microsoft windows disk defragmenter usage

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I have a Dell Dimension 4700 C running on Windows XP Professional S/P 2.
When, if ever, should I run the Microsoft Windows Disk Defragmenter, located
in Start - Accessories - System Tools?
Additionally, my Norton Internet Security suite offers a utility called
'Speed Disk' which optimizes the hard drive.
I have run both utilities and the actions seem to be doing the same thing.
They both take 40 minutes or so to complete.
In the interest maintenance, do I only need to run one or the other - disk
defragmenter or speed disk? I know that using the Windows Disk Defragmenter
is recommended periodically, but what about the Norton Speed Disk. I don't
want to unnecessarily run duplicated utilities.

thank you
 
brunetto said:
I have a Dell Dimension 4700 C running on Windows XP Professional S/P 2.
When, if ever, should I run the Microsoft Windows Disk Defragmenter,
located
in Start - Accessories - System Tools?
Additionally, my Norton Internet Security suite offers a utility called
'Speed Disk' which optimizes the hard drive.
I have run both utilities and the actions seem to be doing the same thing.
They both take 40 minutes or so to complete.
In the interest maintenance, do I only need to run one or the other - disk
defragmenter or speed disk? I know that using the Windows Disk
Defragmenter
is recommended periodically, but what about the Norton Speed Disk. I don't
want to unnecessarily run duplicated utilities.
Click to expand...


I recommend you get rid of NIS and any of the other Norton Home products
(with the exception of Ghost and Partition Magic). There are other programs
that work as well or better, but are not the resource hog that the Norton
products are. If you want suggestions for what to use as a replacement, let
us know.

The effect of a defragmentation on performance is over rated for most users.
The built in tool is fine. Run it once a month or so. It's as important
not to let the drive to get too full, don't go below 20% free space, and
routinely take out the trash. See this link:
http://www.aumha.org/a/health.php
 
I would recommend staying with Speed Disk. it is more efficient than windows built in.
with xp norton programs do not have as many problems as they do with visa.



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I have a Dell Dimension 4700 C running on Windows XP Professional S/P 2.
When, if ever, should I run the Microsoft Windows Disk Defragmenter, located
in Start - Accessories - System Tools?
Additionally, my Norton Internet Security suite offers a utility called
'Speed Disk' which optimizes the hard drive.
I have run both utilities and the actions seem to be doing the same thing.
They both take 40 minutes or so to complete.
In the interest maintenance, do I only need to run one or the other - disk
defragmenter or speed disk? I know that using the Windows Disk Defragmenter
is recommended periodically, but what about the Norton Speed Disk. I don't
want to unnecessarily run duplicated utilities.

thank you
 
brunetto said:
I have a Dell Dimension 4700 C running on Windows XP Professional S/P
2. When, if ever, should I run the Microsoft Windows Disk
Defragmenter, located in Start - Accessories - System Tools?
Additionally, my Norton Internet Security suite offers a utility
called 'Speed Disk' which optimizes the hard drive.
I have run both utilities and the actions seem to be doing the same
thing. They both take 40 minutes or so to complete.
In the interest maintenance, do I only need to run one or the other -
disk defragmenter or speed disk? I know that using the Windows Disk
Defragmenter is recommended periodically, but what about the Norton
Speed Disk. I don't want to unnecessarily run duplicated utilities.

thank you
Click to expand...

You should only run one of them. Norton and windows defragger work
differently so if you switch back and forth it causes more file movement
than is necessary. That's why it took 40 minutes to run each of them <g>.

Speed Disk has extra bells & whistles that will let you have to defrag
less often and lets you choose where on the drive some things are stored
plus other sundry niceties. But if you're not using any of those features,
you've probably best advised to just use the Windows defrag utility.
But if you understand the disk structure and read about speed disk to
understand its uses, then it's the better way to go. But do not switch back
and forth; pick one and stay with it.

FYI: Once a drive has been defragmented, a second defrag should go very
quickly. Anytime it takes more than or close to an hour to run defrag, I'll
usually run it a second time to pick up any files it wasn't able to do
efficeiently the first time. This is especially true of windows defrag.
But once everything is defragmented, it'll run though it quickly and just
report "nothing to do".

Note also that some files cannot be defragmented; they're indicated in the
reports and there can be several of them depending on what you have
installed.

HTH
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