Fragmentation

[huzie]

Hi All,

We are using Starwind as Target software for a single ESX server. We have number of *img files that are presented to the ESX.

On doing a spot check fragmentation check on the volumes on the storage server i noted that the img files are split into many fragments.

Are there any issues with running Windows defrag on these files. Anything i need to be aware of?

thanks

[Robert (staff)]

Hello huzie,

Yes, native Windows defragmentation works fine with the image files.

Thanks,
Rob.

[JimOBeirne]

As a heads-up; It has been my experience that in most forms of SAN's with thin provisioning enabled that using a defrag program has a negative impact on thin provisioning due to moving the blocks. Some SAN vendors do their own disk scrubbing in the background which is thin provisioning aware. This may be something to keep in consideration before using a defrag.

Jim O'Beirne

[Robert (staff)]

Hello Jim,

Please note that this is quite "implementation-specific". In our case defragmentation even provides higher performance.

Thank you.
Rob