Serious Defrag Freespace Issues

[OzRon]

Small and efficient programs with portable versions, and paid for voluntarily or by advertising that I've yet to see on their websites. Don't know how these guys do it, but I am grateful.

 

I want to like Defraggler. But I'm having some issues with it that I'm hoping someone will respond to.

 

Perhaps I was spoiled in the old days by programs such as the defragmenter that came with Norton Utilities a decade ago. In one pass it would defragment both files AND free space, leaving all data unfragmented and nicely placed at the beginning of a drive, with all unoccupied ("free") space following, UNFRAGMENTED.

 

So first issue: is it necessary for Defraggler to defragment files and free space SEPARATELY?

 

Still, I could live with this if I was able to defragment both, but here's the second, more serious issue: I cannot!

 

I downloaded Defraggler 1.09.138 and decided to play with it (read "test it") on a friend's computer. An XP laptop with a 30GB drive containing a half-full FAT32-formatted system partition (C:).

 

First I started a normal defrag. However as it was taking a very long time, I stopped it (perhaps halfway through?), deciding to just defragment selected files. Nevertheless, after being pleasantly surprised at the speed of my progress, I ended up defragging all fragmented files. A subsequent CHKDSK and Defraggler re-analysis confirmed that I had no problems on the disk, and no fragmentation.

 

However, while the Drive Map was now only blue and white (no red), the white bits were all over the place. So I now attempted to defragment the free space. This time I thought that I would make it easier for Defraggler by avoiding any Windows interference (writing) during the operation. So I booted up with a BartPE CD and ran Defraggler portable from a thumb drive. (I.e. I did not boot from the drive being fragmented.) From here on the surprises came thick and fast.

 

First surprise: the Drive Map showed brown squares (pagefile.sys) for the very first time. Question: Why did they not show previously, when booting from the drive?

 

I decided to be even kinder to the program, and before proceeding to defrag I deleted the large pagefile.sys. (The drive's OS would recreate it next time I booted from it.) I had also previously turned off System Restore. At this stage I assumed (perhaps incorrectly?) that with no pagefile or restore points, and working on a "dormant" OS, there would be no unmovable files. I then re-launched Defraggler, confirmed that now only blue and white squares appeared (still 0% fragmentation), and selected "Defrag Freespace" (NOT with "allow fragmentation").

 

Second, major surprise: when the long defrag completed, not only were the white "free space" squares STILL all over the place, but I now had some 60 NEWLY FRAGMENTED FILES! So defragmenting an unfragmented drive resulted in a fragmented drive! Can anyone explain why?

 

Continuing to work under the BartPE OS, I patiently re-defragmented all the newly fragmented files, until I got back to zero fragmentation. Then I ran a second "Defrag Freespace". Much better this time: it took a lot less time, and it did not refragment any files. However, third just-as-major surprise: when finished, my white-squared free space was still all over the place!

 

I ran Defrag Freespace 2 or 3 more times before giving up. Same results each time. I never managed to defragment the free space.

 

Any comments or explanations about this seemingly bizarre behaviour would be much appreciated. As I said to begin, I want to like Defraggler. But so far I seem to be wasting my time using it.