Running Defrag on Win98

[marsmgr2004]

I'm trying to defrag my drives [Master and slave], Defrag keeps getting stalled at about 8% then finally shows a "disk error" message. I've run ScanDisk and checked the disk for errors. None!

I've also closed every window open before running defrag...Still locks up...Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[rainbore]

Did you run ScanDisk in "thorough" mode with a surface check?

I sometimes have to go into msconfig/StartUp to turn off some programs that run in the background when I want to do a ScanDisk session. Otherwise the restarts are killers.

Good luck!

[satis]

if you're feeling really froggy I can instruct you on how to make defrag run automatically at boot, before absolutely any program runs. However, switching it back requires the use of DOS, so I dunno if you wanna go that far or not. :)

[paulselhi]

defrag on w98 is problematic if anti virus is running at the same time ( and some time zone alarm) switch them off when running defrag

in fact if you do a regular virus scan and are not using the net why not pull the plug on you internet connection, disable services like dns client, dhcp client, server, computer browser, remote access, event log, print spoolers, anti virus etc etc. then create a profile for this config and use it when disconnected from the web

i am aiming at 24 x 7 cable and dsl users here

You will free up loads of resources and can then run resource hungry apps much better

i know anti virus is a must but having it on all the time sucks on resources, switch it off see the difference

[marsmgr2004]

Originally posted by satis
if you're feeling really froggy I can instruct you on how to make defrag run automatically at boot, before absolutely any program runs. However, switching it back requires the use of DOS, so I dunno if you wanna go that far or not. :)

Satis,

I'm willing to go to that extreme [I have a few "froggy" tendencies occasionally, :)]...

How do I do it??

Thanks!!

[satis]

sure thing. Setting it to go isn't all that hard, just do this:

1. Go to Start | Run
2. Type msconfig and hit enter.
3. switch to the system.ini tab.
4. hit the + next to [boot]
5. a couple lines down you'll see something that says:
shell=Explorer.exe
6. Highlight it and hit the edit button.
7. Change it to read:
shell=defrag.exe
8. Hit ok and restart the computer. Defrag will automatically run, and nothing else. Ever.

That's the easy part.

Switching it back is a bit more of a pain. When you first start your computer, you'll notice there's the memory count and the BIOS beep. After the BIOS beep, hold down the ctrl key. Hopefully that'll be after the BIOS checks for stuck keys, so you won't get an error. Keep holding it down, and eventually you should get the win98 startup menu.

Choose 'command prompt' and this'll put you in DOS mode. Type the following:

cd \windows
edit system.ini

this'll open up a DOS edit box. Find that line we changed earlier (shell=defrag.exe) and change it back to read:

shell=explorer.exe (capitalization doesn't matter)

save the file (hit alt, down arrow on the file heading, then save), quit out (alt, down arrow on file, quit) and restart the computer. Everything should be back to normal now.

If you need clarification, or an alternate way to boot to DOS, let me know. I HIGHLY suggest you check your ability to boot into DOS mode prior to doing the actual system.ini editing. Some people have mondo trouble booting into DOS mode, and in some cases it's just easier to create a DOS boot disk.

Anyway, I hope that wasn't too much info. :)

[Barry]

Instead of changing the msconfig file, try this.

Edit the autoexec.bat file to include the following line

scandisk /all /autofix /nosave /nosummary

(There is a space before each of the slashes.)

Save the file.

When you boot the system, it will read the autoexec.bat file and start the scandisk operation.

/all means all contained hard drives. I use partitions in mine, so it gets all of them
/autofix means it will fix anything it finds without requiring user input
/nosave means not to save a report when done
/nosummary means don't provide a report when done.

If you want anything above, don't include the switch.

Its also great to use in dos mode.

[Barry]

Should have mentioned, when the system is done running Scandisk via the autoexec.bat file, it will then boot into Windows for you and be ready to use.

[satis]

erm, not to be a party-pooper or anything, but he's trying to run defrag, not scandisk. :P Still, that's pretty cool. I was sure you could run scandisk in autoexec.bat, but I didn't know the switches.

Speaking of autoexec.bat (and config.sys) does anyone know if these files are processed in the nt-kernel based OS's (win2k, Winxp primarily)? I'm curious if I could run a config.sys program to make a ram drive prior to the O/S actually loading. That way I could permanently move a swap file to RAM drive. :D

[Barry]

What a clutz I'm getting to be. Yes, that was Defrag.

In the past, I was able to put a line in the autoexec to have it run defrag on drives. Seemed work well in DOS world.

Try addding

defrag c:

See if it works. I'll be trying it again over the next day to see if it does. It either will or will give a notice it can't.