I have found that it is often easier to reboot the machine into Safe Mode before doing a defrag. Try F8 at boot or use a boot floppy. Frank Arnold ================================================== On Tuesday 11 February 2003 04:47 am, you wrote: > Hi All: > > A colleague is attempting to defrag a 40GB hard drive, on a Pentium II, > under Windows 98. > > The system reports that the last defrag was more than 240 days ago - after > almost daily use. > > My friend states the defrag does not reports even one per cent sucess, > after up to three hours. The screen saver is off. > > Nearly 60% of the drive is free. > > Does this amount of time - give the situation sound reasonable? > > If not, what are the alternatives? > > Thanks > > Jim