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HDD writes some new files to the slowest sectors after Defraggler usage.


DefragMyLife

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Hello. I'm using WD Blue WD10EZEX HDD.

Disk usage is around 145 GB and it is a system disk right now.

I have moved some files to the slowest section with Defraggler which I use rarely.

After that I'm having a problem right now. When I download something, HDD writes some of the new files to the its slowest sections. (end of the disk) 

I think HDD, Windows or something see that slowest parts are used and writes some files to there.

So, I have defragged my disk with Defraggler without moving large files to slowest section for a solution.

Today, Steam updated CS:GO and... my disk used its slowest section for some new files again.

How can I solve this problem? I didn't have any problems like this before Defraggler afair. Thanks!

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  • 2 weeks later...

- What kind of files are those who have been moved to the end of the drive ? Vidoes, pictures you opened/viewed recently ?

- I know that Windows keeps track of what files you have opened in the (recent) past. (e.g. "Recent files") These files are then read from the disk into the memory (with a low priority) in case you need them again. Then these files are much more rapidly available, from the memory instead from the (comparatively) slow HD. This mechanism uses a combination of things like "Recent files", "Prefetch" and the "Superfetch" Service.

- I could imagine that during the reading of those low priority files (that are placed at the end of the HD) the Operating system wants to write a number of files. Then these files are being placed at the end of the file because then the read/write head of the HD happens to be at the end of the HD. And then the firmware/OS decides to place those files at the end of the HD. Then the firmware/ Operating system doesn't want to wait for the read/write head of the HD to return to the beginning of the HD.

System setup: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/gcNzIPEjEb0B2khOOBVCHPc

 

A discussion always stimulates the braincells !!!

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2 hours ago, Willy2 said:

Then the firmware/ Operating system doesn't want to wait for the read/write head of the HD to return to the beginning of the HD.

That's allot of faith that Windows is remotely that "smart", I don't think it is when dealing with an HDD otherwise defrag software wouldn't be needed.

I wonder if the file placement could also be caused by the MFT Reserved Zone. I've noticed Windows has the ability to move where the MFT Reserved Zone is located after a reboot, some defrag software is able to display it after running an analysis by showing it as a colored area on the disk. And one defrag software in particular is able to ignore the MFT Reserved Zone which is undocumented in it and my preference, since Windows will just move the zone after a reboot.

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Maybe it isn't that dumb. Some 30 years ago when I was a sysprog on IBM mainframes the space search algorithm was (wherever the write heads were) same track, same cylinder, one cylinder either side, three cylinders either side, give up and go to the start. I would not be at all surprised if NTFS didn't do something similar. If there were no algorithm then files would just be written from the start of the device, or somewhere similar. Maybe they are.

As for moving the MFT, that is onerous, and would need a rewrite of the VBR, MFT internal records, and the MFT mirror, for no great advantage. The separate zones of the MFT (it is allocated in blocks of 200mb) can be defragged into one continuous extent but I don't think that the position of the first records of the MFT can be moved. My memory is getting rusty on this though.

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On 29.12.2018 at 14:28, Willy2 said:

- What kind of files are those who have been moved to the end of the drive ? Vidoes, pictures you opened/viewed recently ?

- I know that Windows keeps track of what files you have opened in the (recent) past. (e.g. "Recent files") These files are then read from the disk into the memory (with a low priority) in case you need them again. Then these files are much more rapidly available, from the memory instead from the (comparatively) slow HD. This mechanism uses a combination of things like "Recent files", "Prefetch" and the "Superfetch" Service.

- I could imagine that during the reading of those low priority files (that are placed at the end of the HD) the Operating system wants to write a number of files. Then these files are being placed at the end of the file because then the read/write head of the HD happens to be at the end of the HD. And then the firmware/OS decides to place those files at the end of the HD. Then the firmware/ Operating system doesn't want to wait for the read/write head of the HD to return to the beginning of the HD.

I have moved setup.exe etc. files to the end of the drive.

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- Make sure you regularly remove files from "Recent Files" (with e.g. Ccleaner), the file "layout.ini" in the "c:\windows\Prefetch" folder. Then this problem should be less of an issue.

- Check the size of the "Standby" part of the memory (Resource Monitor) before and after cleaning these files. It should be smaller. Or use Sysinternals' RAMMAP to check the memory usage. This program tells you what files are read and stored in the Standby part of the memory.

- You also use the option "Defrag Freespace" in Defraggler to move selective files to the beginning of the disk.

System setup: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/gcNzIPEjEb0B2khOOBVCHPc

 

A discussion always stimulates the braincells !!!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 31.12.2018 at 02:30, Willy2 said:

- Make sure you regularly remove files from "Recent Files" (with e.g. Ccleaner), the file "layout.ini" in the "c:\windows\Prefetch" folder. Then this problem should be less of an issue.

- Check the size of the "Standby" part of the memory (Resource Monitor) before and after cleaning these files. It should be smaller. Or use Sysinternals' RAMMAP to check the memory usage. This program tells you what files are read and stored in the Standby part of the memory.

- You also use the option "Defrag Freespace" in Defraggler to move selective files to the beginning of the disk.

Thanks. I'll try.

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