Defrag problems

Aster wrote:
Just find good defrag program for win 98, PerfectDisk 4
It have Analyze disk option and other handy features:

http://uploading.com/files/4dm3ecce/pd40dsi.zip

Archive password is "w".

I'm in agreement with MEB again -- although I did that long, long ago,
myself, with software for Commodore machines -- presuming he is right
about that app which you may have inadvertently stolen & which may be
buggy &/or virus laden. Say seven Hail Mary's & seek something free to
do your defrag quicker like Blanton's effort which sounds very
reasonable to me.

Also, I must reiterate you should seek to discover what it is that
causes your restarts & decide whether you want it running at all.

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


-------------

Sure, no one should use aboved utility if he don't want.
I just replaced windows defragger with Windows ME defragger. I think the
restarting was caused by windows itself, I ran ScanDisk and Defrag from
Safe mode, and used Selective startup with all items unchecked.

Aster

Well, I haven't kept up with all of this, but to me the simplest solution is
the one you mentioned - use the WinME defragger. I never had any problems
with that, and don't see why you'd need anything else. The WinME defragger
was sooooo much faster than the Win98 one!

Aster wrote:
Just find good defrag program for win 98, PerfectDisk 4
It have Analyze disk option and other handy features:

http://uploading.com/files/4dm3ecce/pd40dsi.zip

Archive password is "w".

I'm in agreement with MEB again -- although I did that long, long ago,
myself, with software for Commodore machines -- presuming he is right
about that app which you may have inadvertently stolen & which may be
buggy &/or virus laden. Say seven Hail Mary's & seek something free to
do your defrag quicker like Blanton's effort which sounds very
reasonable to me.

Also, I must reiterate you should seek to discover what it is that
causes your restarts & decide whether you want it running at all.

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


-------------

Sure, no one should use aboved utility if he don't want.
I just replaced windows defragger with Windows ME defragger. I think the
restarting was caused by windows itself, I ran ScanDisk and Defrag from
Safe mode, and used Selective startup with all items unchecked.

Aster

Well, I haven't kept up with all of this, but to me the simplest solution is
the one you mentioned - use the WinME defragger. I never had any problems
with that, and don't see why you'd need anything else. The WinME defragger
was sooooo much faster than the Win98 one!

WinME defragger is a good one!



"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
Aster wrote:
Just find good defrag program for win 98, PerfectDisk 4
It have Analyze disk option and other handy features:

http://uploading.com/files/4dm3ecce/pd40dsi.zip

Archive password is "w".

I'm in agreement with MEB again -- although I did that long, long ago,
myself, with software for Commodore machines -- presuming he is right
about that app which you may have inadvertently stolen & which may be
buggy &/or virus laden. Say seven Hail Mary's & seek something free to
do your defrag quicker like Blanton's effort which sounds very
reasonable to me.

Also, I must reiterate you should seek to discover what it is that
causes your restarts & decide whether you want it running at all.

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


-------------

Sure, no one should use aboved utility if he don't want.
I just replaced windows defragger with Windows ME defragger. I think the
restarting was caused by windows itself, I ran ScanDisk and Defrag from
Safe mode, and used Selective startup with all items unchecked.

Aster

Well, I haven't kept up with all of this, but to me the simplest solution
is the one you mentioned - use the WinME defragger. I never had any
problems with that, and don't see why you'd need anything else. The
WinME defragger was sooooo much faster than the Win98 one!

WinME defragger is a good one!



"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
Aster wrote:
Just find good defrag program for win 98, PerfectDisk 4
It have Analyze disk option and other handy features:

http://uploading.com/files/4dm3ecce/pd40dsi.zip

Archive password is "w".

I'm in agreement with MEB again -- although I did that long, long ago,
myself, with software for Commodore machines -- presuming he is right
about that app which you may have inadvertently stolen & which may be
buggy &/or virus laden. Say seven Hail Mary's & seek something free to
do your defrag quicker like Blanton's effort which sounds very
reasonable to me.

Also, I must reiterate you should seek to discover what it is that
causes your restarts & decide whether you want it running at all.

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


-------------

Sure, no one should use aboved utility if he don't want.
I just replaced windows defragger with Windows ME defragger. I think the
restarting was caused by windows itself, I ran ScanDisk and Defrag from
Safe mode, and used Selective startup with all items unchecked.

Aster

Well, I haven't kept up with all of this, but to me the simplest solution
is the one you mentioned - use the WinME defragger. I never had any
problems with that, and don't see why you'd need anything else. The
WinME defragger was sooooo much faster than the Win98 one!

