Defragging and It's Effects on the Game

Albromor · 06-13-2003, 12:15 PM

I read on another forum that if you defrag your harddrive that it royally can mess up Morrowind and the gameplay. The person who posted this information is a long time Morrowind player who seems to have learned a lesson the hard way. What do you think? Anyone else experience problems from defragging their harddrive?

[ 06-13-2003, 12:36 PM: Message edited by: Albromor ]

HammerHead · 06-13-2003, 12:54 PM

I defragged my harddrive about a month ago.

No problem at all.

C

Bruce The Aussie · 06-13-2003, 01:44 PM

i defragged on a regular basis and my version was fine. only thing that messed it up was formatting c: then partitioning it and installing win98 and winXP as a duel boot. a quick note, morrowind was on my d: drive (seperate drive). defragging should be fine.

Firestormalpha · 06-13-2003, 02:03 PM

Considering the occasional defrag is essential to keeping ones computer running smoothly I don't think it would cause whatever problems this poor sap has experienced. My opinion? He's made a minor misdiagnosis of the situation. There must have been something else he's done that he just hadn't recalled that caused the errors.

Night Stalker · 06-13-2003, 03:04 PM

Actually, a very fragmented drive would decrease performance, and can cause hashing and drive failure. The only way a defrag would ruin a file is if the new block for a file piece was bad. Scandisk should always be run before defrag to identify and isolate bad sectors.

Both of these tests are essential to good PC health and performance.

Albromor · 06-13-2003, 04:01 PM

My hunch was leaning toward what you guys have expressed, but with Morrowind and all the the things I had to do just to get it to install, load and run smoothly (with a computer that more than matched their recommended specs), I wasn't going to take a chance! Thanks!

Kakero · 06-13-2003, 06:31 PM

If you are afraid that it will ruin your morrowind, save your save file on a portable hard disk. then run defrag. in this way if anything happens at least you still have your save game file.

B_part · 06-14-2003, 06:16 AM

Defrag won't ruin anything running on your computer, unless data gets moved to a bad sector: it simply moves data. So don't worry. But remember, if you ever needed to back up morrowind, you only need to backup the \save and \data files directories. savegames can be quite bulky (about 5-6 mb each), but when zipped they deflate to 10% of their original size.

Albromor · 06-14-2003, 11:32 AM

Well I went ahead and defragged and then I played. No problem whatsoever.

06-13-2003, 12:54 PM	#2
HammerHead Zhentarim Guard Join Date: January 11, 2002 Location: Denmark Age: 68 Posts: 333	I defragged my harddrive about a month ago. No problem at all. C __________________ Those are my principles.<br />If you don\'t like them I have others.<br /><br />Groucho Marx 1890-1977

06-13-2003, 01:44 PM	#3
Bruce The Aussie Fzoul Chembryl Join Date: March 2, 2001 Location: Chaotica (london,england) Age: 37 Posts: 1,798	i defragged on a regular basis and my version was fine. only thing that messed it up was formatting c: then partitioning it and installing win98 and winXP as a duel boot. a quick note, morrowind was on my d: drive (seperate drive). defragging should be fine. __________________ [img]\"http://members.aol.com/lasttrueprincess/images/bruce.gif\" alt=\" - \" /><br />Have a nice day <img border=\"0\" title=\"\" alt=\"[Big Grin]\" src=\"biggrin.gif\" /> <br />cloudkingdom.co.uk<br />\"be calm, be happy, be stoned\"<br />The person currently speaking is(tick appropriate): Me/My inner child/the voices in my head/my inner demons

06-13-2003, 02:03 PM	#4
Firestormalpha Knight of the Rose Join Date: July 11, 2002 Location: Coral Springs, Fl USA Age: 40 Posts: 4,454	Considering the occasional defrag is essential to keeping ones computer running smoothly I don't think it would cause whatever problems this poor sap has experienced. My opinion? He's made a minor misdiagnosis of the situation. There must have been something else he's done that he just hadn't recalled that caused the errors. __________________ "When you start with a presupposition, it's hard to arrive at any other conclusion." "We are never to judge a philosophy by its abuse." - Augustine "If you're wondering if God has a sense of humor, consider the platypus." http://www.greaterthings.cbglades.com

06-13-2003, 03:04 PM	#5
Night Stalker Lord Ao Join Date: June 24, 2002 Location: Nevernever Land Age: 50 Posts: 2,002	Actually, a very fragmented drive would decrease performance, and can cause hashing and drive failure. The only way a defrag would ruin a file is if the new block for a file piece was bad. Scandisk should always be run before defrag to identify and isolate bad sectors. Both of these tests are essential to good PC health and performance. __________________ [url]\"http://www.duryea.org/pinky/gurkin.wav\" target=\"_blank\">AYPWIP?</a> .... <img border=\"0\" alt=\"[1ponder]\" title=\"\" src=\"graemlins/1ponder.gif\" /> <br />\"I think so Brain, but isn\'t a cucumber that small called a gherkin?\"<br /><br />Shut UP! Pinky!

06-14-2003, 06:16 AM	#8
B_part Quintesson Join Date: September 11, 2002 Location: Milan (Italy) Age: 43 Posts: 1,066	Defrag won't ruin anything running on your computer, unless data gets moved to a bad sector: it simply moves data. So don't worry. But remember, if you ever needed to back up morrowind, you only need to backup the \save and \data files directories. savegames can be quite bulky (about 5-6 mb each), but when zipped they deflate to 10% of their original size. __________________ Never attribute to malice that which can be ascribed to sheer stupidity

06-13-2003, 12:15 PM	#1
Albromor Mephistopheles Join Date: June 13, 2001 Location: Northfield, NJ USA Posts: 1,417	I read on another forum that if you defrag your harddrive that it royally can mess up Morrowind and the gameplay. The person who posted this information is a long time Morrowind player who seems to have learned a lesson the hard way. What do you think? Anyone else experience problems from defragging their harddrive? [ 06-13-2003, 12:36 PM: Message edited by: Albromor ]

06-13-2003, 04:01 PM	#6
Albromor Mephistopheles Join Date: June 13, 2001 Location: Northfield, NJ USA Posts: 1,417	My hunch was leaning toward what you guys have expressed, but with Morrowind and all the the things I had to do just to get it to install, load and run smoothly (with a computer that more than matched their recommended specs), I wasn't going to take a chance! Thanks!

06-13-2003, 06:31 PM	#7
Kakero 40th Level Warrior Join Date: March 24, 2002 Posts: 10,215	If you are afraid that it will ruin your morrowind, save your save file on a portable hard disk. then run defrag. in this way if anything happens at least you still have your save game file.

06-14-2003, 11:32 AM	#9
Albromor Mephistopheles Join Date: June 13, 2001 Location: Northfield, NJ USA Posts: 1,417	Well I went ahead and defragged and then I played. No problem whatsoever.

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