Defrag Can Crash A Computer???

Tygart · Jan 7, 2007

Ok I am being told that defraging your computer can mess up, (Crash) your computer.

Is this true?? If it is how so? I have never had any trouble with my built in Defrag program.

What was said:
Note:this is a disscussion on a photography forum

The one that comes with the OS. And yes, it can crash the computer or rather it can corrupt the discs which causes the computer to crash so same difference. It's not that uncommon when all things are said and done. I am running a corporate network with thousands of PCs on it and have been in the IT industry for over 20 years... I know about the mucky underside of Microsoft's operating system and I've seen it face to face too often. Nowadays we tend to run with the defrag component of the OS disabled - not uncommon for a corporate. It's of marginal benefit compared to the hassle of rebuilding machines.

You might get away with it a hundred times, a thousand times or it might take you out sooner than that. Luck of the draw. If you do feel the urge to defrag your hard disc, make sure you have a good backup and test that you can restore from it before you start.

Is he nuts or am I lucky.

Rob

bchur83 · Jan 7, 2007

I have a HD that is going bad (Bad Sectors) and whenever I try to defrag it, it will BSOD my PC. It is really annoying. I have heard though that defraging can cause corruption and crash your PC. It is just a possibility that anyone must accept. Anything that is done on a PC has the potential to cause some sort of problems.

Tygart · Jan 7, 2007

Ok thanks, this is the first time I have ever heard of this.

dicecca112 · Jan 7, 2007

um, no come on guys lets be logical with this. The only way it can be bad is if your hard drive is already dying. Rearranging files is no different than normal reading and writing on a hard drive.

bchur83 · Jan 7, 2007

I have seen this happen in person. It wasnt a hardware failure either. It wasnt the windows defrag, but Norton Speeddisk. There was a version that could cause HD corruption, and I have seen it first hand corrupt the OS.

Jon · Jan 7, 2007

dicecca112 said:
um, no come on guys lets be logical with this. The only way it can be bad is if your hard drive is already dying. Rearranging files is no different than normal reading and writing on a hard drive.

Defragging a near capacity drive can definately cause a system crash. Not to mention irrecoverable file system damage.

Just ask my boss. It happened to him a couple of weeks ago. I had to go and get an external USB drive just to recover his email. His hard drive did not fail, it simply corrupted files due to lack of space when moving them about for optimization.

Burnout01 · Jan 7, 2007

Doesn't Defrag require at least 12% free disk space? You're not trying to defrag a full drive are you?

Captain Newbie · Jan 7, 2007

Jon said:
Defragging a near capacity drive can definately cause a system crash. Not to mention irrecoverable file system damage.

Just ask my boss. It happened to him a couple of weeks ago. I had to go and get an external USB drive just to recover his email. His hard drive did not fail, it simply corrupted files due to lack of space when moving them about for optimization.

Yep. Think about what a defragger does.

Tygart · Jan 7, 2007

Ok thanks for your post Jon, the starter of the thread on my photography forum, his HDD was near capacity and it did crash.

Bchur83 in that case I can see it could cause troble having a stand alone program defraing for you.

Dicecca thanks for your reply that is what I thought, but wasnt too sure.

Defrag Can Crash A Computer???

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