I just ran about 4 anti apyware scans and decided to do a disk cleanup
and defrag since it's been awhile. Just maintenance...I wasn't having
any problems.

When I used "analyze" on defrag, I saw something that I've never seen before.
There were really thick red stripes......it darn near looked like
awning stripes....lol. It said I should defrag, so I did. Then it told me
that there were 8,258 fragments that could not be defragged.

The only other thing that I did earlier today was to try to clean up my
startup folder...I made new folders and put different programs in one
folder. This was mostly music programs and anti-spyware programs etc. Could this be the culprit behind the files that
can't be defragged?

I just did a system restore.....defragged again , rebooted and nothing
changed. The files that I put in folders are still in them...I thought
the restore may put everything back the way it was?

I saved the "report" and its showing a backup file that I made on
3-20-08 as the file that can't be defragged. So I went to search, and
looked for it.....I clicked it and a file restore "wizard" came up so I
let it restore the files. I tried to defrag again, and it stopped and
said that these files are a different version than the originals and to
fix this I have to insert a CD? It doesn't even say which one? Maybe
XP?

I think I made it worse than it was Any suggestions before I do something else wrong?

TIA......dy

There's a few files that the XP defrag tool won't be able to defrag:

System volume information
System Restore points
Pagefile

You could remove all but the latest system restore point to free up space:

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest restore point.

The amount of free space is important when running Disk Defragmenter. A minimum of 15% is required but sometimes more to cope with  more large files.

You can run Disk Defragmenter a second and third time if files are still fragmented after the first run.

If you use Outlook Express compacting folders before running Disk Defragmenter may help.



Restore deals mostly with registry, not data. So, any folders with your own data in them won't be touched. Programs you installed will after the system restore point will be removed though.


What report is that? The defrag report?


Without knowing what the report was, I couldn't say. I am guessing that you have run a system file check - and reporting that some files are different versions is normal because you will have updated many files through normal Windows updates. You shouldn't, normally, replace any.

I think you should be trying one more system restore to before you started 'tinkering' and ensure that your system is working OK before trying anything else.

First, I don't know what FAT32 is.  I'm sorry this is all new to me

When I went to defrag, it said that I have 49% free space.  The report I mentioned before was what showed after the defrag.  I also ran a disk cleanup before the defrags.  I don't use outlook express. 

I ran the defrag at least 8 times in the past 2 days, including 2 times today in safe mode.  The amount was still the same.  8,258 fragments.  It says the file size is 17.06 GB.   It's located in my documents.  At least it looks like the same file named in the report.  (3-20-08 Windows backup file......and it says that it is 17,885,190 KB)

When i try to open this file, I get a message saying "the backup utility cannot connect to the removable storage device. Etc etc"  Then the backup or restore wizard pops up...this is what I ran last night, and after about an hour it tells me to put in the CD...but it doesn't say which CD.  This is where I got the files that are a different version from the originals.

Now, I don't know what the heck happened because when I went into my documents to look for that file....there are now at least a few hundred things there that weren't there yesterday...and I tried to open a few to see what they were but I got a message saying 'not supported"  And, I'm afraid to delete anything now.

I'm afraid to delete all of those system restore points, too. 

The more I think about this....this file could have something to do with a new backup program that I used.  I TRIED to put the backup on a flash drive....I'm not sure if it's even on there.  But it IS in my documents now. 

This is what the defrag report said:

Fragments       File Size       Files that cannot be defragmented
8,258           17.06 GB        \Documents and Settings\MyName\My Documents\3-20-08 Backup.bkf

I didn't have that many things in my documents before I ran the "backup or restore wizard"  But they're sure there now.   I was wondering if I did a system restore to the day before that file was created....would it be gone?  Hopefully all of the others ones that just appeared too. 



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, I'm getting the picture now. You have a backup file sitting in your My Documents folder.

That file will probably be locked and cannot be defragged for a start. So stop trying to defrag it now.

The problem is - what put it there? Have you ever created a backup file or a restore disk using any program or procedure on your PC?

Do you have a restore disk?

What is the full name of the file/folder that is causing this?

One thing's for certain, that file does not belong in your My Documents folder, not at 17 Gb!! We'll need to identify what it is, and where it belongs. We'll need to do the same with the other 'hundreds' of files/folders that have appeared.

Seems like you might be saving things into My Documents that should be elsewhere.

Ok, I took a deep breath and deleted it and I got a popup saying that it was even too big for the recycle bin. So, I deleted it totally.

Then I went back to defrag, ran the analysis and everything was gone....no more huge red stripes.

Any ideas on how to delete all of the files that I can't open? The ones that were retrieved by that backup and restore
wizard? The're all in "my documents" How do I know if I need them or not? Also, there are things in "my documents"
that Im not sure even belong there....Intel drivers etc.   Also, "setup"  from d/l programs...can those be deleted once
the programs are installed?

Thanks again!

I really don't even know whats supposed to be in my documents?  I took a screenshot of a few of them.....can we post links here?

I tried to break the down and put them into folders by "type" so I can check each folder out and delete a few at a time.   I should have sorted them by date maybe?  Oh well......here is about 1 1/100 of whats in there.  I don't know how Intel drivers got there?   

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v116/dyanne2/My%20Docs/?action=view&current=MyDocs.jpg

I hope that works...I'm not even sure if it will show...might have to show it full screen to read it.

Anyways Squeeze..I really appreciate your help...thank you!

So I can safely delete all of the "set-up" files for programs that are already installed?

I didn't actually save everything to my documents.  I ran that file recovery wizard that I mentioned earlier and it put all of those in there.  That's what I'm trying to get rid of.  I also didn't know that I could make folders on  C:\   I thought those were just on my desktop. 

Betcha just wanna scream when a newb does stuff like this, huh?