Boot-Time Defragmentation Overview

Boot-Time Defragmentation consists of three independent activities:

Note: Directory consolidation is not available in V-locity® Guest.

Directory Defragmentation and Consolidation — moves directories to a single location. The various editions of Windows write directories into random locations all over a volume. This, in effect, breaks up the free space on the volume. By grouping all the directories into a single location on a volume, larger areas of contiguous free space become available. Therefore, new files are more likely to be written to the volume in a contiguous manner. This also helps make V-locity more effective when it is run in either the Automatic or Manual defragmentation modes.

Note that on NTFS volumes, directories can be moved and defragmented online, which makes directory consolidation at boot time on these volumes unnecessary. You can use the Directory Consolidation option in the V-locity Configuration Properties to allow V-locity to consolidate the directories into a single location on your NTFS volumes during Automatic Defragmentation. However, Boot-Time directory defragmentation and consolidation can be useful on FAT volumes.

Paging File Defragmentation — defragments the paging file. Fragmented paging files can slow Windows performance. They can also hurt the effectiveness of V-locity, since the unmovable paging file fragments break up the free space on the volume. By defragmenting your paging file, you can help maintain peak Windows performance, and help V-locity run better at the same time. After a paging file has been defragmented, it should remain contiguous unless its size is changed.
Master File Table (MFT) Defragmentation — defragments the Master File Table (MFT). The MFT is a critical section of Windows NTFS disk volumes. The MFT is used by the NTFS file system to locate files on a volume, so fragmentation of the MFT slows the retrieval of files on the disk—whether these files themselves are fragmented or not. Defragmenting the MFT will improve the overall performance of the volume.

Note that on Windows XP and later operating systems, most, but not all of the Master File Table can be defragmented by V-locity during normal Automatic or Manual defragmentation operations. Boot-Time Defragmentation is still required to fully defragment the MFT, but it usually does not need to occur as often as it does on Windows 2000.

Boot-Time Defragmentation opens up larger areas of contiguous free space for new file creation and modification.

Important: For best results with Boot-Time Defragmentation, Condusiv Technologies strongly recommends:

Make sure you have sufficient contiguous free space. Delete unneeded files and perform one or more manual defragmentation runs to defragment the volume as much as possible.
Enable the Run the system "CHKDSK" utility before defragmentation option. This will help prevent vital files from being moved to bad disk sectors, which could make your computer unbootable.
Condusiv Technologies recommends rebooting your computer before running Boot-Time Defragmentation if there are any pending reboots requested, such as from installing new Microsoft updates. This ensures the installation or update is complete before any data is moved on the disk.
Boot-Time Defragmentation can take a long time, especially on very large disk volumes that are severely fragmented. Therefore, before running it, you should:

Schedule the Boot-Time Defragmentation on weekends or other time when the machine is not needed immediately.
Perform the Boot-Time Defragmentation on only one disk volume at a time.

Several points about Boot-Time Defragmentation:

Since Boot-Time Defragmentation runs before USB and Firewire controllers are fully operational, it cannot be run on external USB or Firewire disks. For the same reason, you cannot specify a USB or Firewire external disk as the location for the summary log file described below.
Keep in mind that for maximum efficiency, the Boot-Time Defragmentation operation concentrates only on files that cannot be defragmented online. It is not intended to defragment all the files on your disk.
Boot-Time Defragmentation relies on having a contiguous free space into which to move the directories and/or paging file on your volume. Therefore, it is beneficial to run V-locity in either the Automatic or Manual Defragmentation mode before running Boot-Time Defragmentation.
Boot-Time Defragmentation is a one-time operation. After it runs on a volume, it is not automatically set up to run again. You must set it each time you want it to run on a volume. It is usually not necessary to run Boot-Time Defragmentation repeatedly on a volume.
It is safe to restart your computer midway through the Boot-Time Defragmentation operation. However, if you do so, you should use the Error Checking option in Drive Properties | Tools on the volume that was being processed when you restarted your computer, and enable both the fix and the scan options, or (if you are running from the Windows Command Prompt) run CHKDSK, using the /F qualifier. This ensures the files and free space on the volume are correctly allocated.
After running Boot-Time Defragmentation, use Automatic Defragmentation to keep the volume defragmented.

Boot-Time Defragmentation Properties

Follow these steps to open the Boot-Time Defragmentation page of the Volume Properties console and enable or disable Boot-Time Defragmentation on one or more volumes:

Open the Volume Properties task group in the Quick Launch pane and select Boot-Time Defragmentation.

Tip: You can also use the Boot-Time Defragmentation button to open the Boot-Time Defragmentation properties page.

