Arch Linux

mantiz

Member

Registered: 2009-10-29

Posts: 17

Website

[solved] Defragmentation necessary in Arch-XP dual boot?

I set up a dual boot with Arch linux and windows xp on my system.. Took a day tweaking and customizing both OS-es to my convenience.
and now only I realised that I had to defragment the hard drive after installing windows and before setting up arch..
Now I'm wondering whether to go through the whole process again...

So, is it really an important step? Any problem if I just skipped it?  help pls.. 

Last edited by mantiz (2010-01-11 20:46:07)

joaca_rj

Member

From: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Registered: 2009-04-12

Posts: 76

Re: [solved] Defragmentation necessary in Arch-XP dual boot?

I believe this is important if you are resizing ( is that spelled OK? ) the windows partition to get space to a new one... if you created them both before installing windows, I don't think you'll need to worry about it...

mantiz

Member

Registered: 2009-10-29

Posts: 17

Website

Re: [solved] Defragmentation necessary in Arch-XP dual boot?

thanks for the reply
well.. i'm kinda new to this, so, i'll just tell you what i did:

first, I deleted all the partitions,
created a partition, and installed windows in it.
booted from the arch cd and installed arch, using partitions from the remaining space i made with cfdisk.

so i'm guessing the defragmentation step was not crucial in my case..?   

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: [solved] Defragmentation necessary in Arch-XP dual boot?

You didn't have anything to defragment, really.

mantiz

Member

Registered: 2009-10-29

Posts: 17

Website

Re: [solved] Defragmentation necessary in Arch-XP dual boot?

oww.. now I feel really stupid! 

anyway, thanks guys for the replies..

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,358

Re: [solved] Defragmentation necessary in Arch-XP dual boot?

oww.. now I feel really stupid! 

anyway, thanks guys for the replies..

You're only stupid if you don't learn from your mistakes

Anyway, please mark this thread [solved] (edit your first post).

On the side: defrag basically rearranges where your data sits on a hard disc, FAT and NTFS start writing data (in general) from the start of the disc, so a brand new install has it all clustered at the start. Its installs that have been used for quite a while (month or so) that has data all over the place, this needs defragmenting to move it to the start so that you can use the space at the back contiguously for a new partition.

---

Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

mantiz

Member

Registered: 2009-10-29

Posts: 17

Website

Re: [solved] Defragmentation necessary in Arch-XP dual boot?

true.. I learnt more about computing by using arch for a month than I have learnt after years of using windoze