This article originally appeared in TechProGuild.
If you're supporting the Windows 98 operating system, chances are that you've encountered the mind-numbing problem in which Disk Defragmenter is unable to complete a defrag operation. In this situation, Disk Defragmenter works normally until it gets to about the 10 percent complete marker. Then, it stops and displays a message like the one shown in Figure A.
Figure A: Disk Defragmenter never gets past the 10 percent complete marker before it starts all over again.
When this happens, the logical thing to do is to stop Disk Defragmenter and make sure all open applications are shut down, even those that run in the background, and then rerun Disk Defragmenter. However, once Disk Defragmenter hits the 10 percent complete marker, it again displays the same message and starts all over at the beginning of the hard disk. At this point, you may even restart the system in Safe Mode and try running Disk Defragmenter from there. Again, Disk Defragmenter starts over when it hits the 10 percent complete marker. This scenario plays over and over no matter what you do.
Fortunately, I've discovered an interesting technique that takes advantage of a hidden tool buried on the Windows 98 CD. This technique will bypass all these drive contents change interruptions and allow Disk Defragmenter to perform a full defragmentation operation on a Windows 98 system that is experiencing the never-ending defrag operation. In this article, I'll examine the cause of this problem in more detail, as well as introduce you to my full defrag technique and explain how it works.
A theory for the never-ending defrag operation
While many of my IT colleagues have offered all sorts of theories on what causes Disk Defragmenter to choke at the 10 percent complete marker--everything from a Microsoft plot to drive users nuts to the tidal effects of the moon--I’ve never been able to find a definite answer. And, yes, I even investigated the Microsoft Knowledge Base, which roots the problem in active applications accessing the hard disk and suggests shutting down all running programs. However, I’ve experienced this problem firsthand many times and found that none of the obvious explanations seems to offer a solution to the problem of the never-ending defrag operation.
Over the years, I developed my own theory and solution, which after time-tested examination, seems to be as good an explanation as I’ve encountered. In order to get a handle on what is causing Windows 98’s Disk Defragmenter to choke at the 10 percent marker, I began to investigate how this utility goes about doing its job.
There are basically three stages that Disk Defragmenter goes through when defragmenting your disk. Each of these stages can be demarcated at the percent complete values that Disk Defragmenter displays in its status bar. During the 0 and 4 percent complete values, Disk Defragmenter is actually running a special version of ScanDisk for Windows in order to check the disk for errors before doing anything with the files. If an error is found, Disk Defragmenter halts operation and prompts you to run the ScanDisk for Windows. If no problems are found on the hard disk, Disk Defragmenter enters the next stage. During the 5 to 9 percent complete values, Disk Defragmenter is essentially plotting out a road map of the best locations on the hard disk to use when it actually begins moving the files.
Once these preliminaries are complete, Disk Defragmenter begins moving the files and placing them in contiguous order on the disk. This stage begins at the 10 percent complete value and continues on to the 100 percent complete value. When Disk Defragmenter has a problem at or around the 10 percent complete value (which causes the utility to stop, display the error message, and start all over), it’s apparent that Disk Defragmenter is encountering a problem when it begins moving chunks of data that it finds somewhere towards the beginning of the hard disk.
A quick restart
When Disk Defragmenter encounters a problem that causes it to restart, you’ll notice that it very quickly moves past 0 to 4 percent complete values and picks up where it left off. This is because the ScanDisk activity occurs only when Disk Defragmenter is started and is not repeated if Disk Defragmenter is forced to restart because of disk activity.
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Any suggestions on where I can go to download defrag.inf? I am unable to locate the CD that you speck of...and I have been unable to find a downloadable version. Regardless, thanks for your article.
Posted by anonymous on Monday, April 11 2005 03:30 AM