That's because you've got 26 computers on which you spend your time. By the time you do anything useful on just one of those 12 months have past. Give yourself a few years between defrags.

I'd like to see a rundown of the partitioning scheme that allows this. I think I have a pretty efficient setup and I still have a couple of partitions that need regular partitioning. the partition used for CD burning and scratch disks gets pretty fragged after a month or so, as well as my downloads partition(which I know I could actually eliminate by sorting files when I dl them, but this is just the way I do things)

On my primary machines, Celia, Phaedra, and Soulbox (click the "my darlings" link in my sig) I follow pretty much the same partitioning scheme. Here is what I have on Celia, which is the box I use for all net-related activities, downloading and video editing, et cetera(note: This is for XP only, machines that multiboot are a different story altogether):

note: this is what it WAS a few days ago... I've since reinstalled XP and the partitions are slightly different although follow the same pattern

Mount Size Purpose
C: 2GB XP install, locked hibernation file
D: 5GB Windows Applications Only
E: 1GB swap
F: 540mb Windows Temp(requires registry hack)
G: 50MB Temporary Internet Files
H: 18GB Movies(Finished)
I: 10.08GB To Burn (files I want to burn to a disc)
J: 32G Audio/Video Editing Temp (I only edit 1 file at a time)

K: 1GB NETWORK DRIVE - Download Temp (before I put it where it belongs)

P: 10GB NETWORK DRIVE - My Documents
R: 1GB NETWORK DRIVE - Application Data / User Data / Desktop
Y: 6GB NETWORK DRIVE - Program Installs / Patches
Z: 30GB NETWORK DRIVE - mp3s

Aha, so thats how you do it. Why defrag when you can reinstall.

That wouldn't make any difference on a fragmented hard drive :-P.

Wow that is a large setup. I need to reset up my drives once I reinstall, but I just don't feel like doing that. I think I'm too lazy.

Read 'reformat and then reinstall'. Also, I was being sarchastic.

That isn't much different than the scheme I use Soul, I do have a couple of those combines, such as Temp files are on the same partition that contains scratchdisks and Nero Cache, and the Temp folder for PVCR.

Nic did make a good point in his sarcasm though. Having a partitioning scheme like this does make it easier if you have to scrap the OS and start again. Since you already have all your data separate from the OS partition, in the event of an OS disaster, you can easily format that partition and reinstall if necessary.

If you manage your partitions properly, in a multi-OS boot setup you can add and remove operating systems just like modules. You also keep thing pretty under control in the fragmentation area, as well.

\

hehe.... yes... excellent point! On the machine(s) that I multiboot with, I typically do an install, shrink it to fit on a CD or a smaller, then keep that CD as a "fresh" install for that machine. A "reinstall" takes only a few minutes that way!

Even better, start keeping a partition just for drive image files on your system. Create drive images of virgin installs, and then keep a copy of your last 3 or so snap shots of each OS. Burn the smaller, virgin images to CDs for restoration as Soul Harvester describes.

Thanks again, but you forget, I'm prehistoric by you peoples' standards, I bet that you all have re-write, without exception..........I haven't!!! [sounds of disbelief & "tsk tsks", you have to understand, this old guy got into computers exactly a year ago, & friends reckon I've done well, I even had to tell an experienced pal how to get rid of the NT virus, he was astounded, how come this ametuer was telling him????? then when I gave him the floppy with the solution he DID thank me, I even had to give the local computer workshop the name of the site from where they could get the solution to make me a floppy.......then they had the nerve to charge me for the floppy, whilst making AND selling more than 50 more at £2 each!
But with all that, I am still nervous, & like to keep things simple in case I **** something up, so, partitioning;.......... WHAAAAAAAT!!!
One old jittery guy signing off.

Just keep plodding away and trying stuff. Familiarity breeds comfort. The more you do, the better you will become.

And don't be afraid to screw up :=).

I am an expert on all Windows operating systems and all kinds of networks. Defragging the system volume is perfectly healthy. The only version where this could cause a problem is in Windows 95. This has to do with the fact Microsoft failed to realize that users might want to do something while the defrag process did its job. As any user who has used 95 and tried to defrag it, this process could take days! Windows XP does a great job of keeping its volumes at a contiguous point, except when making movies because the rate they are created are extraordinarily fast for the drive and operating system to keep up with. As far as loosing files or the system booting up slowly, that has to do with other operations that might have occured during the process, such as downloading files or browsing the internet. Also I read on the post that there sometimes is a small portion of the drive that is always fragmented, which is because that portion is not allowed to be touch at all by any operation. That's it for now!

vsparzak, as you can see, I am not the instigator of this thread, see my posting, above, I am chipping in just to welcome you to Techspot, it's a [U]great [/U]site, many, many times the guys have helped me out over the last two years, I [U]know [/U] that you'll thoroughly enjoy the camaraderie & positive help, stay with it.

Maurice

i think defragging is good every now and then. however it takes too long. if you want it done faster than windows defrag tool, check out diskeeper. like 10 times faster. still a hassle though i think

Well, knuckleball, I too don't de-frag very often, but when I do, it seems quite fast, I click, & it's done in about a minute or so, I have an 80gig hard drive, & it copes OK, I look at the pie chart now & again, & it hardly changes, but then I do [U]very [/U]little d/loading, no music, no DVD's etc.
Have I welcomed you to TS, if not, consider it done!

Maurice. [have a look at my PC specs in my profile, click on my name to get the drop-down]