(PC clone,win 98me, AMD1gbMhz, 20gbHDD, 128ram, partitioned C 18g D 1mb) When i try to defrag or run scandisk from accessory/tools, i get pop up message "this (defrag/fullscandisk) has restarted 10 times windows or another program is writing to disk." I tried by: (1) turning off all start-ups via msconfig (startup tab)
(2) i tried "ctl-alt-del" ending all tasks (running programs) except exlporer&systray
but nothing worked. THEN i tried booting up in "safe mode" and ran both defrag & scandisk and it worked...took about 4 hrs for full scandisk to complete and 35 minutes for defragging. I'm I forever stuck with going into SAFE MODE everytime I want to defrag or scandisk

When you say it took about 45 mins for "full" scandisk, do you mean "thorough"? Only thing I can say is, it's not bad having to do it in safemode because you'll have to reboot afterwards anyways. You have done everything I would have suggested to close programs. Try standard most of the time with your scandisk and do thorough once in a while, and the more often you defrag, I do mine twice a week, the quicker it is. It takes me 3-5 mins for defrag. Sorry I can't help more.

Hello Cherry,

There must still have been something else running in the background, posibly an anti-virus program? or something else as yet unknown, but almost definately has to be something else running to cause that.

I usually do mine in safe mode right from the start, and probably not a bad idea just to stick with that anyways......

Little note to jinn,

Im sure there are lots of different opinions on this subject, but I want to say I think 2 times a week is "waaaay" too much defragging hehe. (Thought this was a good opertunity to talk about this, hope you dont mind)

Most people dont think about this, but "everytime" you move a file you take a chance on an error. If you run defrag twice a week you are taking a chance twice a week that your HDD is that much closer to needing the OS re-installed......

Defrag should be run "as needed" not at will http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

A slightly fragmented HDD "might" run a little slower (not that you'd really notice it anyways, unless it was "severly" fragmented) but once a month if you "want" to do it as a maintenance type function is most likely more then enough.........

Windows ME defrag ( free ) , very fast . I don't need to close
( ctrl/alt/delete ) anything down to run defrag , no restarts .
Get it from here .

W9X-Me-Defrag http://members.home.net/scotterpops/enhancements/enhancements9c.html http://surecool.com/download.htm

Download it right into your Windows directory. Rename your
current version of DEFRAG.EXE to DEFRAG.OLD, then rename
winme_DEFRAG.EXE to DEFRAG.EXE ( or whatever the old defrag
was named )

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Also , to make W98 Defrag even Faster for it's 1st run , from
Explorer , Delete all the files ( except the read only file )
in Windows / Applog .
Taskmon will rebuild the Applog file .

=================================

To put the defrag in it's correct place .
Open Windows explorer , go down to Windows , left click on the yellow
folder , this opens the right hand panel .
Scroll down to defrag & write down the exact name . Next , right
click on defrag , scroll down to rename & click on it . Now left
click at the end of defrag & add the word old . So if you had the
word defrag , it now becomes defragold .
Now rename MEdefrag to whatever you wrote down , drag & drop it on
the yellow Windows folder or anywhere in the right hand side .
Both achive the same thing & Windows will after you close , put it
alphabetically . That's it , John .

Don't agree, Aware, that something else has to be running to cause that error message. We had an old puter with nothing but 95 installed on it that would pop up whiney Scandisk messages of having to stop and restart because of something else sucking power. We never figured it out, but wasn't any software running in the background..we installed 98 and never had the problem again.

Thanks, jmatt, for link and info.


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Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life.
-- Chinese proverb

One program that always cause me problems is Winamp. If you c/alt/del its called winampa

Little note to jinn,

Im sure there are lots of different opinions on this subject, but I want to say I think 2 times a week is "waaaay" too much defragging hehe. (Thought this was a good opertunity to talk about this, hope you dont mind)

Most people dont think about this, but "everytime" you move a file you take a chance on an error. If you run defrag twice a week you are taking a chance twice a week that your HDD is that much closer to needing the OS re-installed......

Defrag should be run "as needed" not at will

A slightly fragmented HDD "might" run a little slower (not that you'd really notice it anyways, unless it was "severly" fragmented) but once a month if you "want" to do it as a maintenance type function is most likely more then enough.......


LOL I don't mind you saying that AwARe. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif I know it's over the top and way extreme. But, I add and delete so many progs in a week, I like to do it that often. It's not about the speed of the puter that I notice, it's that it only takes about 10 mins to Disk Cleanup-Scandisk-Frag. If I lose files, it's ok to me, I'll just reformat and add my backups. Gives me something to do. I think it's fun. lol But, yes, I'm too extreme about it. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif You're talking to someone who takes one of his PC's apart once a month all the way to taking out the mobo, just so I can have fun putting it back together again.



[This message has been edited by jinn (edited 06-18-2001).]

well kay, the program running in the "background" could very easily and posibly be something "within" the OS itself.....reguardless of what the program is.....something "has" to be accessing the HDD or this condition will not occur, and thats all I was trying to say.......in safe mode this shouldnt happen, because if in fact it is the OS itself, in safe mode the OS will most likely not be doing anything other then showing you the desktop hehe....... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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What I meant by what I said is hopefully less confusing then the contemplation of the question that led to the confusion in the 1st place.......