So I'm on a quest to find the best disk defragging software out there. Here are some of the more popular options:
From diskeeper.com:
Diskeeper 2008 Home edition puts your PC in the driver’s seat, allowing you to enjoy unprecedented performance and reliability while you work, browse and play. Fragmented hard drives drain critical system resources and compromise almost every aspect of daily computer use, leading to longer load times, persistent lags and costly crashes. Diskeeper 2008 Home shifts your system into high gear, ensuring that all your programs are running at peak performance.
I used Diskeeper for about a year and then gave it up. My initial impression of the software was very good. Things seemed to run faster and I liked that you didn't have to manually defrag your drive. However, I eventually noticed that it created folders all over your hard drive to store log files. This annoyed me. Diskeeper also seemed to use a significant amount of system resources.
From perfectdisk.com:
Delivering a unique set of easy-to-use features and benefits not found in any other solution, PerfectDisk® 2008 will make your computer run like new. Work and play faster - and smarter. PerfectDisk makes everything you do on your computer faster - so you can be more efficient at your work or play. PerfectDisk 2008’s patented SMARTPlacement™ optimization is paired with its exclusive single-pass defragmentation and Space Restoration Technology™ to maximize PC and laptop performance. All controlled and automated according to your unique requirements through AutoPilot Scheduling™ or StealthPatrol™ unattended background processing.
I haven't used this program, but would be willing to give it a try. I'm very curious to hear from any PAer that has used it. Is it similar to diskeeper in that it tries to take over your hard drive?
From oo-software.com:
O&O Defrag 10 is the newest generation of the very successful O&O Defrag. Simply, quickly, and securely, you can get the maximum performance out of your expensive hardware investments - and all this with only a tiny investment of time and energy! The new O&O Defrag 10 Professional Edition for Windows-based workstations unlocks the hidden Performance of your computer. This software will optimize your hard disk in Windows Vista, XP Home, Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000 Professional, securely repacking fragmented files together for more efficiency. In addition, O&O Defrag 10 Professional Edition boasts outstanding usability and a myriad of important functions not found in any other defragmentation software platforms on the market today.
Same deal as perfectdisk, I haven't used it but would be curious to try it if several people recommend it.
Some freeware defragmenters that are worth checking out:
Defraggler - a small app by Piriform, the people that made the oh-so-awesome CCleaner.
JkDefrag - bare-bones, open source defragmenter. Doesn't even require an install.
AusLogic's Disk Defrag - simple defragmenter with an easy UI. Unfortunately, not customizable.
So, what defrag programs do you guys use? What do you look for in a defrag program: features/efficient use of resources/etc?
Posts
http://www.defraggler.com/
Better than the basic defrag by far, but it can't surpass those expensive commercial applications.
It does make a difference.
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There is no way that you should ever need to defrag every day. I think the author's page even says that he only recommends it once a week at the most.
edit: apparently he does recommend it for daily use. Where did I get that from?
Does it seem bloated to you at all? I've never used it, and am curious to see how it stacks up to Diskeeper. If you've tried Diskeeper, what made you choose PerfectDisk?
No idea. I always heard that once a day was a good frequency to defragment.
Norton Antivirus Norton? I've been trying to stay away from their products ever since... well for as long as I can remember. Their antivirus program got horrible detection rates in a test published a while ago. Anyways, I'm glad to hear their other software is good.
I remember a few years back on a forum some one asked the same question, a Disk Keeper rep came by and explained how Disk Keeper was much faster with defragging in the back ground. Expect a rep to come by sometime as they always seem to show up on forums.
EDIT: Also, Windows defrag is a stripped down version of Disk keeper.
EDIT2: No it doesn't try to take over your HD.
PerfectDisk user here too, albeit PerfectDisk 8, not 2008.
I used to use an old version of Diskeeper, but then I got the trial for PerfectDisk 8, and it made a world of difference (although, it's worth baring in mind that it was a pretty old version of Diskeeper; about 2 years old, so they could've made tons of improvements in later versions.)
The main selling point of PerfectDisk for me was the one version one pricing thing; Diskeeper has a few versions, ranging from decent to omgexpensive, IIRC. That and the performance boost I got (strangely enough, one of the default settings seems to hinder the potential improvement you could get, although I'm sure there are reasons I'm underlooking.)
I got the trial of PerfectDisk 2008 a while back, but didn't see any improvements worth upgrading to; I'd say go for it for new users, though, although a point worth noting is that it uses a Office 2007 style Ribbon interface, which seemed kind of shoehorned in.
