gw.dat defrag issue

Recently Guild Wars and many other games I have have been running slowly.

So I decided to run the defrager. Once it finished, it said a file did not defragment, that file was gw.dat. I have run the defragmenter 3 times now and it wont defragment.

Any way to fix this?


BTW the file is approx. 2.3GB

Delete the gw.dat, DEFRAG, then open the client and let him DL again.

Later.

Maybe the problem is with the amount of space on the disk currently. Most defraggers move data around so if there isn't enough space to defrag the file it may not do it. Dunnos if its not that.

Windows simply cannot defrag the file since it is so large (~2GB). The same thing happens with the files in GTA San Andreas for PC.

Just ignore it.

Run the defragger again. Some of them don't defrag every file on the HD every time its ran.

I think this is a Windows limitation. I was trying to do the same thing once, and couldn't completely defrag the dat file. So I moved the dat file to another partition, defragged the original partition without the dat file, then moved the dat file back again. And it was still shown as being fragmented! This is strange, because on moving the file to a partition which has adequate room, the file should have been put in place unfragmented. I would imagine that either the file is not fragmented, but Windows cannot report that it isn't, or Windows cannot handle such a large file without fragmentation.

Third-party defraggers can usually do the job.

If you're going to defrag use the diskeeper trial, its the best of them all. Also youll need around 15%+ free space for Windows or else itll start fragmenting things. Also, unless your dat files in hundreds or thousands of parts, it doesnt matter as its internal fragmentation is more the problem.

personally, i wont use a 3rd party defrag.

youre best option, as stated above, is to delete your GW.dat file and start fresh.

try clearing up some room on your computer... you must have SOMETHING on there that you really dont need, right? Uninstall some other game maybe to clear up another gig or two for yourself.

and defrag until happy before you reinstall gw. (when you reinstall you get to see the movie again )

I wouldn't worry about it. GW.DAT is such a massive file and it's not going to be used contiguously anyways. It's an archive file full of smaller files, like textures, models, maps, etc. Check how many fragments it has after you defrag. Last time that i defragged, my GW.DAT was in 5 fragments which is quite acceptable for a 3 GB file. And even if you do manage to defrag it fully, it is unlikely to REMAIN defragmented for very long with the frequency of Guild Wars updates.