Programs where opening super slow so I scanned my HDD with Windows Defrag and the result showed 0% fragmentation. I knew it was false since I recently removed bunch of files and old games.
I installed Defraggler and started the Defrag. It came out to be 45% fragmentation. ( 670GB of Fragmentation )
It takes unbelievably long time for any progress to take place. It took it 3h to go from ( 670GB to 669.5GB )
My Specs are as follows:
Raid 0 HDDs:
Total: 3.5 TB
Free: 2.0 TB
Used: 1.4 TB
16GB RAM
i7-4790k
GTX 1080ti
What could be the cause and fix of this issue. I really want to defrag the HDD but at the same time I dont want to keep my PC running for a whole week
It's a 3.5 TB disc so a full disc defrag will take time, and is not needed here.
Looking at your screenshot the disc is nicely consolidated (the space used is all in one block) so it's the files themselves that are fragmented.
That is what Windows was reporting, that all your files were in one block so zero cluster fragmentation (Although some files were fragmented).
Do a file defrag, it's quicker.
It will still take a while with that level of fragmentation, but nowhere near as long as a full disc defrag of a 3.5 TB disc.
Analyze, then click on 'View Files' (or open the File tab), in the window that opens click on the box top left to select all the fragmented files found, then click on 'Defrag Checked'.
A quick explanation of the difference:
A full disc defrag gets all the files together into one block to free up space on a disk. You don't need that here, your files are in one block and you have plenty of free space.
(Doing that will fragment some files to pack them into the minimum number of disc clusters).
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A file defrag gets each file into one contiguous piece, so that it loads (slightly) faster.
(Doing that may leave a few 'holes' in the block of files, because some clusters will not be' full to the top', but you won't notice that).
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So in your case a file defrag is all you need.
Once you have got the first one done then your files should not get into the same 45% fragmented state again, so future weekly/monthly file defrags will be much quicker.
EDIT- TBH defragmenting is something of a hangover from the past days of small discs and slow processors, it's rarely needed with modern computers.
Modern computers usually have plenty of disc space, and faster discs and processors mean files load pretty quickly even if they are fragmented.
But we all like things to be neat and in one piece, so defragging is not going to go away even if it's not realy necessary.