Aster wrote:
Just find good defrag program for win 98, PerfectDisk 4
It have Analyze disk option and other handy features:

http://uploading.com/files/4dm3ecce/pd40dsi.zip

Archive password is "w".

I'm in agreement with MEB again -- although I did that long, long
ago, myself, with software for Commodore machines -- presuming he is
right about that app which you may have inadvertently stolen & which
may be buggy &/or virus laden. Say seven Hail Mary's & seek
something free to do your defrag quicker like Blanton's effort which
sounds very reasonable to me.

Also, I must reiterate you should seek to discover what it is that
causes your restarts & decide whether you want it running at all.

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


-------------

Sure, no one should use aboved utility if he don't want.

Unless the programmer/owner of the product releases it into the public
domain &/or totally abandons it for seven years &/or dies without a
will -- no one should zip it & make it available without permission!

I just replaced windows defragger with Windows ME defragger.

Uh-huh. This may be an exception to the rule. It wasn't written by a
poor, struggling programmer. It wasn't ever a stand-alone product.
People who want ME still would have to buy ME. People who bought & want
to stay with 98 (as they should) could possibly regard the ME defragger
as a program update to the 98 defragger. I think you're OK with that --
but just say 3 Our Fathers anyhow just in case! Bill in Co. too!

I think
the restarting was caused by windows itself,

At least a half-hearted investigation is in order. You may find
something is creating a monstrosity of a .log/.txt file that can be
turned off!

I ran ScanDisk and
Defrag from Safe mode, and used Selective startup with all items
unchecked.

After doing the selective startup -- & possibly turning off screen saver
& power management -- it should really be OK to run run scandisk &
defrag in Normal Mode for the speed. Safe Mode is slow. That's what I do
without a problem. And -- when I remember -- I also will turn off
virtual memory so that the swap file will delete & not be in the way of
a defrag.

Aster

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

Aster wrote:
Just find good defrag program for win 98, PerfectDisk 4
It have Analyze disk option and other handy features:

http://uploading.com/files/4dm3ecce/pd40dsi.zip

Archive password is "w".

I'm in agreement with MEB again -- although I did that long, long
ago, myself, with software for Commodore machines -- presuming he is
right about that app which you may have inadvertently stolen & which
may be buggy &/or virus laden. Say seven Hail Mary's & seek
something free to do your defrag quicker like Blanton's effort which
sounds very reasonable to me.

Also, I must reiterate you should seek to discover what it is that
causes your restarts & decide whether you want it running at all.

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


-------------

Sure, no one should use aboved utility if he don't want.

Unless the programmer/owner of the product releases it into the public
domain &/or totally abandons it for seven years &/or dies without a
will -- no one should zip it & make it available without permission!

I just replaced windows defragger with Windows ME defragger.

Uh-huh. This may be an exception to the rule. It wasn't written by a
poor, struggling programmer. It wasn't ever a stand-alone product.
People who want ME still would have to buy ME. People who bought & want
to stay with 98 (as they should) could possibly regard the ME defragger
as a program update to the 98 defragger. I think you're OK with that --
but just say 3 Our Fathers anyhow just in case! Bill in Co. too!

I think
the restarting was caused by windows itself,

At least a half-hearted investigation is in order. You may find
something is creating a monstrosity of a .log/.txt file that can be
turned off!

I ran ScanDisk and
Defrag from Safe mode, and used Selective startup with all items
unchecked.

After doing the selective startup -- & possibly turning off screen saver
& power management -- it should really be OK to run run scandisk &
defrag in Normal Mode for the speed. Safe Mode is slow. That's what I do
without a problem. And -- when I remember -- I also will turn off
virtual memory so that the swap file will delete & not be in the way of
a defrag.

Aster

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

Hi Glen,
I know you are long since past this post, but I was curious about why this
is so concerning the rearranging of the frequently used programs. Also, is
this why ZA firewall and other running programs often must be dropped in
order to defrag the HDD?
Does this speed up the defrag process without loss of purpose?
Does this apply to the win98se defrag program?

"glee" wrote in message
...
OK....if we are going to top-post, then I'll top-post. Jumping all over
when two different posting formats are used is pretty silly.

Yes, you DO have an option to optimize the files in the native Defrag,
it just doesn't use the word "optimize". Let me spell it out for you:

Start Windows 98 Defrag from Start Programs Accessories System Tools.
In the opening box named "Select Drive", click the Settings button on
the lower right.
In the new box that appears, in the upper section headed "When
defragmenting my hard drive," UNCHECK the box for "Rearrange program
files so my programs start faster", and CHECK the box for "Check the
drive for errors".
In the lower section, select the option for "Every time I defragment my
hard drive"
Click OK.
Click OK again to defragment, or Exit to quit.

