Page 1 of Defrag question

My system is rather old (P2, 500 Mhz, Win 98 SE) but quite adequate for my needs.
However, it was running a bit slow last week, so I decided to do a Disk Defrag, by the usual method - Start/Accessories/System Tools, etc. I did turn off the Screen saver, etc.
It started ok, and went up to 10%, and no more. I could see it working away, and did so all night, but it would not proceed beyond the 10%.
I`ve come across this issue once before, but it was a few years ago and I`ve forgotten what the solution was.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Tarzan

You have anti virus or some task running in the background, drive contents change as the software runs & the defrag has to start from scratch.

Close down all non required services including AV & physically disconnect from BB or dialup while doing it.



Consulting - If your not part of the solution, there`s good money to be made by prolonging the problem.

I used to have that problem, but found a good post years ago, and had no trouble after. Hold down CTRL and ALT while you press DELETE, and the running programs box will pop up.

Close down everything (end task) except for explorer and systray. You can only close one program at a time, so you`ll have to keep CTRL, ALT and DELETING to bring the box back up, until you close them all (except the two mentioned above).

Now you can run defrag and it should run ok. Once it`s finished, reboot your computer to get all your background stuff running as normal again. :)

Tried ScanDisk first?

I always use the method described by HD above, never had a problem with it..

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I ate what?


My Collection

Also start in Safe mode and you`ll have even less running for a better/quicker defrag.

For future, many pc mag cover discs carry free versions of third party defraggers such as O&O and the one I use - Diskeeper. These run much faster than the built in version and can also run in the background without having to close everything down.

I`m sure I`ve got a few sitting around if your desperate.

Or try a free trial from these peeps:

http://www.oo-software.com/english/products/oodefragv4

If it ain`t broke hit it harder
Damn Nicotine

I had the same problem with my old pc & 98SE, & I had to do the same as what has been previously recommended. If I made sure all other processes were shut down, I could then defrag without any problems. I also agree with the safe mode method too.



"Stan is my best friend at church"

Thanks to all your suggestions.
I have successfully managed to defrag - in the end, I shut down AVG and MSN Messenger, and it worked fine. Yes, it did spend an awful long time at 10%, but no complaints thereafter.

Cheers!

Tarzan

If you`d closed down all programs except Explorer and Systray it should hve run straight through without sticking. Any programs that access the hard drive (even background programs), can cause it to start over.

It can still take a while to defrag though depending on how much is on your hard drive, mine used to take an hour ot an hour and a half on my old PII 400 with 10gb HD.