How can I defragment my PS3 Hard Disk

[#1]

My Question is; How can I defragment my PS3 Hard Disk?

I've heard there is a way using system recovery console where you hold down the power button and hear 3 beeps, but I can't get it to come up.

[#2]

does that not just rebuild the libraries, similar to when you do a firmware update, and it occasionally says its updating data libraries or whatever it is... don't think you can defrag. I could be wrong though

[#3]

dude why do you need to defrag it . defragging is for putting 1000s of files back into a faster order and removing old un needed files.

ow and from your name what owner are you  r32/r33/r34 :)

[#4]

I heard that the file system the PS3 utilises is self-defragmenting or the way it arranges the file on the HDD means that there is no need to defrag... so you don't need to do anything.  What is the problem?

[#5]

I've wondered about defragging too - I've noticed that it takes a lot longer to prepare downloads from the store. Not actually download them, but the bit before it starts - presumably it's looking for available space, etc. That takes a lot longer now after however long I've been saving and deleting stuff.

[#6]

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@whereismax123 wrote:

dude why do you need to defrag it . defragging is for putting 1000s of files back into a faster order and removing old un needed files.

ow and from your name what owner are you  r32/r33/r34 :)

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He could be a R35 owner :P

[#7]

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@Nonhippyhippy wrote:

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@whereismax123 wrote:

dude why do you need to defrag it . defragging is for putting 1000s of files back into a faster order and removing old un needed files.

ow and from your name what owner are you  r32/r33/r34 :)

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He could be a R35 owner :P

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isnt the r35 just the old skool name for the new GT-R

either way R32 for me ...well thats what id choose . but im happy with mr2 turbo :)

Message Edited by whereismax123 on 11-11-2008 05:38 PM

[#8]

Ok that's good that it defrag's itself.

However, I do not own a skyline but have seen a  GT-R in the UK.

But I hope to own a GT-R in the future.

[#9]

I assume the the PS3 OS takes care of it? as there is no facilty and I have over 50gb of stuff on mine and no descernable degradation in game speed or download speed.

It may well be that IBM thought of that when the designed the software kernels and built a automatic defrag that needs no user interface... 

[#10]

I'm not so sure. If it is a background task, why isn't there an 'on-screen-prompt' that notifies the user to "NOT TURN THE SYSTEM OFF" while defragging ?
Can you imagine the damage it would cause if you turned the PS3 off (via the power button on the back) while this defragging was in action ?
I'm not to sure.
But perhaps this occurrs when you see the "rebuilding hard-drive directories" or whatever it displays once in a blue moon ?
(I've only seen this once - and it only lasted a few seconds).
I hope it does have auto defrag, but I'm not sure how it works.
Especially as it only seems to last a few seconds.

[#11]

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@planet_lee wrote:
I'm not so sure. If it is a background task, why isn't there an 'on-screen-prompt' that notifies the user to "NOT TURN THE SYSTEM OFF" while defragging ?
Can you imagine the damage it would cause if you turned the PS3 off (via the power button on the back) while this defragging was in action ?
I'm not to sure.
But perhaps this occurrs when you see the "rebuilding hard-drive directories" or whatever it displays once in a blue moon ?
(I've only seen this once - and it only lasted a few seconds).
I hope it does have auto defrag, but I'm not sure how it works.
Especially as it only seems to last a few seconds.

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Turning it off while doing it would do nothing but stop the defrag.

[#12]

I think I read somewhere a while ago that the file system used on the internal PS3 disk is a proprietary system based on the Linux/Unix file system Ext2, which means it doesn't need to be defragged - file fragmentation is, as far as I'm aware, mostly a Windows (Fat32, NTFS) issue.