I suggest you try replacing the Win 98 defrag.exe with the one from Win
ME, as I mentioned, and following that procedure with that version.
If Defrag is restarting in Safe Mode, something is still causing a file
change or file access. Did you disable your screensaver while in normal
mode, before restarting in Safe Mode? Disabling it while already in
Safe Mode usually doesn't work.

********
"Aster" wrote in message
...
I definitely saw a few restarting issues even in Safe Mode, as well.
PIII866MHz, Ram 512Mb
The files definitely was very fragmented. There are no Optimize files
option
in my version of Defrag.
Will try Norton Speed Disk or tool from Win ME.
Just note: when I just tried run Defrag tool from windows [C
Properties
Defragment now] for a few minutes then cancel: does it done some small
defragmenting, or did not due canceled operation?

Aster



"glee" wrote in message
...
"Aster" wrote in message
...
I tried to defrag HD from MS DOS, I restarted PC into a MS-DOS
prompt,
typed

defrag c: /f /sd- /skiphigh

but got message saying that "this program requires microsoft
windows"..

So defrag utility does not work from DOS. Defragging from Windows
does
work, since it constantly restarts and says "drive's content
changed:
restarting", then tried defrag from Safe mode (from Run command
prompt) but
had the same issue "drive's content changed: restarting", just less
frequently. Finally I tried "Selective startup" in Msconfig,
unchecked
all
boxes, restarted into Safe mode, then run command from command
prompt.
I was
able to defrag, but it took a huge time. And I still I faced the
same
problem a few times, "drive's content changed: restarting".
Is there better method or better tool for defragging? The default
windows
tool is too ugly.

Those command line switches you posted for Defrag have not been
applicable since Windows 95 (yes, 95) was released, except for the /f
switch. Win9x versions of Defrag ignore them with no error message.
Also as you discovered, Defrag will not run from a DOS boot on a
Win9x
system.

You shouldn't see constant restarting of Defrag from Safe Mode, as
all
background programs are disabled in Safe Mode. If your computer is
old,
and has a small amount of RAM installed, it could be due to swap file
changes to compensate for the low memory. How much memory is
installed
in the computer, and what processor does it have?

Using Selective Startup from msconfig while in Safe Mode is a waste
of
time, as Safe Mode already disables all startups by default.

Defrag will take a very long time if you have not adjusted its
settings
to turn off the option to "optimize files". When you open
Defragmenter,
first click the Settings button, and un-select the option to
re-arrange/optimize files, and save the setting for use every time
you
run Defrag.

Defrag will also take a long time to run if the files are very
fragmented, or if the hard drive is an old and slow drive.

One popular way to get a faster defrag is to replace the Win98
version
of Defrag.exe with one from Windows ME. A number of web pages
discuss
this....here are just two from top Google hits:
http://aroundcny.com/technofile/texts/tec060902.html
http://www.the-old-sea-dog.net/defrag.html

If you want to buy a better defragmenter for Win9x, VOPT 7.22 is
still
available and is quite good:
http://www.vopt.com/nuVoptXP.htm

Also see:
Windows 95 (and 98) Defrag.exe Command-Line Parameters
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/Q155326

Serenity Windows 98 Program's Command Line Parameters and Registry
Settings
http://www.mvps.org/serenitymacros/winprogs.html
(click to expand the Defrag section)


--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Oct. 2002 - Sept. 2009
A+
http://dts-l.net/

Hi Glen,
I know you are long since past this post, but I was curious about why this
is so concerning the rearranging of the frequently used programs. Also, is
this why ZA firewall and other running programs often must be dropped in
order to defrag the HDD?
Does this speed up the defrag process without loss of purpose?
Does this apply to the win98se defrag program?

"glee" wrote in message
...
OK....if we are going to top-post, then I'll top-post. Jumping all over
when two different posting formats are used is pretty silly.

Yes, you DO have an option to optimize the files in the native Defrag,
it just doesn't use the word "optimize". Let me spell it out for you:

Start Windows 98 Defrag from Start Programs Accessories System Tools.
In the opening box named "Select Drive", click the Settings button on
the lower right.
In the new box that appears, in the upper section headed "When
defragmenting my hard drive," UNCHECK the box for "Rearrange program
files so my programs start faster", and CHECK the box for "Check the
drive for errors".
In the lower section, select the option for "Every time I defragment my
hard drive"
Click OK.
Click OK again to defragment, or Exit to quit.

