# My defragmenter doesn't seem to be working correctly **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792 "2010-10-20T15:57:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/1 "2010-10-20T15:57:16Z")
First I run an analysis and a bar showing fragmented, unmovable, and defragmented files appears. I’ll run the defragmenter, it’ll run a few minutes then a few of the fragmented files are gone but there is still this huge batch of fragmented files on the right side of the bar. Is there anything I can do about this? Should I even worry about it? ---
**Author:** ![skearton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@skearton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skearton)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/2 "2010-10-20T17:11:09Z")
Try auslogics defrag. It’s free and can help you determine if its the OS thats causing the problem, or a hardware issue. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/3 "2010-10-20T19:29:47Z")
Defragging modern drives is pointless, they move fast enough that putting all files closer together does not speed up anything ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/4 "2010-10-20T19:52:28Z")
Defragging still results in slightly less wear and tear on the drive. It also reduces the number of files that will be corrupted if there is a localized head crash. Defragging a SSHD…now THAT is silly! ---
**Author:** ![Mgalindo13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea5d25/32.png) [@Mgalindo13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mgalindo13)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/5 "2010-10-20T22:19:42Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > Defragging modern drives is pointless, they move fast enough that putting all files closer together does not speed up anything Hard drives aren’t any faster today than they were 10 years ago. Most are still the same 7200 RPMs. Laptop hard drives are even slower. Be sure that you have more than 15% free space when you defrag (ideally you want 20%) and don’t use the built in defragger. If there isn’t free space to move things around it can’t defrag properly. Depending on what your computing needs are you can use a free one like Auslogics or Defragler, but if you are doing things like video editing or anything highly disc intensive (or have really low free space) you may want to consider a more heavy duty paid program. ---
**Author:** ![Mgalindo13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea5d25/32.png) [@Mgalindo13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mgalindo13)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/6 "2010-10-20T22:26:16Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > Defragging a SSHD…now THAT is silly! While performance gains are minimal, some tech-bloggers have seen increased speed and bootup times by defragging SSDs. Not really sure why. The downside to this is of course the limited number of writes to SSDs. There is technology out there for boosting SSD performance while limiting the potential loss of lifespan, but it’s really only for those who are REALLY into maximizing their performance. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/7 "2010-10-21T01:50:25Z")
> [@mgalindo0824](#): > > Hard drives aren’t any faster today than they were 10 years ago. Most are still the same 7200 RPMs. Laptop hard drives are even slower. It depends on what you call “faster.” Pretty much all hard drives today are faster than those of 10 years ago. They are faster at reading and writing large volumes of data in a shorter time span. Physically, the RPM speed has stayed the same (5400 or 7200), but the platter data densities are much higher. If you have an old vs new hard drive with the same RPM, the new hard drive’s read/write head interacts with many more magnetic domains (1s and 0s) during the same revolution, which takes the same amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/8 "2010-10-21T09:04:27Z")
I miss the defrag graph/map in win 7. Without it, it’s hard to visualize what good defrag is doing. Anyone found a way to get the graph/map to display in win7? ---
**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:** [October 21, 2010, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/9 "2010-10-21T09:24:19Z")
Use a third party defragmenter, like [Defraggler](http://www.piriform.com/defraggler). The Windows defragmenter is not very efficient anyway. ---
**Author:** ![chenkul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@chenkul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chenkul)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/10 "2010-10-21T11:57:09Z")
> [@](#): > > but there is still this huge batch of fragmented files on the right side of the bar If I remember right, the built in defragger doesnt defrag fragments larger than 64MB and it also doesnt defrag some system files. I have given up on the windows defrager (never seems to defrag fully and minus the graphics its really vague) and am checking out other options. But most of the free defraggers dont seem to offer some of the useful commercial features like very low free space defrag, automatic mode etc. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/11 "2010-10-21T14:22:52Z")
They released ver 2 Beta this week. I’ll wait a few weeks and then give it a try. I’ve always been a little nervous that a third party defrag would move the wrong files and break windows or make it run slower. But I know products like defraggler have been used by lots and lots of people without problems. I’m ready to give it a try. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Use a third party defragmenter, like [Defraggler](http://www.piriform.com/defraggler). The Windows defragmenter is not very efficient anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/12 "2010-10-21T16:41:14Z")
When you run your defragmenter are you also creating new files too? In other words are all your other programs off? Are you downloading anything? You may be getting a correct defrag but it won’t defrag any new files you’re downloading or creating ---
**Author:** ![Mgalindo13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea5d25/32.png) [@Mgalindo13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mgalindo13)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-defragmenter-doesnt-seem-to-be-working-correctly/557792/13 "2010-10-25T21:46:01Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > It depends on what you call “faster.” Pretty much all hard drives today are faster than those of 10 years ago. They are faster at reading and writing large volumes of data in a shorter time span. > > Physically, the RPM speed has stayed the same (5400 or 7200), but the platter data densities are much higher. If you have an old vs new hard drive with the same RPM, the new hard drive’s read/write head interacts with many more magnetic domains (1s and 0s) during the same revolution, which takes the same amount of time. Although you’re right that density has increased speed in properly defragmented drives, data density doesn’t equal faster speed if fragmentation has the head still shooting all over the platter. Also, since average file sizes have increased exponentially in the last ten years (increasing the need for read/write head movement) one could make the argument that hard drives are slower today than 10 years ago if not defragmented.