[Looby]

k computer froze yesterday and wouldn't boot so reformatted and reinstalled windows. no problems with the install. then i check the disk fragmentation (just to clean up install fragments) and BOOM 65% fragmented drive... hmm... k defragment...

view report... 65% fragmented???... i ran windows disk defrag like 20 times last night and then i downloaded a program called IObit SmartDefrag (had best ratings if there is a better program plz feel free to say) and let that run 3-4 times and now its down to 35% fragmented but WTF??? i have never had this happen its usually 1-2 defrags to get drives up and running...

i fixed a friends computer a while ago and when i defraged his drive (which was 82-85% fragmented) it took 2 gos and thats it... can someone help me out? could it be just an error? i have power cycled (if you didnt know thats the technical term now) many times and nothing... windows is fully up to date and activated...

i am using this for audio recording DAW so i need this thing to be quick & stable so any advise would be helpful


PC Specs:
ASUS P4S800D-E
3.2Ghz P4 Prescott
1GB Corsair
200GB HDD (IDE System Drive)
120GB HDD (SATA Storage)
500W PSU
XP Home

Thanks
Looby

[superdave1984]

Download powermax and run the tests on your hard drive. Sounds like you may have a dying drive.

[atomic tofu]

i tried using iobit....kinda sucked to me, didn't really seem to work on any computer i tried it on

but, just for curiosity....was your windows setup a full retail or even oem and NOT a system builder version?

I ask because I reinstalled wxp on my laptop recently and a fresh install was highly fragmented, which I think is just how some of these cobblied together "unique" Windows installs tend to do.

[Looby]

......... god i hope not.... i ran the HDD S.M.A.R.T. scan thing on my speedfan program and no problems the drive has run a total o 149 hours, power cycled 118 times, no raw read errors nothing wrong with it

uhh hmm it came with an old gateway if thats what u mean?... but it has a seperate OS disk that has nothing to do with the gateway part

[atomic tofu]

i think you have what i have for my laptop...
If it's not an MS oem or retail version, those installs tend to be very fragmented, for one odd reason or another. It could be how they install....save files to hd, decompress, install...etc

[anand1]

Prom fragmentation weekly not regularly. Ya i agree that you mught be having a HDD with some problem.

[Looby]

i installed diskkeeper and it defragemented the drive but when i resatred i looked again and it was fragmented again...

the drive is brand new and there are no performance problems with it at all

[atomic tofu]

ah, repeat problems...could just be a lemon

sister bought a brand new western digital external...worked for maybe an hour, than nothing

also, is this just with the os loaded? I am hoping you did not also install other junk that might have been "malicious"

[Looby]

but the drive displays no performance problems it doesnt boot slow or crash or anything

all i did was install and update windows. after putting up a antivir and firewall of course...

[prvrt]

I would run chkdsk just to be sure on the hard drive. I know MS defrag sux, takes 3-5 times for it to get things right, but it should still be better than what you are ending up with. Defrag on Vista you can not see anything, it just does its thing, which sux also. So now you don't know if it did it correctly or not.