AVI Files Clogging Defrag

[Gra]

Hi Guys

Over the last little while my defrag has been taking longer and longer using Norton Systmeworks - several hours at least!!

Last night I used the defrag included in XP's system tools and found that the reason is a whole bunch of my MSP of VS AVI files, most of them around 1gig in size that the XP defrag tool wouldn't defrag - just logged them as undefragable.

I don't want to delete them and wonder if anyone else faced this problem or if anyone can offer any ideas how to overcome this defrag issue in view if the fact that defrag is v. important for editing.

PS
What was the reason why the web board was down for so long??

[Devil]

Well, is it not pretty obvious that a 1 Gb or greater file may be fragmented into a thousand bits and may need much manipulation to defrag, especially if you have little free space on the partition for temporary storage of bits? This will take time. If you have other drives/DVDs etc that you can use for temporary storage, I suggest you may care to transfer all your files elsewhere, reformat (full) your video partition and then transfer them back again. This does a better job than defragging and is usually quicker. I always reformat my video drive (single partition) before starting a new project to avoid the need to defrag in mid-project.

[Gorf]

Well, is it not pretty obvious that a 1 Gb or greater file may be fragmented into a thousand bits and may need much manipulation to defrag...

It shouldn't actually make any difference to the defrag how many fragments there are - if the file has just one split, it will still be copied to a new location on the HDD in its entirety.

If you have a huge chunk of contiguous free space, it might be worth manually copying your video files to a duplicate directory, then delete the original directory, then rename the copy to the original. But Devil's right - absolutely the best way is to copy the drive contents elsewhere, format, then copy back.

[Gra]

Thanks guys for your advice.

I suppose the thing that is getting at me is that it used to defrag within an hour or two but it's only recently that this has started to appear as a problem.

[tv_news_guy]

Gra

I found the easiest way around the "frag problem". I drag the files to another drive. Then delete em from the (to be defragged) drive, then empty the recycle bin, then defrag the drive, then drag em back on the drive after defrag is done. If you drag em back onto a freshly defragged drive they will be continuous on the drive after you drag em back in.
Saves me a lot of time. Even makes me keep aware of what's taking up space and to stay on top of archiving and housecleaning and such.

Hope this helps.

Bill tv_news_guy
Non-linear editing is half art/half brain damage

[sjj1805]

A good piece of computer housekeeping practice is to use the Windows Scheduler and create scheduled de fragmentations.

I have 3 internal hard drives and my system is set up so that at 4am
Monday & Thursday = Drive C
Tuesday & Friday = Drive D
Wednesday & Saturday = Drive Z

Due to the regular de fragmentation practice my system will defragment quite quickly and it also takes place when I am asleep.

[Gra]

Thanks again for all your comments.

My HD is 230Gig but I'm down to just 65GB of free space, so I suppose it's time to do some spring cleaning as my video files are the main space gobbling culprits (I'm a terrible horder). When I had this system built I was advised there was no need to partition the HD, so I've only the one C drive (although I'm thinking of buying an additional HD to plug in and maybe use that only for my video AVI files, etc.

I'm planning to either archive (or delete unused) files on DVDs but leave the MSP DVP project files on the hard drive. To ensure I don't delete a file forever that may be needed for a relink later, is there a feature that calls up a list of all the files I've included in a project or do I have to go through each timeline and jot down the files I've used?

I've had a good look but so far I cannot seem to find such a feature, only one that calls up the DVP files I've inserted.

[sjj1805]

Try Smart Package.
You get to it from the toolbar.
Project : Smart Package.

[Devil]

There has been a thread on this subject in the MUG forum at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/mug- ... r=1&tidx=1

You may find this interesting regarding the best way to use HDD space and to limit defragging.