Defragmenting external harddrive in Windows 10

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Tricky(Posted 2016) [#1]
I have an (usb) external harddrive (ExFAT), and I've always been using it on my Mac, but I chose ExFAT in order to be able to use it on Windows as well (as I need to switch between the two systems). Now it has never been defragmented and I have that thing for years, so I guess it's about time it happens.

However when I call the defragmentation tool in Windows 10 it only allows me to defrag my C: drive and nothing else.

Suggestions?


Brucey(Posted 2016) [#2]
Does this work?

http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_defrag_my_external_drive.html


xlsior(Posted 2016) [#3]
Through the command prompt:

cmd.exe

defrag h:


TomToad(Posted 2016) [#4]
It seems Windows 8-10 don't like drives formatted with a different operating system. Had an old drive formatted on Windows 7. Trying to delete unwanted files to make room for others, but Win10 kept telling me I didn't have permission. Finally, I booted up a Linux CD I had laying around and deleted all the files from there.

So, maybe try defragging the drive from Linux?


xlsior(Posted 2016) [#5]
It seems Windows 8-10 don't like drives formatted with a different operating system. Had an old drive formatted on Windows 7. Trying to delete unwanted files to make room for others, but Win10 kept telling me I didn't have permission.


That's because the NTFS filesystem itself has permissions that are based on the unique user identifyers of the computer that created them -- unless the original computer set permissions to give "everyone" full access, it may be limited on other computers since the users will have different security identifiers.

You can fix this on the new PC by going into the security settings of the folder and taking ownership, although this will remove any 'special' permissions that may have been set.


Tricky(Posted 2016) [#6]
Hi;

In the meantime a friend of mine installed "Defragler" and that solved my problem for now. I shall however bookmark that page you gave me, Bruce. Never know if it still might come in handy.

So, maybe try defragging the drive from Linux?

I could try, if Linux defraggers handle exFAT (the defraggers out there for Mac (yes, they do exist) only handle file systems based on Unix).