Question:
I run Windows XP Pro and am experiencing a couple of problems with my computer. I use Windows Update regularly. After doing an update, I usually defrag the hard drive. However, I now receive a message saying that the hard drive cannot be
defragged. What is the cause of this, and how can I solve the problem?
Answer:
Defrag issues:
The defrag problem can have numerous possible causes. Also, there's more than one issue going on here (and a lot of the answer depends on how your system was built to begin with). So, we’ll tackle these problems one at a time. A couple of scenarios could cause you to be unable to defrag your hard drive, and each of them is very specific.
1. The main key here is that you said this happened after you did an update. The best way to see if it was that particular Windows XP Hotfix is to uninstall the actual Hotfix that caused the issue. To achieve this, go to Start > Setting > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs and scroll down to find the Hotfix that is under suspicion and uninstall it, then reboot the computer and try to run defrag again.
If you aren’t sure which one it was, you will have to do this process multiple times until the computer is back to normal. You can always go back to Windows Update and download them again if you inadvertently removed one that was not causing the issue.
NOTE: It is a BEST PRACTICE to download updates one at a time to avoid this issue in the future. Be sure to read the known issues with Windows Service Pack 2, before you update to that. Windows provides a lot of information at this webpage: WINDOWS SERVICE PACK 2:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;windowsxpsp2
2. Another common issue that causes you not to be able to defrag a hard drive is if you have “ bad sectors” on your hard drive. Bad Sectors are areas on the actual hard disk that is either physically failing or has bad data written to it. It used to be detected & fixed by Scandisk on previous versions of Windows, but has been replaced by “Checkdisk” on Windows XP.
CHECKDISK: Goto My Computer, Right-Click the hard drive you want to check, select Properties > Tools then under Error Checking click the “Check Now” button. A dialogue box opens, select Fix File System Errors and click Start. This can take a while, so be patient.
NOTE: If the drive that you want to fix is the system drive, there will be open files on the drive. You will see a dialog box announcing that the utility needs exclusive access to operate and can't gain that access unless you re-start your computer. Click Yes.
XP will re-start in character mode, meaning that you can't do anything other than run the utility. Unless you strike any key within ten seconds of seeing the restricted boot message, Check Disk will run. After Check Disk has finished, you will either see Disk Check Complete (no errors) or a list of errors and repairs.
IF for some reason you are unable to perform this task, boot into SAFE MODE (Reboot > Press F8 repeatedly, immediately after restarting until a screen opens giving the option to boot to safe mode).
3. If you have upgraded your computer from a previous version of Windows (ie: ME or Win98) and did not choose to convert your filing system to a NTFS, then you are limited by the space that Windows needs to complete the job. If your hard drive has less than 15% space remaining then you would run into this issue.
If you would like to convert your system to NTFS, Microsoft provides a utility in Windows XP and a detailed explication on the procedure here:
Microsoft KB Article: 314097 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314097
Because there are so many things that can contribute to these issues, I would encourage you to keep us posted on whether or not this fixed your problems. A lot of this are the 1st steps in diagnosing an issue and may require further steps to COMPLETELY fix your system. I hope this helps with your situation. IF you followed all the steps above and are still having issues, then I would encourage you to reply to the submissions and I can help you further diagnose your particular problem.
