Defragging Recommendations

Well, I've avoided this since we went live with SBS 2k in April 2003 :) I
need to defrag our primary partition and our "data" partition.

Questions:

1. on the partition that has exchange2k...is defrag smart enough to not
screw with exchange?

1a. would it be better to "move" exchange files to another partition, reorg
the original partition, and then move exchange back?

2. before I defrag should i stop exchange services?

3. should i disable anti-virus before defragging? any other services?

4. on the primary partition i'm petrified some critical system file will be
corrupted. what definitive backup should i do prior to defragging to ensure
recoverability? (we use Veritas Backup Exec 9.x).

5. would you all only do the defrag during non-peak times?

6. I have a raid-5 setup with 3 x 36GB drives. Any issues/settings/etc with
defrag and raid-5 I should be careful of or tweak?

Anything else to be careful of?

Thanks so much! John

Jeff
Tue May 25 11:05:30 CDT 2004

Defrag works fine.

Moving the exchange files is a good idea.

I would defrag at non-peek times.

Do some reading about eseutil for defragging exchange.

Good luck and don't sweat it. There are people who defrag their system
partition and exchange files without doing anything special and don't
experience problems. It is just not a good practice.

Regards,
Jeff Loucks
Available Technology ®
Solutions For Professionals ®
www.availabletechnology.com


"John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote in message
news:O#V479mQEHA.252@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Well, I've avoided this since we went live with SBS 2k in April 2003 :) I
> need to defrag our primary partition and our "data" partition.
>
> Questions:
>
> 1. on the partition that has exchange2k...is defrag smart enough to not
> screw with exchange?
>
> 1a. would it be better to "move" exchange files to another partition,
reorg
> the original partition, and then move exchange back?
>
> 2. before I defrag should i stop exchange services?
>
> 3. should i disable anti-virus before defragging? any other services?
>
> 4. on the primary partition i'm petrified some critical system file will
be
> corrupted. what definitive backup should i do prior to defragging to
ensure
> recoverability? (we use Veritas Backup Exec 9.x).
>
> 5. would you all only do the defrag during non-peak times?
>
> 6. I have a raid-5 setup with 3 x 36GB drives. Any issues/settings/etc
with
> defrag and raid-5 I should be careful of or tweak?
>
> Anything else to be careful of?
>
> Thanks so much! John
>
>
>

Kevin
Tue May 25 12:26:05 CDT 2004

I have SBS servers running two years without a defrag ... what symptoms are
you experiencing?

--
Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]
"The days pass by so quickly now, the nights are seldom long"



"John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote in message
news:O%23V479mQEHA.252@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Well, I've avoided this since we went live with SBS 2k in April 2003 :) I
> need to defrag our primary partition and our "data" partition.
>
> Questions:
>
> 1. on the partition that has exchange2k...is defrag smart enough to not
> screw with exchange?
>
> 1a. would it be better to "move" exchange files to another partition,
reorg
> the original partition, and then move exchange back?
>
> 2. before I defrag should i stop exchange services?
>
> 3. should i disable anti-virus before defragging? any other services?
>
> 4. on the primary partition i'm petrified some critical system file will
be
> corrupted. what definitive backup should i do prior to defragging to
ensure
> recoverability? (we use Veritas Backup Exec 9.x).
>
> 5. would you all only do the defrag during non-peak times?
>
> 6. I have a raid-5 setup with 3 x 36GB drives. Any issues/settings/etc
with
> defrag and raid-5 I should be careful of or tweak?
>
> Anything else to be careful of?
>
> Thanks so much! John
>
>
>

John
Tue May 25 15:26:50 CDT 2004

Symptoms....generally increasing run times on backups primarily. But also
sluggishness in displaying file trees in Windows Explorer. Nothing
serious....

