Windows defragger overwrites mft zone

him80us · 25 Dec 2009

fseal said:

There are also "memory optimizers" too. Just because something exists, doesn't mean it does anything useful. :)

Though, sadly, if your going to compete inthe marketplace and the other 5 defrag utilities that defrag the MFT then by ghod you better too!

:| good eye watson

if i wanted to disable the defragger in win 7 and go somewhere else....i wouldnt start that threat to find solutions....

and as far as i know....competition never hurt anybody....or did u like to pay 1k for a p4 till the amd got in the market and spoild the waters ?

logicearth · 25 Dec 2009

him80us said:

and i still dont understaind why windows is setup to provide a 12.5% mft zone if the boot defragger still overwrites it anyway 1st time it has the chance

It does not provide a "12.5%" MFT Zone reservation. That stopped back in Windows Vista. Now it is merely a 200 MB reservation, with 200 MB added as the MFT grows. Like I've been saying. Fragmentation of the MFT is a non-issue. These MFT defragers are stuck on a myth.

And BTW, the built in Windows Defragmentation is able to consolidate the MFT zones, since Windows Vista.

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 use a default size of 200MB for the initial MFT zone reservation. As the MFT outgrows the default zone due to more files being added to the volume, the MFT will create another 200MB zone to grow into. This change to fixed amount versus a percentage was done to deal with increasing size of volumes and create better efficiencies.

For example, in previous versions of Windows a 500GB NTFS volume would have a ~62GB MFT Zone Reservation (500MB x 12.5%). So if the MFT only grew to the size of 100MB, the first 62GB of the volume would be “reserved” and data would not start until the end of the 62GB mark.

Starting with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, the MFT uses a fixed 200MB zone reservation so as not to reserve space that will never actually be used (note that the zone reservation can be used by data once the remainder of the volume is filled up - this is the same as in previous versions of Windows).

[....]

For workstation or server profiles that have [VERY] large MFT’s, it is possible that the MFT will be more “fragmented” however these fragments will be 200MB in size a piece so the performance impact will be negligible....

him80us · 25 Dec 2009

i understaind what ur saying now logicearth

but my win doesnt act like ur telling me

in my regedit the MftZoneReservation=1 ....that value means 200mb ?? and if i set the value to 2 ...it will have a 400mb ??

lets say its like that....this is what it happends to me

i install win...i install all programs i need....i make sure the mft reserved is still there from cluster x to cluster y

lets say x to y its 150mb....after i install all the programs i need....

then i hit defragment ....after that....from cluster x to cluster y is no more reserved mft...actually the reserve is gone...and i have from cluster x to y lots of pieces from software i installed

so...my 200mb ur telling me it supose to be there r gone....and if i install something else the mft appears in an inner cluster....and if i defrag again...the reserve is also gone....and i get a fragmented MFT 30-40mb in one piece and another MFT 5-10mb in another piece not a 200mb a piece and a smaller piece as it grows...

thats what im trying to say....i dont even get to fill those 200mb ...why this behavior ?...cuz i didnt find anything about it....

and the 2nd problem....the defrag doesnt consolidate my mft...or is it set to do that once every 2-3 months ?....cuz i left my win 7 over 40 days to see if theres a consolidation of mft...and nothing happends

and im preety sure its not from a bad windows install....this problem i have every time i install and i did install at least 10 times now....

maybe u can help me understaind...cuz i dont see a normal behavior by that....

merry x-mas to all