Lesson 6: Using Disk Defragmenter

Windows 2000 saves files and folders in the first available space on a hard disk and not necessarily in an area of contiguous space. This leads to file and folder fragmentation. When your hard disk contains a lot of fragmented files and folders, your computer takes longer to gain access to them because it requires several additional reads to collect the various pieces. Creating new files and folders also takes longer because the available free space on the hard disk is scattered. Your computer must save a new file or folder in various locations on the hard disk. This lesson introduces the Windows 2000 system tool, Disk Defragmenter, which helps organize your hard disks.

The process of finding and consolidating fragmented files and folders is called defragmenting. Disk Defragmenter locates fragmented files and folders and defragments them. Disk Defragmenter moves the pieces of each file or folder to one location so that each file or folder occupies a single, contiguous space on the hard disk. Consequently, your system can gain access to and save files and folders more efficiently. By consolidating files and folders, Disk Defragmenter also consolidates free space, making it less likely that new files will be fragmented. Disk Defragmenter can defragment FAT, FAT32, and NTFS volumes.

To open the Disk Defragmenter, from the Administrator's Tools menu, open Computer Management, and then click Disk Defragmenter. This opens Disk Deframenter in the Computer Management window. For an alternative, you can also select Disk Defragmenter from the System Tools menu, which you access from the Programs menu. This opens Disk Defragmenter in its own window, which is split into three areas, as shown in Figure 8.7.

The upper portion lists the volumes that you can analyze and defragment. The middle portion provides a graphic representation of how fragmented the selected volume is. The lower portion provides a graphic representation of the volume during and after defragmentation. The display colors indicate the condition of the volume as follows:

• Red indicates fragmented files.
• Dark blue indicates contiguous (nonfragmented) files.
• Green indicates system files, which Disk Defragmenter cannot move.
• White indicates free space on the volume.

By comparing the Analysis Display band to the Defragmentation Display band, you can quickly see the improvement in the volume after defragmentation.

Figure 8.7 The Disk Defragmenter window

If you want to analyze and defragment a volume, in Disk Defragmenter, select one of the options that are described in Table 8.9.

Table 8.9 Disk Defragmenter Options

Option	Description
Analyze	Click this button to analyze the disk for fragmentation. After the analysis, the Analysis Display band provides a graphic representation of how fragmented the volume is.
Defragment	Click this button to defragment the disk. After defragmentation, the Defragmentation Display band provides a graphic representation of the defragmented volume.

The following list provides best practices for using Disk Defragmenter:

• Run Disk Defragmenter when the computer will receive the least usage. During defragmentation, data is moved around on the hard disk and the defragmentation process is microprocessor intensive. The defragmentation process will adversely affect access time to other disk-based resources.
• Educate users to defragment their local hard disks at least once a month to prevent accumulation of fragmented files.
• Analyze the target volume before you install large applications, and then defragment the volume if necessary. Installations complete more quickly when the target media has adequate contiguous free space. Additionally, gaining access to the application, after it is installed, is faster.
• NTFS compression can cause performance degradation when you copy and move files. When a compressed file is copied, it is uncompressed, copied, and then compressed again as a new file. Compress static data rather than data that changes frequently or is copied or moved frequently.
• Before you can delete a quota entry for a user account, all files that the user owns must be removed from the volume or another user must take ownership of the files.
• When you delete a large number of files or folders, your hard disk can become excessively fragmented, so be sure that you analyze it afterward. Generally, you should defragment hard disks on busy file servers more often than those on single-user client computers.

Windows 2000 saves files and folders in the first available space on a hard disk and not necessarily in an area of contiguous space. This leads to file and folder fragmentation. When your hard disk contains a lot of fragmented files and folders, your computer takes longer to gain access to these files and folders and to create new files and folders.

The Windows 2000 system tool, Disk Defragmenter, locates fragmented files and folders and defragments them. Consequently, your system can gain access to and save files and folders more efficiently. By consolidating files and folders, Disk Defragmenter also consolidates free space, making it less likely that new files will be fragmented. Disk Defragmenter can defragment FAT, FAT32, and NTFS volumes.