Whats the best Defragmentation Software

[Jeremy]

Yeah, after seeing the disk display of UltimateDefrag, all defragmenters should have it. The rectangular boxes with the squares just aren't appealing anymore...

[Martin H]

@Jeremy

As i personally really value your oppenion, and have learned alot from reading through old posts of yours, then i would really appreciate if you would please answer a question for me. In the beginning of this thread and a long way through it, then you where recommending and using PerfectDisk. Then suddently on page 18, then you wrote "I use Diskeeper and it [...]", but you didn't mention why you had switched from using PerfectDisk ? So my question is about if you would please tell me what exactly made you switch to Diskeeper ? I have myself for a long time just used the Windows Defragger, but after reading this whole thread through, then i decided that i needed to switch to something better. I am now using PerfectDisk 8 and am really liking it, but as i personally am interessted in using the very best defragging app, then i was wondering about the reason for your switch to Diskeeper ? I'm not personally interessted in automatic defragmenting at all and only want's to do it manually, but i want to use the defragging program which uses the very best techniques for defragmenting, smart file placement and free space consolidation(and what other techniques there else may exist ?), and i'm in doubt about if Diskeeper's techniques is better than PerfectDisk's ? I think that the basic defragmenting operation will probably be pretty much the same in thoroughness between the two apps and just show differences in there efficiency i.e. how fast they do it. Then if Diskeeper also does free space consolidation(i haven't checked yet), then i guess that the big difference between PerfectDisk and Diskeeper is with regards to there file placement strategies. PerfectDisk's SMARTPlacement strategy uses file modification time, wich makes future defragmenting jobs faster and Diskeeper uses files "last opened" strategy, which speedups access time. Which of those two strategies do you feel is most important/best ? And does Diskeeper even do free space consolidation ? Oh, sorry - i can of course google that answer myself... Also, then there is UltimateDefrag, which i haven't investigated that much yet. I know the reports on Raxco's site which compares PerfectDisk 8 to Diskeeper 2007, but i'm just affraid that they are to biased to be completely trusted ?

Thank's in advance.

CU, Martin.

Edited July 6, 2007 by Martin H

[deda]

Diskeeper, doesn't matter the version. I use it since NT 4, works perfectly, you have several options, including pagefile.sys optmization, Master File Table defrag, you can put all folders together, etc.

[Martin H]

@Jeremy

Hmm, i have investigated that Diskeeper does do free space consolidation. On the other hand then i have read the tread you have linked to earlier at 'DriverHeaven', and there Michael himself said that if looking for a manual defragger, then one should look other places than Diskeeper, as it have very little development in that regard, and so since i'm only after a manual defragger, then my choises are down to PerfectDisk and UltimateDefrag. Additionally, then i believe that I-FAAST is only available in automatic mode, which means that i wouldn't get to benefir from it in my situation(I hate having things running in the background and using resources all the time, when it's only going to be used sometimes... And i only have a 1700MHZ Celeron with 256MB RAM also.) Then my choices are down to PerfectDisk and UltimateDefrag. I have read up on UltimateDfrag and i must say that i'm really impressed. It seems like you can choose yourself if wanting to use a file placement strategy that either resembles PerfectDisk's(Last modified) and Diskeeper's(last accesed). Also, it's very small, which also is a big plus in my book(I love resource-friendly apps like fb2k, mpc, NOD32, ImgBurn etc). Do you personally think that UltimateDefrag is as good a defragger as PerfectDisk ?

Thank's in advance, and i apoligise for keeping bugging you, and i really hope that you don't mind

[minotaur]

Hehe, I read that thread at driverheaven too. Probably one of the better defrag threads on the web.

I have used perfectdisk before, and was not particularly impressed by it. I think O&O is better than PD because although it is slower for defrags, it does not make my system nearly unusable when it is running like PD does.

Best blend of resource usage and performance has been Diskeeper pro, and I have no plans to switch to anything else atleast for the current releases. Diskeeper is used on my office network, and I have a license on my home system too. As mentioned in another thread, the autodefrag feature is its best point...truly 'intelligent' set it and forget it, doesnt affect performance if it runs in the background even when gaming.

