DEFRAGMENTATION
Presented to:
Sir Ahmad Karim
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Beenish Jahangir
BsIT-07-04
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Fragmented files
•When we open any data file of some drive, made changes in it
and save it again
•Its original location might not have room for the newer one
•Operating system save it on some other part of that drive
•This result in the storage of different part of that file at multiple
location on the drive
•The file is said to be fragmented
•The number of times these files are opened make your work
slower
•When deleted, create small locations of available spaces
•Newly created files will not nestle neatly into one contiguous
space
•Hence, your drive is fragmented
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Windows Server 2003 provides two built-in programs to
defragment your drives:
• Disk Defragmenter, on the System Tools submenu of the Accessories menu.
Selecting this menu option opens an MMC snap-in, dfrg.msc.
• Defrag.exe, which works from the command line.
Defragging
• Defragmenting the files
• A defragmenter works by gathering all the pieces of a file and
writing them back to the drive in one contiguous location.
• This program works by moving other fragmented files, makes room for
each file placing them in a temporary location until it’s their turn to be
defragmented.
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Disk Defragmenter Snap-in
•Launch the GUI version of the built-in defragger through
Start menu<Accessories submenu<System Tools submenu<Disk
Defragmenter.
•One must have administrator rights to use this snap-in
TIP
Create a desktop shortcut to the Disk Defragmenter by;
•Right-draging the program file
•Choose Create Shortcut by right-clicking
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Analyze the Drive
The Disk
Defragmenter
window,
It lists the local drives, along with
information about the installed file www.BZUPAGES.com
system, capacity, and disk space usage.
Disk Defragmenter analyze the disk before running defragmentation
procedure.
You must analyze first, because
•defragging is an intensive,lengthy procedure,
•analysis could show there’s no need to defrag the drive.
Starting an analysis
Many shortages methods for launching the Analyze
process:
• Right-click a drive and choose Analyze from the shortcut menu.
• Select a drive and click the Analyze button.
• Select a drive and choose Analyze from the Action menu.
CAUTION
Open files cannot be analyzed (or defragged), close all applications and
utilities before beginning this process.
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As the Analyze function inspects the drive, watch the progress in the
Analysis Display bar.
The display is color-coded:
• Blue = contiguous files
• Red = fragged files
• White = free space
• Green = system files (cannot be moved).
•Pause button
to halt the process to retrieve a file or perform some other task on the
computer.
•Resume
continue the analysis again.
•Stop button
to halt the entire process.
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When the analysis is complete, a message box displays to advise you
whether your drive needs to be defragmented.
TIP
You can use the buttons on the Analysis Report window to print the report, or
save it as a text file, if you have some reason to require a permanent record.
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View Report
For detailed information about the
state of the drive, which files and
folders are fragmented, the
number of fragmented segments
that exist for each
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•If you scroll through the list, you can see the files you use frequently
are highly fragmented.
•The more fragmented files you open, and the greater the number of
fragments, the slower your system performs.
•After viewing the report, defrag the drive even though Disk
Defragmenter doesn’t find it necessary.
•Run the Analyze procedure regularly; the frequency depends on the
activity level of the computer.
• For instance, file servers that are accessed by a large number of
users should be analyzed at least weekly.
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Kiran Shakoor
BsIT-07-05
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Defragment the Drive

You can defrag a drive immediately after running the Analyze
procedure (a Defragment button appears on both the Analysis
Complete message box and the Analysis Report window), or
wait until later.

Open files cannot be defragged, so be sure to close all
applications.
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If you’re defragging a file server, perform the task during nonbusiness hours. Start the defragmentation procedure by
selecting the appropriate drive and using one of these methods
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Click the Defragment button.
Choose Defragment from the Action menu.
Right-click the drive’s listing and choose Defragment from the
shortcut menu.
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
Before the defragging starts, the drive is re analyzed (even if
you just finished running the Analyze procedure); then the
defragmentation procedure begins.

The Analyze display bar shows the graphical representation of
your drive as analyzed, and the Defragmentation
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
Display bar shows the condition of your drive as defragging
proceeds.

You can track the progress in the Defragmentation display
bar, but it’s probably better to find something else to do,
because this process takes quite a bit of time.

When defragmentation is complete, a message announces
that fact.

Use the View Report button in the message box to see a
detailed report on the drive’s new fragmentation state
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Limitations of the Disk Defragmenter

The Disk Defragmenter application that is included with
Windows Server 2003 has some serious limitations.

Microsoft programmers didn’t write this software; it’s
obtained from Executive Software, who provided a limited
version of its full retail product.
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Here are the limitations:
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You cannot schedule the Disk Defragmenter.
You can only defrag local volumes; this version has no
capacity for remote procedures.
You can defrag only one volume at a time.
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Uzma Noreen
BsIT-07-08
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Defrag.exe

A command-line program that you can use instead of the
snap-in. This executable calls the same code the snap-in calls
(the Executive Software Disk Defragmenter).
Advantages

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The biggest benefit is that you can schedule it, using the
Windows Server 2003 Task Scheduler, which isn’t possible with
the snap-in.
The other advantage, which is probably only considered an
advantage to command-line junkies, is that it has the speed and
efficiency of a command-line application.
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
The syntax for defrag.exe is
defrag volume: {/a] [/f] [/v]
where:
 Volume, is the drive letter of the volume you want to defrag.
 /a only runs the analyze process.
 /f forces defragmentation of the volume even if an analysis
shows it doesn’t need to be defragmented.
 /v displays verbose output while the program is running.
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
If you enter defrag volume letter: at the command line, without
any switches, the program performs an analysis, then defrags
the drive. In fact, the program always performs an analysis first,
even if you specify the /f switch.

