Solved Unable to defragment in Windows 8.1.

Derek May 9, 2014 at 13:05:54

My C drive wouldn't show zero after the new 8.1 update. I found that if I ran the "Analyse" first then the "Optimize" it then worked fine thereafter - worth a try. Having said that: 1. There is no need to defrag the "system reserved area" which is an important area that is best avoided. 2. Your main system drive (presumably C) is the only one that matters, slightly, to performance. Always pop back and let us know the outcome - thanks message edited by Derek

Johnw May 9, 2014 at 14:54:34

Just in case it is an SSD ( Solid State Drive ) This type of drive you don't defrag.

Derek May 9, 2014 at 15:12:40

Yes, good point John. Always pop back and let us know the outcome - thanks

Fingers May 9, 2014 at 19:33:13

Your D drive is probably your recovery partition and also best left untouched so that is will still work if you ever need it. Your system reserved partition is used at boot up and Windows should not have access to it during normal use or you may not be able to start the system again. You have to be a little bit crazy to keep you from going insane.

Derek May 10, 2014 at 07:53:54

If drive D has some 94GB of data on it then it seems a heck of a lot for a recovery partition. Maybe it is a data drive - perhaps the poster can let us know. In either case there is no need for defragmentation, which is only of advantage when a drive is in frequent use by the system. As already given, you should not defrag an SSD if that happens to be the case. Always pop back and let us know the outcome - thanks

Okay so there is no recovery partition on the hard drive. the D drive is a data drive which is in use all the time with apps and stuff. And It is not an SSD drive.

Derek May 10, 2014 at 11:02:38

OK thanks, so doing defrag is fine although only "necessary" on the system drive as previously given. Always pop back and let us know the outcome - thanks

Johnw May 10, 2014 at 14:42:50

More here. Disk Defragmenter in Windows 8 | 7 explained http://www.thewindowsclub.com/disk-... http://windows.microsoft.com/en-AU/... message edited by Johnw

Derek May 10, 2014 at 15:14:24

Did you try "Analyse" first? Always pop back and let us know the outcome - thanks

Derek - Yes I analyse the drive first and then optimize. Johnw - the information in those links say that there should be at least 15% free space on the hard drive in order to defrag it properly and my D drive only has 1% free space. There is method to force defrag. I'll try that and let you know.

I freed 20% on the D drive and then tried everything but nothing worked. Now 2% is fragmented and nothing happens to G drive which is system reserved. It remains at 18 percent fragmentation.

Derek May 11, 2014 at 13:37:06

✔ Best Answer

Why are you concerned about this? The purpose of defragmentation is so that when you are using the system it can quickly locate information which will be in continuous blocks. There can be a performance benefit. Drives that are system reserved are rarely (if ever) used so do not need defragmenting. It is safer to leave them totally alone. Similarly if your D drive is a data disk it is simply for storage and not used for running programs. You will never notice any difference if this is defragmented as it is only used to store and access your own data. Forcing defrag for that drive is pointless and best avoided. If you can defrag the C drive that is all you need to do. Even that, with modern drives makes little difference unless it is heavily defragmented - seems, at present, it is not defragmented at all. Have you got the latest update which was made for Windows 8.1 (via Windows Update)? Always pop back and let us know the outcome - thanks message edited by Derek

Derek - I have latest updates. And I'm gonna leave them alone if those drives won't make a difference in performance. Thanks for the help though.

Derek May 12, 2014 at 09:56:15

OK, thanks for popping back to let us know. Always pop back and let us know the outcome - thanks

I don't think you should automatically assume the D drive is just storage. Most people have a separate drive for intensive programmes like games where a defrag is most certainly required.