There were a lot of complaints about Windows defrag when Win95 and Win98 were new. A lot of the problems come from the fact that drives are huge compared to what people were accustomed to.

Part of the problems people see also may have come from the "new" option to "arrange files so my programs run faster." This is a check box you can set or clear under Options in defrag.

It appears that Windows sometimes can't make up its mind where it wants to put things.

It was once common practice to run multiple defrags "if you really want things to be right."

Following this old practice, I recently ran multiple passes on my C: drive, with results:
Pass 1 - 4 hours
Pass 2 - 2.4 hours
Pass 3 - 2.2 hours
Pass 4 - 3.5 hours
...
Pass 9 - 14 hours
Pass 10 thru 12 - 34 to 38 minutes.

Defrag starts from the information in your File Allocation Table (assuming a FAT or FAT32 disk). It gets where each file starts, and how big it is. It does not know, at this point, where all of the pieces of any file are. Each cluster tells it where to go for the next cluster.

It is not uncommon for programs to mess up how "full" a cluster is, and when a misreported cluster is moved during defrag, the "true" filesize can change. This is something that needs to be "reported back" to the FAT, which is a "write to disk" and requires that the process start over.

On a boot drive, it is not uncommon for defrag to fill the lower part of the drive, and then decide that a certain group of the files it has moved "down" really need to be at another location. When defrag starts over, it will again move the same files down - and later back up. This little "fairy dance" alone can take about 20 minutes - during each restart, and it can appear that nothing is happening.

Eventually, defrag should get everything sorted out, and the time required to run a subsequent defrag will be very much shorter; but there is a real "hump" in the process as things get "almost but not quite right" (in defrag's small mind).

Turning off the "optimize for speed" should get you through a much faster defrag, and probably won't greatly affect machine performance. I can't say what will happen if you turn the "optimize" back on and try another defrag.

Comments about turning off as much as possible are certainly appropriate.

I would be somewhat cautious about resorting to a DOS (Command Line) defrag. It will run, but can "lose" long file names that Windows does use and may also move files that early version Windows calls by absolute disk location. These files are ordinarily tagged Hidden/System etc., and even a DOS defrag shouldn't move them; but DOS isn't even as smart as Windows about such stuff. The risk is much greater if you've been playing around with all those subversive secret hidden files, and left an attribute not properly reset.


Note to Mr Red: in your C:\Windows, there should be a folder/directory called "Send To." If you paste a shortcut to your email program there, you will be able to right-click on any file and "send it" to your email. Easiest way to save hunting around each time.

John