Controlling Defragmentation in Vista

apit_skynet

Q: I remember inWindows XP that you could analyze the disk usage of your computer'shard drive and see which parts of the drive were filled up. You wouldright-click on a drive, click Properties, go to the Tools tab, andchoose Defragment. In the Defragment window you could right-click on adrive and select Analyze. Then a color image would appear at the bottomshowing disk usage. Is there any way you can do that with Vista?


A: That's not the Vista Way. In Vista, defragmentationhappens automatically in the background without your intervention.Microsoft says it removed the flashy analysis report becausedefragmentation just isn't something you have to watch. Makes sense tome!
But if you're desperate to get some kind of analysis even thoughVista doesn't volunteer any, try this: Click Start and type cmd. You'llsee cmd.exe up above in the Start menu. Right-click it and choose Runas administrator. User Account Control will require you to confirm thisaction (or supply an Administrator password). In the resulting windowenter the command DEFRAG C: -A (that's A for Analyze). This will yielda simple analysis of drive C:'s fragmentation level, with advice aboutwhether the drive needs defragging. In most cases you won't need itbecause defragmentation has already happened in the background.
If you really want to defragment the disk right away, even thoughDEFRAG has said it's not needed, you can do that from the same CommandPrompt. Simply enter the command DEFRAG C: -F -V (that's F for Force, Vfor View). You still won't see the nice, familiar color image showingfragmented files, nonfragmented files, and free space. To get thatdisplay, you'll have to purchase a Vista-compatible third-partydefragger such as Diskeeper or PerfectDisk.