What Causes Computers to Fail at Defragging?

Defragging your computer is an important part of hard drive maintenance.

Defragging your computer is important: it saves disk space, speeds up your system and may even prolong the life of your hard drive. You should defrag your computer at least once a month, possibly more if you use it a lot. If the defragmenter utility fails, you can check a few common and see if you can correct the problem.

Insufficient Disk Space

You may not have enough hard disk space. Normally Windows can attempt to defragment your hard drive even you don't have much disk space available. However, if you don't have enough space, the defrag may fail, or, at best, it will be inefficient. You should have 15 percent disk space available. If you don't, Windows should warn you when you begin the defrag process. You'll need to free up the amount of space Windows recommends by deleting files, uninstalling programs, or moving files and folders to a different location, such as an external hard drive.

Interrupted Process

Something may have interrupted the process. Defragmenting a drive takes a long time. If something stops the process, such as a computer crash or another user logging you out, the Disk Defragmenter cannot complete its task. It doesn't take a total system crash to potentially interrupt the Disk Defragmenter; it could be a program that crashes or a smaller system error, such as a problem in Windows Explorer. This is an easy fix, though. You just need to start up the utility again and let it run. You might want to let it run all night.

Incorrect Account Type

A standard user cannot defragment the drive. In some cases, a standard user may not receive a warning window; the Disk Defragmenter may just not start. Windows restricts many actions to administrator accounts to keep standard users from changing too much on the computer and causing potential problems to the system or to the data of other users. Defragmenting a drive will not cause a problem to the computer or other users, but Windows still requires administrator privileges. You will need to log in as an administrator or get an administrator to type in a password, in either the defragmenter utility or using the command prompt. Only advanced users should attempt the latter.

Corrupt Data

You may have corrupted data on your computer. The defragmenter itself could be corrupt, or it could be attempting to move corrupt files. Either case may cause the utility to crash. Locating corrupted files yourself is practically impossible, but many programs can search your computer for you and locate problems. One option is the Windows "CHKDSK" utility. Click "Start," type "cmd" in the search box and press "Enter." Type "CHKDSK /F" in the command prompt. Windows will ask if you want to run the scan when the computer starts up next. Type "Y," press "Enter" and restart the computer. The check may take a long time. If the defragmenter still fails, type "CHKDSK /R" in the command prompt for a more thorough scan, which takes even longer to complete. Restart the computer when the scan completes.

References

• Microsoft at Work: 5 Ways to Speed Up Your PC
• Ask Leo: How Do I Defragment My New Hard Disk?
• Computer Tips Free: Defragment Your Hard Disk Now for Better Performance
• Microsoft Support: Running Windows Disk Defragmenter Requires Administrator Privileges
• Ask Leo: Why Does the Defrag Program Crash on My Machine?
• Microsoft Windows: Why Use a Standard User Account Instead of an Administrator Account?

Resources

• Microsoft Windows: Improve Performance by Defragmenting Your Hard Disk