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Recommendations for Disk Defrag


KCDoug

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Anal retentive me is in the market for a solid disk defrag tool. I like to keep my drives as pristine and optimized as I reasonably can. I've read some reviews at PC Mag and others, but would appreciate some real user comments. I'm running XP home, have a RAID 0 comprised of 2 120GB SATA Drives and another 120MB ATA HD for backups. 1 GB Ram.Thanks for your opinions & suggestions.-Doug

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Guest Paracelsus

While I've found Diskeeper to be valuable with NT... It's never done a very good job with XP.In another thread on the subject of thoroughly defragging XP, IBE98765 turned me on to PerfectDisk from Raxco.I was impressed with the shareware version and immediately purchased a license. It's the only defragger I've used that makes a noticeable improvement in performance on my WinXPHome system.This is, of course, MHO... YMMV

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Diskeeper.The defragmenter in XP is actually a stripped down version of Diskeeper Lite.
Is it? I wonder ...
Executive Software had a source code license to the operating system and patched the os kernal. This caused all sorts of problems as they really weren't supposed to replace the OS kernal ... End result was that if MS released a sp/hotfix, it would break executives stuff or ever worse, corrupt data.What ended up happening is that MS and ES got together and said "this isn't working very well. What can we do". End result is that ES worked with MS on the defrag API specifications (how to call, what information to return) and MS actually wrote the defrag APIs. How this got translated into the urban myth that it is - who knows. The fact that ES tells people that they wrote them probably has something to do with it  In regards to the built-in defragmenter under Win2k. At the time that Win2k was in development YEARS before it was released, there really was only 1 player in the defrag market for NT - ES. That's why MS partnered with ES to include a stripped down version in the operating system. In regards to WinXP, ES helped to write the built-in defragmenter - to MS' specifications. MS has sole control/ownership of the code and over future direction of the built-in defragmenter. - Greg/Raxco Software
:whistling:
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While I've found Diskeeper to be valuable with NT... It's never done a very good job with XP.In another thread on the subject of thoroughly defragging XP, IBE98765 turned me on to PerfectDisk from Raxco.I was impressed with the shareware version and immediately purchased a license.  It's the only defragger I've used that makes a noticeable improvement in performance on my WinXPHome system...
So you are saying that after running XP's own defragger you can follow with Perfect Disk and there is some performance gain?
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James M. Fisher
Anal retentive me is in the market for a solid disk defrag tool.  I like to keep my drives as pristine and optimized as I reasonably can.  I've read some reviews at PC Mag and others, but would appreciate some real user comments.  I'm running XP home, have a RAID 0 comprised of 2 120GB SATA Drives and another 120MB ATA HD for backups.  1 GB Ram.Thanks for your opinions & suggestions.-Doug
Why not download trial copies and decide for yourself what works best with your hardware, Doug?Personally, I like Diskeeper 8, but PerfectDisk is a close second.
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While I won't pretend to know more than Greg Hayes, who is both an MS MVP but also works for a competitor of ES (I'll let James do that if he wishes :hmm: ) the version of Diskeeper that ships with XP does not have the "set it and forget it" option that the full retail version does. So it would at least qualify as a feature-disabled version. Still, both versions do a decent job. I also have O&O Defrag and find it even a bit more effective than ES Diskeeper, as it will defrag your data based on several different criteria.

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James M. Fisher
While I won't pretend to know more than Greg Hayes, who is both an MS MVP but also works for a competitor of ES (I'll let James do that if he wishes  :url: )
I had forgotten that fact.... :hmm: I like DK's "Set it and Forget It" feature. I have it set to "Screensaver Mode", so it defrags whilst I'm away from the PC.
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Guest Paracelsus
So you are saying that after running XP's own defragger you can follow with Perfect Disk and there is some performance gain?
That is Precisely what I am saying.And I have tried that process with other defraggers as well, and PerfectDisk won, hands-down, for me. A comparison of the before and after drive maps provides visual evidence as well. PD more thoroughly consolidated Free Space, as well.PerfectDisk also has a Boot Defrag option, which neither the residence XP tool, nor the free version of Diskeeper have.Again...This is all just my own experience. After using Perfect, not only was overall system response time shorter, when several apps were open and actively in use... System start-up time was considerably reduced. A stop watch provided tangible evidence to this. Besides...I'd be loath to plunk down ~40USD (not including the discount) for a single purpose tool like a Defragger, if it hadn't made a difference that others did not. :thumbsup:But as the venerable James suggests....The proof is in what any of these may do for you! Everyone's system is unique to a certain degree. It's quite possible that others have had very good success with Diskeeper or even the native XP defragger, that I did not.Since most of these apps permit some kind of trial version... give 'em a test drive... and as with so many other things in life... YMMV :hmm:
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That is Precisely what I am saying.And I have tried that process with other defraggers as well, and PerfectDisk won, hands-down, for me.  A comparison of the before and after drive maps provides visual evidence as well.  PD more thoroughly consolidated Free Space, as well.PerfectDisk also has a Boot Defrag option, which neither the residence XP tool, nor the free version of Diskeeper have....
Because it looks better does not mean there is a performance gain. Diskeeper actually seems to slow things down as it re-does XP's optimizing file placement, and then it wants you to defrag again at the end of the day.Unfortunately I've seen no independant data/figures/tests that back up any performance gains following XP's own defrag with another.From PCWorld:DefraggersBest Bet: Windows XP Disk Defragmenter As you create, delete, and edit files, they become increasingly fragmented--scattered in pieces all over the hard drive. A defragger reunites these pieces. We used to say that defragging would speed up a system, but with today's larger, faster hard drives, that no longer seems true.The PC World Test Center's tests reveal that defraggers don't actually improve performance. And Steve Gibson, president of PC consulting firm Gibson Research Corporation, confirmed our findings.A few links:http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,a...743,pg,8,00.asphttp://www.techbuilder.org/article.htm?ArticleID=47626
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Guest Paracelsus
Because it looks better does not mean there is a performance gain.
Agreed...But please read the entire post.
After using Perfect, not only was overall system response time shorter, when several apps were open and actively in use... System start-up time was considerably reduced. A stop watch provided tangible evidence to this.
I'm not prone to "Delusions". As an Analytical Chemist, my skills of observation are quite well honed... thank-you very much. I know how to make determinations that are removed from wishful speculation. Additionally...Most people, including myself, don't have access to the systems that PCWorld used for their tests... We only have our own. Not everyone has the "latest & greatest" Drives; Processors a/o RAM modules.As I've stated throughout this discussion...This is my experience based upon numerous trials, with many different Defrag apps, on my own system. YMMV.
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I also tried PerfectDisk as suggested by ibe98765 and noticed a perfomance increase over my current defragger (jetdefrag) Its on my list of utilities to purchase.

