Free space fragmentations...what is it?

No matter how many times I run different defragmentation programs it still has this free space fragmentation.

What really is this free space fragmentations?

How to solve it, or at least minimize or possible clears away this free space fragmentations?

 

Hi, sweater

You should have at least 20% free space on a partition for a defragmenter to work properly, it must be very slow at the moment with just 8% free space, also D: is not looking to good with 18%.



Take Care,
TheQuest

 

IMO the windows defragger really sucks.
try diskeeper 2007 or perfectdisk
perfectdisk is better in lower space conditions
if you do convert the partistions to ntfs like you want to in your other thread then defragging will be faster and wont fragment as much
lodore

 

those arrow appear to me to point to fragmented files

the white areas are the fragmented freespace
and its likely fragmented by locked files (registry ect) the defrag cant touch when booted to the OS

as mentioned the standard Windows defrag isnt that powerful, informative or options rich. And all defrags benefit from enough space to move files around. (how much they require varies)

keep in mind that its not alway the job of a defrag to make contiguous free space, but to simply make sure the files themselves are contiguous. A more powerful defrag can optimize the position of files on the platter based on several variables (access, date, or in the case of UltimateDefrag user preference)

 

Those small slivers of free space aren't doing any harm. In some cases, a little free space in the right places can be an advantage. An example would be free space after your swap file. The swap file can grow during heavy usage. If Windows needs to enlarge the swap file and there's no room at that location on the hard drive, the extra swap space uses another location. Instead of accessing just one area, windows now has to access 2 in different locations. Slightly slower, not as efficient.
Rick