disk defrag and scan disk

Hornster

when i try to run scan disk and disk defragmentor from win98se i get an error message saying that i do not have enough memory to run.
i have an 80Gb Seagate Barracuda ATA HDD and 512Mb DDR PC2100 and have tried running it in safe mode also.
my hard drive is new (after my 60Gb died - but never had problems with running defrag?!) and was partitioned as one, using fdisk.
would changing the settings in bios to LBA etc help?
have looked at microsoft's online help, but offers no real solutions:

am thinking of getting diskeeper, but untill i do, would like to solve this problem, especially so that i can also use scan disk - norton is more hassle than its worth!

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Mr. Belvedere

There isn't. Windows 98SE is quite painful when it comes to large memory management.

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John375

Large HD's have two problems, the Bios and then Windows. Both have to see the full hard drive.

Bios - - You need some type ATA-100 card, ATA-133 card, or have such built into the motherboard for the Bios to see the big hard drive. Watch your bootup screen and see if the Bios sees the full HD. Most new motherboards should handle HD's to 131 Gb

Next comes the Window problem. Windows 98-98SE will not handle hard-drives beyond 31Gb unless they are partitioned. Later Window versions allow bigger HD's, but even Windiows XP requires hard drives over 131 Gb to be partitioned Open the desktop My Computer icon, and then right-click the C-drive and see what Windows sees as to HD size

As said above, Win98SE does not do defrag particulary well on large HD's. When I had Win98SE, I gave up with the Window defrag tools and used the software VoptME (now called VoptXP). Problem was that the Windows defrag did not block disk writes, thus was forever re-starting the defrag, and rarely ever finished. (It times-out after ten tries or so, and just quits). VoptME blocked the disk writes and finished the job

Also suggest that you dump Win98-98SE. It is far too unstable (crashes) and just way too weak. WinXP is indeed far more stable and better.

scotton

your problem running defrag is probably a ram memory problem not a hard drive problem. Open my computer and then go to help and see how much system resorces or memory available(ram)- if its below 70 percent then you may have too many programs in your startup. You can run msconfig and also close out programs by ctrl-alt-delete and closing out most programs that are running and disable your virus protection while you run defrag or scandisk. Hope this helps You.

xtacydima

Win98 had trouble couping with a 60gig and an 80gig from PC's I have worked on. Win2k/Xp are better at handling larger HDD, and NTFS is more proficient. Try secondary tools, I think a co-worker had success with the norton utilities (don't know which version) to run a defrag.

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Hornster

in response to previous posts:

have a new motherboard and in bios, hdd shows up as 80GB, in windows it shows up correctly also (74.4GB after FAT formatting)

problem with restarting defrager can be solved by running it in safe mode, thereby not loading startup programs - solving system resources problems

am in process of getting diskeeper 7 as it has been given tremendous reviews, and am possibly going to ditch win98se for winXPpro anyway

tried norton utilities defrag before and didn't think much of it - and ended up taking off systemworks 2003 as it caused problems with the running of my computer, though may have to go back to using norton disk doctor to replace scan disk.
anti-virus may also come in usefull as i recently, after having all sorts of problems, used norton systemworks emergency floppy disks to run anti-virus in dos (couldn't load windows) and found a virus spead throughout my hdd called W95.CIH.
is this the new virus thats been on the news??
the files that it couldn't repair, i deleted (including windows system files) and used the windows 98 system recovery tool to reinstall windows without having to format the hdd and without losing any other data, which i was quite impressed with (and before anyone says it, i know winXP would have replaced those files automatically, but hey, i don't have winXP!).
seems to be working fine now and hopefully i've gotten rid of the virus (fingers crossed )

ashbonne

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John375

I rate VoptXPv7 defragger the best. O&O Defrag would be next. These are small dedicated defraggers and work very well. My experience has been to stay with small single-purpose softwares as they work month after month, never crashing, and never consuming your resources.
Diskeeper did not prove useful to me when I tried it, so I discarded it. Norton Utilities was a nightmare, as it never really worked well after a few months and was too big, clumsy to bother with. Norton has the reputation of being a resource Hog.

For antivirus, try the free AVG. It worko beautifully, with auto-updates.

Also suggest you partition your Hard drive - - Operating system, followed by a Data section . Store everything in the Data section, nothing in the OS section. Use the Acronis partition and drive image software, Make a drive image of your OS, store to Data section, then to CDs. When hit by a corrupt OS or bad virus, just recall a drive image and be up and running bug-free in a half-hour

Inertia

Your statement about Win98SE is untrue. I have a Win98SE system with three 80 GB drives, only one of which is partitioned. On the partitioned drive, both partitions are greater than 31 GB. There are no problems with any of the full 80 GB drives or partitioned 40 GB drives (38.2 gibibytes each).

Win98SE defrags fine on large hard drives for me. I use the Norton Speed Disk without problems. There are other utilities such as Vopt that can be used without problems. If Windows Defrag doesn't work as well as supplementary defrag utilities, this is not a Win98 problem, but a weakness of the built in utility.

I disagree with this assessment. I have both systems (dual boot) and find that WinXP has plenty of its own problems, including blue screen crashes. I will agree that WinXP is far more complicated and pretentious. All in all, I use Win98SE far more than WinXP, and am satisfied with its stability and performance.

Lots of people have WinXP instability and crash problems, but I don't advise them to dump it and switch to Win98SE because I think it is more stable and better.