Thanks,
John


"Kevin Weilbacher" <kweilbacMVP@gte.net> wrote in message
news:efzOg2nQEHA.624@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> I have SBS servers running two years without a defrag ... what symptoms
are
> you experiencing?
>
> --
> Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]
> "The days pass by so quickly now, the nights are seldom long"
>
>
>
> "John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote in message
> news:O%23V479mQEHA.252@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> > Well, I've avoided this since we went live with SBS 2k in April 2003 :)
I
> > need to defrag our primary partition and our "data" partition.
> >
> > Questions:
> >
> > 1. on the partition that has exchange2k...is defrag smart enough to not
> > screw with exchange?
> >
> > 1a. would it be better to "move" exchange files to another partition,
> reorg
> > the original partition, and then move exchange back?
> >
> > 2. before I defrag should i stop exchange services?
> >
> > 3. should i disable anti-virus before defragging? any other services?
> >
> > 4. on the primary partition i'm petrified some critical system file will
> be
> > corrupted. what definitive backup should i do prior to defragging to
> ensure
> > recoverability? (we use Veritas Backup Exec 9.x).
> >
> > 5. would you all only do the defrag during non-peak times?
> >
> > 6. I have a raid-5 setup with 3 x 36GB drives. Any issues/settings/etc
> with
> > defrag and raid-5 I should be careful of or tweak?
> >
> > Anything else to be careful of?
> >
> > Thanks so much! John
> >
> >
> >
>
>

Jeff
Tue May 25 15:32:36 CDT 2004

I defrag every month. No Problems

"Kevin Weilbacher" <kweilbacMVP@gte.net> wrote in message
news:efzOg2nQEHA.624@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> I have SBS servers running two years without a defrag ... what symptoms
are
> you experiencing?
>
> --
> Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]
> "The days pass by so quickly now, the nights are seldom long"
>
>
>
> "John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote in message
> news:O%23V479mQEHA.252@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> > Well, I've avoided this since we went live with SBS 2k in April 2003 :)
I
> > need to defrag our primary partition and our "data" partition.
> >
> > Questions:
> >
> > 1. on the partition that has exchange2k...is defrag smart enough to not
> > screw with exchange?
> >
> > 1a. would it be better to "move" exchange files to another partition,
> reorg
> > the original partition, and then move exchange back?
> >
> > 2. before I defrag should i stop exchange services?
> >
> > 3. should i disable anti-virus before defragging? any other services?
> >
> > 4. on the primary partition i'm petrified some critical system file will
> be
> > corrupted. what definitive backup should i do prior to defragging to
> ensure
> > recoverability? (we use Veritas Backup Exec 9.x).
> >
> > 5. would you all only do the defrag during non-peak times?
> >
> > 6. I have a raid-5 setup with 3 x 36GB drives. Any issues/settings/etc
> with
> > defrag and raid-5 I should be careful of or tweak?
> >
> > Anything else to be careful of?
> >
> > Thanks so much! John
> >
> >
> >
>
>

John
Tue May 25 15:47:18 CDT 2004

Jeff...do you stop exchange before defrag? i was going to do a essutil (i
do these about quarterly) before i did the windows defrag.

John


"Jeff L" <newsgroupsremoveandunderscore_jeff@availabletech.net> wrote in
message news:%23RT9mdpQEHA.2216@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> I defrag every month. No Problems
>
> "Kevin Weilbacher" <kweilbacMVP@gte.net> wrote in message
> news:efzOg2nQEHA.624@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> > I have SBS servers running two years without a defrag ... what symptoms
> are
> > you experiencing?
> >
> > --
> > Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]
> > "The days pass by so quickly now, the nights are seldom long"
> >
> >
> >
> > "John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote in message
> > news:O%23V479mQEHA.252@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> > > Well, I've avoided this since we went live with SBS 2k in April 2003
:)
> I
> > > need to defrag our primary partition and our "data" partition.
> > >
> > > Questions:
> > >
> > > 1. on the partition that has exchange2k...is defrag smart enough to
not
> > > screw with exchange?
> > >
> > > 1a. would it be better to "move" exchange files to another partition,
> > reorg
> > > the original partition, and then move exchange back?
> > >
> > > 2. before I defrag should i stop exchange services?
> > >
> > > 3. should i disable anti-virus before defragging? any other services?
> > >
> > > 4. on the primary partition i'm petrified some critical system file
will
> > be
> > > corrupted. what definitive backup should i do prior to defragging to
> > ensure
> > > recoverability? (we use Veritas Backup Exec 9.x).
> > >
> > > 5. would you all only do the defrag during non-peak times?
> > >
> > > 6. I have a raid-5 setup with 3 x 36GB drives. Any
issues/settings/etc
> > with
> > > defrag and raid-5 I should be careful of or tweak?
> > >
> > > Anything else to be careful of?
> > >
> > > Thanks so much! John
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

