Problems with defragmentation

Problems with defragmentation

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I am trying to run the defragmentation tool. My operating system is Windows 98.

The defragmentation program runs slowly but every minute or so the programme is interupted, the drive contents change and the programme goes back to the beginning. After running the programme for an hour or more it is still only 10% of the way there.

Something is aobviously kicking in to interupt. Does anyone know how I can find out what it is, and disable it?.

I have no screensaver running. Turning off the monitor makes no difference

This is not a problem I have had until the last two weeks.

I am virus protected and clean.
michael blake

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By martynstocks
28th Jan 2003 23:04

Antivirus causing defragmentation problems
This happened to me when I upgraded from Norton Antivirus 2002 to 2003. Suspending the antivirus program during defragmentation didn't solve the problem. I had to completely disinstall the 2003 version and reinstall 2002 for the defragmentation program to run to completion.

I e-mailed Symantec about the problem two months or so ago but haven't had a reply.

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By Boydo
28th Jan 2003 18:30

Screen saver
You should also disable any screen saver that may be running, since this also forces the derag programto restart. You will find this in: Start/Settings/ControlPanel/Display/ScreenSaver-tab and set to "none".

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By cjbeeston
29th Jan 2003 08:51

Defragmenting Windows 98 with Diskeeper Lite
Hello, Michael.

Windows 98's Defragmenter has worked for me without fail in this mode: a) run Windows in safe mode; b) turn off screensaver; c) switch off all power management settings.

However, an alternative solution is to use the freeware program, Diskeeper Lite. Obtainable from www.diskeeper.com, this utility will analyse fragmented disks and defragment them straight from your desktop and without the need for any of the measures outlined in my first paragraph. The running time knocks the spots off the Windows Defragmenter. I have been using it for a week and am greatly impressed.

Give it a try.

Christopher Beeston

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By AnonymousUser
28th Jan 2003 11:11

Another suggestion
Apart from running in Safe Mode and temporarily disabling AV software, you should also make sure that Find Fast is not running.

On W98, this reindexes your hard disk(s) pretty well whenever it feels like it, and this will cause DeFrag to start again (as something has changed underneath)

Hope this helps

Steve

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By Fitzz
29th Jan 2003 09:10

Pause Scheduler to run defrag
I agree with the Power management, Screen-save and other comments, but suspect you have already taken care of those.
The comment about Norton is interesting. What Noerton does is add an entry into Task Scheduler (the part of Win98 that triggers programs to run automatically at set times) to "phone home" for updates every 5 minutes! In doing so, it interrupts the Defrag.
You may not have Norton, but obviously this applies to any "Sheduled" program runs. To cure this right-click on the Task Scheduler icon (usually the left-most icon in the right-hand system tray) and select pause. You can resume after you have done your Defrag.

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By Abacjm
28th Jan 2003 01:10

Defrag
Michael,
This happened to me as well some time back with Win98 and one suggestion was to ensure that nothing was in the CD drive or the A:\Drive as it continually checks both. You should also empty out your Temporary Internet Folder and cookies as you will not want to store them in any case after Defrag. I was also advised to close my Anti-Virus prog as some of them can interfere. You can see a list of progs running in background which will all affect Defrag in some way if they are still running by clicking on Start/Run/Sysinfo/Enter. You can also see some of them if you do a single CTL+ALT+DEL and then remove them from your background tasking. Dont worry, they will re-appear when you re-boot after your defrag.
If your machine speed CPU is low and/or low RAM, it will also affect the Defrag option.
When you restart after defrag, run Sysinfo again and decide for yourself which Start-up tasks you REALLY nned to be running all the time in background. Some of the usual favs include Real Networks (useless if you do not connectr to Real Networks Inc. and Adeptac Direct CD Wizard if you rearely copy CD's.
I have a useful utility prog Checkit86 from Smiths Micro which I run on a daily basis an this tells me of any anomalies on the drive(s) or any of the connected peripherals.
Hope that helps.

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By SFoster
27th Jan 2003 17:12
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