23 Ways To Speed WinXP Without

**MIG-31** · Feb 8, 2004, 08:22 AM

"To defrag, or not to defrag? If you're looking for ways to speed WinXP machines used by your customers, then the answer is Not.

Defragmenting, of course, is the process of reorganizing all data on a hard-disk drive so that each file is arranged into a single uninterrupted, or contiguous, location on the disk. Many system builders and technicians have been taught, and still believe, that defragmenting hard disk drives on a regular basis keeps PCs operating at peak performance. But that idea is behind the times.

While it was true that defragmenting helped older PCs, it no longer applies. Today we have 7200-RPM (rotations per minute) hard-disk drives with improved seek and latency times; many also contain an 8-MB cache buffer. Let's not forget Windows XP's ultra-efficient NTFS (NT File System). For PCs, servers, and workstations equipped with these innovations, defragmenting no longer makes much improvement, if any, to system performance."

Full article: techbuilder

mainman · Feb 8, 2004, 08:44 AM

Pretty interesting info bud, thanks for the heads up!!!

Xiphias · Feb 8, 2004, 11:21 AM

I can't say I agree with some of those tips, especially the partitioning one.

If you're building a system for someone who doesn't know what they're doing then the ability to reinstall windows (which by the time they bring it to you will no longer boot up) without wiping all their data is much more important than a little more performance.

Of course if pre-built systems now come with two hard drives as standard then it's probably a good idea.

Judas · Feb 8, 2004, 04:11 PM

...i disagree with the degragmenting part as well....

tek · Feb 8, 2004, 04:22 PM

I have a Maxtor 250GB HDD I'm not partitioning it, mainly because its my storage drive and I never want to format it in like 20yrs lol, so i want all that space in one

BWX · Feb 8, 2004, 05:56 PM

I run my pagefile ona separate partition, and I always store data on a separate partition form windows so I can do a "format c:".

You cannot do a "format C:" if all your data is on "C:"- So I disagree with no partition suggestion. Somtimes a format C is something you just need to do.

I also run Perfect disc 6 which seem so work great and benchmarks (like the DH photoshop bench) and hard drive benchmarks show an increase in performance...

-all the other things are good though and well known tweaks.

mwalker52 · Feb 9, 2004, 02:42 AM

Another thing to watch out for is the default size of the Internet Explorer cache - I usually keep mine to 5MB

You can find it in IE under: tools: Internet Options: Settings:

otherwise you will end up with hundreds of thousands of tiny fragmented web page files.

BWX · Feb 9, 2004, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mwalker52
Another thing to watch out for is the default size of the Internet Explorer cache - I usually keep mine to 5MB

You can find it in IE under: tools: Internet Options: Settings:

otherwise you will end up with hundreds of thousands of tiny fragmented web page files.

Good point, I've never tried to run it quite that small, but I'll give it a try.

Feb 8, 2004, 08:22 AM	#1
MIG-31 HardwareHeaven News Mod Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Nottingham,UK Posts: 56,854 Rep Power: 471 System Specs	23 Ways To Speed up WinXP Without Defragmenting. "To defrag, or not to defrag? If you're looking for ways to speed WinXP machines used by your customers, then the answer is Not. Defragmenting, of course, is the process of reorganizing all data on a hard-disk drive so that each file is arranged into a single uninterrupted, or contiguous, location on the disk. Many system builders and technicians have been taught, and still believe, that defragmenting hard disk drives on a regular basis keeps PCs operating at peak performance. But that idea is behind the times. While it was true that defragmenting helped older PCs, it no longer applies. Today we have 7200-RPM (rotations per minute) hard-disk drives with improved seek and latency times; many also contain an 8-MB cache buffer. Let's not forget Windows XP's ultra-efficient NTFS (NT File System). For PCs, servers, and workstations equipped with these innovations, defragmenting no longer makes much improvement, if any, to system performance." Full article: techbuilder

Feb 8, 2004, 08:44 AM	#2
mainman Mr. Nobody Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: OmniPresent Nightwatcher Posts: 5,961 Rep Power: 71	Pretty interesting info bud, thanks for the heads up!!! __________________

Feb 8, 2004, 04:22 PM	#5
tek DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Boston, US Posts: 2,103 Rep Power: 0	I have a Maxtor 250GB HDD I'm not partitioning it, mainly because its my storage drive and I never want to format it in like 20yrs lol, so i want all that space in one __________________ [COLOR=White][/COLOR]

Feb 8, 2004, 05:56 PM	#6
BWX unplugged Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: USNY Posts: 19,669 Rep Power: 110 System Specs	I run my pagefile ona separate partition, and I always store data on a separate partition form windows so I can do a "format c:". You cannot do a "format C:" if all your data is on "C:"- So I disagree with no partition suggestion. Somtimes a format C is something you just need to do. I also run Perfect disc 6 which seem so work great and benchmarks (like the DH photoshop bench) and hard drive benchmarks show an increase in performance... -all the other things are good though and well known tweaks. __________________

Feb 8, 2004, 11:21 AM	#3
Xiphias DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 27 Rep Power: 0	I can't say I agree with some of those tips, especially the partitioning one. If you're building a system for someone who doesn't know what they're doing then the ability to reinstall windows (which by the time they bring it to you will no longer boot up) without wiping all their data is much more important than a little more performance. Of course if pre-built systems now come with two hard drives as standard then it's probably a good idea.

Feb 9, 2004, 02:42 AM	#7
mwalker52 DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 43 Rep Power: 0	Another thing to watch out for is the default size of the Internet Explorer cache - I usually keep mine to 5MB You can find it in IE under: tools: Internet Options: Settings: otherwise you will end up with hundreds of thousands of tiny fragmented web page files.