Windows XP / Beginners

Defragmenting the NTFS master file table

The master file table, or MFT, is very important to the operation of the file system on your computer. Think of it as a phone directory of all the files on your computer. It is a big database of every file on your computer and it is stored on the hard drive. As the number of files and directories on your computer increase, so does the master file table. Over time, the master file table can also become fragmented. Because the master file table is so important to computer operations, it is used any time you want data from the hard drive. Defragmenting it will help your performance.

The built-in defragmenter will not defragment the MFT. Microsoft recommends that you adjust the amount of space that is reserved for the MFT, then back up your drive, and then do a full reformat and then restore your whole drive. This seems like way too much effort expended to me. Once again, Diskeeper by Executive Software comes to the rescue. Also, by default, when you perform a boot defrag, the option to defragment the master file table is already selected.

Using the Diskeeper method, instead of the Microsoft method, will save you hours of time wasted backing up and restoring your drive.

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In this tutorial:

  1. Speeding Up Your Computer
  2. Working with the Windows Prefetcher
  3. The registry to optimize the Prefetcher
  4. Accelerate specific applications with prefetch
  5. Using the Intel Application Accelerator
  6. How well does the Intel Application Accelerator work?
  7. How to install Intel Application Accelerator
  8. Fine-Tuning the Windows Paging File
  9. Disabling the paging file
  10. Adjusting the size of the paging file
  11. Changing the location of the paging file
  12. Defragmenting Your Drive
  13. Defragmenting the NTFS master file table
  14. Adjusting Your Application Priorities
  15. Using Task Manager to adjust priorities
  16. Starting applications with a user set priority
  17. Using WinTasks to profile your priorities
  18. Speeding Up Your Network
  19. Disabling unneeded protocols
  20. Disabling a specific protocol
  21. Calculating settings for CableNut
  22. Using CableNut to adjust settings