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Defraggler won't work properly on large drives


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Hi

I'm currently using defraggler free 2.22.995 (64-bit) and it has some problems with my 8TB external hard drive. I tried several times to start a defrag, but everytime it stops when it's not finished yet, and it seems after another analysis that it's more fragmented with a lot more space tagged as fragmented.

If I go to File list, I can see the list of files that a fragmented (as expected), but when I check one and try to defrag this one specifically, it says "Defrag aborted. No files were defragmented. The operation cannot be done.".

Do you have a clue ? Or if it's a casual thing, I would like to understand.

Thanks

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An 8TB drive is going to take a long time to fully defrag (which may also have a bearing on the 'Defrag Aborted' message, see below).

With a drive of 1tb or above then its best to always use the file list rather than a full defrag.

Do an Analyze and then View Files, select all the fragmented files (checkbox at the top selects them all) and then 'Defrag Checked'.
That will defrag the fragmented files without trying to move everything about the drive to save space, so it will be a lot quicker.
(Let's face it with an 8TB drive you shouldn't be short of space).

The 'Defrag Aborted' message is displayed when a file has been re-opened/changed since the analyze, in that case it would not be safe to try and defrag that file using the analyzed information. The longer it has been since the analyze the more likely it is that one or more of the files has been changed.
All other files will have been defragged as expected, only those that have been reopened/changed will have been aborted.
Analyzing and defragging the files again should do those if needed.

 

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22 minutes ago, Gildur said:

Thanks. Though isn't it possible to lock the files while defragmenting ? I already tried to analyse and the View Files, etc. But it always says this message....

Not if they are system files, Windows will have ownership.

I used to get that message quite a lot (every time almost) when defragging the file list and it was usually Windows Defender files, although sometimes other system files.
It doesn't seem to happen to me much now, improvements in Win 10 or in Defender?

Close the message and look at the filelist, you will see that most files listed have been defragmented (now only one fragment), those with more than one fragment will be the ones that couldn't be and you will be able to see just what those are.

TBH that "Defrag aborted" has always seemed a bit too harsh a message to me, and it's incorrect when it says 'No files have been defragmented. ('Defrag incomplete' may be better).
It gives the impression that nothing has been defragged when in fact most stuff has been and it's only a few files that haven't.
I think the message may be a hold-over from the early days of defraggler which should have been changed but hasn't.
Just one of the many wordings/messages that needs an update.

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Well, no it isn't system files, and they didn't change with the fragments number....

14 minutes ago, hazelnut said:

One or two posts about this over the years.

Here is one of them

https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/43438-large-8gb-file-not-being-de-fragmented/

 

 

Maybe the files size is the problem (over 4GB minimum) or the partition type (exFAT while my other drives are NTFS)

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Defraggler should be able to handle FAT and exFAT files: https://www.ccleaner.com/docs/defraggler/introducing-defraggler/system-requirements

The filesize may be an issue, are these video files?

Maybe you could try moving those large files to the end of the drive? That will take some time as it has to be a full defrag of the drive.
https://www.ccleaner.com/docs/defraggler/defraggler-settings/defraggler-options-defrag-tab

Or if you have another large drive then copy the files off the 8TB, delete them off the 8TB, and then copy them back one at once?
Again that's going to take time.

TBH unless that particular drive is causing issues I'd probably just leave them as they are.

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

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3 minutes ago, nukecad said:

Defraggler should be able to handle FAT and exFAT files: https://www.ccleaner.com/docs/defraggler/introducing-defraggler/system-requirements

The filesize may be an issue, are these video files?

Maybe you could try moving those large files to the end of the drive? That will take some time as it has to be a full defrag of the drive.
https://www.ccleaner.com/docs/defraggler/defraggler-settings/defraggler-options-defrag-tab

Or if you have another large drive then copy the files off the 8TB, delete them off the 8TB, and then copy them back one at once?
Again that's going to take time.

