How do I defragment a file that is larger than the free space available?

Any decent defrag program should be able to shuffle the file fragments around until they are all in order… though it may take longer than normal.

unload it to an online backup site, then reload it to the drive.

@WestRiverrat
Not an option for me. The file is 140 Gigabyte big and my upstream is 50 Kbyte/s max. Uploading it would take ages (34 days to be precise).

@jerv
Almost all of the programs I tried skip that file without doing anything. I am running one right now that works on that file but it seems right now that it does not really defrag it.

Move file to external HD. Defrag your disk then copy it back.

What the hell have you got in a single file that large?

@Lightlyseared A disk image. I have a few files that large and some considerably larger, mostly ISO images.

@Lightlyseared
It is an encrypted image of a virtual hard disk. I can mount it and then use it as a normal hard drive.

“Encrypted image” my ass.

You like your porn, don’t you?

If you haven’t solved this already, maybe temporarily offload enough other files from your hard disk so you have defragging room, then put them back.

I have many files this big, I do large-image intensive work for publications and exhibits.

Diskeeper 2010 has worked wonders on my drive when it had hardly any free space left. Check out the trial version.

“O and O Defrag professional” will help you.You can try this free from their website.