How many passes before defrag finishes?

Anonymous
2010-06-28T19:50:57+00:00

Original Title: "Defragmenting hard drive"

I am try to defrag my hard drive. It's on its 4th pass in 24 hours. How many passes does it make before it's done?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2010-06-28T22:55:23+00:00

have seen as high as 7.

they seem to get faster the further along it goes.

look into using AUSLOGICS degragger instead.

faster and also has an option to move system files to the front.

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*I am try to defrag my hard drive. It's on its *

*4th pass in 24 hours. How many passes does it make before it's done?*

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-05-12T02:27:27+00:00

    Mine is on its 10th. I hope it's the last!!!!

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-05-05T13:43:44+00:00

    My view is defragmentation taking many passes is sloppy programming on behalf of Microsoft. Years ago I worked on mainframe operating system development and the defragmenter I worked on did :

    1. a scan (to find where things were on the disc, including defragmented files, gaps etc.)
    2. a sort to order what to do
    3. move out (to move big files to remote areas of the disc)
    4. move in (to move files into their new squashed places)

    Worst case is you churn the disc twice plus the sort. So 1Tb should take no more than the time it takes to move about 1Tb data on the worst possible case (in reality much less than this) i.e about 6 hrs with modern HDDs.

    So you could argue there's 3 passes and a sort. I cant see why there should be more but hay I've only got a degree in mathematics - perhaps someone can prove you need more in certain (real life) situations.

    Oh and by the way we allowed defragmentation of files WHILST they were open too (read or write).

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-04-27T09:41:56+00:00

    its my 9 th pass

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-04-05T20:34:59+00:00

    I have a 500Gb HD, split in 2 partitions of 250Gb.  running on Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, AMD quad core 1500Mhz, 4Gb RAM. 

    I'm defragmenting partition C, which has only 15Gb free of the 250.   Windows defragmenter said it was 26% fragmented.  After 30 hours it's now at pass 13 - 1% consolidated.   I don't touch it while it's defragmenting.  I'm afraid it's gonna take al long long time :-(

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