Edited July 11, 2007 by minotaur

[Martin H]

I'm just interessted in finding out which defragger offers the very best manual strategies for a) defragmenting files b] defragmenting/consolidating free space and c) intelligent file placement. I don't personally care which one is the fastest at doing these things. I have decided to leave Diskeeper out of my considerations, since it's not meant to be used manually(and don't support I-FAAST in this mode). My choises are then between PerfectDisk and UltimateDefrag. I have only tried PerfectDisk untill now, and i really like it, but i am just in doubt about if UltimateDefrag is better, and i always tries to find the very best app for each specific task. After i read that UltimateDefrag lets you decide between using either access time or modification date for it's file placement strategy, then that really made me think about if i was currently just using the second best manual defragging app(PerfectDisk) and that i should switch to UltimateDefrag instead. Since i know that Jeremy has both used PerfectDisk for a long time and also has used and knows about UltimateDefrag, then i really hope that he can tell me which is the best of the two for defragging files, defragging free space and doing intelligent file placement.

Edited July 7, 2007 by Martin H

[celtish]

Perfect Disk

I'd try it but there is no version for Win98SE

[#rootworm]

i've used PerfectDisk for a long time and have always touted it as being the best....but i just tried UltimateDefrag and i'm very impressed.

here's my take:

PerfectDisk is for intermediate or corporate users. it has nice enterprise features for an organisation, and it's small footprint makes it attractive to saavy home users.

UltimateDefrag is for power users and features the most configurable defrag options i've ever seen. this is for people who know exactly what files/folders they use the most and don't need an algorithm to place their files properly. (even though it does contain a few different algorithms that do just that)

UD was also smart enough to tell me that i have my NTFS last access attributes disabled (with the option to re-enable) and thus can't organize files according to that attribute.

the disc shaped graph is brilliant, now if only they would make one with the right number of platters for your drive.

[Martin H]

Hi #rootworm

Just wanted to say many thanks for your thoughts about these two apps, i really appreciate it

CU, Martin.

[prathapml]

I hope you do realize that the circular display offered by UltimateDefrag is just that - a circular representation of what was shown in square boxes earlier - and both of them show inner tracks & outermost tracks in their own way & are only approximate representations built for eye-candy.

I repeat, neither of them are showing the true placement (they're as approximate as each other....).

[GrofLuigi]

I hope you do realize that the circular display offered by UltimateDefrag is just that - a circular representation of what was shown in square boxes earlier - and both of them show inner tracks & outermost tracks in their own way & are only approximate representations built for eye-candy.

I repeat, neither of them are showing the true placement (they're as approximate as each other....).

True, take the example of a drive with two partitions - both show as full circle. No way, man!

On a side note, I lost some data after UD - but that might be my fault - i did some other things at the same time.

GL

[Jeremy]

On a side note, I lost some data after UD - but that might be my fault - i did some other things at the same time.

Your fault.

[Martin H]

OK, i am now testing UltimateDefrag out, so that i can get to decide if i should put PerfectDisk or UltimateDefrag on my Unattended WinXP-Pro-SP2 CD that i'm almost finished with customizing/testing with nLite/WMware. One issue i'm having with UltimateDefrag is that i have seen that it can be made portable, as there are such versions available on the web for older UltimateDefrag versions(not v1.54), but i can't understand how it is done ? What dependency's has the UDEFRAG.EXE ? I have tryed to make a snapshot before and after the normal UltimateDefrag install with the official installer with RegSnap and it dosen't seem to set any reg keys and just some files in it's directory and one in system32(UDBDef.exe, but it's not this one that's needed). Can anybody please tell me how i can get the single exe(UDEFRAG.EXE) + xml config to run without saying "The Ultimate Defrag was not installed propperly" ? During the install, then a command prompt blinks shortly, so i think that some dll is copied and registered maybe, but RegSnap dosen't list any when comparing the two snapshots i made before and after the installation ? I don't really mean "portable", but just that i want to repack the exe and whatever else needed into a 7z swicthless installer, which then just makes an "UltimateDefrag" folder in %Programfiles% and copies the main exe into there + an xml config file(and whatever else is needed ?). I want to do this because the UltimateDefrag installer has only got one silent install mode(/a), and that mode will make the entire screen blue and display the progress bar during the install, and as i am going to incorporate the app into my unattended Windows, then i really hate to have anything shown during the installations of the apps(RunOnceEx). All the other apps i'm including either has a switch to make it completely silent, like e.g. /qn for msi installers and /verysilent for inno setup installers, and /S for some others and the apps that don't have such switches i have just made a 7z switchless installer of there needed files and reg keys, which then is installed with a batch file, but i can't do that with this app, since i can't find out what the main exe is dependant upon ? Also, does anyone of you know where the license(serial) is stored ? I can't find it in the registry or %appdata% or anything ? This is just driving me crazy, so if anyone can help me out with this, then i would really be imenselly gratefull

Thank's in advance.