Select one or more volumes in the Computer pane. Keep in mind that each volume will be processed in sequence, and the operation can take a considerable time when multiple volumes are selected. For this reason, it is recommended that you only run Boot-Time Defragmentation on one volume at a time. Also note that the settings shown in the Boot-Time Defragmentation Properties page are default values that will be used when you enable Boot-Time Defragmentation on a volume. They are not indications that Boot-Time Defragmentation is already enabled
Select or clear the Enable Boot-Time Defragmentation to run on the selected volume checkbox and click OK to save your changes and close the Volume Properties console, or click Apply to save your changes and keep the Volume Properties console open.

The following controls are available in the Boot-Time Defragmentation properties page:

Computer Pane

Use this section of the Boot-Time Defragmentation properties page to specify the volume(s) upon which you want to run Boot-Time Defragmentation. You can select more than one volume at a time, but be aware that the volumes will be processed one at a time, and your computer will be restarted automatically after each volume is processed. This will substantially increase the time needed to complete the operation.

Enable Boot-Time Defragmentation to run on the selected volume

Use this option to enable Boot-Time Defragmentation on the volumes you select in the Computer pane. When Boot-Time Defragmentation is enabled, you can choose from any one of these options:

Run Boot-Time Defragmentation the next time this computer is manually rebooted — The boot-time operation will take place the next time the computer is rebooted
Run Boot-Time Defragmentation based on a scheduled time — These controls specify when the computer will be automatically rebooted. Choose a date and time with the controls provided.

About one hour before a scheduled Boot-Time Defragmentation is due to be run, a message is broadcast at regular intervals to all users logged on to the computer, informing them that a scheduled reboot is about to take place and requesting them to log off. If at the scheduled time someone is still logged on and Run Boot-Time Defragmentation even if this volume is being used by remote users is cleared, the computer will not reboot, but will instead perform the Boot-Time defragmentation the next time the computer is rebooted manually. If this option is set, however, the machine will reboot at the scheduled time, regardless of whether or not any users are logged on.

Put all folders together on the volume

Select this option to defragment and consolidate the directories of the selected volumes, the next time your computer starts up. This option is not available on NTFS volumes when Automatic Defragmentation is enabled on the volume, since this is done automatically when V-locity is running online.

Defragment the paging file

Select this option to defragment the paging file of the selected volume the next time your computer starts up.

Defragment the Master File Table (MFT)

Select this option to defragment the MFT of the selected volume the next time your computer starts up.

Run the system "CHKDSK" utility before defragmentation

Use this control to specify whether the Windows CHKDSK disk error checking utility is run (using the /F qualifier) before the boot-time operation. Running CHKDSK adds time to the Boot-Time Defragmentation operation, but it can correct disk errors that otherwise would hamper effective directory consolidation.

Note: Enabling the CHKDSK option will cause CHKDSK to run on each selected volume before the Boot-Time Defragmentation process. The time increase can be considerable and Condusiv Technologies therefore recommends performing boot-time defragmentation on one volume at a time.

Also Note: After enabling the CHKDSK option, neither Automatic nor Manual Defragmentation will be able to run on the disk until you reboot. For this reason, Diskeeper Corporation recommends waiting to enable this option until just before you are ready to reboot your computer.

Produce the summary log file

Use this option to cause a text file to be written that summarizes the Boot-Time Defragmentation operation. When this option is enabled, a default volume letter, directory, and file name are shown in the dialog box similar to this:

By default, the summary file is written to your floppy drive (A:). This dialog box can be edited to specify another volume, directory path, and filename. Be aware that the summary file cannot be written to the volume upon which you are running Boot-Time Defragmentation. It also cannot be written to external USB or Firewire volumes, since these volumes are not fully operational at boot-time. Also note that the filename should not contain any spaces.

Note: Some computers read the floppy drive at boot-time. We therefore recommend not writing the summary file to the A: drive, unless no other volumes are available.

Run Boot-Time Defragmentation even if this volume is being used by remote users

When this option is set, the computer will force a reboot at the scheduled date and time, if the Run Boot-Time Defragmentation based on a scheduled time option has been selected, regardless of whether or not anyone is logged on to the machine. Users who are logged on will be notified at regular intervals, starting one hour before the scheduled reboot, to give them an opportunity to log off.

If this option is cleared, a scheduled reboot will not occur at the scheduled date and time if one or more users are still logged on when the reboot is due. In that case, the Boot-Time Defragmentation will occur the next time the machine is rebooted manually.

OK

Click OK to save any changes to the Boot-Time Defragmentation properties on the selected volumes and close the Volume Properties console. Boot-Time Defragmentation will be run as scheduled on any volumes that are specified.

Apply

Click Apply to save any changes to the Boot-Time Defragmentation properties on the selected volumes without closing the Volume Properties console. When Boot-Time Defragmentation has been enabled on a volume, it will be noted in the Computer pane of the Boot-Time Defragmentation Properties dialog and the main V-locity console.

Cancel

Click Cancel to close the Boot-Time defragmentation dialog box without making any changes.