TBH unless that particular drive is causing issues I'd probably just leave them as they are.

Yes these are movie files. I will try to move them on another drive. I'll get back to you

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19 minutes ago, Gildur said:

I will try to move them on another drive.

If you move them one at once onto an empty drive (or one that is already thoroughly defragged) then that's basically a manual defragment.

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

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So, it did not work well....some files were fixed, but I still have files that are fragmented (though the number drastically decreased). The fun part is, on the other drive I don't have problems to defrag them. So I think it's this drive, and I think it's the file system, because there isn't any problem on the other drive (4TB) and it's NTFS...

I found this:

what do you think ?

Edited by Gildur
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So you have got them defragmented eventually.

That post you link is 11 years old and talking about Vista/XP, as far as I know Defreggler should now be able to handle exFAT (at least that is what the documentation says, I've never had reason to try it myself).

As long as you have eventually got things to your satisfaction than I suppose that's what counts.

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

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I was thinking of this: what if the drive is locked or something and can't be defragmented?

image.thumb.png.1215aeaec98bf36b8e4f5da16d560783.png

As you can see it is not completely defragmented...but it won't be able to do much more...at least without modifications

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I think that screenshot may indicate the problem.
There is not a lot of free space left on that drive for any defragmenter to work with.

And defraggler is now showing it as 0% fragmented, I don't know how much free space there was before?

The rule of thumb is that you need at least 15% free space for a sucessful defragment, and at 19% you are getting close to that.

The larger the drive the less percentage free space is normally needed, but conversely the larger the files are the more total free space will be needed.

To make enough space to put defragmented files into, numerous other files have to be moved out of that space and temporarily put elsewhere.

It may well be that with your large video filesizes there is simply not enough free space to temporarily move enough files into.
I don't know for sure, I have no idea of how defraggler moves files about, or how many it moves at once.

Which is why moving some to a different drive worked, in effect you were doing the job manually and the second drive increased the free space you had to work with.
(I don't know of a defragmentation tool that could use a second drive for temporary storage, but there may be one somewhere?)

Maybe the title of this thread would be better as 'Defraggler won't work properly on almost full drives'?

PS. Your D drive has even less percentage free space to work with, but I assume that the files on that are also a lot smaller so it's swings and roundabouts.

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

Worried about 'Tracking Files'? Worried about why some files come back after cleaning? See this link:
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You assume well. So I guess I can't get better, but anyway, thank you. Do you know a section to submit ideas ? (the one that defraggler could use a second drive as temporary storage). I think it could speed up the process, because reading/writing speed is a lot affected when it on the same drive.

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There is a Defraggler suggestions section:

https://community.ccleaner.com/forum/21-defraggler-suggestions/

I wouldn't hold your breath though, it's not had an update for a while now never mind any changes.

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

Worried about 'Tracking Files'? Worried about why some files come back after cleaning? See this link:
https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/52668-tracking-files/?tab=comments#comment-300043

 

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A quick search finds that it was already suggested a few times, for different reasons.

https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/32058-speeding-up-defraggler/?tab=comments#comment-190609

Andavari's reply there is interesting, he advocates moving large files to a second disc and back again, just as you did here.

https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/38636-defrag-using-2-physical-disk/?tab=comments#comment-234778

 

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

Worried about 'Tracking Files'? Worried about why some files come back after cleaning? See this link:
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  • 7 months later...

I have the same problem, it seems any 4GB+ file on exFat won't be defragged.

"Defrag aborted. No files were defragmented. The operation cannot be done."

I tried using other software before and PerfectDisk has the same issue but it then marks the status as "Unmovable". None of the alternatives help. Almost makes me want to switch to NTFS even though I dislike the format.

I have many big MKV files and the total drive is 15% fragmented. Because I hardly ever touch the files I want them all in a nice bulk at the start of the drive for further additions later. If this is a bug with exFat then I suppose none of the software can ever do it?

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