Simviation Forums

I have three HD's.  G: has all of my FSX stuff on it and only FSX stuff, C: has my XP 32 Bit OS and all my other stuff, D: has all of the HP installed backup programs (stuff that came with the PC).

I can make a bunch of changes to G: and run a complete name defrag and it will take 1.5 to 3.5 hours to go throught G: then if I do not do anything but reboot and run a complete name on G: most of the time it takes less than five minutes.

On C: no matter how many times I run a complete name defrag and do nothing in between defrags except reboot it takes C: 3 hours or more, why is that?

G: and C: have about the same amount of data on them.  G: is a 750 gig drive and C: is a 250 gig drive.

Rod

You are discovering ONE of the major reasons why I tell people to NOT install MSFS into the OS

Your OS drive is CONSTANTLY writing data to the drive which changes the NAME layout

1 file changed and it starts from the beginning.

Your OS only need be cleaned and defragged about once every 3 months ...once a month if you install a bunch of programs or do a lot of work with installed applications.

The MSFS drive will remain very clean and does not expand and contract with OS writes and therefore it remains in order unless you install a good size addon. If you do not install anything and do not constantly make changes to MSFS through addons that send textures/files to MSFS then that drive should remain defragmented pretty much forever.

I can vouch for that. Both my OS drive and my FSX drive was defragged at the same time about 2 months ago and I just checked mine and the OS was 12% fragmented and the FSX drive was only 1%.

I have a question though, I added a 3rd drive for back ups using ACRONIS and that drive is showing 46% fragmentation. Should I defrag my backup drive? My gut instinct says not to as I do a incremental nightly of my data. I have a master image of both drives in what I call top condition and periodically do a second image when making major changes but I leave the MASTER as is incase all else fails.

O&O sets itself up to run as a service.  This is a complete waste of system resources and this is where my agreement with the above posts ends.

If you want to defragment every 3 months, fine.  O&O thinks you want to defragment every hour.  There must be some happy medium.

I defragment at least twice a day.  When I boot and when I shut down.

O&O has an option to defragment system files at boot.  I do this because it is the only time they will ever be defragmented (you can't defragment these files while Windows is running).  I also don't mind walking away from the box for a minute or two while the defrag/boot process takes place.  You can cancel the boot defrag by pressing the space bar if you are in a hurry but it usually only adds 20-30 seconds to the process.

I degragment again when I shut down.  It's a simple script that enables my (usually disabled) O&O service, defragments my drives, then shuts down the computer.  It adds 20-30 seconds to the shutdown procedure but I'm not there watching it so who cares?

When I reboot the next day the boot defrag will take care of any "in use" files that weren't previously defragged.

I doubt the O&O service running is taking away any noticable performance from your computer. The defrag you are doing 2X a day is doing nothing to help FSX performance. The complete name defrag I think is the major one as far as FSX performance. All the steps Nick has posted as far as defrag proceedures must be followed for maximum benefit. Anyways fragmenting of HD are a natural thing so I can live with it accumulating over time. Then I run a defrag as per Nicks instructions and am good to go for another 3 months or so. I have FSX on a sep. HD and it stays VERY clean, only 1 or 2% fragmented over 3 months time.

I doubt the O&O service running is taking away any noticable performance from your computer.

Driving around with a sandbag in your trunk won't make any noticeable difference in your mileage either.  Every bit of drag makes some difference.

The defrag you are doing 2X a day is doing nothing to help FSX performance.

It isn't hurting either.

You haven't offered idahosurge any solution.  I have.

If it takes 3 hours to defragment your drive you aren't doing it often enough.

I doubt the O&O service running is taking away any noticable performance from your computer.

Driving around with a sandbag in your trunk won't make any noticeable difference in your mileage either.

Defragmenting two (200G, 75G) hard drives in under a minute makes me happy so I will continue to do it.

With the NEW O&O v11 SHUT DOWN MONITORING and UNCHECK the tray items in the properties

Otherwise what was said here is HOGWASH and it will not in any way shape of form affect performance



What was suggested in this thread is not true, not necessary and is quite off the wall

NAME DEFRAGS which are what deliver the true performance from ACCESS only need to be done once a month at the most unless a very large program was installed.

OFFLINE DEFRAGS are not needed every single reboot on home systems. This was a feature added by O&O at the request of SYS ADMINS who only reboot their systems FOR MAINTENANCE ONLY and which have a huge UP TIME before that reboot occurs

Offline defrags are only needed the same period in time that onlines are performed

NEVER RUN any background defrag job

NEVER run any online defrag other than SPACE and last COMPLETE NAME which is what delivers the perf


Do not use the monitor features and be sure to shut down the tray tools in the properties


That not an opinion its a fact.. anyone is welcome to use their system the way they wish but constant defrags are simply unnecessary and do nothing for performance. nor do they truly save time

why?

Because the only defrag that makes a drive access truly faster is COMPLETE NAME and that will never EVER run fast on any OS drive after system system has been rebooted

Just curious ...

If 3 hours is an acceptable time for an expensive addon to defragment a hard drive how long did the built in Windows defragmenter take - 8 hours?

who cares

When defrags are done right, you FLUSH all the temp files, Launch O&O and set for OFFLINE defrag, reboot, wait till its finished and once back in Windows manually launch O&O after waiting for 5 min to be sure of full boot, and select COMPLETE NAME

dont touch the system for any reason

no emailin
no surfin
no pornin
no chattin
no nothin

dont even touch the mouse

go have a beer, mow the grass, watch a movie and enjoy life. When you come back reboot and you are good to go for a month or 3

You can use the SPACE defrag which is very fast in between performance maintenance runs of NAME but only with Versions 8, 8.6 and v11. NEVER run a space defrag with O&O Version 10

Fine.

Enjoy watching your computer do nothing for three hours.

At least you only have to do it every month or so.

Cant say I didnt try to tell ya before good ol Nick had to come and lay the smack down on ya.  ;)

Fine.

Enjoy watching your computer do nothing for three hours.

At least you only have to do it every month or so.

oh please

its comments like this that tell me when people have no clue about how a computer, Windows and storage system works.

Are you suggesting to someone who worked with Raytheon on the Lunar Module computer and systems for the space shuttle you know how to do it better and what I posted it accomplishes nothing?

who cares

When defrags are done right, you FLUSH all the temp files, Launch O&O and set for OFFLINE defrag, reboot, wait till its finished and once back in Windows manually launch O&O after waiting for 5 min to be sure of full boot, and select COMPLETE NAME

dont touch the system for any reason

no emailin
no surfin
no pornin
no chattin
no nothin

dont even touch the mouse

go have a beer, mow the grass, watch a movie and enjoy life. When you come back reboot and you are good to go for a month or 3

You can use the SPACE defrag which is very fast in between performance maintenance runs of NAME but only with Versions 8, 8.6 and v11. NEVER run a space defrag with O&O Version 10

No Pornin?  ;D  ;D  ;D