My Defragmenter Won't Work

Data becomes fragmented on the hard disk drive during normal use.

The Microsoft disk defragment utility is designed to maintain efficient access to the files on a given disk drive. Normal usage of files leads to parts of any given file beind spread across the hard drive rather than all portions of the given file being stored in consecutive areas of the hard drive. File errors, corrupt defragment utilities,and attempts to write data to the disk may prevent or hinder the performance of the defragment program

Things You'll Need

• CDRW disc
• USB Flash drive

Instructions

1. Delete unnecessary files from the hard drive including music, video, and images. The Windows disk defragment utility as well as other disk defragment utilites require at least 15 % of the available storage capacity of the hard drive in order to effectively defragment the drive. Move the files to another storage media such as a CDRW disc or USB flash drive.

2. Check the drive for errors. Encountering errors such as memory errors, device driver errors, and errors related to a specific application prevent the defrag program from launching. Schedule error checking from My Computer. Right click the letter of your hard drive. Choose the Tools Tab. Click the Check Now button on the Error checking dialog box. Check the option to automatically fix errors. Click yes when you are prompted to perform the error checking the next time the computer is rebooted.

3. Check the drive for errors. Encountering errors such as memory errors, device driver errors, and errors related to a specific application prevent the defrag program from launching. Schedule error checking from My Computer. Right click the letter of your hard drive. Choose the Tools Tab. Click the Check Now button on the Error checking dialog box. Check the option to automatically fix errors. Click yes when you are prompted to perform the error checking the next time the computer is rebooted.

4. Boot Microsoft Windows into safe mode by pressing F8. Safe mode prevents other applications from writing data to the hard drive and also prevents the disk defragment process from being interrupted.

5. Reinstall the Windows disk defragment utility by clicking Start>Run. Type in C:\Windows\Inf. Right click the "dfrg.inf" file and click "Install.

References

• Disk Defragmenter Limitations in Windows 2000, Windows XP an Windows Server 2003
• Disk Defragmenter Hangs after Choosing Disk do Defragment
• Disk Defragmenter Doesn't Work on a Windows XP based Computer