Anomolus defrag results

[kortmann]

I am getting unusual results when I defragment my "C" drive. It is a WD 227 GB grive with 205 GB of free space.  It contains only my OS (Windows XP SP3). Everything else (Docs, pictures, music, ect.) is stored on a second internal 1.5 TB drive. Every couple of months it has been my practice to run "clean up" and defrag. on both drives. For the last 6 - 8 months, after I run defrag., I have gotten results on the "C" drive that appears to show it as very fragmented. I have attached screenshot and drfrag report of these results.
Profile:
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 3, 32 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz, x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 1
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 1015 Mb
Graphics Card: Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family, 128 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 232868 MB, Free - 211651 MB; D: Total - 1430796 MB, Free - 1044972 MB; E: Total - 5585 MB, Free - 330 MB;
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC., Goldfish2, 1.xx, X312345678
Antivirus: Microsoft Security Essentials, Updated: Yes, On-Demand Scanner: Enabled
Can you help me understand what's going on here?
Thanks for you time,
Ken

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]

[Geek-9pm]

Something is taking a lot of space on your system drive.
I have Windows XP SP3 on a 56 GB partition and using on half of it fro all my programs. Documents Photos Music and Videos are on a separate partition.
Something wrong with your system.  Unless you have some really mobster programs, it is hard to imagine that much space is used by programs.

You may wish to use some kind of diagnostic to find if the system has file errors, like lost files and stuff.

EDIT: Before you drag, do you check then drive for errors?
After looking over your attachments, it does not make any sense. Most of the drive looks fragmented. That can not be.

[kortmann]

Geek,
Yes, I have checked the file system for errors using chkdsk. Nothing found.
"... it does not make any sense. Most of the drive looks fragmented. That can not be."  Exactly why I'm posting.    OS and programs are using only ~ 22 GB of the 227 GB partition.
Ken

[TheShadow]

First, I'd go ahead and format that free space as an NTFS drive, and give it a definitive name like "Storage". 
Then if you have any large Music, Movies or ISO files on C' MOVE them to the new Storage partition.
Then do a massive Cleanup of your C drive, deleting every file that you don't need. 
Running "Disk Cleanup" in Extended mode, would at least be someplace to start.

!  Since XP only takes up about 12 to 15 gig's of HD space, it looks like you've acquired a lot of "junk" on that drive.

If you have Hibernate turned on, then turn it off, to eliminate that HUGE 'Hiberfil.sys' file.

I've seen messes every bit as bad on customer's PC's, and it's totally fixable, but it does take some time, effort and a certain level of Expertise,
to know what to delete and what to leave alone.
For instance, if you've had XP for a number of years and you've had Auto Updates turned on, then you have a g'zillion update UN-Install folders in the Windows sub directory.  They are easy to spot because they all start with a dollar sign ($). 
You must have Windows Explorer set to "Show Hidden Files" in order to see all those.
 Those can all be deleted as well as their corresponding KB******.log files, further down in the Windows directory.
 At least, that's someplace to start.

You Could also download and run my XPCleanup.bat program (batch File) from my website.
http://www.drwho.in

You listed NO security program that I would trust to make sure that you don't have Spyware, Adware, Trojans or tracking cookies on your PC.
What you did list, won't do that.  At the very minimum, I'd be running "Malware Bytes" on that PC.

Good Luck!
The Shadow 

[patio]

DLoad and give Auslogics Disk Defrag a try...
I've been using it for years...did i mention it's Free ? ?

[kortmann]

Shadow,
   Thanks for the reply.
   I have no doubt that I have accumulated a good bit of junk on “C” as I have had the machine running on this installation of XP for a long time. I have a second drive, “D”, a 1.5 TB internal drive, for everything other than the operating system and programs but I’m sure “C” needs to have a more through cleaning of “junk”.
   I do not have Hibernate turned on but Auto Update is turned on so I can start there with the un-install folders and KB…log files. I am already set to show hidden files and folders.  I do run Ghost 15 and make a restore point once a day (also saved on my second hard drive).
   I will take your advice and install “Malware Bytes”. From time to time, I have run Spybot S & D but it almost never turns up anything for whatever reason. It may well be that I don’t know what I’m doing.
   At the beginning of your reply, when you said I should “…format that free space as an NTFS drive” do you mean for me to create a partition? If so, this is not something I have ever done.
   I am inclined to run your XPCleanup.bat given my lack of knowledge of where to look for “junk” beyond the items you have suggested. I want to do the best job on this machine that I can. Being retired, I have the time and I’m willing to put out the effort but that “certain level of expertise” is going to be a snag.
   Thanks again for your suggestions. I know The Shadow Knows.
           Ken

[kortmann]

Hi patio,

"DLoad and give Auslogics Disk Defrag a try..."   

 I gave your suggestion a try. I had tried a couple of third party defrag programs in the past that did not seem to resolve the way Windows Defrag sees the state of my drive. Auslogics does. I have attached a screen shot after I ran Auslogics and then analyzed with Windows. It no longer appears fragmented.   I'm still curious about the fact that the drive shows so full when, in fact, it's only at about 10%. Do I need to "Compress"?

Ken

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]

[patio]

No...
Do NOT compress.
PS your reading it wrong...90% of that HDD is free...

[kortmann]

Hi patio,

Sorry if I expressed myself in an inelegant manner. I should have completed the sentence ... in fact, it's only about 10%" full.

I will not compress and I will call this "Solved". Thank you very much! While I was looking for what I could do with The Shadows suggestion, I found a program with no UN-installer but that's a subject for another thread. There's always something...

Ken

[Geek-9pm]

kortmann,
after some experiments, I was able to duplicate the "Anomolus defrag results" using a different scenario.
My conclusion is: Thee is nothing wrong with the drive. What defrag  shows is It is an aberration. No explanation.

[kortmann]

Hi Geek-9pm,

Thanks for your effort. I was 90% sure there was no problem with the drive but...  Having tried a couple of other defrag programs without getting rid of it and other folks saying "that drive's a mess", it was really startin' to bug me. I'm sure there IS a fair amount of junk on my machine. Just not THAT much. Don't you just hate "aberrations"?

Ken