# Help! My computer will not Defrag **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557 "2005-06-16T15:53:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![horhay\_achoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@horhay\_achoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horhay_achoa)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/1 "2005-06-16T15:53:35Z")
My computer will not defrag. It gets around 70% of the way then it starts over. Then it gets about 70% of the way again then it starts over. I let it run like that for 24 hours and it never got finished. I tried running scan disc last night and I got an error that said “scan disc had re-started 10 times”. I let it continue to run, but it never finished. Any idea what could be wrong? Also, I run Adaware SE, Spybot, and AVG on a regular basis, but they are saying my computer is clean… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/2 "2005-06-16T16:02:41Z")
They’re also probably interfering with the process. That Heisenberg… What a kidder… Have you tried defragging in Safe Mode? Or, go in and manually clobber all the processes you can afford without locking up your system. Then again, there might actually be something wrong with your hard drive… ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/3 "2005-06-16T16:06:21Z")
There is something that is writing to the disk causing the defrag to start over. Ethilrist has a good sugestion. Also do you have anitvirus software running? They tend to write log files about when they ran etc. Try turning that off. ---
**Author:** ![horhay\_achoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@horhay\_achoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horhay_achoa)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/4 "2005-06-16T16:08:19Z")
Thanks. I’ll try turning some stuff off. I do have AVG running. I think i have defraged my computer since I got that, but maybe not… ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/5 "2005-06-16T16:18:29Z")
Use ctl-alt-delete. Close down EVERY running process one at a time except systray and explorer. THEN start the defrag. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/6 "2005-06-16T16:20:36Z")
Also a good idea to turn off your screen saver. That’s a big one when it comes to interrupting defrags. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/7 "2005-06-16T16:50:24Z")
What version of Windows are you running? The defragger in Win98 is a POS; try downloading [Diskeeper Lite](http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=1207), it is much more reliable, less sensitive to background programs, more efficient and it is faster than the Windows defragger. ---
**Author:** ![horhay\_achoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@horhay\_achoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horhay_achoa)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/8 "2005-06-16T20:27:38Z")
I am running Windows 98. I’ll try some of the things mentioned and see how it works. Thanks all for your help ---
**Author:** ![jdc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@jdc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jdc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/9 "2005-06-17T04:11:31Z")
If prior suggestions aren’t enougn reboot in SAFE MODE, then run defrag. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/10 "2005-06-17T06:10:01Z")
Many good suggestions above. I have been having a similar on my Win98SE PC. I got around it by booting from a Win98 startup disk and running Scandisk from that. After it fixed the errors I was able to defrag normally. Next time, I’ll try Safemode. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/11 "2005-06-17T06:11:29Z")
> [@Rhubarb](#): > > Many good suggestions above. I have been having a similar on my Win98SE PC. I got around it by booting from a Win98 startup disk and running Scandisk from that. After it fixed the errors I was able to defrag normally. Next time, I’ll try Safemode. similar problem, that is. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/12 "2005-06-17T13:17:48Z")
I had many times the same problem on my now venerable computer. I did everything mentionned by people here (shutting every running programm down, in particular anti-virus, screen saver, etc…) scanned and checked the hard drive surface before and finally deleted as much stuff as possible from my hard drive. It sometimes worked, sometimes didn’t. Some times, oddly enough, it didn’t work the first time, but did the second one. The last time, I could never defragment it until I had formatted my hard drive (something I had never done before, in many years of use). I just wanted to point out that, since I had this issue many times for many years and my computer is still alive and well, it’s probably not something one should be very worried about. ---
**Author:** ![horhay\_achoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@horhay\_achoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horhay_achoa)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-computer-will-not-defrag/308557/13 "2005-06-17T16:37:06Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > Use ctl-alt-delete. Close down EVERY running process one at a time except systray and explorer. THEN start the defrag. This worked! Thanks everyone for all your help. Now my computer will run like a slightly faster piece of crap! 😃