Windows Disk Defrag Doesn't Defrag

[Kaiachi]

Disk defrag stops analyzing at 62% and doesn't go any further. So I downloaded Defraggler and ran it. It worked but it wouldn't defrag down to 0% fragmentation, It still shows 4% after defrag.

 

[Maguscreed]

most programs will show some even after defragging.

You can use the optimized option in auslogics, and that's about as good as it gets I think.
Disk Defrag - Fast and Safe Defragmenter for Your Disks

boost speed actually isn't bad either but you have to pay for it.

 

[Stormkitty]

If you don't mind paying a bit of money, I find PerfectDisk from Raxco to be excellent.

 

[Orbital Shark]

There will always be a degree of fragmentation...

Certain system files cannot be deragged, which you can see in any 3rd party legend (colour explaination). The hibfile.sys and pagefile.sys (can be several GBs per file) are 2 such files that, depending on disk structure at time of install, can end up fragmented.

There may be 3rd party apps out there that can infact defrag these files but you'd have to google them

 

[kado897]

Some NTFS system files cant be defragged on a running system, you will always get some fragmentation with defraggler.

One interesting point is that defraggler seems to count the amount of fragmentation differently to the built in defragger, which shows a higher amount of fragmentation. I think it uses % of file size as opposed to % of number of files.

 

[reckey]

I would recommend Diskeeper 2011, you can check out the free trial if you wish.

 

[seekermeister]

Definitely not free, but O&O is the best defragger. However even with it, you may have a very small percentage of fragmentation after running it only once. Sometimes a second pass will eliminate all fragmentation, but as the others have mentioned, it like other defraggers can't work on locked system files, but it does have a tab which displays exactly which files are fragmented, and to what degree. It is a good idea to empty the Recycle Bin, and disable hibernation and the page file before defragging. You can also uninstall all shadow copies before defragging (create a new one afterward), and then run an offline defrag so that it can handle the only locked file that is probably left (system volume information).

 

[gregrocker]

There are several good free defraggers. I used Auslogics Disk and Registry for ten years but recently have been more impressed by Puran which has a boot-time defrag that isn't interfered with by system files running. If you choose "Intelligent Optimizer" on its config tab it arranges the files so that you get better performance even on the slowest hardware.

 

[Vertex]

OK, different people would recommend different 3rd party defragging software. But I have a rule that I often always do, that is do a cleaning of junk files with CCleaner before defragging. I would clear even browsing history and recycle bin..etc. That would in turn lessen the files to defrag and make the defragging operation finish faster. I use IObit Smart Defrag v2, there's a free version of it but its your choice on what to use.

 

[fafhrd]

If you use a sophisticated defragger/optimizer, it will delete files of your choice as it defragments, and exclude other files of your choice. To make things even faster, very large files can be excluded to make the defrag as quick as possible.. If it is defragmented at boot time, before Windows opens up a lot of system files, services and applications, those files can be defragmented too.