Help. No disc space left during defrag

[Kasche]

I am using Defraggler  - professional edition.

 

I have paused Defraggler because I am 85% finished and I'm down to 2 GB of space left on my C drive.

I had 160 GB unused on my C drive when I started but I'm down to only 2 GB of space now.

Should I "STOP" Defraggler?  What are the consequences of stopping the defrag process?

I already moved all the photos and music off my C drive.  All I have left would be programs.

I've emptied the recycle bin.

I have a windows 7 professional vaio laptop.

( I got into this mess because I did not realize that optimize meant defrag.  I knew not to defrag a SSD drive. I just did not know that optimizing would be defragging.)

[Guest johnccleaner]

Please allow the process to finish and this will take care of itself.

An optimize is not a defrag - you can find out more about the process here: https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045184472

In short, though, the software is performing a zero fill operation on the drive - to do so, it needs to write specified temporary files to all free space on the drive, then erase them. A natural consequence of this is that, during this process, the amount of free space will be reduced and indeed brought down to essentially none. However, the software will then erase these files and your free space will be returned to normal.

In the future, we recommend simply allowing the computer to work and not using it at all during Defraggler operations for best results.

[Kasche]

I had started the optimize function on my Sony Vaio laptop (windows 7 prof) and when it filled the C drive to the point that only 3GB or less was left... I paused it and posted my question.  I didn't get a response for hours, so decided I better clear some space off the C drive.  I was going on the knowledge I had which at the time was that if the C drive runs out of space, it crashes the computer.  I moved 200 GB of photos and video's to external drives and then deleted those files from the laptop.  I then allowed the optimizer to resume.  I watched it fill the C drive, eating up all the unused space. When I had 25 GB of unused space left....  the optimizer gave a message "ERROR" in red where before it had said "HEALTHY" I believe this was regarding the disc.  At that point I hit STOP.  The C drive unfilled.  I restarted the laptop.

That was yesterday.  This morning I read your message and read the links you provided.

My laptop is functioning.  A little quirky but functioning.  I'm not sure what I need to do at this point.  I'm hoping with a few restarts and updates over the next few days it will settle down.

Thank you for getting back to me. 

[Guest johnccleaner]

Running out of free space is, typically, a bad thing, yes; it shouldn't crash the computer, but it can cause unexpected and unwanted behavior. However, when it's done in an intentional manner like this (and, the drive would only be "out" of space for a brief period of time), it's not a problem, and like I said, it's a required part of a zero fill process. 

(The Erase Free Space function in CCleaner works in much the same way as well.)

Regarding the ERROR message, I wonder if this may have been induced by having so much activity occur on the drive while Defraggler was paused; that might have thrown off its measurement.

After restarting the computer and allowing Defraggler to analyze the drive only (do not run an optimize or defrag procedure), does it still show an ERROR in the drive health?

[Kasche]

I'm pretty sure that you are correct that the ERROR message came because of my moving and deleting files in the middle of the process. Pausing it for a couple of hours probably did not help it any either.

 

Just restarted...

Disk Health GOOD...

Analysis Complete...  Disk Health GOOD.

1,422 fragmented files (23.7 GB)  (this is better than it was 2 days ago.  the fragmented files were 1,547 (164.7 GB)

10,776 Total fragments    ( was 15,330 Total Fragments)

23% Fragmentation       (was 48% Fragmentation)

[trium]

@Kasche

if you have solved your problem with johncclenaers help...

 

try the "file list" defrag

 

[Kasche]

2 hours ago, trium said:

@Kasche

if you have solved your problem with johncclenaers help...

 

try the "file list" defrag

 

I'm not sure I've solved the problem.  I am still waiting for johnccleaner to indicate if I should proceed with the optimizer one more time.  But thanks for the suggestion.  I would be better to do it in smaller bites now that i know what I'm dealing with.

