Defragging network hard drive

[Tim B]

I just got my first external hard drive. It is a 1 terabyte drive that I plugged into my router to serve as a network drive to be accessed by any computer in the house. My question is does this type of drive automatically defrag itself or do I to run a defrag utilily on it? The defrag utilities that I have do not give me the option to select this drive to defrag. Will I need to occasionally defrag it and what utility will work?

This is the drive I have:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western...stem/9234321.p?id=1218064407075&skuId=9234321

 

[Alaric Darconville]

It doesn't look like it has a USB cable to connect directly to a PC, so defragging it may require that you remove the drive and hook it to a SATA connector in a PC or use a SATA to USB adapter.

However, unless you're planning to run games or software directly off of it, it typically shouldn't be subject to much fragmentation. I would expect you wouldn't need to defragment it more than once every 6 months if that.

 

[Patriot]

Wait a sec, it must have a USB connector...right? In any case, you'll probably have to download some free defrag software.

http://download.cnet.com/1770-20_4-0.html?query=defrag&tag=srch&searchtype=downloads&filterName=platform%3DWindows%2CWebware&filter=platform%3DWindows%2CWebware

 

[Tim B]

I tried a couple of those defrag utilities from the site you linked above but they both gave me a message that it was an unsupported volume when I tried to defrag it. Any other ideas?

 

[traplight]

Hallo...

regardless of the application of use, the free defraggers aren't much better than the defrag utility that comes with windows. If you would like more control over how your files are layed out on your hard drive, check out programs like ultimate defrag or O&O defrag. O&O server edition works in the background to keep files defragged and consolidated continuously... while ultimate defrag gives users some advanced option which allow placement of more commonly used files towards the outer rim of the HD platter (the fastest spinning/ reading area of your hard drive).

Both are good products that cost relatively little and keep your system reading HD info as fast as possible.

and then there's partitioning :naughty: ...

 

[Patriot]

I tried a couple of those defrag utilities from the site you linked above but they both gave me a message that it was an unsupported volume when I tried to defrag it. Any other ideas?

Is is formated to FAT32 or NTFS? If formatted to FAT32 it's likely that the volume won't be supported. Reformatting to NTFS was required for my two externals. Or as traplight stated, there's partitioning.

Second question, how full is the drive currently?

 

[ckc]

It's a NAS (NETWORK) storage device that runs on a linux kernal, and has a EXT3-FS. there should be no need to defrag it. the file system design does it for you..

I have one of the WorldBook 2's and it's a great little NAS.. a bit slow, but that's the only complaint.. I have a 2 TB and it's 90% full already ..

 

[Patriot]

It's a NAS (NETWORK) storage device that runs on a linux kernal, and has a EXT3-FS. there should be no need to defrag it. the file system design does it for you..

Good info, thanks ckc. You probably just saved Tim a lot of headache. :twothumbs

 

[Tim B]

It uses the NTFS file system.

 

[ckc]

If it is, then thats not the unit you have the link to.

how did you connect it to your router? via USB or via RJ45 network cable?

if you connected it to your router with a USB.. then you are just using your router as the "nas". and yes it would be NTFS.. the problem with that solution is that the router does not have the ability to do defrags, and you would need to disconnect the USB every so often and connect it to the PC to defrag it..

if the box connects to the router via a network cable, then it's a box which is running linux (Ext3) under the cover (Eg can use use a browser and connect to the drive to setup users / partitions etc...) it looks like a windows shared drive on the PC and is using CIFS but it's EXT3 on the OS level.

 

[Tim B]

I have it connected to a router via a network cable so it can be accessed by any computer in the house. It does show up in "My Computer" as the "Y" drive. It has the the upside down "T" shaped part at the bottom of its icon which is characteristic of the icons of network components.

 

[blasterman]

Pretty sure it's running embedded Linux then.