defrag image??

disk 1-master
C:system partition
D:extended logical partion

disk 2-internal slave
E:store .tib images (currently only 2, both FULL images)

Using the trial 9.0.3567, I have just successfully restored disk 1 from the second of two images using the boot cd. -GOOD!-

Now my question is, looking at analysis of E: (.tib files) with windows disk defragmenter, I see that the image used for restore (second of two) shows 2 fragments-(24% total fragmentation and 49% file fragmentation-windows recommends I should defrag)--

Any danger in doing so?? (would it corrupt the image or other consequences?)

I do admit that I did not do a defragmentation analysis of the .tib file drive prior to doing the restore, so I don't know if it was fragmented prior to doing the restore.
Also, for info, I keep system restore active on all partitions at all times, if this would have any bearing on this issue.

OK folks, is it safe to defrag (or CHKDSK) these .tib images?

opinions??-Thanks,
Tom (XP Home-SP2)

 

Some of the past posts have suggested that defragmentation can cause corruption of the image.

If you have restored an image and it is working correctly why not simply delete the images, defragment your disk/partition, and then create a new image.

 

You have a working system, you have indications the drive is fragmented and you have the tools. You can safely run a test to see what it does. Defrag the images and then run the TI Validate command on the defragged images and see if they still validate. To be a bit more rigourous, run the Validate just before defragging and then immediately after.

The tib files are just that, files, albeit generally larger than typically used by non-video editing users so they should defrag without a problem if your hardware is solid. Since you are dealing with large files and a lot of system activity to do a defrag naturally there is a chance for an error and it only takes 1 wrong bit to render an image corrupted.

I personally wouldn't get excited in the least about a fragmented image because the operation to restore takes minutes so adding a few more seconds caused by fragmentation onto it is meaningless in real life. Also, your image files get accessed once in a blue moon compared to OS files, so again, why worry. IMO, it isn't worth the bother or the (very, very small) risk.

If you do the test I suggested, please let us know what happened including the name of the defrag program if it is not the Windows defragger.

 

seekforever--

I did a TI Validation (in windows) that finished correctly, then immediately did a defragmentation using windows defragmenter then immediately did another TI Validation that also finished correctly.

It appears to be fine--

Good suggestion as to how to safely test, and pointing me in the right direction.

Thank you, T

 

You're welcome. Your results clearly show that there is nothing magic about a TI image file and if your hardware and software are good, defragging causes no harm. I still don't think it is worth the bother because of the infrequent use of the image but to each his own on that perspective.

 

Defragmentation, assuming it works, has NO effect on ANY file, other than to speed up future accesses.

Butt, there 's little reason to defrag backup files if th drive is used only for saving backup files.

Get a good defragger, Perfect Disk may be best. The built-in windoze defragger is poor.

 

teg1,
I backed up a full image (8 GB image file) to my 100 GB external USB harddrive. The drive was badly fragmented so I moved the image to my main drive, then de-fragged, and then re-formatted the external drive, then moved the image file back to the external drive. I then did a verify on the image file and it checked fine. I re-formatted because I had other things going on with the external drive losing about 20 GB storage which defrag didn't fix.