I suggest you try replacing the Win 98 defrag.exe with the one from Win
ME, as I mentioned, and following that procedure with that version.
If Defrag is restarting in Safe Mode, something is still causing a file
change or file access. Did you disable your screensaver while in normal
mode, before restarting in Safe Mode? Disabling it while already in
Safe Mode usually doesn't work.

********
"Aster" wrote in message
...
I definitely saw a few restarting issues even in Safe Mode, as well.
PIII866MHz, Ram 512Mb
The files definitely was very fragmented. There are no Optimize files
option
in my version of Defrag.
Will try Norton Speed Disk or tool from Win ME.
Just note: when I just tried run Defrag tool from windows [C
Properties
Defragment now] for a few minutes then cancel: does it done some small
defragmenting, or did not due canceled operation?

Aster



"glee" wrote in message
...
"Aster" wrote in message
...
I tried to defrag HD from MS DOS, I restarted PC into a MS-DOS
prompt,
typed

defrag c: /f /sd- /skiphigh

but got message saying that "this program requires microsoft
windows"..

So defrag utility does not work from DOS. Defragging from Windows
does
work, since it constantly restarts and says "drive's content
changed:
restarting", then tried defrag from Safe mode (from Run command
prompt) but
had the same issue "drive's content changed: restarting", just less
frequently. Finally I tried "Selective startup" in Msconfig,
unchecked
all
boxes, restarted into Safe mode, then run command from command
prompt.
I was
able to defrag, but it took a huge time. And I still I faced the
same
problem a few times, "drive's content changed: restarting".
Is there better method or better tool for defragging? The default
windows
tool is too ugly.

Those command line switches you posted for Defrag have not been
applicable since Windows 95 (yes, 95) was released, except for the /f
switch. Win9x versions of Defrag ignore them with no error message.
Also as you discovered, Defrag will not run from a DOS boot on a
Win9x
system.

You shouldn't see constant restarting of Defrag from Safe Mode, as
all
background programs are disabled in Safe Mode. If your computer is
old,
and has a small amount of RAM installed, it could be due to swap file
changes to compensate for the low memory. How much memory is
installed
in the computer, and what processor does it have?

Using Selective Startup from msconfig while in Safe Mode is a waste
of
time, as Safe Mode already disables all startups by default.

Defrag will take a very long time if you have not adjusted its
settings
to turn off the option to "optimize files". When you open
Defragmenter,
first click the Settings button, and un-select the option to
re-arrange/optimize files, and save the setting for use every time
you
run Defrag.

Defrag will also take a long time to run if the files are very
fragmented, or if the hard drive is an old and slow drive.

One popular way to get a faster defrag is to replace the Win98
version
of Defrag.exe with one from Windows ME. A number of web pages
discuss
this....here are just two from top Google hits:
http://aroundcny.com/technofile/texts/tec060902.html
http://www.the-old-sea-dog.net/defrag.html

If you want to buy a better defragmenter for Win9x, VOPT 7.22 is
still
available and is quite good:
http://www.vopt.com/nuVoptXP.htm

Also see:
Windows 95 (and 98) Defrag.exe Command-Line Parameters
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/Q155326

Serenity Windows 98 Program's Command Line Parameters and Registry
Settings
http://www.mvps.org/serenitymacros/winprogs.html
(click to expand the Defrag section)


--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Oct. 2002 - Sept. 2009
A+
http://dts-l.net/

I don't think Scandisk Thorough is worth bothering with at all. It stresses
the hard disk, without really giving you much feedback about what it found
or fixed. A good hard disk drive diagnostic will provide much more useful
information about the state of your drive without significantly more stress.

You should run it whenever you suspect problem, but if everything seems OK,
I guess about every six months is a reasonable compromise.
--
Jeff Richards
----------------------------------------

"Aster" wrote in message
...
snip
As I told, defragging works and I managed to defrag disk from Safe mode.
Also: does is make sense run Thorough Scandisk test if Standard test is
OK?

"Aster" wrote in message
...
snip

Also, according to microsoft, the volume must have at least 15 percent
free space for Defrag to completely and adequately defragment it. Defrag
uses this space as a sorting area for file fragments. If a volume has less
than 15 percent free space, Defrag only partially defragments it. So, if
my 20Gb hard drive has only 1.53Gb free space and I have performed defrag,
my volume has been just partially defragmented?

Partial defragging probably means that free space was not consolidated. In
other words, files are no longer fragmented, but free space is. This might
mean that the disk becomes fragmented more quickly as you use it. However
partial might also mean that larger files were skipped, or were consolidated
into a small number of large fragments rather than being fully defragged.