Unable to Defrag C Drive

I am unable to defrag the C drive on my PC. The Widows defrag utility appears to be working but after it reaches about 14% it finishes and the drive is still 19% fragmented.

What I have done:

Checked disc free space which is 40%.
Ran CHKDSK in safe mode.
Ran defrag in safe mode.

I have even run third party defrag applications which appear to be doing something but when they finish nothing has changed. (Defraggler reports fragmentation is 57%)

Any ideas?

Thanks

My first impression is that the filesystem may be damaged. Running chkdsk on the Windows system volume while Windows is running, even in safe mode, doesn't repair any damage when it's found. You'll need to schedule a disk check on the next reboot.
To do so run chkdsk with the /f switch:

chkdsk /f C:

It will ask you to reboot, do so and Windows will scan for and repair any filesystem damage. If there is damage then chkdsk may take quite a while to complete, but you should let it finish. If chkdsk can't complete with the /F switch then run it again with the /R switch. This switch makes chkdsk also check for physical errors on the disk, but will take very much longer to complete.

Also you may want to look at which files are reported as being heavily fragmented. If it's a file like pagefile.sys or hiberfil.sys, then you might consider disabling the pagefile or hibernation (respecitvely) while you defragment (disable, reboot, defrag, reenable, reboot.)

My first impression is that the filesystem may be damaged. Running chkdsk on the Windows system volume while Windows is running, even in safe mode, doesn't repair any damage when it's found. You'll need to schedule a disk check on the next reboot.
To do so run chkdsk with the /f switch:

chkdsk /f C:

It will ask you to reboot, do so and Windows will scan for and repair any filesystem damage. If there is damage then chkdsk may take quite a while to complete, but you should let it finish. If chkdsk can't complete with the /F switch then run it again with the /R switch. This switch makes chkdsk also check for physical errors on the disk, but will take very much longer to complete.

Also you may want to look at which files are reported as being heavily fragmented. If it's a file like pagefile.sys or hiberfil.sys, then you might consider disabling the pagefile or hibernation (respecitvely) while you defragment (disable, reboot, defrag, reenable, reboot.)

Thanks for your reply. I did the chkdsk /f and rebooted. CHKDSK did not find any errors. Tried to defrag again but got the same results. Neither pagefile.sys nor the hiberfil.sys were listed in the defragmenter report as most fragmented files.

Is there anything else I might try?

Try Auslogics Free Defrag Program, but run Disk Cleanup first (Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup)

If you're going to run checkdisk you should always run chkdsk /r (instead of /f). It takes longer, but will also check for and repair bad sectors in addition to file system errors. I suggest you boot to the recovery console (if you have an XP CD) and run chkdsk /r. Otherwise, open an elevated command prompt and type: chkdsk /r

You'll be told the disc is locked and asked if you want to run it on the next boot. Say YES and reboot.. Then let it run until completeion

If you're going to run checkdisk you should always run chkdsk /r (instead of /f). It takes longer, but will also check for and repair bad sectors in addition to file system errors. I suggest you boot to the recovery console (if you have an XP CD) and run chkdsk /r. Otherwise, open an elevated command prompt and type: chkdsk /r

You'll be told the disc is locked and asked if you want to run it on the next boot. Say YES and reboot.. Then let it run until completeion

Ran chkdsk /r and while I wasn't at the computer when it finished it must have either not found or fixed any errors because the computer booted up automatically afterwards. Defragmenter still doing the same thing.

Try Auslogics Free Defrag Program, but run Disk Cleanup first (Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup)

I always do a disc cleanup before attempting to defrag. Auslogics is one of the third party defragmenters I have tried. It does the same thing the rest of them do. Acts like it's working but when finished fragmentation is exactly the same as before it started.

Earlier today before running the chkdsk /r I moved a bunch of files from the hard drive to an external drive. This freed up a lot of disc space and reduced fragmentation to about 12%. A few minutes ago I ran Auslogics Defrag and below is the report it generated (minus the long list of fragmented files).