If you don’t opt to display verbose output, the program displays
a summary of the analysis, and then you see a blinking cursor.

When defragging is complete, you’re returned to the command
prompt.
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
If you choose the /v switch,

the program displays information about the defragmentation
state of the folders and files from the analysis process (the
Analysis Report), and then displays the same report, hopefully
with better statistics (called the Defragmentation Report), after
the defragging process.
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
The two reports are difficult to compare in the command
window, because you have to keep scrolling up to see the
analysis numbers, to compare them to the defragged numbers
that are displayed further down.

so it is easier to redirect the output of the reports, and then
open the resulting data file in a word processor so to
manipulate the display for easier interpretation.
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To redirect an onscreen report, add the following to the end of
the command:
> filename.ext
(use the filename and extension you prefer)

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Press CTRL-C to stop the program. Unlike the built-in Disk
Defragmenter, you can’t pause defrag.exe.
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Nazish Yaqoub
BsIT-07-11
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Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting is a form of problem
solving most often applied to repair of
failed products or processes.
 It is a logical, systematic search for the
source of a problem so that it can be
solved, and so the product or process can
be made operational again.

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TROUBLESHOOTING
DEFRAGMENTATION
After the defragging process is complete,
your drive is still somewhat fragmented.
 There are a number of scenarios that can
cause this, and some of them can be
corrected.

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The disk defragged is hard-coded to omit certain
system files.
Microsoft and Executive Software have
documented the following omitted files:
Bootsect.dos
Safeboot.fs
Safeboot.csv
Safeboot.rsv
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Hiberfil.sys
 Memory.dmp (if it exists)
 Paging file

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
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Memory.dmp is a file that exists if you’ve
configured your system to write the file when the
system encounters a STOP error (Blue Screen
of Death).
The file is on the exclusion list in Window Server
2003 because the disk locations where this file is
stored are loaded by the kernel when the system
boots, and stored in memory.
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Razina Ameen
BsIT-07-25
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Defragmenting the System Paging File

The system paging file (sometimes called the swap file) is
always held open for exclusive use by the operating system,
and therefore cannot be defragmented.
However, if the paging file becomes fragmented, performance
suffers quite noticeably.
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You can remedy the problem if you have a second drive or
partition on your computer.
Here’s how
1) Open the System applet in Control Panel, or right-click My
Computer and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
2) In the System Properties dialog, move to the Advanced tab
and click the Settings button in the Performance section of the
dialog.
3) In the Performance Options dialog, move to the Advanced tab.
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4) Click the Change button in
the Virtual Memory section
of the dialog to open the
Virtual Memory dialog shown
in Figure
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5) Select another drive and configure a paging file with the same
size specifications as the original paging file.
6) Select the original drive and then select No Paging File.
7) Reboot to force the system to use the new paging file
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8) Run Disk Defragmenter on the drive that
paging file.
originally held the

You’re not defragging the paging file, of course, because it’s
no longer there.
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Defragging the drive should create enough contiguous space
to hold the paging file when you return it
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9) Move the paging file back to its original drive, using these same
steps.
After you reboot, the paging file is created anew, as a
contiguous file, on the original derive
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Ayesha Yasin
BsIT-07-31
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Why won’t some files defrag?

If you defrag a drive and the report that displays
afterwards shows that many files are still
fragmented, you may not have had enough free
space on the disk to permit the software to
temporarily “park” file fragments." The most
common cause for files not getting defragged is
that there is not enough space on the hard disk
to do so”
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
As drives get crowded and free space
shrinks, it’s not uncommon to have to run
the defragmentation utility several times in
a row in order to get a drive defragged
enough to improve productivity. Each time
the process runs, Disk Defragmenter does
as much as possible, given the constraints
of inadequate disk space.
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Space neeeded:

The defragger requires at least 15 percent
of your disk to be free, but 25 percent is a
better.
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Solution

The optimal solution is to move a substantial
number of files off the drive, by copying the files
to another drive or another computer on the
network. That solution works best after you’ve
defragged the drive once or twice in a single
session. Look at the report and note the names
of the files that have been successfully
defragged. Copy those files to another drive or
computer to give Disk Defragmenter chunks of
contiguous space to work with.
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
During the defragging process, the
software also tries to put all the free space
in contiguous blocks, which enhances the
probability that the files you removed can
be put into contiguous locations when you
copy them back.
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Tayyaba Jahangir
BsIT-07-33
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Disk Space Reserved in NTFS
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NTFS has a Master File Table (MFT) that must be
located at the beginning of the volume
The MFT holds information about the location of files
(or multiple locations of files for those files that are
fragmented).
Windows reserves space at the beginning of the
volume for the MFT.
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One-eighth of a drive is set aside for the MFT zone.
so when viewing the used/free statistics for an NTFS
volume in Windows Deduct about 12 percent from
the free space figure.
Each record in the MFT is usually fixed at 1K, and
the first 16 records contain information about the
volume. These volume-specific records are called
the metadata files.
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Optimize Disk Defragmenter
Performance
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Defrag after uninstalling an application.
Defrag every time deleting a large number of files (or a
smaller number of very large files).
Defrag before installing an application, especially before
installing any back office type of application (such as
Exchange Server, Oracle, or SQL Server) on a server.
Defrag after updating the operating system (for example,
install a service pack, or reinstall OS files to repair a
damaged system).
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THANKS!!!
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