Defragging external hdd (in Fat32) - XP won't do it!

[Luxman]

Hello.

I am looking for any advice on what I can do in relation to defragging an external hdd.

The external hdd is formatted in Fat32, and XP won't defrag it. There was no problem defragging under Win98.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

[belivakov]

First run chkdsk /f ot this drive and then run defrag.

[Luxman]

Ok...

Specifically, here is the problem:

Opening defrag and selecting Analyze for the external hdd, I get this message:

Analysis is complete for: WD USB 2 (J:)

You do not need to defrag this volume.

The problem is that I can see the volume is fragmented, and should be defragged.

Also, I have deleted a few gb's of data from this hdd so no doubt there is fragmentation.

Can anyone recommend anything further?

Thanks.

Edited October 7, 2008 by Luxman

[TheReasonIFail]

What happens if you bypass "Analyze" and just click "Defragment"?

[Ponch]

I have deleted a few gb's of data from this hdd so no doubt there is fragmentation.

Removing data doesn't fragment a disc. It sure leaves space in between the data but that is not "fragmentation". Maybe it really doesn't need defragmentation and that's why it's not performed.

[Luxman]

Removing data doesn't fragment a disc. It sure leaves space in between the data but that is not "fragmentation". Maybe it really doesn't need defragmentation and that's why it's not performed.

I'm aware of the fact that empty disc space doesn't imply the need to defrag, but regardless of whether there is fragmentation on the drive, if there is empty space, and you choose to defragment, the program should still compact the drive.

What's happening is that the external hdd, when I select defragment, simply spins with the head moving the same in an endless loop, with no progress showing even after 15 minutes of my monitoring it.

I'm going to try DefragNT and see if it will work.

Thanks for the replies.