New Hard Drive surprisingly very defragmented, is this an issue?

[dubhlinnplayer]

New pc, (last Christmas). Intel Quadcore, 4GB ram, 1GB 9500, XP (Ankermann-pc.com) Very good.
ISSUE?
I've had the usual crash issues: End of hard-fought battle, victory screen, OK.. crashtodesktop.
Fleet built in India, sent to Madagascar, then West Indies.. click on it.. ctd.
Ingame: End of turn, Flags, get to Pirates flag, lag, lag.. crash sometimes.
NO graphics issues, all on High (really!). Not sure about trilinears or anisotropics? Novice!

GAME issues!!!
I'm trying the 3GB Large Volume fix, got it last night.
DID NOTICE: my new hdd is VERY fragmented.
If Empire is memory greedy with the increased towns/colleges/farms etc within states, and our hdd's become very fragmented using this software, then
surely this has to be an issue.. cause of delays when it has to calculate the changes from say:
end of battle, or end of turn? And more so as you get near the end of the game...more info to calculate?

LOVE the game. Battles, expecially with explosive cannon balls, are brilliant!
IS spoilt by crash issues though. Play Empire, Learn Patience.

[Brusilov]

Have a read of the following post - although it's in a RTW mod area a lot of what is posted there is relevant: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=100384

I'd suggest de-fragging your hard drive.