MyDefrag could use another physical drive as TEMP storage space...

[FireStorm]

So in thinking of this, it would be a Quarterly thing, based on the Monthly script... (Quarterly as in once every 3 months)

Say you have a partition/drive that is full, and one file is so large and spread out with little space (im speaking backup drives as well as system OS drives, example is my server with an old RAID5 34GB Raptor Array) but files of all sorts/sizes in-between/broken up.

So lets say (easiest example) i have Partition/Drive G which is a backup of the originally installed OS/Software, it contains a file called RESTORE.rst (remember this is just an example) thats fragmented into 5 pieces making it 8GB total and the other 3GB (11GB total partition size) also contains an assortment of small to large file to fill up the drive but for maybe a couple hundred megs left of free space, that is not enough space to defrag that partition/disk properly!

Now unless I am blind (and its possible) I haven't seen anything quite like this as a feature request, but basically I would like to have Partition/Drive X who has over 200GB of free space to be able to play host to a TEMP folder for MyDefrag where files can be transfered, defraged, then returned, or alternatively(faster maybe?), transfered, then the rest of Partition/Drive G defraged, then returned and properly defraged on drive (I have no clue as to how MyDefrag actually does the bit-bit operation of defraging, if its just sector or higher/lower).


Thoughts?

[BloodySword]

It would be to complicated to configure it and someone could forget that the script is configured to do so. What's the problem to move some files manually to another drive, then moving them back? If the size of a file is known, the file will be written contignous.

Edit:
You could even write a batch file wich will move some files if the drive is almoust full to the other drive with RunProgram command. And when finished move them back.

[FireStorm]

Seeing what has been done so far from JKdefrag to MyDefrag I really dont think it would be all that complicated...
Ignorance is bliss and I have no knowledge of coding, but again, as a complement to what has changed from JKdefrag to MyDefrag, I really dont/cant think this is not possible... easily even?
Forget the script is modified to do so! Dont worry, if the drive isnt detected the script isnt visible/wont try to use what isnt their... you make it sound like MyDefrag is only capable of being a dumb client (in the full PC vs Dumb PC style)

Yes you would have to select a drive before hand, or maybe make it an advanced option for anyone who would want to use it in the Settings.MyD or SystemDiskQuarterly.MyD

The problem with manually doing it is that whenever I have tried, it has never been transfered back in one solid block (for specific files), it still fragments (but then after 2 sweeps of SDM it finally straightens out)! Its also just annoying sometimes especially when the drives folder structure changes often enough to break any .BAT I could drum up. Also MyDefrag handles files easier/faster then I ever could...

[jeroen]

I haven't seen anything quite like this as a feature request

Sorry to disappoint you but it has been suggested several times in the past.

basically I would like to have Partition/Drive X who has over 200GB of free space to be able to play host to a TEMP folder for MyDefrag

MyDefrag is build on top of the Microsoft defragmentation API, and this API cannot move files between drives. I suppose I could do it with other commands, but it would require some extremely careful programming or files could get "lost". Another problem is that moving files to a temporary folder elsewhere means that they are not at their original location anymore. That's a big problem for many background programs. So, it is difficult and potentially dangerous and destabilizing, and all that just to gain a bit of speed. Sorry, but no, I don't think so.

[FireStorm]

Meh, search always seems to fail me when it comes to forums...

That sucks, I understand the files-in-use problem which is why I was mainly thinking of this for files 4GB and up, nothing smaller to prevent those kind of issues... mainly wanted it for locked recovery partitions... I cannot access most of them without cleaver tools but MyDefrag seems to be able to Defrag them just fine (except for the issue explained above) which is why I was hoping this could be done... (adding to that, I normally run the monthly system disk in safe mode with all process's/services killed or on a sterile system)

If you ever got bored and wanted to try it with these other commands, ill be the first to alpha/beta for you!

[BloodySword]

[...] That sucks, I understand the files-in-use problem which is why I was mainly thinking of this for files 4GB and up, nothing smaller to prevent those kind of issues... [...]

Seems that you still didn't understand tha problem. What's the matter with big database files or DV/AVC records from camcorder wich is opened by explorer.exe to analyze these?

[...] mainly wanted it for locked recovery partitions... I cannot access most of them without cleaver tools but MyDefrag seems to be able to Defrag them just fine (except for the issue explained above) which is why I was hoping this could be done... (adding to that, I normally run the monthly system disk in safe mode with all process's/services killed or on a sterile system)

These files doesn't need defragmentation unless the files are scattered randomly over the whole drive. Some fragments, even 120 fragments won't impact any performance while reading.

If you ever got bored and wanted to try it with these other commands, ill be the first to alpha/beta for you!

Seems that you are tired of life... Did you ever consider what can happen if MyDefrag crashes? Or in case of a power fail?

The cost/benefit value would be 100/0.1 with this approach.

[FireStorm]

As i use safe mode or an alternate clean system, I have no need to worry about explorer.exe...

Yeah these files I have seen in 3-11~ parts... never anywere near eachother

Raid5, Battery Backup, and again, seeing as it would not be as frequent (or hell even bi-annually) I would be present or at least aware (manual start not schedulable)

[Kasuha]

If you do it on a non-active drive (booted form CD etc) you can do it manually - simply copy files away from the disk, then copy them back.
Doing it on live system disk is extremely risky as if your power goes out during that operation, half of the files would still be on the other disk and the system may not even boot up.
But as long as you seem to intend to use it only for backup drives, the above mentioned approach should be sufficient.
And I also didn't mention that if these are backup files you are probably not using them really frequently and in such case it's no problem even if they are fragmented.

[gelbukh]

I tried many times to copy as many files as I can to a second disk, defragment the first disk, and copy the files back. I always get a complete mess: the files are placed at random locations, not all together, so my free space gets awfully fragmented. What do I do wrong?

I suggest a new feature: Copy & Defrag (call the command line command dcopy if you want). Ideally, I'd ask MyDefrag to copy (many) files from another disk, putting them in a reasonable places (including the correct zone) and not to fragment the free space. Supposing this is not possible, then just normally copy each file and after that, move it to the right location. Since the set of files to be copied is known to MyDefrag in advance, it can plan their optimal placement in advance.

I would use this feature in the scenario mentioned above: manually move as many files as I can (80% of the disk) to another drive (USB harddrive) and then "dcopy" them back. This seems to be much faster than defrag (it currently takes many hours on my disk) and also probably much less wear of the disk.

This seems to satisfy FireStorm's request and avoid the dangers correctly pointed out by BloodySword since everything is manual.

[Darlis]

As Jeroen already stated here, files won't be moved to other volumes.

You can however use RunProgram to copy files with MyDefrag.

[BloodySword]

You can however use RunProgram to copy files with MyDefrag.

With RunProgram, there is no control when this command is executed, right?
Coping has to be done BEFORE analyzing!

[poutnik]

if I am not wrong, there is an BAT/CMD option like

start /wait "command managing whatever before MyDefrag"
start /wait "Mydefrag script launching"
start "command managing whatever after"

[BloodySword]

Do it without the start /wait and you are happy.

[poutnik]

Well, you are right.

[robinbolt]

hi friends ... i am new here and i should thank you for the information coding to solve my problem ... keep on posting