66 10 - 23 July 2019
SOFTWARE
Move VirtualBox to a new PCQ
I recently upgraded from an old and
very slow PC to a faster laptop, and
transferred all my data including my
VirtualBox operating systems. However,
while I can run Linux systems without
any problems, Windows 10 Professional
refuses to boot. Is this something to do
with the hardware change?
Sirus Laia, via emailA
There may be some licensing
problems, but this still wouldn’t stop
Windows booting up: it would start and
say the licence is invalid, then prompt
you for a new code. There are manyQ
I’ve read conflicting views on
defragging inWeb Userand
elsewhere. Some say you should avoid
defragging unnecessarily, but how do
you know when that necessary point
is reached?
As you can see from the screenshot
(right),most of the drives on my PC
are only 5% fragmented or less
(marked OK).However, the last drive is
92% fragmented, whichmeansit must
needto be defraggedurgently, but I
don’tknow what this drive containsor
what it does,so I’m not sure whether
to proceed or not.
Alan S, via emailA
If automatic defragmentation is
enabled, Windows should be left
to manageitself so you don’t have to
defrag manually. The default setting is
for it to run once a week when the
computer is idle.
There isn’t a fixed fragmentation
percentage where defragging
becomes necessary because it
depends on different factors. For
example, if a large file such as a 4GB
video is in 10 fragments, then the timeThis is fine and shows that Windows is
keeping the drive optimised, but if
you’d like even less fragmentation,
select the drive, click ‘Change
settings’, enable ‘Run on a schedule’
and set the frequency to Daily.
The oddly named ‘\\?\Volume
(977a81’ drive in your screenshot is
not a regular drive that is used for
Windows or your files, so its 92%
fragmentation is not important. It is
most likely a hiddenrecovery partition
created by Windows or backup
software that exists in case of
disaster. Just leave it alone.Should you defrag
mystery partitions?
GENERAL PC
Use Export
and Import
Applianceto
move virtual
machines
with
VirtualBoxAsk the Expert
Roland Waddilove,computerprogrammerandPC
journalistsince1981,answersallyourtechnicalquestions.
Emailusforhelpat [email protected]
taken to find the fragments is
insignificant compared to the time taken
to read the whole file. In fact, when
fragments are over 50MB, Windows
may not even bother to defrag them.
As small files become more
fragmented, the PC slows down.
However, this is less noticeable with
modern drives because they are faster
than they used to be. A drive needs
defragging when you notice your
computer becoming slower.
In the screenshot you attached (see
above), the C: drive containing Windows
and your files is only 5% fragmented.It’s safe to ignore any oddly named drives listed in the Optimize Drives tool