Edited July 10, 2007 by Martin H

[minotaur]

On a side note, I lost some data after UD - but that might be my fault - i did some other things at the same time.

GL

Wow! That's scary!

It shouldnt matter that you use the PC while defragging. The defragger should be intelligent enough to back off, and short of a catastrophic power failure or mechanical HDD failure while defragging, you shouldn't lose your data.

Thats why I like Diskeeper so much, it has never given me any headaches of any sort so far. I use my PCs normally (at home, and at work) with the autodefrag enabled, and DK doesnt do anything wierd or of concern at all, but defrags the drives whenever it gets the chance. Everyone has their preference of defraggers, and mine is DK by far.

[Martin H]

Now after having tryed both PerfectDisk and UltimateDefrag, then i'm mostly leaning towards UltimateDefrag, i most confess. It dosen't have two processes running all the time and taking about 9MB RAM in all, which is another plus also. Of course i can set them to 'manual', but then i'd also have to stop them after each defrag job additionally. I also like UltimateDefrag's GUI the best, although PerfectDisk's isn't bad either, but just a little bit more "eye-candy'ed", but still far less than many other apps out there. The circular diagram of the drive is also a fine detail, but it's not such a big deal to me personally. Then the biggest factor, by far, is how the defragging works in general. PerfectDisk and UltimateDefrag seems to defrag files and space about the same i would say, but the difference is in their file placement strategies. PerfectDisk only has one startegy, which is a good startegy, since it makes future defrag jobs take less time, but however, dosen't really have anything going towards faster access time of most frequently used files. UltimateDefrag has many different strategies, but the one i like the best is simply the 'Auto' one. This strategy will just like PerfectDisk make future defrags faster, but in addition to that, then it will also make most frequently accessed files to be loading faster additionally, in contrary to PerfectDisk. PerfectDisk makes future defrags faster by placing least modified files together at the outer tracks of the drive and then the more frequently modified files after them. This will make future defrags faster since most of the files at the outer tracks will not have to be moved and so the only files needing to be moved are the ones after them and that only takes a minimum of moved clusters to make them defragmented again, but won't speed up file loading of most frequently used files, but actually instead make all the least used files the fastest to load instead. UltimateDefrag, in it's 'Auto' mode, places the least frequently accessed files together at the inner tracks of the drive, so that future defrags will be faster, since these files probably will stay the same. However, all the most frequently accessed files is placed together at the outer tracks, so that they will load the fastest. To me then this last startegy of UltimateDefrag sounds the most intelligent to me, i must say. The only problem i now have is that i don't know how to make a 7z switchless installer of the app's main files and that way bypass the installer, which i don't like to be run as it isn't completely silent unfortunetly. I have tried to use a debugger during running the main exe and when the error message comes up about UltimateDefrag isn't installed proppely, then the debugger shows that the error was : ERROR_SXS_KEY_NOT_FOUND ???. i don't actually have any experience in using a debugger, but as far as i could see then that was the problem shown. All the dll's that were called, seemed to just be standard windows system dlls, so i don't know what that irritating exe needs to run standalone. Dependency Walker dosen't seem to help either, so again, if anybody knows what the main exe needs to run, then i would really appreciate it. The portable versions of previous versions i have seen have all been made with Thinstall, but i would like to avoid using that method myself, as i don't like the extra resources that's being wasted by that method. Also, please be aware that after having installed UltimateDefrag, and also after having uninstalled it, then the main exe can run by itself, so the uninstall process does leave something behind(like a registered dll or something ?), because if trying to run the main exe without having used the installer before, then it displays an error message and won't start. I am so sad about not being able to find a solution to this, since i really want to have this app on my unattended Windows CD, but i don't want to use the installer, but just make a 7z installer which makes a folder in %programfiles% and copies the exe in there and whatever else is needed, and then makes a shortcut to the exe on the desktop. So please if anybody can help me out, then i would really appreciate it.

Thank's in advance.