defrag win98 with ME defrag?

[chivasregal]

Is it possible to download, install, and run win ME defrag on a win 98 system? If so, can you detail how to accomplish this.

Thanks,

Chivas

[Computer Hope Admin]

No. I'm afraid not. I'd imagine though that there is not much difference between the ME and 98 defrag. If you're looking for a different tool you may want to try one of the various other defrag tools out there.

For example: Power Defragmenter *

Otherwise, what's wrong with 98 defrag?

* Edit: The above tool looks to be only for 2k and XP and all the other tools I was able to find were only for 2000 or higher.

[patio]

Diskeeper Lite...

Still Free...the only difference than the free version is the scheduler is crippled.
Works on 98, ME and up...

[Computer Hope Admin]

My hat's off you you Patio. I went though several dozen different disk utility pages and came up empty handed with a 9x defrag utility that wasn't poorly rated.

[dahlarbear]

chivasregal:

Yes, it's both possible and desirable to download, install, and run win ME defrag on a win 98 system.  I've done it and have been running WinMe defrag.exe successfully on my Windows 98 Standard Edition PC for four or five years.

I have two old PCs; one running Windows 98, the other Windows ME.

I'm no longer able to find it on the Microsoft download site.   (They simply tell you they're discontinued support for Microsoft 9x/ME.)

I did find it at the following link:

    http://www.the-old-sea-dog.net/defrag.html

Download his zip file "win9x-medefrag.zip" to where ever you want on your system.  Unzip it, read instructions in "ReadFirst.htm" file, execute them.  The command file he asks you to execute "install.bat" contains the following two lines:

    ren C:\Windows\defrag.exe defrag.old
    xcopy defrag.exe C:\Windows

It assumes your Windows 98 system was installed to "C:\Windows\", the default location.  It renames the Win98 defrag file and copies in the new one.

I did the download, unzipped the file but did not execute the command file to install.  I examined the "defrag.exe" file included in the zip and it is indeed the same size and version as the one off of my Windows Me installation.  In fact all of the file properties are the same except the dates.  It is unfortunate that he wasn't able to preserve the file dates.  The official file on my installation has the Windows Me system date of 6/8/2000.  It looks good and legit to me.

The other option is I could attempt to email you original "defrag.exe" off of my Windows ME system, but other than the dates it looks the same as his.

P.S.  I've successfully used Diskeeper Lite v7.0 build 418 on my Windows ME system.  Never tried it on Windows 98.

[Computer Hope Admin]

Huh. That's interesting dahlarbear, thanks for the follow-up on that. Although I've never tried this the page looks legit and it based off the description of the user using this it apparently is faster than the Windows 98 version.

[patio]

And just a follow up heads up...DKLite does the same re-naming function as well...

I use it on all my machines. And i don't mind not having the schedule function....heck what kinda schedule do i follow every day for example ? ? ?

 

[WillyW]

And just a follow up heads up...DKLite does the same re-naming function as well...

Is there some advantage to using DKLite vs the defrag program that comes with Win98SE?      If there is, maybe I should use it instead.....

[dahlarbear]

Computer Hope Admin:

Yeah, the WinME defrag.exe is noticeably faster on the Win98 system than the original.  I never benchmarked it.  Maybe twice as fast.

I found a second site for download, but didn't originally include it because it appears they're into some serious tinkering.

    http://www.mdgx.com/98-5.htm#WDIW

They did however post this note regarding the Win ME defrag.exe utility:

CAUTION:
This NEWer DEFRAG.EXE does NOT recognize/defragment DrvSpace/DblSpace compressed/doubled drives/partitions!

I'm not concerned because I would never use DrvSpace or DblSpace in an effort to save space and I don't think anyone else would either.  You'd just get yourself into trouble.  Substituting WinME defrag for Win98 was commonly recommended "back in the day".

[Broni]

This is how to install Windows ME defrag under Windows 98 (I was using ME defrag in 98 for years):
http://aroundcny.com/technofile/texts/tec060902.html

[dahlarbear]

Is there some advantage to using DKLite vs the defrag program that comes with Win98SE?      If there is, maybe I should use it instead.....

WillyW:

Yes, the DKLite defragger is much faster than Win98SE; also faster than WinME.  It defrags files but is willing to leave gaps between used clusters rather than taking the time to tightly pack all files into one continuous block of used disk space.  Win98, Win98SE, WinME standard defrag.exe tightly packs all files, leaving no gaps between them...   dahlarbear

[Broni]

Also, "defrag" up to Win 98 version was just faulty application. That's why, many people had problems with running it.

[patio]

I would have installed Diskeeper Lite by this point and had all my drives defragged...

[WillyW]

Is there some advantage to using DKLite vs the defrag program that comes with Win98SE?      If there is, maybe I should use it instead.....

WillyW:

Yes, the DKLite defragger is much faster than Win98SE; also faster than WinME.  It defrags files but is willing to leave gaps between used clusters rather than taking the time to tightly pack all files into one continuous block of used disk space.  Win98, Win98SE, WinME standard defrag.exe tightly packs all files, leaving no gaps between them...   dahlarbear

Interesting.
Thanks for commenting.   
I assume this means that you have tried all three and are reporting from personal experience?


Broni and Patio :    Question -  since it is reported that dklite leaves gaps, but is fast -
would it be worth it to    dklite a drive first,  then come right behind it with regular Win98 defrag?     
In other words,  since dklite apparently would have done all the work with the little bits and pieces all over everywhere,   would Win98 defrag then finish the job by moving all the big files together?
... just something that came to mind as I read the above.....

[Broni]

would it be worth it to    dklite a drive first,  then come right behind it with regular Win98 defrag?

I guess, it may work,  but forget about Win98 defrag. It's a piece of junk. You may want to substitute it with WinME defrag, which is much faster.