Can you defrag hard drive after editing but before burning

[JudgeGarth]

I haven't tried this, but out of curiosity, can you defrag your hard drive after editing/authoring but before you burn it to disk? Specifically if you're editing bits and pieces from different mpegs to burn into one DVD. Does defrag mess up the pointers?

[Wile_E]

You can defrag anytime you want. It won't mess up anything.

[guns1inger]

What defragging does is rearrange the way the files are stored on the HDD. It does not change the settings inside projects, and project don't refer to actual file positions on the HDD.

Think of it as being like re-sorting an old filing cabinet back into alphabetical order after a few years of neglect. Files that reference other files still reference them as they did before, but everything is easier to find because it is back in order.