Defrag [Folder Entry} items

[MikeLassiter]

In Defraggler, after going to Settings>Options>General (tab) and selecting "Show folder index entries in file list" and then doing Analyze, I see a number of items with Filename "[Folder Entry}". They have multiple fragments and size zero (even though the folders themselves have multiple files) . Defraging these "[Folder Entry]" items has no effect with the message "No files were defragmented". Is this to be expected or is there something I should do?

[MikeLassiter]

I gather from the lack of replies that this was not as easy a question as I had supposed. I am concluding that there is no value to selecting the option "Show folder index entries in file list" since it just makes one curious!

[romanoff]

Hi,

 

Every [Folder entry] item in the file list represents a directory index. Such index is simply a data structure containing contents list of a folder. For most directories this fits entirely into the MFT, so no additional space needs to be allocated on the drive. For large folders, on the other hand, the index needs to be moved outside the MFT and therefore it can be fragmented.

 

Usually it is possible to defragment these indices but in some situations (access or file system restrictions) the operating system does not allow it, what may be the case on your system.

 

Best regards

Romanoff