How to resolve Defragmentation Error

[Claudius]

Yesterday, when I was running Disk Defragmenter (Defrag.exe) to defrag my F drive, I received the following error message:

"Error Defragmenting Drive F. Windows could not access part of the drive. Click Help and carry out the instructions for running ScanDisk. IMPORTANT: To fix this problem, you must run ScanDisk and choose the Thorough option.
ID No: DEFRAG005"

What is the cause of this error message ? How can I resolve this ?

please help.....thanks

[Lillebror]

Here are the possible causes of occurrence of such a error message :-

• when Disk Defragmenter is unable to read from or write to one or more bad sectors on the hard disk.
  
  Also, the DEFRAG005 error message occurs because :-
• when Disk Defragmenter is unable to write to a sector.
• when Disk Defragmenter is unable to read from a sector.

[Calvin K]

Run ScanDisk (Scandskw.exe) and perform a thorough test on the hard disk. To do so, follow these steps:

• Start >> Programs >> Accessories >> System Tools >> ScanDisk.
• Click the hard disk referenced in the error message, and then click Thorough in the Type Of Test area.
• Click Options and verify that System And Data Areas is selected, and then click OK.
• Click Start to begin the test.

If ScanDisk does not find any bad sectors, or if running ScanDisk does not correct the problem, configure ScanDisk to detect disk timeouts and check each cluster five times while performing a surface scan. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Use any text editor (such as Notepad) to open the Scandisk.ini file in the Windows\Command folder.
   
   
2. Create an [Environment] section in the file, if the section does not already exist, and then add the following lines to the section:
   ScanTimeOut=On
   NumPasses=5
   Note : "ScanTimeOut=" and "NumPasses=" lines may already exist, but with different values.
   
   
3. Save and then close the Scandisk.ini file.
   
   
4. Click the Start button, click Shut Down, click "Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode," and then click Yes.
   
   
5. Type the following line and then press ENTER to run ScanDisk scandisk <drive>:
   where <drive> is the drive letter of the hard disk you want to check.
   Note : you should run a surface scan when ScanDisk prompts you to do so, repair any errors that ScanDisk finds, and view and save the log file that ScanDisk creates.
   
   
6. When ScanDisk is finished, type exit and then press ENTER to return to Windows.
   
   
7. Run Disk Defragmenter again.

[Solomon]

Run Disk Defragmenter to consolidate free space only. Then defragment files only, and then perform a full defragmentation (both files and free space).

To do this, follow these steps:

• Click Start -- Programs -- Accessories -- System Tools -- Disk Defragmenter.
• Click the hard disk referenced in the error message, and then click OK.
• Click Advanced, click Consolidate Free Space Only, and click OK.
• Click No when you are prompted to quit Disk Defragmenter.
• Click the hard disk referenced in the error message, and then click OK.
• Click Advanced, click Defragment Files Only, and click OK.
• Click No when you are prompted to quit Disk Defragmenter.
• Click the hard disk referenced in the error message, and then click OK.
• Click Advanced, click "Full defragmentation (both files and free space)", and click OK.
• Click Yes when you are prompted to exit Disk Defragmenter.