Trying to understand W2k

[Rex]

Hi there,

I have had reason to reinstate an image of my W2k/NTFS os recently.

When I came to defragging, I saw that the MFT and page file are (as far as the defragging program (O&O) is concerned) are in different positions.

My previous installation had the MFT at the beginning of the drive and the page file somewhere in the middle of the empty part of the os partition. Now all the files are in a clump at the beginning of the drive and the MFT is in the middle of that clump, not the beginning.

Is this how it should be? Can I change it and if so how? Have Googled this but can only find that the MFT is at the beginning of the drive.

Should also mention that there does not seem to be any problems, so may be I am chasing a shadow.

Grateful for any advice,

Many thanks,

Rex

[tomh009]

My previous installation had the MFT at the beginning of the drive and the page file somewhere in the middle of the empty part of the os partition. Now all the files are in a clump at the beginning of the drive and the MFT is in the middle of that clump, not the beginning.

Is this how it should be? Can I change it and if so how? Have Googled this but can only find that the MFT is at the beginning of the drive.

I don't know how move the MFT, but you can definitely defragment/move the page file.

Defragment your drive throroughly -- make sure your free space is defragmented, too. Now turn off the page file. Reboot. Defragment again. And then turn the page file back on.

[Rex]

Thanks for your reply.

Defragging the Page File is not a problem; I use PageFile Defrag from SysInternals (I think.) Works well.

Rex

[GomJabbar]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I believe some of the better defrag programs can do this. Check out their documentation.

[christopher_wolf]

I don't know how move the MFT, but you can definitely defragment/move the page file.

PerfectDisk can do that quite nicely; I would also recommend page file defrags as well.