fragmented system files

[leobull]

i have xp home edition with a 60gb hd. i have quite a few system files(blocks) sitting un different places on the drive. for some reason there a 2 system blocks right at the end of the drive. i know that the ones at the end of the drive are accessed. at bootup i can hear the drive heads moving. ive tried the defragger in windows, its big brother diskeeper, o&o defraf, and perfectdisk. none of them want to touch system files. i just want these blocks moved. is there any good reason ms doesnt want them moved? is there a utility out there that will move them?

 

[allan]

Some files need to stay right where they are (they are, cleverly enough, referred to as unmoveable files). You can defrag from safe mode and that will allow the maximum number of files to be optimized, but a word to the wise - don't try to force unmoveable files to relocate.

 

[leobull]

system files

ok, let me clarify a little. the files(blocks) im talking about are system blocks. but, they are not marked unmovable. if that makes any sense.

 

[Qumahlin]

System files are not moved to preserve system stability and prevent accidents. only thing you can try is setting Diskkeeper to defrag at startup and fully defrag the MFT and swapfile, sometimes then it will also move some systme files since they won't be in use at all.

but 9.99 times out of 10 system files will not be moved.

 

[ghayes]

"System files" usually refers to metadata on NTFS partitions. As the built-in defragmenter offers no ability to perform a boot time defrag, these will likely never "clean up".

There is more to the metadata on NTFS partitions than the MFT. There is also the $Bitmap, $Upcase, $Logfil, etc... The built-in defragmenter won't provide information about these files as it is unable to defragment them. The only defragmenter that WILL provide information about all of these metadata files is PerfectDisk - as it is the only defragmenter that is capable of defragmenting them.

- Greg/Raxco Software

Disclaimer: I work for Raxco Software, the maker of PerfectDisk - a commercial defrag product, as a systems engineer in the support department.

 

[ghayes]

"ive tried the defragger in windows, its big brother diskeeper, o&o defraf, and perfectdisk. "

In order to defragment these files with PerfectDisk, you must perform a boot time defrag pass. What happend when you did this with PerfectDisk? In how many "pieces" was the metadata (or system files) left after doing this?

- Greg/Raxco Software

Disclaimer: I work for Raxco Software, the maker of PerfectDisk - a commercial defrag product, as a systems engineer in the support department.