Like I said, it depends on what one does with their PC. ;-) When I click the "Analyze" button it says "This volume is heavily fragmented" (usually after about 2-3 weeks). If it says "slightly fragmented" I don't do it, and I don't always do it if it says "moderately fragmented". This is on my D: partition, which is where I moved the folders I mentioned. (I just now checked and C: is "moderately fragmented" and D: is "heavily fragmented"). I don't use the default XP Native Diskeeper program, I use another version of it, Diskeeper Lite, that's a bit more thorough. Yeah I saw that Vista is a bit different with handling fragmentation. -Clint God Bless Clint Hamilton, Owner http://www.OrpheusComputing.com http://www.ComputersCustomBuilt.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hugh Vandervoort" I've probably been hanging with the wrong crowd, but I don't think defrag is particularly important in XP with NTFS. Even the worst cases I've ever seen (No defrag for years) benefited very little from defrag, performance wise. I check every few months, and follow the "analyse" recommendations. I haven't checked the Vista defrag in a while, but I believe there's been some changes and it's an automated background process. Clint Hamilton-PCWorks Admin wrote: > ".....defragging is unnecessary for the most part". ?? > > Do you mean just on Vista? I can't speak for it, but it is > necessary for XP. Not doing so regularly can slow it down. > The sequential reading/writing of data on a heavily > fragmented > HD is slowed down because the time needed for the disk heads > to > move between fragments and waiting for the disk platter to > rotate into position is increased (increased seek time which > is > cumulative, and rotational delay). Defrag'ing can increase > the > life span of the HD, by minimizing the movement of the > head(s). > Of course this depends on the type of computing one does. If > one rarely uses their PC, doesn't do much website wise and > doesn't get many emails, defrag'ing would be rarely needed. > But if one goes to dozens of websites a day, gets hundreds of > emails, or does any kind of large audio or video compilation > and editing, it's needed regularly. This is why I put OE's > storage and the Temp Net files folder on a separate > partition, > along with video editing folders. C: doesn't need much > defrag'ing, but that other partition needs it A LOT. > -Clint ========================= The list's FAQ's can be seen by sending an email to PCWorks-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with FAQ in the subject line. To unsubscribe, subscribe, set Digest or Vacation to on or off, go to //www.freelists.org/list/pcworks . You can also send an email to PCWorks-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with Unsubscribe in the subject line. Your member list settings can be found at //www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/lsg2.cgi/l=pcworks . Once logged in, you have access to numerous other email options. The list archives are located at //www.freelists.org/archives/pcworks/ . All email posted to the list will be placed there in the event anyone needs to look for previous posts.