Any Point in Running a Continous Defrag?

[blade52x]

I defrag my hard-drive like once everyday - and it only takes like 2 minutes to do.

I use diskeeper, and I was just wondering - is there any point to running a continous defrag for like 2 hours? It's just something I could schedule overnight, but will the be any real benefit for running one of these over and over?

 

[Falls Included]

you can only arrange the data once really (a defrag). there isn't any benefit to defragging all the time at all. i never defrag unless i have a 5-6 month old install of windows and i am going to a lan or something... if you don't move files around... there is no point.

 

[unhappy_mage]

If there was a point, the filesystem would do it for you. Defragging is a sign that your filesystem was poorly implemented IMO.

 

[digital_exhaust]

Defragging is a sign that your filesystem was poorly implemented IMO.

I have to agree with this, a properly set up file system is a must for me.

 

[blade52x]

I have to agree with this, a properly set up file system is a must for me.

Don't really know what that means, so if anyone could give tips on how to "properly" set one up, I'd greatly appreciate it. (I'm not sure if mine is)

But for the most part, everytime it starts up and defrags, I usually only see a few bad files, and they always seem to be in the same location on the analyze map (possibly temporary internet files?)

 

[wassi]

I usually do a defrag like once a year. I dont see that it makes much of a difference.

 

[este]

If you run windows you don't have a properly setup filesystem is what they are getting at.

There is nothing you can do about it. Just defrag once in awhile and you'll be fine. I find it doesnt make a ton of difference unless >85% of the HDD is filled. Which with my old 80Gb was EASY, I now have about 500GB so its a little harder.

I'll let you know when I fill that up.

 

[MrGuvernment]

you dont need to defrag eveyday.

i am a hardcore user on my computer every day, moving tons of data and i defrag maybe once a month and i notice next to no diff.

this is using Vista RC1 and Xp Media center.

 

[Eva_Unit_0]

If you run windows you don't have a properly setup filesystem is what they are getting at.

yep, pretty much. A well-designed filesystem (like ext2/ext3) will only get to 2-3% fragmentation even under heavy loads and constant use. Poorly-designed filesystems (i.e. fat32, ntfs, reiserfs) will tend to fragment and there's not much you can do about it.

also, note that I'm not bashing just windows here--there are plenty of linux filesystems (like reiserfs, v3 in particular) that have fragmentation issues as well.

 

[Grentz]

Its also good to defrag after uninstalling larger programs as these leave "gaps" in the data which a defrag fixes.