Defragmenting image files

I ran into this thread at DSLReports about the safety of defragmenting image files:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,10052627~mode=flat

I routinely defragment a second hard drive that holds images (TI7 and Ghost 2003). I have restored both TI7 and Ghost images without any problem. Are there any risks involved in defragmenting image files?

Thanks,

Nick

 

Wow! well - beforehand - let me apologize for this post since I am absolutely unable to help; I'm only starting my learning about TrueImage tonight - but; this is a great question and I'll be looking forward to the answer on this one! Hadn't thought about the possible implications of defragging a image before!

 

Thanks for raising the question here Nick

First of all to make a thing clear:
It is not defragging inside a backup-image file but defragging the drive on which you store them.

I myself have never seen a problem with it.

But Howie made a good point:
- begin quote -
Defragmenting temporarily moves files to different locations on the disk. If a part of your fragmented image file is relocated to an area that has developed bad sectors, for instance, when the file is moved back, I'd say there's a good chance it may become corrupted and unusable. LEAVE YOUR IMAGES ALONE!!!!
- end quote -

 

Hello Nick --

Thank you for your interest in Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/)!

Actually, there are no known problems with images getting corrupt after defragmenting the drive where they are stored. Also, you can defragment the drive before you create an image and it shouldn't cause any problems as well . So, all in all, defragmenting doesn't affect the back-up/restore process in any negative way.

Thank you.

--
Best regards,
Anton Gromov

Acronis, Inc.
395 Oyster Point Blvd. Suite 213
South San Francisco
CA 94080 USA
http://www.acronis.com/

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