[#13]

Do you honestly believe that ?
Try defragging your PC hard drive then manually powering it off.
Then come back & tell me that it "would do nothing but stop the defrag"
'Hard power off' while writing to the HDD is not a good thing.
Please feel free to instruct me otherwise, as I'd always been lead to believe that it corrupts the file it is writing (at the time).
Technology may have moved on since the days that I knew what I was talking about (many moons ago ;) )
But I don't think that HDD can cope with 'power off' while writing without serious consequences.
That said, I'm totally prepared to be wrong ;)

[#14]

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@planet_lee wrote:
Do you honestly believe that ?
Try defragging your PC hard drive then manually powering it off.
Then come back & tell me that it "would do nothing but stop the defrag"
'Hard power off' while writing to the HDD is not a good thing.
Please feel free to instruct me otherwise, as I'd always been lead to believe that it corrupts the file it is writing (at the time).
Technology may have moved on since the days that I knew what I was talking about (many moons ago ;) )
But I don't think that HDD can cope with 'power off' while writing without serious consequences.
That said, I'm totally prepared to be wrong ;)

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Its writing to the disk obviously, but doing it while defragging wouldn't harm it any more.

[#15]

We don't know enough about the PS3 file system to say for sure if it even requires defragmenting or if it does it itself (unlikely as pointed out above, no 'do not power off messages') So really just forget about it and hope Sony know what they are doing :)

[#16]

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@InfraRedPS wrote:
We don't know enough about the PS3 file system to say for sure if it even requires defragmenting or if it does it itself (unlikely as pointed out above, no 'do not power off messages') So really just forget about it and hope Sony know what they are doing :)

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Yeah, because that's certainly comforting :p.

... Well, to be honest I actually do believe they have a fairly good grasp of things when it comes to hardware. Just not quite everything else :).

[#17]

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@Miths000 wrote:

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@InfraRedPS wrote:
We don't know enough about the PS3 file system to say for sure if it even requires defragmenting or if it does it itself (unlikely as pointed out above, no 'do not power off messages') So really just forget about it and hope Sony know what they are doing :)

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Yeah, because that's certainly comforting :p.

... Well, to be honest I actually do believe they have a fairly good grasp of things when it comes to hardware. Just not quite everything else :).

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Well i've not noticed any reduction in performance for HDD based games, and because we aren't running an OS off it, it really shouldn't be a problem.

Message Edited by InfraRedPS on 12-11-2008 08:59 PM

[#18]

For the few who may care :), here's an explanation of why the internal PS3 disk (which as I mentioned above, may be using a file system similar to or based on Ext2) in all likelihood doesn't get fragmented to a degree that has any real impact on performance:

http://felipecruz.com/blog_linux-defrag-fix-fragmentation.php

" Linux and Windows filesystem fragmentation and related issues.

Fragmentaion of Linux/extX and Windows NTFS-X Filesystems

Most filesystems out there (including linux ext2, NTFS-X, and the newer linux filesystems) can eventually run into some fragmentation issues sooner or later. And as most Sys-Admins know, heavy fragmentation translates to a decreased system disk I/O performance. And while fragmentation can have a direct impact on your server's performance, it is not nearly as common on modern filesystems as it was on older legacy filesystems.

Answering the first question, fragmentation is not as much of an issue as it was in older FSs (filesystems) such as DOS/Win9x FAT/VFAT, where files were written to the FS without regards to contiguous FS space. This is not the case with extX and NFTS-X--as files are laid down on the FS in a more contiguous space aware manner. It is not until the FS begins filling up (where abundant contiguous space begins to become more rare) that much file fragmentation begins to occur.

Built-in fragmentation limiting with Linux/ext2 is realized through three things:

# Block Groups: block groups within the extX filesystem(s) naturally group file-data together in "clumps".
# Contiguous-First Writes: The OS/FS is configured to try to (whenever possible) only write files to unused portions of the disk that are not fragmented. i.e. small files get written to small contiguous blocks, and large files to large groups.
# Defrag Utils: Although rarely needed, there are last resort defrag tools such as "ext2fs defrag" that can be used with extX and likewise Windows now has its own defrag tools also.

The Block Groups usage and Contiguous-Write First aspects of the extX filesystem is usually enough to keep most all Linux systems fragmentation free (for the most part).
..."