Setting XP to auto defrag - Overclock.net

**Krunk_Kracker** · 04-09-07

Hey guys, I did a search on the forum and noticed that there arent any FAQ's or threads on doing this, so I thought I'd do a small how-to. It's very easy, and helps makes your PC maintenance easier

Anyways......first off you want to pull up the command console by going to run->cmd

Then, your gonna want to know what what commands can be used in your batch file (oh yeah, I guess I forgot to say were going to be writing a simple batch file for this, lol) by typing "defrag /?". Below is what it will show...

So, the context is thus

defrag [drive letter]: [space] [commands]

-v gives you a visual of what will be performed, no reason really not to use this command, it gived the percentage of fragmented files, and ect ect.

-a will obviously just tell you what condition the files on your drive is in, but not defrag the drive/drives.

-f well, shouldn't really be used, but it will force the defrag if you dont have more than....15% free space I think it is.

Anywho...now to the batch file.

Open up notepad (start->all programs->accessories->notepad, for teh noobs

).

I have a RAID0 array using 2 WD80 gig drives and a 120gig backup, so in order for me to auto defrag both drives, I'll need to do the format in the notepad like so:

Quote:

defrag e: -v
defrag c: -v
pause

e: is my boot drive and c: is my backup drive....I dunno really how that happened, lol. Anyways, if you only have one drive, you only need one defrag command, if you have 8 drives, do it 8 times with the corresponding drive letter.

"pause" is important because the command line will auto shut off if it's not in place, and I like to see the console when it's done defraging so I know it's complete.

Now, you need to save it as a .bat, and NOT as a .txt. Do this by choosing a place to save it first, I made a new folder in "My Documents" called "Scheduled", but you can do as you wish. Anyways, choose to save it as "All Files" and make the file name [anything].bat, but DO NOT use "defrag" as it will conflict with the defrag.exe and endlessly loop and not do anything at all. I use defrag1.bat

Alright, so noting where you saved the file, on to actually scheduling this beasty.

Open up the Scheduled Task menu by following my screeny, if you do not know how, then click the "Add New Task" option.

Now, once you click on the "add new task" option, press "next" (who the hell reads stuff like that

) where it will now bring up a list of program files to schedule. Click "Browse", and find the batch file we made earlier.

After you find it and click OK, choose how you want it to run (daily, weekly, monthly, ect). I use weekly myself, if you care to know. I run it every week at 3:00am on Sunday night.

Click next after you set the dates/times. If your an administrator of this pc your on, enter the password, if not, you need the admin pass, or you can add to it. Enter it, and then click finish. KEEP READING IF YOU DO NOT USE A PASSWORD.

If you do not have a password for your pc at all, BEFORE you click "Finish" be sure to check the box "Open advanced properties for this task when I click finish". Click finish.

After you click finish, it will bring up the properties box, click set passowrd.

Make a password, confirm it, and viola! Scheduled defrag for teh XPzorz

Hope I help you dudes out, I was sitting here, bored outta my freaking mind on a Sunday evening, and decided to contribute a bit to teh Overclock.net