How often doees everyone perform a defrag?  It's 2 months since I last did one and it said my HDD was 58% fragmented.  The main culprit appears to be WinMX according to Norton's Utilities.  Has anyone else found that WinMX fragments your drive?

Thanks for that information Sandra.  So how often do you defrag?

Yes, I probably defrag every couple of months as well.  I don't do it more
often because it takes so long, and I get itchy not being able to use my PC!!  

Just out of interest, for what reason were you advised not to defrag so often, Fred, sorry, Sandra?

Clive,

my big brother reckons this is the best Defrag software on the market Diskeeper I'm using version 7.0410.1 which you set and forget, it defrags automatically as and when it is needed dependent on what you set it at.

Here's what came up when I opened the programe manually just now.
 
Findings on C:

Diskeeper has completed analysis of this volume and found 34 fragmented files and/or directories and 75 excess fragments.

The average number of fragments per file is 1.00.

On average, you have 0% excess fragments per file on this volume.  This is a slightly fragmented volume.  You should schedule Diskeeper to run at least once a day (if you haven't already done so) to keep fragmentation at a low level.

I sometimes see a little icon in the tool bar that means it is defraging, but it is only on for seconds, seen it about twice in 10 days.

You can dowload the freeware version which does what mine does. And although it explains all functions avaliable, it does not allow you to enable the 'set and forget option' Download the free one but don't rush out and buy the full blown one just yet, nod nod  

The only thing I don't understand is that even after the defrag is completed, there are still a few blocks kicking around where perhaps they oughtn't to be.  I assume that is caused by programs runing in the background and that the only correct way to defrag is from safe Mode.

There are some files which the built-in version of Defrag cannot access at all Clive, even in safe mode. Diskeeper is able put these file back in their place, as it uses more advanced technology.

We use Diskeeper at work to keep the servers in tip-top condition. As Tony says it works really well.


Thanks for that link BTW Tony, I wasn't aware that there was a freeware version of Diskeeper  

I've just tried it, and it was surprisingly fast!  A good utility, Tony.  

Tried diskeeper last night. 2 out of 3 times when I clicked on the "analize" button my system crashed:( . Think I'll stick with the built in one 'til a better one comes along. Dig out the "vopt" Dave!

Would you still use it if you were on 98 or ME though DB? Or have you never thought it to be worthwhile