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Advice On Defragging


Warlock

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Warlock, I hope you are still on the same song sheet as the rest of us with all the above posts.

I have no doubt you'll post back with your status update - either "Eureka - I've done it!" or "Damn - where do I start?"

Backup now & backup often.
It's your digital life - protect it with a backup.
Three things are certain; Birth, Death and loss of data. You control the last.

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Hi MTA and everyone else.  Due to other issues I'm just now getting around to reading all the posts.  You must have read my mind MTA, it's truly "Damn-where do I start?".  Just when I finished with one ordeal another surfaces.  I've opened Pandora's Box again. Derek said he was glad I didn't use the hammer.  When I whined and cried until I got one of these systems I wish someone had hit me with that hammer.  This is a mess and nothing is attributed to you wonderful folks.  It's the result of too many fingers in this computer ranging from Avast support to the three clowns who have tickled the keyboard like Liberace until I don't know what I've got. They insist on putting their own personality into my machine instead of leaving things alone or at least explaining things to me in vivid detail.  Listen, I love you folks, you've worked so hard to help me but already I can see we're going to have to simplify this even more so this dumb old man can accomplish this task.

 

I know I'm going to have to decide what was said about backing up what I simply cannot live without.  I'll have to open up the folders I have under the desktop shortcuts and see how much space is taken up to ship stuff over to the external flash drives. There appears to be some duplication and I don't know how to avoid this.  Also, the Macrium thing and formatting operations have me confused already.  How I wish we could go remote and just let me sit back and put it in the pros hands.  I hate this but could you be thinking of how we can hurdle some of these land mines and I'll try my best to fumble around here and see what I can do.  For instance I opened up one folder and saw that one can send data to a certain drive and if that would work after the devices are all set up to receive information perhaps I could use that route.  Just a random thought while I look around for my life vest.  Thanks so much and eternal gratefulness.  Warlock

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain. If I can ease one life the aching or cool one pain, or help one fainting robin unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain. (Emily Dickinson-1830-1886)

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YES YES YES.

Warlock you have hit the nail on the head.  (i was thinking all the macrium talk would throw you - even with @DennisD excellent picture step-through)

No disrespect, but we need to keep this simple, very simple, so you can get the data backed up.

Your Send to... is the way to go - for you.

 

This is the theory (and almost 95% of the practise),

  1. put in your external storage device, it'll show as F:\ or G:\ drive or what have you.
  2. find your folder to backup
  3. right click that folder and Send To... that external drive
  4. repeat for all folders

Now, yes, it'll just copy what's there to the external - duplicates and all, yes it won't compress, yes, you will have to manually look after the folder sizes and cater for it overflowing the external drive, that is, you need to check the original folder size to see if it'll fit on the external device.

But it's simply and it works - after all, at this stage I simply want you to get your data off the PC and backed up to external storage.

 

THAT IS HURDLE ONE.

 

Then you can attack the PC rebuild (I think this is where we are heading) and sadly that will be your next hurdle - but small steps first, don't think that yet, let's get the data secured.

Backup now & backup often.
It's your digital life - protect it with a backup.
Three things are certain; Birth, Death and loss of data. You control the last.

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Negative on that one Andavari.

Just tested on my Win8.1 and a XP rig and Send To... does a copy, not a move.

I specifically tested it as Warlock will hopefully be using it, select a folder and Send To... an externally attached device.

Backup now & backup often.
It's your digital life - protect it with a backup.
Three things are certain; Birth, Death and loss of data. You control the last.

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Negative on that one Andavari.

Just tested on my Win8.1 and a XP rig and Send To... does a copy, not a move.

I specifically tested it as Warlock will hopefully be using it, select a folder and Send To... an externally attached device.

 

Try it with an program file .exe, to be precise. However, then again maybe I'm remembering an old nostalgia bug from the Win9x era that has nothing to do XP and newer.

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I think you are having a LSD flashback :D , just tried an .exe and same outcome - copies not moves.

Which is all good news for Warlock...  should be just the ticket to keeping it simple with readily available processes.

Backup now & backup often.
It's your digital life - protect it with a backup.
Three things are certain; Birth, Death and loss of data. You control the last.

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How about using "Send To compressed (zipped) folder"

That neatly avoids any possibility of moving the original file and crippling what remains of an operating system,

and allows you to backup up a much larger amount on an external device.