Disk Size 74.52 GB
Free Space Size 55.91 GB
Clusters 19535032
Sectors per cluster 8
Bytes per sector 512
Started defragmentation 6/11/2012 3:13:42 AM
Completed defragmentation 6/11/2012 3:13:58 AM
Elapsed time 00:00:16
Total Files 51934
Total Directories 8895
Fragmented Files 4466
Defragmented Files 0
Skipped Files 4466
Fragmentation Before 11.55%
Fragmentation After 11.55%

Looking at the list of files, do they seem to have anything in common with one another?

<<I have even run third party defrag applications which appear to be doing something but when they finish nothing has changed. (Defraggler reports fragmentation is 57%)>>

Based on that and the report you posted...I would suspect either file system or hard drive problems.

Chkdsk /r is the only effective check of the file system that I am aware of...while the appropriate hard drive diagnostic is available for download at the website of the hard drive manufacturer.

Louis

I think he already ran chkdsk /r. To see the results check the Application event log in the Event Viewer:

Looking at the list of files, do they seem to have anything in common with one another?

The Auslogics report lists thousands of files of all types and from virtually every directory.

Here is the list that Windows Defragmenter reports as not able to be defragmented.

48 189 KB \Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp\SunbeltVIPREInstaller.log
47 204 KB \WINDOWS\pchealth\helpctr\OfflineCache\Professional_32#0409
58 240 KB \WINDOWS\inf
80 336 KB \Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My RoboForm Data\Default Profile
104 436 KB \WINDOWS\system32
121 505 KB \Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Winamp\Plugins\Gracenote\elists.db
124 612 KB \WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\avsys\bases
57 672 KB \WINDOWS\WindowsUpdate.log
151 708 KB \Program Files\TuneUp Utilities 2012\data
113 734 KB \WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\ngen.log
79 1 MB \Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\User.wab
235 1 MB \WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\ngen_service.log
288 2 MB \Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp\SilverlightMSI.log
88 2 MB \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Sunbelt\AntiMalware\Logs\SBAMSvcLog.csv
85 1 KB \WINDOWS\system32\config\system.LOG
58 3 MB \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Sunbelt\AntiMalware\Quarantine\{222825A1-4C01-4338-84A0-542C2D714561}
99 4 MB \WINDOWS\Internet Logs\tvDebug.log
468 5 MB \Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp\KB2604121_20120603_222448671-Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile-MSP0.txt
636 6 MB \Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp\KB2656405_20120603_223353031-Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile-MSP0.txt
59 7 MB \Program Files\GoldWave\GoldWave.exe
588 10 MB \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Sunbelt\AntiMalware\Logs\SBAMSvcLog_3.csv
867 10 MB \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Sunbelt\AntiMalware\Logs\SBAMSvcLog_2.csv
1,896 10 MB \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Sunbelt\AntiMalware\Logs\SBAMSvcLog_1.csv
129 17 MB \Documents and Settings\Default User\Application Data\Sun\Java\jre1.7.0_04\Data1.cab
58 19 MB \WINDOWS\system32\wbem\Repository\FS\OBJECTS.DATA
47 23 MB \WINDOWS\system32\config\software
52 25 MB \Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Setup Files\Paint Shop Pro ESD\Data.Cab
190 33 MB \Program Files\Shield\ShdDsk.sdi
70 33 MB \Program Files\Shield\shdinit.sdi
184 50 MB \Program Files\Java\jre7\lib\rt.jar

I think he already ran chkdsk /r. To see the results check the Application event log in the Event Viewer:

Yes, I did run chkdsk /r. Below are the results.

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 2 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 2 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 2 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.

78140128 KB total disk space.
9766692 KB in 40310 files.
14660 KB in 5781 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
129620 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
68229156 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
19535032 total allocation units on disk.
17057289 allocation units available on disk.

Try shutting off your antivirus (Sunbelt) and then run the degragger. Make sure it's all the way off (and of course don't download any risky web pages while it's off.) I suspect that the files aren't being defragged because they're in use by the AV.

Download and run the trial version of PerfectDisk. After deframenting c: drive,, check the box to run a boot-time defrag. Then reboot. When you get back into Windows again, defrag the system drive again. Note that PerfectDisk will let you see where and what is being defragmented while it is running. See if anything is noticeable.

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