# Disk Defragmenter: how do I locate certain unmovable/contiguous files? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disk-defragmenter-how-do-i-locate-certain-unmovable-contiguous-files/260481 "2004-08-19T00:05:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disk-defragmenter-how-do-i-locate-certain-unmovable-contiguous-files/260481/1 "2004-08-19T00:05:42Z")
Whenever I defrag, here is what happens: About 1/3 of the disk usage chart shows a mixture of contiguous (~90 %) files and unmovable (10 % files). The rest of this graphical depiction is white space, indicating blank disk space, except for two standalone areas of roughly equal size: one of contiguous files, one unmovable. For some reason, these C/U files never get integrated into the main. I hate that. How can I locate these files and determine what’s going on? As you can imagine, I want everything nice and neat. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disk-defragmenter-how-do-i-locate-certain-unmovable-contiguous-files/260481/2 "2004-08-19T00:09:22Z")
THIS IS THE READ OUT: Volume (C:) Volume size = 27.92 GB Cluster size = 4 KB Used space = 7.95 GB Free space = 19.97 GB Percent free space = 71 % Volume fragmentation Total fragmentation = 0 % File fragmentation = 0 % Free space fragmentation = 0 % File fragmentation Total files = 75,540 Average file size = 262 KB Total fragmented files = 0 Total excess fragments = 0 Average fragments per file = 1.00 Pagefile fragmentation Pagefile size = 768 MB Total fragments = 1 Folder fragmentation Total folders = 4,012 Fragmented folders = 1 Excess folder fragments = 0 Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation Total MFT size = 78 MB MFT record count = 79,810 Percent MFT in use = 99 % Total MFT fragments = 3 * * * Fragments File Size Files that cannot be defragmented None ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disk-defragmenter-how-do-i-locate-certain-unmovable-contiguous-files/260481/3 "2004-08-19T00:10:59Z")
What version of Windows? If it’s 2000/XP, Defrag should give you a report of which files are the problems. As for unmovable files - they’re often just that. Particularly the pagefile (the virtual memory), which due to MS’s foresight can’t be defragged :dubious: . And if your hard drive isn’t large, that could explain a fair bit of the 10%. However, if the contigous files are in large blocks on different parts of the drive, that’s fine. Don’t forget that a hard drive isn’t just one physical disk, but a whole stack of them, so jumping to something at the other end of the drive isn’t necessarily a significantly more time consuming task. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disk-defragmenter-how-do-i-locate-certain-unmovable-contiguous-files/260481/4 "2004-08-19T00:12:24Z")
OK, so you answered some of my questions before I asked them 😃 … but " Average fragments per file = 1.00" - can you ask for much more?! :wally