 

I am using 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate,

and have portable 7Zip which also supports the non-portable option to "Integrate 7Zip into the shell context menu".

I am guessing that this would work on XP also.

 

Regards

Alan

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hello. About the defraggler. you can run and pause/stop and run again as you will it will not hurt in any way.

About the overheating, well, whether a desktop or a laptop, try to remove the cover and see if it is to much dirty/dust. Sometimes is just that, other times can be a capacitor somewhere, but most likely near the processor or the BGA that either is blown/open or is in the process of being damage.

If you are using a laptop then i sugest you to buy a....; i am sorry i don t know how to say in english; a base/support with coolers to put on the bottom of your laptop.

Believe me, people say it doesnt do nothing for the laptop, but i assure you it does miracles.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Andavari,

 

Glad you got a hoot.  While I've never considered being a commodian I try to insert some humor ever now and then.  Have defused some serious situations with that approach.  If I can elicit a grin, smile or laugh and make someone's day a little better then that makes me feel good. On what follows, wasn't sure where to post this so I'll put this in the trusty hands of Moderators.

 

O.K., this is the Captain, all hands on deck for ship's status.  I owe all you folks a report of the defragging effort a few days ago.  Windows Defrag ran its course and got the hard drive clean as a whistle.  Confirmed that by analyzing with Defraggler and got the same results.  Thanks so much to all of you for sticking with me during this laborious task.  I hope I didn't wear everyone out with this but how do you all feel about working on the backup problem.  MTA's post on 12-14-2013 continues to haunt me and I have the feeling that a death sentence is near.

 

Of course I would ideally cherish backing everything up but just don't have the overall means as I stated earlier.  Could we improvise, adapt, overcome somehow?  Bearing in mind others have done everything concerning this machine; everything.  Tried to study up to no avail.  I have only a Smartdisk Firelite 30GB Mod USBFL30P given to me.  It;s empty but needs formatting, HUH? I have a 16GB Flash Drive Memory Stick on which a backup was done around May, 2013 also stored in a folder on the hard drive but have no idea what is on it as the wizard just set it up and left town.  Have three 1GB Sticks same condition.  Do not have pictures, music, etc. so only data saved from articles, how to do's.  If I could somehow save externally, preferring the drag and drop method what I would like, perhaps I could at least salvage some data before we go belly up.  System operating files such as drivers, applications, who knows.

 

Would you good folks think about this and share your thoughts on how to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear?  If you would let me know what information you need to evaluate please drop me a line.  I have Windows XP Professional 32 bit, SP3, Firefox v26.0  I have a 75GB Hard Drive © with about 29GB used and a 5GB (Q) Drive with about 3.5GB used and no idea what this is for certain, something about recovery from one of the wizards.  Mission: Impossible  Thanks again so much, all take care.

 

Warlock 

War...

This is my first post here, yet I found you trials and tribulation a source of comfort and relief.(right now everyone is thinking either this guy is an a**hole or sadist)  I am neither or I am both or whatever.... My former comment was b/c I know and feel your pain, for I was once in a very similar dark bottomless hole that you are in, (it however is not bottomless and not as dark as it seems, as you are finding out your friend here are helping to open your eyes so you can see the light and they may even throw you a rope to pull you out of that deep hole...[although sometimes you fail to catch the rope b/c your eyes have yet to adjust to the darkness....yet as I said the hole is not bottomless....which if you discover that fact by slamming into the ground b/c you thought you knew more then what you actually do, then it really F-ing hurts..lol.  Yet you seem more cautious then I, so I would fear not(or to you a phrase taken from a type of warship "fear and dread not") b/c you will see the light, catch the rope, and be pulled to the surface with the least bit of trouble. 