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For current users of PD, don't forget to check for updates occasionally. The latest build is 6.0.034.

What's new in PerfectDisk build 6.00.034- On certain machines, the scheduler module could not always be started during the installation. The installation script has been modified to correct this error. - Offline defrag code was improved to handle highly fragmented files more efficiently. In some cases highly fragmented files would have been skipped during an offline defragmentation pass. - Renaming Exchange schedules did not work. This has been corrected. - When deploying PerfectDisk with Group Policy several warnings are recorded by the MSIInstaller service. Microsoft has determined this is normal expected behavior, however by re-sequencing some installation steps Raxco has avoided these warnings. - Fixed duplicate column header name in PerfectDisk Trending output file.
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I'm not prone to "Delusions". As an Analytical Chemist, my skills of observation are quite well honed... thank-you very much.
:D Although I mainly employ a poetic, mythological method of observation, I affirm the conclusions of my favorite scientist (Labrat), as well as that of the expert NRD.
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Guest Paracelsus
... I affirm the conclusions of my favorite scientist (Labrat), as well as that of the expert NRD.
LR thanks you (and NRD) for the independent corroboration :P(I may experience Alternate Realities, but I'm not delusional... Yet!)BTW - you forgot the prefix "mad"
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Thanks one and all for interesting exchange. I picked up a few more useful tips & links, and it does make sense to download a trial or two and see for myself what, if any benefit defragging does anymore - and whether or not I need to use anything beyond the WINXP bundled defragger.Cheers,-Doug

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I'm with quint . VoptXP does the job quickly (around 30% of the time builtin defrag takes), efficiently and safely. It also has some utilities such as pagefile optimizer and temp file cleaner that help prepare for better defragging.

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The old Central Point Tools defragger used to have a very nice function - if you clicked on any of the cluster squares in the graphic, it told you what file that square represented. This was a great tool for when you were trying to find out why a file wasn't moved (it was a locked system file, part of the page file or whatever).I had a discussion with Raxco on this. They said they could do it but it was high overhead, so weren't inclined to do so.Does anyone know of a defragger that does this today for WinXP?

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James M. Fisher

I think Norton's Speed Disk had a feature similar to this, but I could be mistaken; it's been years since I used it.... ;)

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Guest Paracelsus
I think Norton's Speed Disk had a feature similar to this, but I could be mistaken; it's been years since I used it.... :lol:
I still have it... I'll give a look see later and report
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I think Norton's Speed Disk had a feature similar to this, but I could be mistaken; it's been years since I used it.... :lol:
Yes, Norton had it years ago when they acquired Central Point and adopted their defragger. But I believe they removed this functionality some time ago.
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There are utilities like DirGraph or SequoiaView which will show what files and folders are placed where on the partition.
No, those aren't what I mean. There are a large number of these typoe of things out there.The value for this technology is specifically in a defragger where you want to try to figure out why something wasn't moved. Therefore, it has to be part of the defragger.
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The whole point of defragging files is to get your files in contigeous form. Some of these apps try to move files around in an attempt to speed up access but the real purpose is to diminish your HD heads flying all over **** and back trying to locate bits of files. The less head activity... the faster your files will be accessed. Aside from that, keeping them defragged by using features like Set it and Forget it, allow the system to be in it's optimal defragged state. If it is defragging every day the amount of fragmentation will be slight and the defrag program will take only seconds to run and optimze files...

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James M. Fisher
No, those aren't what I mean.  There are a large number of these typoe of things out there.
I knew that; I was merely trying to provide some alternative for those that might be interested in seeing what files are located where on their HDD.
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FWIW I decided to license PerfectDisk. The demo I downloaded did okay on my older W2K laptop and it worked fine on my fancy XP desktop. Plus they were running a 20% off promo. For an extra $8 on the download they offered a year of phone support and free upgrade to any major release for up to a year; They are forecasting the new v.7. for a Q1 '05 release. Since a major upgrade after 90 days usually costs about $20, I said why not. Though I shouldn't need much phone or other support for a defragger.Gotta say that the automated email I got from sales after downloading the demo was well done, and I received a live email from a salesperson after I downloaded my purchase. I responded to his message and got a prompt reply and a "let me know if you have any problems in the future." He also asked for any product enhancements suggestions so I told 'em that error checking before defragging is a good thing and would be nice to see integrated into their package.At least we're starting our relationship off on a better than average note. Sure wish some other utilities I have were interactive.-Doug

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James M. Fisher

Sounds good Doug! I actually have PD6 installed on SP2 right now. I vaccilate between it and Diskeeper 8 for some reason.... B)

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