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    O&O Defrag = loss of free HD space?!

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Lakjin, Jul 19, 2008.

  1. Lakjin

    Lakjin Notebook Deity

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    Okay I was always under the impression that defraging your HD will definetly make it more efficient, and thus it might even free up some HD space.

    well i just used O&O to defrag my HD and i lost HD space...i.e. i have less free space now then i did before the defrag.

    whats up? am i just misunderstanding what "defraging" is? or something else?
     
    Lakjin, Jul 19, 2008
    #1
  2. redrazor11

    redrazor11 Formerly waterwizard11

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    Maybe the system inaccuratly analized the drive...Its possible. Sometimes it looks at the drive and says "Ok, looks like youve got 43gb filled out of 80". Then when it starts moving things around its like "Woah....guess there was more." lol

    Thats my guess.
     
    redrazor11, Jul 19, 2008
    #2
  3. -Amadeus Excello-

    -Amadeus Excello- Notebook Evangelist

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    Hello, Lakjin,

    Do you know if your computer recently created any System Restore points?

    Have you cleaned your temporary Internet folders lately?

    System Restore points and temp. Internet files are known for hoarding unnecessary HD space.

    You can manually remove ol' System Restore points by doing the following: My Computer/right-click the main HD/select "properties"/disk cleanup/select the "more options" tab/click "clean up" under the System Restore and Shadow Copies header.

    I suggest you download CCleaner, follow the instructions and run a check on your system. And for what it's worth, it wouldn't hurt running a anti-spyware program, too.
     
    -Amadeus Excello-, Jul 19, 2008
    #3
  4. Moocowz

    Moocowz Notebook Guru

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    yeah, you know what, I was defragging in vista for the first time and I "lost" about 9GB of space. The defragging took so long that I canceled it. A couple days later my HD read that it had that seemingly lost space back again....weird... I don't know how defragmenting works, maybe pieces of files are copied to new locations then deleted such that there's a lot of temporary pieces until defragging is completed...I'm not really sure.
     
    Moocowz, Jul 20, 2008
    #4
  5. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

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    Its not lost space, its only being temporarily used like a swap file by your defragger. This is why you need at least 15% of HD space to defrag

    Restart your system and it will return.
     
    flipfire, Jul 20, 2008
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  6. Joyscant1980

    Joyscant1980 Notebook Consultant

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    Joyscant1980, Jul 20, 2008
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