John375

Your choice as to what you like. I have had both Win98-98SE, WinMe, and WinXP. To me, WinXP is far more stable. With Win98-98SE and with WinMe, crashes always started within a month of re-format & re-install - - and by three to four months I either had to re-formated or recalled a drive image to eliminate the crashes that were occurring daily by then. With WinXP, I get far more months before I have to recall a drive image

I also had a 80 Gb HD with Win98. Motherboard would not see it, updating MB Bios proved futile, and in the end had to use an ATA-100 card. After that, had trouble with Windows seeing the full HD.

John375

As to using the Win98-98SE defrag utility. The utility was widely known to be faulty. It would defrag, then start all over from the very beginning if a disk write occurs. After ten tries or so, the Windows defrag utility simply quits - - but reports that the defrag was completed, when in fact it was not even close to being completed.

So, before you claim that the Win98-98se-Me defrag works, use a software like VoptMe or VoptXP "after the Windows defrag utility is done" to see what was really accomplished.

I have somewhere stored all kinds of third party softwares that targeted by-passing the Windows defrag utility problems. Some softwares would re-start the computer and do the defrag before anything booted-up. Some softwares would shut down everything not needed and then do the defrag. These softwares were marginally successful.

Then VoptMe appeared (VoptXP nowadays) and it was the hottest thing going. It simply blocked all disk writes and did the defrag. It was really, really fast compared to the Windows defrag utility. For Win98-98Se-Me, VoptMe was the best. When WinXP came along, VoptXP and O&O defrag seem to be neck-in-neck as to being the best

Also, the defrag softwares now defrag differently. Previously, the defrag put everything in order, one item after another. When done, the HD was filled at the beginning, and empty everywhere thereafter. This took lots of time. The Defrag softwares no longer do this type defragging

John375

As to WinXp vs Win98-98se-Me. It is very rare to see anyone adverse to the statement that WinXP is more stable. I must belong to some 50-100 forums, and have not really seen such statements. Universally, all seem to favor WinXP.

The problem is that WinXP is most likely phycologically iritating. The Windows Explorer is different. The My Pictures always has the annoying thumbnails. The colors are all different. WinXP definitely has a different look, and this may be the main reason for disliking WinXP

At first, WinXP annoyed the heck out of me. It took some time to adjust, and sometime to learn how to undo the new WinXP look

Inertia

If you will reread my post you will see that I didn't recommend using the Win98 Defrag utility, and didn't claim that it worked well. My comment about Scandisk was meant to be the Defrag utility. I have edited my post to correct this term.

I have also tried and used all of the mentioned defraggers such as Vopt, Norton, Diskeeper, etc.. They usually work in different ways to approach a defrag solution, and the best one is the one that fits the needs of the user. Golden Bow, the developer of Vopt, has been writing software since 1984. I believe that Vopt was one of their first products.

I would not quibble about WinXP not being "more stable". It is still not very stable, in my opinion, and has had features removed that would have contributed to stability in order to have greater hardware and software compatibility. The vaunted stability of WinXP is a myth, as far as I am concerned. Perhaps if nothing much is loaded on the computer it will be stable, but that is true for most operating systems.

John375

VoptXP Defrag vs O&O Defrag - - They are both good. They are small, simple dedicated softwares that work correctly month after month, easily surviving any system crashes in the mean time

One thing I do not like in VoptXP is the inability to schedule 1:00 AM defrags. My computer is always on, with DSL connected. So I virus update and scan everything, each and every night.

I would like to defrag each and every night. But VoptXP allows scheduling only on cold-bootup or warm-bootup, and I rarely do this bootup. Perhaps, the O&O Defrag allows this nightly schedule. Will have to check this

Inertia

I had the discretion not to load WinME (although I have it) just because Microsoft was touting its latest money machine. By all accounts, WinME is an overstuffed turkey that failed to improve on Win98SE and was full of bugs and other problems.

I have never had the types of problems you describe with Win98SE, and have never had to reformat or had unsolvable crash problems. I almost never have to restore a backup, but when I do it is invariably because of something I did that caused a problem.

I have a mind-boggling array of software loaded, including 15-20 burning programs and don't have conflict problems.

This sounds like a hardware/BIOS problem. I have had none of those problems with recent hardware and Win98SE.

ckin2001

same here.

fully updated win98se is just as stable as winxp. probably more so. out of box win98se is not. of course, who would pay for an os when the best one(s) is(are) free?

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FastGame

RUOK ?

cloakdoa

Ok Im running Xp on a few machines and the only major crash problems were hardware related not Xp related. If you dont like the damn teletubbies green grass picture when Xp is first installed you can change it to something else(One of mine has Freddy vs Jason as a desktop). You can also make it look like Windows2000 if you want to.

As far as the defrag/scandisk things, they are both there for maintenance purposes and Microsoft copied the idea from different companies. Central Point (now owned by Symantec)
made the first defragmenter for Windows in windows 3. M$ licensed the first from them and made there own. Central Point also made that now worthless virus scanner built into Windows 95. Scandisk was an idea borrowed from Symantec also.

What Im getting at here is whatever works for your current computer, by all means use it, of course after you have made the effort to purchase it. When I went to Xp I had to give up Cdrwin, I use cdmate, no big deal. If you find that O&O or M$ scandisk works better for you use it!!

Also for partitions that are really big, you can use partition magic to make Windows98Se use the rest of the drive so it is not wasted.

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ckin2001

lol - winxp was (should have been) 6-9 months from market when it got released :P

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flecc

You can see the perfect defrag in the Windows XP defrag tool. Click this link to see both the result and how to do it:

http://users.tinyworld.co.uk/flecc/tips'n_tricks.html