I am using a PC1000. I have an external USB.2 40gig
Hardisk. Whenever I backup my basic- my documents,
favorites, etc about 8 gigs, I wonder why I always have
to "defrag" the hardisk after the backup as recommended
by windows. Why is this? Did Windows design this to be?
Any recommendations? Please help

thanks
Igoy

On Sun, 29 Feb 2004 06:29:34 -0800, "igoy"
<anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>I am using a PC1000. I have an external USB.2 40gig
>Hardisk. Whenever I backup my basic- my documents,
>favorites, etc about 8 gigs, I wonder why I always have
>to "defrag" the hardisk after the backup as recommended
>by windows. Why is this? Did Windows design this to be?
>Any recommendations? Please help
>
>thanks
>Igoy

Depends. If you're using the backup program, and replacing the
existing image each time (i.e. overwriting a full backup with a
different full backup) then you have some options.

If there's no data on the drive, things written there will be written
defragmented already, since they're not trying to fill in the "slack
space" around existing files. If that drive is only for backing up
your computer, and you only keep the one backup, then you could just
delete the existing file and back up again to the clean drive - no
defrag needed.

And if it's only for storage, the need to defrag it isn't nearly as
critical as it is for a system drive that's got the files for the
operating system on it. But this is one of those topics that has as
many opinions as there are people :)

And if it's a "static" drive, where the contents aren't changing much,
then again there's less need to defrag, since files aren't always
being deleted, freeing up blocks of space, and getting written over
again by other files, using bits and pieces of that free space between
other files.

John