does delete the journal speed up or keep an os healthy ?

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by mantra, Apr 10, 2015.

  1. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    Hi

    about w7 or w8 , deleting once in a while (every 6 or 10 months )the journal with the command
    fsutil usn deletejournal /n c: ( where c is the operation system) could be healthy ?

    and can speed up the disk operations ?

    thanks
     
  2. Jim1cor13

    Jim1cor13 Registered Member

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    Hi mantra :)

    Here is some info that may help. it is from "Mydefrag" site, J.C Kessels:

    DeleteJournal
    Delete the Update Sequence Number (USN) change journal. The journal is stored in a huge file called "$Extend\$UsnJrnl:$J:$DATA" in the root of a volume, and is invisible to (most) applications. MyDefrag on Windows 7 can move and defragment the journal, but not on older Windows versions.


    • The USN change journal is a database of all changes made to files on a volume. Windows enters records into the journal when files, directories, and other objects are added, deleted, and modified. Programs can consult the journal to quickly determine all the modifications made to a set of files, much more efficiently than checking time stamps or registering for file notifications.
    • The journal is disabled by default, and automatically enabled and used by the Indexing Service, File Replication Service (FRS), Remote Installation Service (RIS), and Remote Storage. Third party programs can also use the USN change journal.
    • After deleting the journal Windows will automatically create a new journal and record volume changes from that moment on.
    • Deleting the journal is usually safe, but can have consequences. Applications that are using it will not see file changes between the last time the application ran and when the journal was deleted. Well-programmed applications will detect that the journal was deleted and will revert to an alternative method of finding changed files.
      Note: For the File Replication Service see the "Enable Journal Wrap Automatic Restore" registry setting.
    • Deleting the journal may take a long time on a volume with many files.
    • The journal is an NTFS facility. It does not exist on FAT disks or other filesystems.
    • The journal is a sparse file. The size that is reported by Windows includes unused blocks, the actual space occupied on disk is listed by MyDefrag in the "clusters" column.
    • The journal can also be deleted from the Windows Run commandline with the http://www.mydefrag.com/img/Bullit.gif fsutil command, in Windows 2003/XP/Vista, not Windows 2000. The "fsutil" command must be run as administrator and can take several minutes to finish. Example of the commandline:
      fsutil usn deletejournal /n c:
    http://www.mydefrag.com/VolumeActions-DeleteJournal.html

    Hope this helps in some way.

    Jim
     
  3. jwcca

    jwcca Registered Member

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    Would the USN be used by Reflect to identify adds/changes/deletes etc. for it's very fast Rapid Data Recovery?
    If true then it would be a bad idea to delete the journal.
    I'm running Privazer which is currently set to remove 'traces' from the USN and Reflect RDR seems quite fast so I'm assuming that whatever Privazer removes does not impact Reflect..... but...?
    I'll ask the Privazer Team about this.
     
  4. TairikuOkami

    TairikuOkami Registered Member

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    Last edited: Apr 12, 2015
  5. jwcca

    jwcca Registered Member

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    If you have any of those running it gets created....
     
  6. TairikuOkami

    TairikuOkami Registered Member

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    None of those are running/enabled.
     
  7. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    hi
    but everyday should increase of size , maybe deleting every x mounths could be healthy ....
     
  8. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    It's a sparse file, therefore it doesn't grow beyond a set limit. But the recorded filesize can grow, or not.
     
  9. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    hi
    i'm wondering if could a good idea delete it and reboot the machine to have a fresh jou. file
     
  10. Dragon1952

    Dragon1952 Registered Member

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    i just noticed that i have this file and size is 19,765,896 kb
     
  11. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    hi
    how can i know how much is bigger?
    i delete it on my w10 and w7 , it recreates it ,i guess smaller
     
  12. guest

    guest Guest

    After you delete it, it is recreated and it grows up to the maximum size. If it is "full" it discards old entries.
    -------
    With the tool "Everything" you can set the size of the USN Journal or you can even enable/disable it for each partition/USB-drive you have:
    Tool_Everything_USN-Journal.jpg
     
  13. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    hi
    but is a good idea to delete sometime on the ssd with operation system with this command fsutil usn deletejournal /n c: ?
     
  14. guest

    guest Guest

    If you have no programs that need the USN journal it can be safely deleted.

    And regarding privacy, it's good to delete the USN journal.
    There is some information about your files stored:
     
  15. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    hi Mood
    but windows 7-8 & 8.1 and 10 they enable even there are not software installed , fresh install of them ->delete it and you will see at the next reboot they will re-create , so it can not be disabled
     
  16. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    hi
    how can i know how big is my usn journal ? i mean how many MB ?

    about deleting https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc788042(v=ws.11).aspx
     
  17. guest

    guest Guest

    Ok, if is' always re-enabled after each reboot then there is no reason to delete it.
    And if you have programs or services that need it, i wouldn't delete it.

    I see only one reason to delete it (even if it's re-enabled after the next reboot):
    ----
    Code:
    fsutil usn queryjournal c:
    With this you can view the "maximum size" of the USN Journal.
    I guess the default maximum size is between 20 and 30MB. I don't know it exactly.
     
  18. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    HI @Dragon1952
    may i know which tool did you use to detect the size of you usn journal ?
    thanks
     
  19. Dragon1952

    Dragon1952 Registered Member

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    I analyzed my hd with defraggler and looked at the file list tab and saw the journal file listed. I just looked now and it is not listed in defraggler right now for some reason.... EDIT.... I just did a search in defraggler for files over 10 mb and found the journal file again. The size is 19,788,69 kb. Two days ago the size was 19,765,896 kb.
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2016
  20. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    hi
    thanks , i will try it
     
  21. Dragon1952

    Dragon1952 Registered Member

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    The Journal file had 6 fragments so i defragged it down to one fragment. The $MFT file only has two fragments so i left it alone.
     
  22. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    never uderstood if the Journal file increase performance for hard disk (no ssd)
     
  23. Dragon1952

    Dragon1952 Registered Member

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    I just looked for my journal file from last week and can't find it now.
     
  24. guest

    guest Guest

    Maybe because the USN Journal is already defragmented and Defraggler is listing only fragmented files? :cautious:
     
  25. Dragon1952

    Dragon1952 Registered Member

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    i just looked again and the file is there at about 19 mb. I don't know why it did not show up last time i scanned.
     
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