Endless Defrag!

[Ijineda]

I decided to defrag my HD...for the first time since 3 years (I know I know)!  :-[

Its been runnning since 27 hours now and only 45% are completed...is that normal?

[Katahu]

You haven't defraged your computer in over 3 years? Holy Crud! No wonder it's taking that long.

On a monthly or semi-monthly basis, it normally takes hours [usually over night]. But a computer that hasn't been defraged for over 3 years, now that's a different story.

Have you even bothered to reinstall Windows? You have to do that at least once every year to keep your system in top shape.

[Ijineda]

Have you even bothered to reinstall Windows?

Well no...Im afraid I could loose all my data, although Im sure that theres a way to avoid this?

[Katahu]

Well no...Im afraid I could loose all my data, although Im sure that theres a way to avoid this?

Why don't you burn your data to a CD or DVD? If you can't, buy a separate external hard drive [with a USB connection] and transfer your data there [a 2GB external HD or a 512MB Datastick is not that expensive these days]. From there, you can safely reinstall windows without data loss.

[legoalex2000]

I did this as well, i should tutorial this...

you can reinstall windwos without clearing your hard drive.

but the problem is that your Personal folder (ie: C:\Documents and Settings\ramos\...) will not be read by the re-installed version of windows. after reinstalling, reboot the comp, and go into safe mode. log in as administrator, and so to C:\Documents and Settings\. right click on your name (under it the file should contain 0 bytes).

ok up to this point i have to try this as i have frgotten what to do next...

ramos

[dcunning30]

Basically, I'll start a defrag and/or spyware sweep then go have dinner, or watch a movie.  That way, stuff gets done and i'm not sitting there watching progress sliders creep across the screen.  

[eno]

Have you even bothered to reinstall Windows? You have to do that at least once every year to keep your system in top shape.

Katahu ...... if you're having to reinstall windows every 12 months then sorry, but it's you that has a  problem. XP is extremely stable with all it's patches.

Moral ..... if it ain't broke don't fix it. Defrag and clear the crud on a regular basis, make sure you don't inherit any sh1t  and there should be no problems.

[Katahu]

I always clean my computer once every year and it always kept my computer working well since then. Besides, I have the tendency to put cr@b in my computer well within a single year. So, it's nice to have a fresh system after all that junk.

And don't forget about the downloads I get from Simv. A lot can be downloaded in a single year.

I never had a problem anyways [besides the trojan I had months ago], I just reinstall just to make sure my computer works properly.

[Triple_7]

I only defrag about once every 2 months.  Keep the scans and crap detectors running once a week.  But its only a 38 GB harddrive so.....  Doesn't take more then an hour if even that

But then I remember our old 166 Mghz IBM that we defraged once.  It took nearly 20 hours and it was only a 4 GB

[Katahu]

Well, nowadays, we have 40GB HDs, 80GB HD Ext, and 250GB HD Ext [like me].

I have FS9, X-Plane v8.30, Magic: Online, Tons of music, all of my modeling resources, etc. Basically, important junk.

[Saitek]

I defrag my computer weekly. On a 40GB Hard Drive this takes less than 5 minutes. On my 200Gb Hard drive on another computer it takes less than an hour.

[Weather_Man]

I decided to defrag my HD...for the first time since 3 years (I know I know)!  :-[

Its been runnning since 27 hours now and only 45% are completed...is that normal?

I would say no, that's not normal for your HDD size and CPU speed. However, I've never defragged one after 3! years. Depending on how much of that 120GB is full, I would expect several hours minimum, one day max, and that's generous.

Nothing to worry about, as long as the defrag isn't hung up and stopped working you're in good shape. Next time you do it (next week or month!!), it shouldn't take more than an hour or two, if that.

[Politically Incorrect]

After that amount of time  I would think it is hung on something.
This can happen with third party defragers, i like O&O Defrag and occasionally it will hang, in the FS9 department for some reason, stop and start again usually allows it to continue.
Stop the defrag and then start it again.

[Katahu]

Especially if it defrags FS. We stuff that sim like a turkey on occassions.

[beefhole]

Just thought I'd chuck in that I have an HP Pavillion, and a built in feature is the ability to reinstall XP without losing any data-it doesn't repartition anything, so after the reinstall is complete everything is still here. (you obviously still have to reinstall most applications however)