Problem with Disk Defrag and ScanDisk

[Kevin]

I'm using Windows Me and when I try to defrag my hard drive or use ScanDisk, it keeps restarting and saying "Disk contents have changed. ScanDisk will now restart..." and it does this about 15 times each time. It's really frustrating because it triples the time it takes to normally defrag or scan the drive. I've tried closing all running programs and shutting off my screensaver, but it keeps doing it. HELPPPPP

[gcutler]

One thing is that Windows always has programs running that you may not be aware of. Are there programs running in your system tray they are often the culprit? Even programs that are running may not show up in you system tray and you would not be aware of it.

You could try booting into safe mode and trying it, there are less programs running in safe mode (but don't know if defrag will work in safe mode?)

[MarkA]

Windows Me is a nightmare, and always does this (I think it's the system restore feature). Get Windows XP. It's faster, more stable, and you can use the computer while it's defragmenting... Windows XP is well worth what it costs.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Close down everything you are running and PAUSE the scheduler. That should take care of it for you.

It seems when the scheduler checks to see if there is a job it causes scandish and defrag to restart.

[MarkA]

Scott, he's using Me. That doesn't work. Closing the whole freakin' task list and turning off system restore doesn't work! When I had Me (I've got XP now), booting in safe mode was the only way to complete a ScanDisk or Defrag. Now I'm running XP with a clean formatted NTFS disk (clean, not converted, converted makes your drive really slow), I don't need Scandisk (or CHKDSK under XP) because NTFS is journalized, and the XP disk defragmenter runs even while drives are being changed (because it was designed so it could be used on a server). So I can defragment while I surf the web. Not to mention so called "system resources" are a thing of the past, so you can open several dozen programs at once without your system even slowing down. And it's rock solid. And darn fast. XP is a well worthwhile upgrade from 95/98/98SE/Me (though depending on your needs it may not be worth the upgrade from 2000). Finally, Microsoft made a good operating system! So Kevin, the choice is yours - put up with Me's nonsense, or pay your annual Microsoft tax

[gcutler]

Mark,

XP Home or Pro? Pro has some additional features that may or may not be needed by Home users. I figured it wasn't worth the $100 extra for XP Pro so got XP home on my new system

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp

[MarkA]

I have XP Pro, but everything I mention is also true of XP home

[Kevin]

Thanks for all your help, Mark, Scott and gcutler. I think you talked me into getting XP, it sounds like alot less hassle but I really hate feeding into the Microsoft monopoly by giving them my $100. I'll have to see about it, but in the meantime I'll just put up with what I got. I'm not sure how to boot into safe mode, can someone please help me with that?

[gcutler]

You may want to invest into a "Norton Utilities" type package that will cost you less than XP, and may give you some nice utilities.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005MP4V $49 at Amazon.

In 95/98 you would press the F8 key when the Windows screen appears until the menu appears and pick safe mode, but I have never used ME so that command may not be correct

[MarkA]

Becuase of the other benefits, I'd say he's definately better off getting XP. BTW, in all versions of Windows from 95 on (95,98,98SE,Me,NT4(? I've never used NT4),2000, and XP) you boot in safe mode by pressing F8 which starting and selecting Safe Mode. But XP sure is a lot nicer, I defrag while doing stuff a lot. In fact I'm defragmenting as we speak. Windows XP also defragments automatically during EXTENDED idle times.

Here are some reasons to get XP:

-Better disk management (NTFS)
-More stable (NT kernel)
-Faster (no resource stacks to cause slowdowns)
-Cuter interface (but if you don't like it, Windows2000 style is a click or two away)
-Better built-in multimedia support
-ClearType (SUBPIXEL antialiased fonts!!! looks awesome! - not just for LCDs (though the benefits of subpixel are most noticeable on LCDs it's still nice for CRTs - turn it on in display options. Makes your eyes last longer )

It's a really nice OS. Just besure to CLEAN INSTALL (boot off your install CD, when asked what partition to install to, delete all your partitions, then select unpartitioned space, if it asks you, format using NTFS). If you don't do this you're asking for problems (I learned the hard way )

[MarkA]

Attached is a screenshot of Windows XP's Disk Defragmenter (taken while defragmenting, surfing the web, reading newsgroups, downloading quicktime, and playing MP3s with AudioStation. Windows is running great - something you couldn't dream of with Windows Me. Oh, and I used the G.I.M.P. to take the screenshot All about 1 min ago ) The top bar shows fragmentation at the begining. The bottom shows what it would be if you were to stop right now. Defragmenting also takes far less time than the Win9x defragmenter. Unfortunately, I just lost my Internet connection while waiting to post this But that's obviously unrelated.

[Kevin]

Yesterday I did a defrag in safe mode. It was noticeably slower, but it only restarted once as compared to the 15 or 20 times it usually does, so it finished faster than in regular mode.

Thanks for all your help!

[gcutler]

On thing for the upgrader to XP. Make sure you get all the driver upgrades and software upgrades ahead of time. I have some old but good hardware that I'm not ready to give up and some software I like that is also pretty old. I ended up having to download at least 7 SW patches or hardware drivers. Luckily I did it before hand.

But sadly 2 of my favorite games (DOS games from the early 90s, which I still play) do not run properly. There are some web sites that show you how to make the games run with emulators, but not very successful so far. So before anyone makes the jump, just make sure there won't be any suprises.

[Steve Mehs]

The only problem I have when doing a defrag is forgetting to close Mcafee. Other then that it doesnt really mater what I have running in the background and long as its not retrieving information from the hard drive. Just did a defrag on my Compaq took 1 hour for 10GB HD after doing a recommended system restore the other day and reinstalling all my programs

[lee635]

I just run defrag before going to bed. By morning, it's done, no problem.

[Steve Mehs]

I did that once, but I programed my PC to automatically shutdown at 3AM using the command line, C:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindows.