HL2 Fresh install = 54% Fragmented HD!!!

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PrkChpXprss

Gawd
Joined
Nov 7, 2003
Messages
837
Ok, I finished HL2 earlier last week and did a *complete* wipe and re-install of my system this weekend.

I installed the software in this order after doing a format (NTFS) of my 7200rpm 80GB SATA hard drive:

1. WinXP Pro, Service Pack 2 with all updates
2. Latest drivers for all components (mobo, vid card, sound card, etc)
3. Retail HL2 and Steam

I fired up HL2 after Steam did its updates. I *still* got the stuttering issues associated with HL2 and I figured the hard drive wouldn't be that fragmented. BOY WAS I WRONG!!!

I checked out the fragmentation using the Windows XP utility and it came out to 54% file fragmentation on this clean install of everything!!!! It turned out that ALOT of the larger HL2 files were massively fragmented.

What gives? Is this an issue that Valve is aware of?
 
run defrag before you install HL2 and see what it reads as ...then you'll know
 
lol, i keep an eye on my drives, normally it stays around 1-2%, i installed HL2 and BAM!!! 42% LOL, sucks don't it
 
yeah, I forgot to mention that it was barely fragmented after the WinXP installation. I ran O&O defrag as well and both programs showed the HL2 files as fragmented (when the defrag was running).
 
Nice. Just checked both computers in my place with Half Life 2 on them and they're both fragmented to hell after fairly recent fresh installs.

Thanks Valve!
 
Valve may have some fault... but I wouldn't necessarily blame them outright. Many large installs can fragment a drive. I would think that XP and the NTFS write methods would fragment any large directory apart depending on space available.

I remember my autodefrag running after installing FarCry and UT2004. Wish I had concrete numbers for you... but then again I am lazy.
 
Are you guys talking about the retail or steam version? I have the steam version and after the install my drive (80 gig 7200rpm WD) was only 18% fragmented.
 
prolly the retail version would fragment more so then the steam due to you getting all the files on your hd alot quicker then dl'ing off of steam ...? .. just guessing
 
HL is also over 4 GB of files. Any large installation like that can seriously fragment a hard drive.
 
I downloaded both copies off of Steam and I've never had a large game do this before that I've noticed. However, to sate my curiosity, I'm going to run a little experiment later with Icewind Dale 2 to see if I can mimic the effect of a very large game causing 'instant' defragmentation.
 
It doesnt have to do with the simple install, its what steam does with its agme files. Remember it extracts files on the fly from GCF files and makes new directories even after you just install. It sone big machine moving files all the time.
 
minc3d said:
It doesnt have to do with the simple install, its what steam does with its agme files. Remember it extracts files on the fly from GCF files and makes new directories even after you just install. It sone big machine moving files all the time.
Click to expand...

So why does steam move files around all the time? The second worst game i noticed that fragmented stuff was URU, but that wasn't nearly as bad a HL2, it was maybe 5%
 
Because steam likes to take control over files. Teh biggest fragmenting takes place when you decrypt all the game files for HL2 and CSS, but also when the game moves those files into new directories upon the first playing of each game. There's two big frags. All the steam updates and game patches that steam installs also creates more fragments.
 
minc3d said:
Because steam likes to take control over files. Teh biggest fragmenting takes place when you decrypt all the game files for HL2 and CSS, but also when the game moves those files into new directories upon the first playing of each game. There's two big frags. All the steam updates and game patches that steam installs also creates more fragments.
Click to expand...

Oh ok, yeah, i forgot about the decrypt file part, the update frag part should be fixed though,
 
hahahaha i just checked mine

#1 most fragmented file on the disk:

"half-life 2 content.gcf" weighing in at 839mb and 2,726 fragments.


#2 most fragmented file on the disk is:
"sandbox Hard Disk.vhd" weighing in at 2.55gb and 367 fragments (this is my virtual machine)
 
Code: 
Volume (C:)
    Volume size                                = 37.21 GB
    Cluster size                               = 4 KB
    Used space                                 = 34.50 GB
    Free space                                 = 2.71 GB
    Percent free space                         = 7 %

Volume fragmentation
    Total fragmentation                        = 20 %
    File fragmentation                         = 37 %
    Free space fragmentation                   = 3 %

File fragmentation
    Total files                                = 67,139
    Average file size                          = 679 KB
    Total fragmented files                     = 3,855
    Total excess fragments                     = 36,439
    Average fragments per file                 = 1.54

Pagefile fragmentation
    Pagefile size                              = 1.50 GB
    Total fragments                            = 37

Folder fragmentation
    Total folders                              = 4,490
    Fragmented folders                         = 33
    Excess folder fragments                    = 165

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
    Total MFT size                             = 83 MB
    MFT record count                           = 72,189
    Percent MFT in use                         = 85 %
    Total MFT fragments                        = 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fragments       File Size       Most fragmented files
[b]2,726           839 MB          \Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\half-life 2 content.gcf[/b]
367             2.55 GB         \Documents and Settings\anasazi\My Documents\My Virtual Machines\sandbox\sandbox Hard Disk.vhd
294             21 MB           \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP249\A0040183.msi
291             25 MB           \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP249\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
150             10 MB           \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP216\A0035065.exe
148             976 MB          \Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\source sounds.gcf
130             8 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP245\A0037799.dll
128             8 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP196\A0030229.dll
121             8 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP222\A0035718.rbf
109             7 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP222\A0035717.rbf
101             6 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP241\A0037271.old
101             6 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP222\A0035710.rbf
101             6 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP199\A0030490.old
99              6 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP222\A0035842.rbf
91              6 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP216\A0035064.exe
90              6 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP246\A0037874.dll
90              6 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP246\A0039923.dll
90              6 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP246\A0039874.dll
90              6 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP246\A0040075.dll
90              6 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP246\A0038874.dll
90              6 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP250\A0040200.dll
90              10 MB           \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP210\A0030889.msi
87              5 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP202\A0030614.msi
85              5 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP222\A0035702.rbf
84              10 MB           \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP246\A0037834.msi
84              5 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP198\A0030366.msi
80              5 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP231\A0036924.dll
80              5 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP246\A0039973.dll
80              5 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP246\A0040063.dll
74              5 MB            \System Volume Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP222\A0035903.dll
 
Hmm.. didn't happen to me...

After HL2-Silver Pack DL and install my file fragmentation was at 6% and my total was at 3%.
 
I have the retail version of HL2 and also experienced a badly fragmented HD after install, so bad that windows could defrag utility said some files could not be defraged and it listed the hl2/steam.. files. After trying a few different things with no luck I deleted the steam files, ran defrag successfully and then re downloaded the steam files and all is good again.
 
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