The Free Space in the GUI Display Map of the Defragmenter Utility May Not Match the Free Space in the Defragmentation Report

After you run the Windows 2000 built-in Disk Defragmenter utility, the defragmentation report may indicate that there is a high percentage of free space on the disk, but the graphical user interface (GUI) display map may indicate very few or no areas of free space (represented by white-colored areas on the map). The GUI display map does not seem to accurately represent the free space that is recorded in the defragmentation report.

This behavior can occur because the GUI display map is an incomplete depiction of the disk slices. If the majority of the slice that is represented by the Disk Defragmenter utility contains fragmented files, the map displays a red-colored area, and if the majority of the slice that is represented by the Disk Defragmenter utility contains free space, the map displays a white-colored area. When the disk is larger in size, the representation of each slice in the GUI display map is less granular in appearance. When the map displays few or no white-colored areas, yet a large percentage of free space is reported, the free space occurs in many small areas.

This behavior means that each slice is more likely to contain pieces of fragmented files than contiguous free space. This behavior can misrepresent the actual amount of free disk space that is displayed in the GUI display map. This condition can easily prevent defragmentation, as a single area of free space is not large enough to accommodate defragmentation files of a certain size.

To resolve this behavior, free up some disk space by using the Disk Cleanup tool that is located on the General tab of the affected volumes properties. This tool can enable you to delete unused files, such as, the temporary folders. To use Disk Cleanup:

1. Click Start.
2. Point to Programs, click Administration Tools, and then click Computer Management.
3. In Computer Management, click the Disk Administration folder, under Storage Option. You may need to click the plus sign (+) beside Storage Option to display all of the storage options.
4. Click the drive that you want to "clean up."
5. Right-click the drive, and then click Properties. In the Properties dialog box, click Disk Cleanup, and then follow the directions in the Disk Cleanup tool to remove unwanted or unneeded files.

Alternately, move the largest unused files to another volume to free up some disk space. Or, if a page file is located on the volume, you can temporarily move the page file to another volume, and then restart the computer before you re-run the Disk Defragmenter utility. This step can enable the Disk Defragmenter utility to perform a more thorough defragmentation of the volume, before the files are moved back. Also, this step can enable the GUI display map to more accurately represent the free space that is contained on that volume.

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