BleepingComputer.com: Is It Safe To Defrag A Fat32 During Download Of Torrents?

Hi Folks,

I've been downloading files via torrent onto my 8GB FAT32 flash drive for some time now, and Windows 2000 Pro tells me it needs a defrag,

But I've so many different torrents on the go, with finishing times of up to 4 days, I don't want to proceed with the defrag if it'll jeopardise the integrity of any unfinished files.

So I guess I need to know if it's:

1. Safe to defrag while the torrent Client/program is active and files are downloading;

2. Safe (or safer than 1.) to defrag with unfinished torrents, but should first stop all downloading and exit the Client;

3. Unsafe to defrag until all files are finished downloading and complete.

and/or,

4. Your personal recommendation or advice that aint covered by 1 to 3 would be awfully good.

Thanks folks.

You do not need to defragment a flash drive. As there is no need to mechanically move heads, fragmentation of a file doesn't cause the "thrashing" that will occur with a hard drive. As there is no real advantage to be gained, you can disregard Windows' advice on this occasion.

Defragmenting a flash drive may actually be bad for it. Flash drives have a limit to the number of read/write cycles before failure can be expected. Defragmentation un-necessarily multiplies the number of reads & writes the drive is subjected to. Some advanced flash drives also implement location cycling, so that the usage of locations is evened out across the entire drive. This deliberate action may fragment large files, and defragmenting will defeat the purpose by repeatedly using locations at the start of the drive, further shortening the overall life of the flash drive.

Thanks Platypus, I'll never defrag it again.

In fact, that was so helpful, I'm willing to share some cake!

This post has been edited by Rob8UrChips: 15 September 2007 - 06:02 AM

Yum, Paisley cake?