One thing I noticed was that the Analysis seems to run slower on my Vista system than it does on XP, but it doesn't make too much of a difference.
I am running Vista. The default Vista defrag program doesn't seem like an improvement over XP (they seem to be the same for me, really). I'm going to continue to use JKDefrag for a couple of weeks to see if I notice a difference over the AusLogics one. If I don't, then I'll give perfectdisk a try.
Looks like this was the case for me, too. When I woke up this morning it had already finished (compared to yesterday when I woke up and it was still running).
Why not just have it run at night when you aren't using the computer?
Simply running defrag in windows doesn't really do a whole bunch, since it can't defrag files that are currently being accessed: read: system files. I can't remember which one but it had an option to defrag on reboot, which is absolutely awesome and takes less time than it would if you were already booted into windows.
Another note:
It sometimes will take multiple defrags to get certain files done, simply because of logisitics of free space vs. fragmented. The less free space on a disk the harder it is to defrag, simply because the program has no where to put files temporarily.
That simply makes sense. The more you defrag, the less there is to defrag. At times it'll simply be a waste of time because it simply cannot defrag more than it already is.
I am not sure about jkdefrag but from the sounds of it I think it does a great job, especially with it being free and all.
once a week
this includes file, email and SQL servers and the SAN
I don't understand why people go so overkill on their home PCs
It does make a difference even for home systems. When I was flying between places in WoW it was choppy as hell due to the streamed loading of areas as I entered them. A defrag later and it was smooth again.
I've tried O&O, it does a nice job but it's slow as frozen balls. 7 hours to defrag 250 GB, using their COMPLETE/ACCESS algorithm thingy. PerfectDisk is almost as good without being so slow.
For those of you using the built in defrag or JKDefrag, try PageDefrag after you've defragged. It'll do the page file, registry and other stuff.
though the hard drives themselves are speedier than the average desktop
World of Warcraft - Calbert, Azjol-Nerub (PvE)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897428.aspx
Actually, I downloaded it from some other place, which included a simple GUI to go with it.
But what's cool with this is that you can defrag individual files or folders, so that if, say, only one game is being slow, or one large video file is choppy because it's all fragmented, you can defrag just that, which will be quicker.
One thing: it won't necessarily completely defrag all your files during the first pass. It may leave some large files in a few chunks, like a 500 MB file something like 5 chunks, at which point you're unlikely to have any significant performance problems.
The other thing is that this can run while you're accessing the disk, as it's only working on one file at a time, with no big overall strategy. The disk will be slower, obviously, but it'll still work.
Lastly, there's a "power" mode where it will run two successive passes on a whole drive, where the second pass reduces the number of fragments a lot more.
I use it because it's way faster than the other defraggers I've used, which is normal since it doesn't try to completely defrag everything.
The only important feature that I think it's missing is the one where frequently-accessed files are moved to the faster area on a drive.
Oh, did I mention it's free?
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To set up a virtual memory page file that never gets fragmented, first get rid of your page files (right click My Computer, click Properties, click Advanced tab, under Performance click Settings, click Advanced tab, under Virtual Memory click Change, set No Paging File for all drives). Restart your computer, then run JKDefrag. After that, set new virtual memory page file(s) and set the Min and Max size to the same value. Now you will have a virtual memory page file that never needs to be defragmented.
Here's the answer straight from the author:
So I uninstalled GW and ran PerfectDisk 2008 a few times. My Windows partition (used primarily for gaming) is 30 gigs, and has 40% free. Everything is all neatly defragmented and stuck in the first 60% of the drive, except for some random system files that PerfectDisk won't touch. These system files are in tiny bits all over that big wide open space. Apparently, the largest free block is like 300mb.
I tried to get PerfectDisk to defragement all those lovely system files by setting up a timed job to do an "offline defrag of system files". I ran it manually. PD had me reboot and all that good stuff, then briefly flashed an error message about not being able to defragment drive c:\ and dumped me to the XP login screen.
Has anyone encountered that error before, and/or know how to deal with untouchable system files in millions of chunks?
Would it be better just to nuke it from orbit, format, and start over?
Would it be recommended I squish everything together?
I know you guys just want to have the peace of mind that your data is nice and tidy but you've got to settle at some point.
The three large empty spots (two before the green line, one after) are JKDefrag's free space zones -- supposedly they increase performance by providing space for temp files, but who knows.