Jeff
Tue May 25 15:44:16 CDT 2004

I find there is a nice performance advantage. Also I like the new defrag...
not sure if they updated the algorithms but it seems better than 2000.
Defrag works faster and seems to be better defragmented.

Just so you know my Exchange DBs are on a storage drive that is different
than my system drive.

Cheers,
Jeff Loucks
Available Technology ®
Solutions For Professionals ®
www.availabletechnology.com




"Jeff L" <newsgroupsremoveandunderscore_jeff@availabletech.net> wrote in
message news:#RT9mdpQEHA.2216@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> I defrag every month. No Problems
>
> "Kevin Weilbacher" <kweilbacMVP@gte.net> wrote in message
> news:efzOg2nQEHA.624@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> > I have SBS servers running two years without a defrag ... what symptoms
> are
> > you experiencing?
> >
> > --
> > Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]
> > "The days pass by so quickly now, the nights are seldom long"
> >
> >
> >
> > "John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote in message
> > news:O%23V479mQEHA.252@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> > > Well, I've avoided this since we went live with SBS 2k in April 2003
:)
> I
> > > need to defrag our primary partition and our "data" partition.
> > >
> > > Questions:
> > >
> > > 1. on the partition that has exchange2k...is defrag smart enough to
not
> > > screw with exchange?
> > >
> > > 1a. would it be better to "move" exchange files to another partition,
> > reorg
> > > the original partition, and then move exchange back?
> > >
> > > 2. before I defrag should i stop exchange services?
> > >
> > > 3. should i disable anti-virus before defragging? any other services?
> > >
> > > 4. on the primary partition i'm petrified some critical system file
will
> > be
> > > corrupted. what definitive backup should i do prior to defragging to
> > ensure
> > > recoverability? (we use Veritas Backup Exec 9.x).
> > >
> > > 5. would you all only do the defrag during non-peak times?
> > >
> > > 6. I have a raid-5 setup with 3 x 36GB drives. Any
issues/settings/etc
> > with
> > > defrag and raid-5 I should be careful of or tweak?
> > >
> > > Anything else to be careful of?
> > >
> > > Thanks so much! John
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

Mark
Tue May 25 20:13:05 CDT 2004

defragging Excahgne requires 110% of free drive space so if your IS is 10GB
then you need 11GB of free space on that partition.

--
Sincerely,
Mark Mancini, CCA, CCNA, Master CIW&CI, CNE 4&5, MCSE+I 4&2000
www.MCSE2000.com
www.AppLauncher.com



"John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote in message
news:O%23V479mQEHA.252@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Well, I've avoided this since we went live with SBS 2k in April 2003 :) I
> need to defrag our primary partition and our "data" partition.
>
> Questions:
>
> 1. on the partition that has exchange2k...is defrag smart enough to not
> screw with exchange?
>
> 1a. would it be better to "move" exchange files to another partition,
reorg
> the original partition, and then move exchange back?
>
> 2. before I defrag should i stop exchange services?
>
> 3. should i disable anti-virus before defragging? any other services?
>
> 4. on the primary partition i'm petrified some critical system file will
be
> corrupted. what definitive backup should i do prior to defragging to
ensure
> recoverability? (we use Veritas Backup Exec 9.x).
>
> 5. would you all only do the defrag during non-peak times?
>
> 6. I have a raid-5 setup with 3 x 36GB drives. Any issues/settings/etc
with
> defrag and raid-5 I should be careful of or tweak?
>
> Anything else to be careful of?
>
> Thanks so much! John
>
>
>

Jim
Tue May 25 22:08:05 CDT 2004

Some of those Exchange utilities have discalimers like only use if you
really know what you are doing and you know how to do a disaster
recovery. The regular hard drive defrag utilities have never caused me
grief. On rare occassions I will stop Exchange services before a
defrag but that would be on a weekend when an account does not need to
use Exchange.

