How to Repair Excessive Defragmentation
When using Microsoft Windows, applications can be used to store and compress data. Sometimes, however, when too much data gets stored and moved around on the computer without regular defragmentation, it can cause massive fragmentation. This can cause serious errors, such as not running programs correctly, lagging and basically not completing processes successfully. It is common to receive error messages, such as file system limitation, disk is full and insufficient resources, even if you have space on your hard drive. In extreme cases, even restarting the computer will not fix the problem or let the computer's standard defrag program access lost partitions or misplaced fragments. In this case, a user should use a partition recovery program to retrieve hard drive partitions and stored data.
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Instructions
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Fixing the Problem
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Turn off NTFS compression for any drive that uses it.
A problem may be caused by NTFS (New Technology File System) compression. If it is disabled, it could allow your defrag program to work correctly. Disable it under the properties function for the drive in question. This can free up disk space, which can allow defrag programs to access inaccessible compressed files.
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2
Run the system's defrag program.
These techniques will work with most computers, although different operating systems will have different ways to access the program. The best place to look is under the System Tools directory on your computer. If you cannot find the System Tools folder under the Start bar, do a Windows search for System Tools or Defrag.
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3
Format the hard disk and reinstall the operating system if the hard drive is still too fragmented for the conventional defrag tool.
If the system is not responding because of a corrupt file system, try formatting the hard disk and then reinstalling the original system software. This method will remove locked partitions and bring the computer into working order but will delete all data on partitions. To recover data after formatting will require partition recovery software.
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4
Download or purchase partition recovery software.
A good program to use is Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery because it's very good at ensuring absolute data recovery. It can recover information from many different kinds of hard drive partitions, such as FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file system partitions. And it works with Microsoft Windows 7, Vista and XP.
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Install and run partition recovery applications.
Good partition recovery applications methodically scan your entire formatted hard drive and extract all lost, misplaced and deleted windows partitions. Most tools of this nature are written with intuitive and simple graphical user interfaces and, luckily, do no require sound technical skills.
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Tips & Warnings
Setting the disk defragmenter on a schedule to defrag a computer once a week or every other week is a great way to stop fragmentation from ruining processing speed and breaking down hard drive partitions.
Formatting and recovering your hard drives should be a last step if regular defragging does not work. It is always advisable to back up any hard drive data you do not want to risk losing before a format and reinstall.
