Foo - computer keeps needing de-fragging

Hard drive has 50 gb used and 20 gb free. Is this too little free space?
It is over 20% of the total which should be enough for temporary files.
Now it is needing to be defragged almost daily--or at least the prompts
for defragging are that often. WTF? Any thoughts?

What OS?

XP. I did a defrag and disk cleanup this morning. I am getting tired of this XP bs.

Wait for the new Windows and install it. I have a decent computer with a 40gb hdd as funny as that sounds. I keep 5gb free at all times and never have run into problems. Turn off the auto defrag?

Turn off the warning or just ignore the message. 20gb out of 70 is plenty space and should not cause significant fragmentation (unless if you are constantly writing to large files). And defraging the hard drive is overrated; the performance improvement is usually quite minor.

20 GB is way more than enough free space. If the computer keeps nagging you, there must be a couple huge files that are broken into hundreds of pieces, but it probably isn't actually affecting system performance. Check the details on the file report

thanks everyone

I haven't had to defrag since I switched to Mac.

I really don't miss it. Haven't even thought of that in ages... :D

I haven't had to defrag since I switched to Mac.

I really don't miss it. Haven't even thought of that in ages... :D

http://jamie-online.com/random-jamz/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/facepalm.jpg

http://jamie-online.com/random-jamz/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/facepalm.jpg

Facepalm away. I'd apologize that Apple knows how to design an OS that allocates memory and resources better than Microsoft, but I'm not really sorry. :)

Facepalm away. I'd apologize that Apple knows how to design an OS that allocates memory and resources better than Microsoft, but I'm not really sorry. :)

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s135/Sig_Nuka/double-facepalm.jpg

What's the matter, Hick, can't find a facepalm image with proper grammar?

Last time I checked, memory doesn't have anything to do with how often the hard drive needs to be defragged.

And like it or not, even Mac's need a defrag once in a while. That's just part of owning a hard disk based computer.

Last time I checked, memory doesn't have anything to do with how often the hard drive needs to be defragged.

And like it or not, even Mac's need a defrag once in a while. That's just part of owning a hard disk based computer.

You seem to forget, to a Mac user, "Memory" is the term used to refer to the system RAM, Hard disk, flash drives, floppy disks, unused quota on GMail and GApps, and any other means of temporary or permanent storage in the entire system or any other system the user happens to have access to.

Last time I checked, memory doesn't have anything to do with how often the hard drive needs to be defragged.

And like it or not, even Mac's need a defrag once in a while. That's just part of owning a hard disk based computer.

Mac OS X auto defragments files that are smaller than 20mb (http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancient/whatismacosx/arch_fs.html).

Mac OS X auto defragments files that are smaller than 20mb (http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancient/whatismacosx/arch_fs.html).

Meh, that takes all the fun out of it though.

When I ran Norton Utilities on Mac OS9 (or even 8) I could identify which files were fragmented, and choose only to defrag those. More fun, more efficient, and less Big Brother-esque than any of these auto-features that XP, Vista, or OSX offer.

Sigh... (insert Luddite plea here)

OP: check you paging files settings (google for instructions). If it's set too large or something wonky like that, it could cause what you're seeing.

And I have never, ever had XP prompt me for a defrag. I didn't even know it could :wtf:

Mac OS X auto defragments files that are smaller than 20mb (http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancient/whatismacosx/arch_fs.html).

Well, that explains quite a bit now.