[Kasche]

On 25/03/2021 at 11:19, johnccleaner said:

Running out of free space is, typically, a bad thing, yes; it shouldn't crash the computer, but it can cause unexpected and unwanted behavior. However, when it's done in an intentional manner like this (and, the drive would only be "out" of space for a brief period of time), it's not a problem, and like I said, it's a required part of a zero fill process. 

(The Erase Free Space function in CCleaner works in much the same way as well.)

Regarding the ERROR message, I wonder if this may have been induced by having so much activity occur on the drive while Defraggler was paused; that might have thrown off its measurement.

After restarting the computer and allowing Defraggler to analyze the drive only (do not run an optimize or defrag procedure), does it still show an ERROR in the drive health?

Hi Johnccleaner...  not sure you saw my answer to your post.   I could use some direction as to what to do from here.    Should I do the optimize procedure again??

I'm pretty sure that you are correct that the ERROR message came because of my moving and deleting files in the middle of the process. Pausing it for a couple of hours probably did not help it any either.

 

Just restarted...

Disk Health GOOD...

Analysis Complete...  Disk Health GOOD.

1,422 fragmented files (23.7 GB)  (this is better than it was 2 days ago.  the fragmented files were 1,547 (164.7 GB)

10,776 Total fragments    ( was 15,330 Total Fragments)

23% Fragmentation       (was 48% Fragmentation)

 

[Guest johnccleaner]

You're welcome to try optimizing once more - if you do, I would recommend simply allowing it to work without disturbing it for best results.

You may wish to turn off the sleep function of the computer, as described here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-adjust-power-and-sleep-settings-26f623b5-4fcc-4194-863d-b824e5ea7679 and let it run overnight. Feel free to turn sleep functionality back on afterwards, of course!

Afterwards, you shouldn't need to run optimization again for several months at the least.  (To clarify, solid-state drives will, as they get full or are written to a lot, find it harder, and slower, to write new files/changes to the drive - this occurs over a very long period of time, though, for most users. Optimization will help restore this write speed.)

Also, please note that this will have no impact on fragmentation - fragmentation is not really a relevant statistic for SSDs, as any part of the drive can be read equally quickly unlike with a hard drive. It is, in fact, both normal and expected for SSDs to have very high fragmentation as this is commonly part of the measures taken by the SSD to preserve its lifespan. (For comparison, one of the SSDs in my personal computer is currently at 35% fragementation, and that's just fine.) 

This article: https://helpdeskgeek.com/help-desk/should-you-defrag-an-ssd/ provides a nice overview on this point.

[Kasche]

9 hours ago, johnccleaner said:

You're welcome to try optimizing once more - if you do, I would recommend simply allowing it to work without disturbing it for best results.

You may wish to turn off the sleep function of the computer, as described here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-adjust-power-and-sleep-settings-26f623b5-4fcc-4194-863d-b824e5ea7679 and let it run overnight. Feel free to turn sleep functionality back on afterwards, of course!

Afterwards, you shouldn't need to run optimization again for several months at the least.  (To clarify, solid-state drives will, as they get full or are written to a lot, find it harder, and slower, to write new files/changes to the drive - this occurs over a very long period of time, though, for most users. Optimization will help restore this write speed.)

Also, please note that this will have no impact on fragmentation - fragmentation is not really a relevant statistic for SSDs, as any part of the drive can be read equally quickly unlike with a hard drive. It is, in fact, both normal and expected for SSDs to have very high fragmentation as this is commonly part of the measures taken by the SSD to preserve its lifespan. (For comparison, one of the SSDs in my personal computer is currently at 35% fragementation, and that's just fine.) 

This article: https://helpdeskgeek.com/help-desk/should-you-defrag-an-ssd/ provides a nice overview on this point.

ok.  Thank you so much. 

[Willy2]

@kasche

Turn off System Restore en then reboot. That could free up A LOT OF disk space.

 

[Kasche]

No need to free up disc space.

Thank you.