"John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote:

>Jeff...do you stop exchange before defrag? i was going to do a essutil (i
>do these about quarterly) before i did the windows defrag.
>
>John
>
>
>"Jeff L" <newsgroupsremoveandunderscore_jeff@availabletech.net> wrote in
>message news:%23RT9mdpQEHA.2216@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>> I defrag every month. No Problems
>>
>> "Kevin Weilbacher" <kweilbacMVP@gte.net> wrote in message
>> news:efzOg2nQEHA.624@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
>> > I have SBS servers running two years without a defrag ... what symptoms
>> are
>> > you experiencing?
>> >
>> > --
>> > Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]
>> > "The days pass by so quickly now, the nights are seldom long"
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > "John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote in message
>> > news:O%23V479mQEHA.252@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
>> > > Well, I've avoided this since we went live with SBS 2k in April 2003
>:)
>> I
>> > > need to defrag our primary partition and our "data" partition.
>> > >
>> > > Questions:
>> > >
>> > > 1. on the partition that has exchange2k...is defrag smart enough to
>not
>> > > screw with exchange?
>> > >
>> > > 1a. would it be better to "move" exchange files to another partition,
>> > reorg
>> > > the original partition, and then move exchange back?
>> > >
>> > > 2. before I defrag should i stop exchange services?
>> > >
>> > > 3. should i disable anti-virus before defragging? any other services?
>> > >
>> > > 4. on the primary partition i'm petrified some critical system file
>will
>> > be
>> > > corrupted. what definitive backup should i do prior to defragging to
>> > ensure
>> > > recoverability? (we use Veritas Backup Exec 9.x).
>> > >
>> > > 5. would you all only do the defrag during non-peak times?
>> > >
>> > > 6. I have a raid-5 setup with 3 x 36GB drives. Any
>issues/settings/etc
>> > with
>> > > defrag and raid-5 I should be careful of or tweak?
>> > >
>> > > Anything else to be careful of?
>> > >
>> > > Thanks so much! John
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>

Jim B. SBS MVP
remove the mvp to send email

Dave
Tue May 25 22:28:41 CDT 2004

As there are always differing opinions (on the necessity of defragging) when
this subject comes up, I would find it very enlightening for anyone with
in-depth technical knowledge about hard-drive mechanics and NTFS to expound
on the subject, and particularly with regard to the flavor of RAID in use -
eg. comparing RAID 1 and 5 (or none for that matter).
I suspect there may a notable difference in the effects of fragmentation
depending on which one you have.

Granted, I have read a lot of stuff Executive Software has put out - but
they may be a bit biased ;?)

DS


"Kevin Weilbacher" <kweilbacMVP@gte.net> wrote in message
news:efzOg2nQEHA.624@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> I have SBS servers running two years without a defrag ... what symptoms
are
> you experiencing?
>
> --
> Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]
> "The days pass by so quickly now, the nights are seldom long"
>
>
>
> "John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote in message
> news:O%23V479mQEHA.252@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> > Well, I've avoided this since we went live with SBS 2k in April 2003 :)
I
> > need to defrag our primary partition and our "data" partition.
> >
> > Questions:
> >
> > 1. on the partition that has exchange2k...is defrag smart enough to not
> > screw with exchange?
> >
> > 1a. would it be better to "move" exchange files to another partition,
> reorg
> > the original partition, and then move exchange back?
> >
> > 2. before I defrag should i stop exchange services?
> >
> > 3. should i disable anti-virus before defragging? any other services?
> >
> > 4. on the primary partition i'm petrified some critical system file will
> be
> > corrupted. what definitive backup should i do prior to defragging to
> ensure
> > recoverability? (we use Veritas Backup Exec 9.x).
> >
> > 5. would you all only do the defrag during non-peak times?
> >
> > 6. I have a raid-5 setup with 3 x 36GB drives. Any issues/settings/etc
> with
> > defrag and raid-5 I should be careful of or tweak?
> >
> > Anything else to be careful of?
> >
> > Thanks so much! John
> >
> >
> >
>
>

Jeff
Wed May 26 08:49:45 CDT 2004

No, but my exchange files on not on the system drive.


