Timed defragmentation on folders

[ChrisGreaves]

A quick Google search does not reveal (to me) an effective (i.e. Command-line) way of defragmenting folders.

I am not a big fan of defragmentation, but the occasional use of the analysis in Defraggler reveals that I have many fragmented folders.

Since a folder/directory is the gateway to all files, I would consider defragmenting one or more folders on a regular basis, where "regular" might be defined as:-
(1) Fixed schedule e.g. 11pm each evening
(2) Trigger event e.g. at the exit from my Word2003 batch file
(3) Spontaneous event e.g. an executed batch file by the user

I envisage a command line of the form:-

Code: Select all

cmd.exe /c defrag t:\Greaves\products /D /s 

which would defragment the Directories (but not the individual files) in the tree of folders held by T:\Greaves\Products

Thanks
Chris

[jstevens]

Chris,

Have you considered using a batch file to run the defrag? You then can use the Task Scheduler to run the batch file set to the day/time you want to it to run. If you want to run it on demand then just run the batch file.

I'm not sure how to do it upon exiting Word.

[HansV]

You might like the free Contig utility from Microsoft.

[ChrisGreaves]

Have you considered using a batch file to run the defrag?...I'm not sure how to do it upon exiting Word.

Thanks John.
Just about everything I run is run from a batch file.
I have run a de-fragmented from a batch file in the past, but am not in love with defragmentation now.
Defragmentation of a folder is to my mind a different thing.
(1) Folders are the critical gateway to files and
(2) I have a feeling that forcing a load-to-memory of all regular folders might serve as a type of pre-fetch.

By Word2003 is run from a batch file (attached) so it is dead easy to splice in a command line once WinWord.exe exits back to the batch file.
Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

You might like the free Contig utility from Microsoft.

Thank You Hans.
I gave it a quick try a week ago, but didn't give it a fair trial. I'll try it again Monday.
Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

You might like the free Contig utility from Microsoft.

Contig seems not to work, but reports that it does.

Contig01.png

The screen snapshot shows two consecutive runs of contig against a single file, infamous spreadsheet of 18 fragments of a couple of months ago.
Each run reports 69 fragments per file. ( Win7HP.)

This is, as you have guessed, not a critical issue, but I wonder if anyone reading this can confirm that my command-line statement is correct.

Drive T: is a Truecrypt(ed) drive.

Thanks
Chris

[HansV]

The command line looks OK. Apparently contig has decided that the file cannot/should not be defragmented...

CCleaner's Defraggler also has a command line utility: Command-line parameters

Defraggler comes with a command-line version of the GUI program called df.exe. This program is located in the same folder as defraggler.exe, typically C:\Program Files\Defraggler.

[ChrisGreaves]

CCleaner's Defraggler also has a command line utility:

Thank you, Hans.

Code: Select all

Defragments the specified file or folder. You can chain multiple <items> together, but they all must be located on the same drive.
For a specified folder, Defraggler will also defragment any subfolders beneath it (recursive).

This looks promising. I shall set up a trial later and see how it copes with folders on a drive.

Cheers
Chris