[Mel]

Defrag tools look for fragmented blocks or files but not necessarily where they are located on the drive.
Before resizing,defrag your partitions even if a fragmentation check says it doesn't need to be defraged.
Use third party defrag tools with XP.
REASON:
Most third party defrag tools move all files to beginning of drive.
XP defrag (at least the version I have) doesn't always do this.
When checking drives after defrag ,I learned the following.
From beginning to end;
...Most defrag tools;
......[Used blocks..free space]...
XP defrag tool.
......[Used blocks...free space...used blocks...free space] Sometimes more used blocks near or at end of drive.
MY impression;
1.Defrag finds free space and assigns a "work zone"
2.Moves files and fragments to "work zone".
3.Puts fragmented files together in adjacent blocks.
4.Moves defragmented files to beginning of drive.
5.If necessary,will move "work zone" to allow enough space at beginning of drive.
6.Clears 'work zone' and allocates as free space.
.
.
XP defrag seems to;
1.have a 'group' function similar to it's menu 'group' function.
2.move files to beginning of drive in groups after defrag.
3.doesn't always leave enough space at beginning of drive.
4.if running out of space at beginning of drive,instead of moving 'work zone',it simply starts putting files in random area of free space,sometimes near end of drive.
5.allocating 'work zone' as free space then results in free space in middle of used space.
.
As long as files are not very fragmented,a 'check for fragmentation'will result in a "Defrag not necessary at this time" message even if some files are at end of drive.
.
It's the files near or at end of drive (partition) that cause problems when shrinking partitions.
.
My conclusion;
Chances of success are much better when using third party defrag program with XP.
Remember I'm a noob still very ignorant when it comes to Linux but I have 4 computers to experiment with.(Please, don't confuse ignorance with stupidity.)
.
Danleff, please post any wrong assumptions I made even if it's the whole post.I learned a long time ago that criticism is one of the best teaching or learning tools known to man.

[jimf43]

Mel,

You are entirely correct about the window$ defrag, also Norton does the same thing, putting some blocks at the end of the volume. The defrag utility that I 'know' will do it correctly is VptXP, but there may be others. Partition Magic 8.0 'should' move blocks at the end of the volume when resizing, but, it's an extra risk you may not want to take.

[SoulNothing]

ive noticed that after partitioning there will always be fragmented files alot of them i did a test and agree third party is your best idea i personally prefer disk keeper

[Mel]

I should have said a "good' defrag utility will move all files to beginning of drive/partition.
I use the defrag utility that came with System Suite 5 (Now a V-com product). I have had no problems with it so far.
Thanks for the replies.I appreciate critisizm when I'm wrong but get a much better feeling with confirmation.

[danleff]

It all has been said! The issue is always back up/have a working backup of your data before making any changes and monitor your defrag tool to see if it does what it says it will do.