From: dragonsclaw@NOTmindspring.com   
      
   On Tue, 19 Feb 2013 07:39:11 -0600, CRNG  wrote:   
      
   >On Tue, 19 Feb 2013 04:45:39 -0800, Steve Urbach   
   > wrote in   
   > Re Re: Defragmenting:   
   >   
   >>On 19 Feb 2013 07:04:05 GMT, Paul Emmons  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>I have a 2TB external drive which I'm sure is badly fragmented.  A few days   
   >>>ago, I started the defragmenter on it and let it run overnight.  When I   
   >>>looked at it again some twelve hours later, defragmentation was only 7%   
   >>>complete.   
   >   
   >When doing a defrag, does each file fragment that is moved have to be   
   >read into the computer and then written back out to the drive?  On a   
   >USB 2.0 external drive that seems like it would be very slow.   
   You are correct, which is why having an efficient Move algorithm is important.   
   USB2.0 is not /that/ slow. But it is slower than PATA or SATA 1.5.   
      
   Something to do, to make it run +better+ later   
   Pack (defrag) the drive, then use a Partition manager (GPARTED on a Ubuntu   
   Live CD is free) to shrink the existing Partition and create a New NTFS   
   partition.   
   Move selected (those that are stable would be a good choice)  files to the New   
   partition.   
   Repeat the repack and Resize partitions (slide the boundary over) as needed.   
      
   This way you only have to defrag a /smaller/ partition at a time \   
      
   (be sure to have a stable Power source (UPS recommended) and reliable   
   hardware.. If possible, Temporarily mount the drive in the main case and use a   
   the fastest connection method possible (probably SATA) as you will probably be   
   booting from a Live CD anyway and will not need your main HD for this (Defrag   
   first)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)