NOW for what I really wanted to say... You mentioned that you were full of ,,,you know what...right.   Any you seemed to be fairly proud of the quantity and quality, if your "brown gold" is as good as you say, I have a proposition for you.  (before that I want to say that a person said to buy a cooling rack, one of the small dual pancake fan blowers[cost $10-15 walmart even less online] to aid you in dealing with excess heat.  He was right, and I support his suggestion and back it up, b/c it does keep the temp down.  Also vacuum all vent duct on your system, dust  is like a nice warm winter coat to heat sinks.  Or use forced air to blow the dust out...or when how run to the shower and hose it down with nice cool water, I promise you will have no more problems with that laptop....cause it will be dead, that was my bad joke, dont use water.  Also, when powered down use a pin or pen to move the fan blade a little, just in case they have jammed up(usually you get a warning on start up saying fan not working, yet sometime you dont, and that little wiggle can help smooth out it performance.  There are other things you could do like go into your bios and set all fans to be running at full speed all the time, and not to cycle on and off to save power, yet I doubt you want to get into that yet, it is however very easy, and if you desire to do so, ask away and Im sure that most of these guys would be able to help you (better then I would wager).  I must apologize for I have gone off on another tangent...yet now Im back to the "brown gold" proposition.  I have a surplus of hard drive, with different specs on each.  If you are interested I would be more then willing and happy to give you one, two, or even three, if you desired and if they would be of help. I said give yet it would not be totally free, I would need you to get me some of that high quality "brown gold" in exchange for the drives(plus shipping, no handling charges).  I think 3 kilograms of the b. gold would be fair, and you can either fedex, UPS, USPS, it to me or the best way is W.C.(stands for water closet..a.k.a. the toilet.).  Anywaysss bad tasting jokes aside the drives, which I will list their spec. next, are yours if you want.  Also I have 4 or five old laptops that still run, in fact I am using on now, its a dell inspiron 9300(have 2) as well as 2 presario 900's, avetec 3150, another dell inspiron forgot number, alienware area 51 and 2 or maybe 3 more.  They are older yet run fine, one of the 9300 is missing 3 keys right ctrl del and pgup, (im using that one now) the other has full set.  Anyway back to the hard drives, oh yeah, I forgot I wanted to ask you guys could he back up/transfer via sent to he stuff onto DVD data disks?  One more thing my dad just got an external USB connecting backup device which is AMAZINGLY simple to use.  You plug in power and USB and slip the new drive into the cradle and the computer does the rest...cost 19.99.  hard drive extra, yet takes all sata types (desktop and laptop size).  Its called "plugable USB 3.0 docking station 2.5" and 3.5" HD sata".  Enough already Im sorry, here is the data/specs I mentioned:

12 plus 2.5" laptop HD all but one are ATA/IDE or "ultra ATA" type connection (they are the ones with all the little gold pin connections [22 pins on the bottom 21 on the top with the "missing 22 pin" being the blind pinless area in the middle.])  The 12th HD is a SATA type connection.

I also have six (6) 3.5" desktop HD all having the newer SATA type connections.     NOW for the detailed info, i.e. capacity...

Starting with the older model of the 2.5" ATA/IDE design,  3 of them are travelstar IBM all 3 are 4200rpm, 2 are 10.06GB, 1 is 6.00GB.  Next are 2 Toshiba standard speed 1- 20GB and 1- 40GB.  Following them are 2  Hitachi, 1 is a travel ta, 4200rpm, and an older slow speed 6.4GB, then a fujitsu Model MHS2020AT(I believe 20GB) std speed, then a segate Ultra ATA 60GB 4200rpm.  I also have a 35GB in this computer im on, a 40GB in the avertec, another 30GB floating around some where and finally the SATA Western digital 250GB std speed.  That most of the laptop drives (I just recycled a handful of both types at an e-scrap yard, who pay 40-65 cents per pound...chicken feed..lol) So, onto the 3.5 HD

As noted before all are SATA.  I believe all are high speed 7200rpm.  The smallest pair are 80GB Seagate barracuda 7200.7,  The next trio are Samsung, the smallest I am unsure of the speed, it says 3Gb/s yet nothing more, its 250GB, Mod# SP2504C.  The following pair are 500GB, 7200rpm, mod#HD501LJ.  Finally I have 1 WD 500GB, 7200rpm.  Some of the drives still have XP installed, the 250GB laptop SATA drive has vista, and 2 of the small drive have Linux.  I can reformat them or leave the OS as is, its up to you.  Well I have babbled on long enough, and bored the "brown gold" out of you, yet I heard your story and it reminded me of myself, and I wanted to let you know that I feel for you and I am willing to try to help.  I will check back periodically to see if you are interested.  If not then I will just have to remain on the sidelines rooting you on.  Until you see the light, grab line and are pulled to computer happiness, I have only this to say......take it light....--KB

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