HP Support Assistant - defrag running more than 5 hours - Can I interrupt this?

[Mr_Numbers]

HP Support Assistant has been running defrag for more than 5 hours. Machine is a new (2 weeks) Pavillion p6-2022 so it really shouldn't need much work done to it. 4GB i3 memory, 1TB hard disk, W7 - 64bit. I've also got a 1TB external hard disk attached but I don't know if defrag is running on that as well (no options appeared to include/exclude it from the defrag).

Q1 - Is external disk being defragged, too? 

Q2 - Can I safely interrupt the defrag?

Q3 - If not, how much longer will this run???

Q4 - How can I tell if it's running or just hanging?

Thanks, anyone!

[Z06Racer]

Q1 - Is external disk being defragged, too?

A1 - No, only the C: volume is set for defrag with the built-in defrag utility.

Q2 - Can I safely interrupt the defrag?

A2 - Yes, worse case is some free space may be marked as incorrectly allocated.  A CHKDSK /F/R will correct this condition.

Q3 - If not, how much longer will this run???

A3 - No wy to really tell...  It would depend on the number and size of files and the excess file fragments.

Q4 - How can I tell if it's running or just hanging?

A4 - Launch Task Manager or PerfMon and look to see if there are CPU cycles or disk I/O traffic occuring.

This is one of the main problems with the built-in in that it may run for a very long time, taking up valuable system resources.  My recommendation is to use Diskeeper.  With it's InvisiTasking background processing and IntelliWrite fragmentation prevention technology I never have to worry when or how often it runs and I get the benefit of it preventing most of the fragmentation from occuring such that when defrags are performed, then is very little work for it to clean up.

[Mr_Numbers]

Thanks very much. About half an hour after posting my question I realised I could scroll down to a 'Cancel' button. D'oh! But your comments are very helpful going forward so thanks very much!