Defragmenter space requirement

[shrimply]

I mentioned on the other thread that my new XP hard drive upon analyses says it needs defragmented. When I went to defragment the partition (8GB) it says I shouldn't because there is only 3% free space and it likes 15%.

 

Besides uninstalling some programs and then reinstalling after the defrag I don't really no what to do. Any suggestions.

[Goku]

Hello Shrimply. What Operating System are you running?

 

-- Goku

[shrimply]

Hi its a dual boot between Windows XP home edition and Ubuntu, so there is a 8GB XP Partition and a 8GB Ubuntu partition with a 60GB partition in the middle to share my pictures and documents etc.

[Goku]

Are you willing to use a third-party defragmenter? As far as I know, there is no option to force the utility to defragment the drive if the space is low.

 

-- Goku

[shrimply]

I think it will let me, it asks if I want to continue anyway, I just don't know if it would do any damage. But I don't mind using a different defragmenter if I have to.

[Goku]

I would stay with the in-built defragmenting utility as there is no point installing a third-party defragmenter for a one time purpose.

 

This is not necessary but if you want to defragment only specific files on your hard drive, then you might find Defraggler handy. In your condition, I think that the Windows in-built defragmenting utility would perform a satisfactory task enough. Hope that helps.

 

-- Goku

[shrimply]

Thanks, found out the defragmenter won't run, which makes life a bit difficult. I'm presuming a third party one wouldn't be able to operate either.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

What error do you get shrimps?

[shrimply]

Just basically it can't complete as there isn't enough free space.

[RandyL]

Shrimply it can be forced to run but please don't attempt it. Also don't run a third party utility to do this. Serious damage may result from both options.

 

Consider other options instead like extending your partition sizes.

[Dalo Harkin]

You need the Free space as it acts as like a buffer to move files.

uninstall things you dont need and see whats what after that if you still do not meet the 15% then leave well alone as you could cause some serious damage to the file structure of the HDD

[shrimply]

Thanks, I ran CCleaner and unistalled Gimp,Open Office, Java and Adobe. And that got me there. SO running it now then I'll have to reinstall them again.

 

Never thought that having a small partition would cause any problems.

[Seth]

I was going to mention a drive cleaner, but you got that already.

 

Another way to free up A LOT of space is to disable system restore, run the defrag, then enable it again.