+tear on the drive, and speed things up. A nice
side
| effect is that the swap file starts off contiguous and stays
contiguous.
|
| --
| Walter Dnes; my email address is *ALMOST* like
| Delete the "z" to get my real address. If that gets blocked, follow
| the instructions at the end of the 550 message.