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Can't Defrag 226GB Acronis file

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I'm unable to defrag a secondary internal drive that has Acronis backup files on it. One large file simply does not defrag with either Windows XP defrag utility or other utilities.

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There might not be enough room todefrag it, depending on how much temporary file space your defragger needs. But in any event, why wouldn't you just exclude tibs from defragging. Suppose you had a really bad case of a, say, 100MB tib in 250 pieces, factor in average access time (let's assume 9ms) times the pieces you'll see that you might shave about 2 a quarter seconds off a reastore opeation that will take an hour or so to complete. In exchange for that savings on a restore operation (which you will do very rarely) you thrash you hdisk like crazy every time you defrag the tib even if its in only 2 pieces much less 250. All the wear and tear isn't worth it, even if you could perceive the saved time. Defragging, as a general proceedure to improve perfomance, is the biggest boondoggle in the the PC business. The math doesn't lie. The defrag vendors don't lie either, they never tell you how much time you'll save.

On modern disks, defragging does not improve performance. However, it can increase the odds of file recovery in the case of disk errors or disk failure. Whether that benefit is relevant to .tib archives, I'm not sure.

On SSDs, defragging won't help. On magnetic platter drives, it can help but the amount will be less than negligible in almost any case.

Whether a file is defragged won't help with its recovery unless ou're talking about a text file that you are tryiong to manually piece togetether -- then the fewer the fragmenst the bette -- but that's a rare case and there are better options to ensure data integrity, such as backup programs.

Defraggers are neat little toys that cost (money or wear and tear on the drive or both) and bring nothing productive and practdical to the desktop. It's a shame, since they are one area where the technology is pretty well buttoned down solid. ;)