Boot Time (Offline) Defragmentation


System Files is the designation that PerfectDisk uses to identify important files that the operating system uses at runtime to operate your PC. These include the Windows paging file (pagefile.sys), the hibernation file used to support sleep mode on desktop Windows PCs (hiberfile.sys), and operating system files too numerous to mention (primarily found in the %systemroot%--often C:\Windows--and %systemroot%\System32—often C:\Windows\System32—directories. The constraints vary by operating system (Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows Vista and by file system format (FAT/FAT32/exFAT or NTFS).

Depending on whether or not the drive is a system drive, or some other drive that PerfectDisk can’t lock, offline/boot time defragmentation may or may not run on the drive(s) you select in the drive pane, when you click the Boot Time Defrag tool in the Tool Bar of PerfectDisk. As long as PerfectDisk can lock a drive for exclusive access at runtime, it will defragment system files immediately. But for a Windows system disk or any other locked drive—one, for example, where a paging file might reside in whole or in part—attempts to defragment system files at runtime will usually fail.

You can also set the Boot Time defrag to "ON" for a drive in the Drive List area. In this case, the boot time defragmentation is performed on the drive during next reboot of the machine.

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The three types of files which may need to be defragmented at boot time are:

§          Pagefile - This is your virtual memory file (Pagefile.sys). This file is exclusively locked by the operating system and can only be placed by a Boot Time Defragmentation pass.

§          System Files - These are operating system files, such as the Master File Table, the hibernate file and other metadata files. Depending on the operating system and file systems, some of these files can be defragmented online and some at boot time.

§          Directories - On NTFS formatted drives, directories are treated as online files. On FAT 16/FAT32 , exFAT formatted drives, directories are treated as boot time files.

Note: For a detailed listing of which files can be defragmented online based on your system, see PerfectDisk File Types.

The following topics are covered to help you understand and run Offline/Boot Time defragmentation:

§          What are Excluded Files?

§          PerfectDisk's Boot Time (Offline) Defragmentation Strategy

§          Manually Running Boot Time (Offline) Defragmentation

§          Scheduling Boot Time (Offline) Defragmentation