"John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote in message
news:emZY6ipQEHA.3580@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> Jeff...do you stop exchange before defrag? i was going to do a essutil (i
> do these about quarterly) before i did the windows defrag.
>
> John
>
>
> "Jeff L" <newsgroupsremoveandunderscore_jeff@availabletech.net> wrote in
> message news:%23RT9mdpQEHA.2216@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> > I defrag every month. No Problems
> >
> > "Kevin Weilbacher" <kweilbacMVP@gte.net> wrote in message
> > news:efzOg2nQEHA.624@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> > > I have SBS servers running two years without a defrag ... what
symptoms
> > are
> > > you experiencing?
> > >
> > > --
> > > Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]
> > > "The days pass by so quickly now, the nights are seldom long"
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > "John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote in message
> > > news:O%23V479mQEHA.252@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> > > > Well, I've avoided this since we went live with SBS 2k in April 2003
> :)
> > I
> > > > need to defrag our primary partition and our "data" partition.
> > > >
> > > > Questions:
> > > >
> > > > 1. on the partition that has exchange2k...is defrag smart enough to
> not
> > > > screw with exchange?
> > > >
> > > > 1a. would it be better to "move" exchange files to another
partition,
> > > reorg
> > > > the original partition, and then move exchange back?
> > > >
> > > > 2. before I defrag should i stop exchange services?
> > > >
> > > > 3. should i disable anti-virus before defragging? any other
services?
> > > >
> > > > 4. on the primary partition i'm petrified some critical system file
> will
> > > be
> > > > corrupted. what definitive backup should i do prior to defragging
to
> > > ensure
> > > > recoverability? (we use Veritas Backup Exec 9.x).
> > > >
> > > > 5. would you all only do the defrag during non-peak times?
> > > >
> > > > 6. I have a raid-5 setup with 3 x 36GB drives. Any
> issues/settings/etc
> > > with
> > > > defrag and raid-5 I should be careful of or tweak?
> > > >
> > > > Anything else to be careful of?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks so much! John
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

Jeff
Wed May 26 08:51:50 CDT 2004

Good point and 115% for windows defrag.

"Mark Mancini" <info@NOSPAMmcse2000.com> wrote in message
news:OvfyZ6rQEHA.3596@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> defragging Excahgne requires 110% of free drive space so if your IS is
10GB
> then you need 11GB of free space on that partition.
>
> --
> Sincerely,
> Mark Mancini, CCA, CCNA, Master CIW&CI, CNE 4&5, MCSE+I 4&2000
> www.MCSE2000.com
> www.AppLauncher.com
>
>
>
> "John B" <john.baccellieri@texstyleco.com> wrote in message
> news:O%23V479mQEHA.252@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> > Well, I've avoided this since we went live with SBS 2k in April 2003 :)
I
> > need to defrag our primary partition and our "data" partition.
> >
> > Questions:
> >
> > 1. on the partition that has exchange2k...is defrag smart enough to not
> > screw with exchange?
> >
> > 1a. would it be better to "move" exchange files to another partition,
> reorg
> > the original partition, and then move exchange back?
> >
> > 2. before I defrag should i stop exchange services?
> >
> > 3. should i disable anti-virus before defragging? any other services?
> >
> > 4. on the primary partition i'm petrified some critical system file will
> be
> > corrupted. what definitive backup should i do prior to defragging to
> ensure
> > recoverability? (we use Veritas Backup Exec 9.x).
> >
> > 5. would you all only do the defrag during non-peak times?
> >
> > 6. I have a raid-5 setup with 3 x 36GB drives. Any issues/settings/etc
> with
> > defrag and raid-5 I should be careful of or tweak?
> >
> > Anything else to be careful of?
> >
> > Thanks so much! John
> >
> >
> >
>
>