Can defragmentation be cancelled?

[BS OConnor]

I am trying to de-frag a new laptop and the it is showing 23 hours + to complete.  Does the deflaggler have to go completely through the 23 hours or can I stop the de-frag and then pickup where the defrag left off or does the de-frag have to start over from the start?

Thanks!

[Nergal]

I've moved this to the defraggler subforum.

Yes you can cancel it at any point and files defragged will stay defragged (until windows refraggs them).  Some more files will have been fragmented between your analysis and cancellation so it won't really be picking up where it left off.

Think of windows as a child when it comes to defragment/refragment; as soon as the child's room is clean s/he starts pulling out all the toys and remessing the room.

 

Edit: the twenty-four hours is an estimation at the particular moment.  That time may get smaller quickly and may increase to a longer time just as quickly.

Edited September 25, 2019 by Nergal

[BS OConnor]

Hi Nergal,

Thanks much for your response.  Now I feel okay to stop the de-fragg and pick it up again the next morning.

Have a great day!

[Andavari]

When stopping any defrag software:
1. Make sure the program GUI shows that it successfully stopped.
2. After closing the defrag program, make sure it isn't still running in the background doing something, i.e.; still defragmenting.

Reason to do this is if a defrag program is working on a large file (or a very slow hard disk) it may not stop for some amount of time.