Defragmenting drive

[Bahco]

I want to defrag my D drive but it sticks at 11 %.
I think it would be better running in safe mode.
Can anyone advise how to get into safe mode please?

 

[breezer]

only my thoughts.

if it sticks at any% it may be a faulty drive, or has to keep starting again. is everthing else turned off, i.e screen saver? becuse it will get to point x, screen saver kicks in, so it restarts

 

[Bahco]

Hi Breezer.
Every thing is turned off and my C drive defrags ok, its only the D drive which sticks.
I have run Scandisc and have found no errors.

 

[2scoops0406]

Depends on the OS, but I think you press the F8 key when the machine is starting up.


I really should know this kind of stuff

 

[Bahco]

Thanks fellas.
It was indeed F8 to get into safe mode.
However, it still seems to stick at 11%.

Does anyone know what would cause this?

Thanks.

 

[2scoops0406]

What does the disk analysis show ?

 

[Bahco]

Thanks Eddie

The disc is green with no gaps. The defragmented blue blocks have stuck.
Hope this helps.

 

[kevplumb]

how much free space is on the drive ???

 

[2scoops0406]

Does this help ?

 

[Bahco]

I have done a thorough scan disc on the D drive and it turns out there were errors that the standard scan did not pick up

All drives now defraged. Thanks to all for the replys.

Incidentally , does defrag do anything of use apart from entertaining me watching the blue squares?

 

[2scoops0406]

Yes it does. Do you want more info. BTW, glad it's sorted. :

 

[Bahco]

Yes it does. Do you want more info.

Please Eddie

 

[breezer]

as i understand it this is what happens.

when you do something on your computer, it will then store that info on your hard drive ANYWHERE it fits, now say you have a 7cm space and a 6cm bit of information, it will put the information in the space, but the 1 cm left will be left empty. some times it will try and put the 6cm bit of information into a 3cm space, it will do it but snap it in half and put the other 3 cm bit into another place. It is not THAT stupid, it does know where it put everything (for later retreaval)

Now you would have thought that the logical way to do it is to put the next bit of info after the last bit so, no spaces, no that is "too easy"

So when you defrag, as i understand it, it rearanges everything and "shuffles it about" to remove the odd little spaces, (this saves time by not having to look in an empty space later) but if some info is "broken in two" it may get moved, but not rejoined.

I should point out i used cm as an example to make understanding easier, in reality its not that big at all.

Then again i may have got it all wrong

 

[Igorian]

B, did the thorough scan mark any sectors as bad? When I scanned u, I noticed that your drives are small and probably on the old side.

The magnetic media and heads become weak over time too. Long boot times, slow loading programs and general sluggishness are signs that this is happening, although spyware is sometimes to blame (but as u have a fresh operating system, u shoule be clean).

Most of the popular brands will have diagnostic software available from the manufacturers website. One favourite test is the 90 second quick test. Drives that fail to complete this test within a couple of minutes should also be suspect.

 

[Bahco]

Hi Ian

It does have bad data on it. My computer is about 7 years old and is only a Pentium 2, 350 mhz.

The fan is making a bit of a noise as well now so I think its time to upgrade

Thanks