# Defrag hard drive problem **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2003, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defrag-hard-drive-problem/193293 "2003-08-06T07:35:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defrag-hard-drive-problem/193293/1 "2003-08-06T07:35:30Z")
(The worst part of this being, I know I’ve had this problem before, and fixed it, but I don’t remember how…) I’ve been trying to defrag my hard drive w/ windows 98, and it never gets further than 10% done. That is to say, it gets to 10% and restarts. Over and over and over. Very frustrating. Any ideas out there? ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defrag-hard-drive-problem/193293/2 "2003-08-06T08:17:24Z")
Make sure _every_ program is disabled, your screensaver doesn’t activate, etc. If there anthing going on outside of the defragging program, it can kind of jolt it out of the loop or something. I don’t know, I had the same problem and that worked, even if my explanation is iffy. ---
**Author:** ![Schnauzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@Schnauzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnauzer)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defrag-hard-drive-problem/193293/3 "2003-08-06T09:27:12Z")
Kushiel is on the right lines; any program which makes a change to the hard disc while it is defragging will cause defrag to restart. The best way of ensuring there are the minimum tasks running is to start up in safe mode and run defrag from there. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defrag-hard-drive-problem/193293/4 "2003-08-06T09:51:02Z")
Try booting up into safe mode and then defragging. Or try using a 3rd party defragger such as [Power Defrag](http://www.powerdefrag.com/) ---
**Author:** ![milk\_milk\_lemonade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@milk\_milk\_lemonade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milk_milk_lemonade)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defrag-hard-drive-problem/193293/5 "2003-08-06T10:02:56Z")
Safe mode defragging will take ages because it won’t be using DMA or 32 bit disk access, but it will work eventually. A more satisfactory solution would be to run MSCONFIG and temporarily disable items in the startup tab. You should also disable all screensavers and virus checkers. Press ctrl-alt-del at the desktop to see what is in the task list, you can then see what you need to disable. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defrag-hard-drive-problem/193293/6 "2003-08-06T11:53:26Z")
lol, stop playing mp3’s while defragging…hehheh ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defrag-hard-drive-problem/193293/7 "2003-08-06T14:34:24Z")
Boot with your startup disk & run defrag. BTW, a third party defrag util is much better. You can find some at the store & for W98 I used System Suite 2000. Or try [download.com](http://download.com) & search for defrag. I must have seen a hundred messages like yours on the board in 5 years.