Maureen,
I'd do several things:
- Perform a CHKDSK /F /R on the drive (may require a reboot to perform).
Does CHKDSK find/fix any errors with the file system? Aftewards, does
defragmenting still freeze?
- Boot into Safe mode and try defragmenting there. Does it freeze? If not
and it freezes while booted normally, then I'd suspect a conflict with a 3rd
party app - possibly anti-virus.
- Greg/Raxco Software
Microsoft MVP - Windows Storage Management/File System
Disclaimer: I work for Raxco Software, the maker of PerfectDisk - a
commercial defrag utility, as a systems engineer in the support department.