Defrag Software Review

VoptXP is a real nice program. I use it to clean out temp files and it's real quick to defrag. I'm not sure if it's the best though.

I've been using Diskeeper to keep my 320GB in check for the last couple of days and it seems to be keeping on top of things rather nicely with the boot time defrag. I still haven't tried out the frag guard though.

The Windows Defragmenter is absolutely horrible. It can't do crap and it's slow.

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=38..." target="_new"><font color=red>dhlucke's system</font color=red></A>

<font color=blue>GOD</font color=blue> <font color=red>BLESS</font color=red> <font color=blue>AMERICA</font color=blue>

So what about Diskeeper 7.0? Thats a big one isnt it? also wahat im using, teh default XP defragger is DK6 right? Any real diff?

Athlon XP 2500+ @ 2225MHz (12.5x178 @1.850v), Volcano 7 w/Smart Fan2, A7N8X Standard Rev. 1.06, Kingston HyperX PC3000 512MB @177MHz, Radeon 9700Pro, SB Live 5.1

Send me some snailmail info, Trev, and I'll send a disk or two your way. Either/or you can talk to scotty ... he can probably set you up, too. I'd hate for PerfectDisk to get reamed in the rush just because the demo is a pain to download. :wink:

Toey

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=32..." target="_new"><font color=green>My System Rigs</font color=green></A>
___________________________________________

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/" target="_new"><b><font color=purple>BTVILLARIN.com</font color=purple></b></A> - <i><font color=orange>Your Computer Questions Answered</font color=orange></i>

Yep ... there's a few major differences. Features for one, such as the ability to run a boot-time optimization, among other things. And speed is also a factor; the "lite" version of Diskeeper in WinXP is much, much slower than the full version of 7.0.

I'd still rather run PerfectDisk 6.0, as it has useful features that aren't in Diskeeper, such as the ability to defrag across a network. And it handily beats Diskeeper in speed, even while aggressively defragging the free space, and controlling the layout.ini file.

I use both, and that gives me the very best results. Diskeeper for boot-time optimization and a quick CHKDSK, and PerfectDisk for everything else, such as defragging the paging file, MFT, the hibernate file, and the boot files, moving the applications on the disk according to the last modification date, and normal defragmentation runs.

Toey

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=32..." target="_new"><font color=green>My System Rigs</font color=green></A>
___________________________________________

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/" target="_new"><b><font color=purple>BTVILLARIN.com</font color=purple></b></A> - <i><font color=orange>Your Computer Questions Answered</font color=orange></i>

yeah Vopt is very quick, but i get the feeling it doesnt do much file reordering... and definately lacks the reorder abilities of of O&O. I assume it makes a 'best guess'. (which isnt that bad as my system was pretty quick to boot)



<font color=blue>Many modern games <b>must</b> be played multiplayer. And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, <b>complete and utter cockmongers.</b></font color=blue> :frown:

So perfect disk does the hiberfil file too? (both defrag status and move its location?)

<font color=blue>Many modern games <b>must</b> be played multiplayer. And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, <b>complete and utter cockmongers.</b></font color=blue> :frown:

The file can definitely be defragged offline, along with the MFT, paging file, and metadata files ... but the layout.ini file that PerfectDisk uses to arrange data according the modification date doesn't come into play until Windows is loaded. Because of that, how much the file can be moved, or whether it is moved at all during the offline defrag run, I can't say ... I never use the hibernate feature, so I haven't had an opportunity to observe what the program does to the file.

I do know that the paging file changes location after being defragged, and the same goes for the boot files, and all the directories ... so I'd assume that the hibernate file is also moved during defragmentation, when the free space is consolidated.

Toey

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=32..." target="_new"><font color=green>My System Rigs</font color=green></A>
___________________________________________

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/" target="_new"><b><font color=purple>BTVILLARIN.com</font color=purple></b></A> - <i><font color=orange>Your Computer Questions Answered</font color=orange></i>

well its really only an issue when hibernate mode is entered or resumed... it can speed up the process significantly with the file in one big block for one long sequential read.

Win2k did it well, with the swapfile and hiberfile ocupying the start of the disk in big blocks. winXP less so, it seems to move things around and break it up.

<font color=blue>Many modern games <b>must</b> be played multiplayer. And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, <b>complete and utter cockmongers.</b></font color=blue> :frown:

It looks like you almost NEED to use more than one. I'll try perfect disk and see how that goes. I'm already fragmented heavily on one drive and I just took care of it yesterday. Really a pain.

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=38..." target="_new"><font color=red>dhlucke's system</font color=red></A>

<font color=blue>GOD</font color=blue> <font color=red>BLESS</font color=red> <font color=blue>AMERICA</font color=blue>

Shame PerfectDisk didn't work for you. I recently swapped from O&O for PerfectDisk 6.0, I find it a much more satisfactory program.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/myanandtech.html?member=114979" target="_new">My PCs</A> :cool:

its more like that i couldnt be fagged going though all the hastle of the download registration crap.

<font color=blue>Many modern games <b>must</b> be played multiplayer. And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, <b>complete and utter cockmongers.</b></font color=blue> :frown:

I agree. While I really like PerfectDisk, one thing it does <i>not</i> do well is the placement of the directories. While it will defrag them readily enough, it has a tendency to move them under the data, somewhere in the middle of the partition's free space. On the other hand, Diskeeper's boot time otimization moves the directories/subdirectories to the top of the partition, which is where I think they really belong for the fastest access.

Another couple of comparisons: PerfectDisk will move the boot files to the top of the partition, but Diskeeper seems to completely ignore them. To offset that ... I really like that I can schedule a standard CHKDSK scan with Diskeeper during the boot time optimization under "Set It and Forget It". If there's a file system problem, I'd rather know about it in advance before attempting to defrag the files and folders. But PerfectDisk has no such optional feature, which means you have to do remember to do it manually on the locked volumes, reboot, and then do a normal defragmentation run from the GUI. This is only a minor gripe, of course, but once you are used to a feature, it's irritating for it to be missing in another program that performs an identical function.

For me, the overall best solution is using both utilities. Both have features that I want and need ... but neither is the total package. However, if I had to choose between them, and didn't have the option to own both, then I'd go with PerfectDisk. An extra five dollars will get you a year's worth of updates and technical support. If you want to update Diskeeper, you'll have to do it the hard way, and locate an entirely brand-new version. Most of the new builds of the program that have been released I've run across accidentally while browsing around on various sites.

However, I supposed that I should probably mention that Diskeeper has an excellent technical support staff (I have personal experience with them), since I'm in the midst of comparing the two programs.

Okay, that's enough of the mundane out of me.

Toey

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=32..." target="_new"><font color=green>My System Rigs</font color=green></A>
___________________________________________

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/" target="_new"><b><font color=purple>BTVILLARIN.com</font color=purple></b></A> - <i><font color=orange>Your Computer Questions Answered</font color=orange></i>

ahh cool. maybe you can do a REAL review then  

(unlike my shoddy botched half assed job)
*what can i say, im an auzzie*

<font color=blue>Many modern games <b>must</b> be played multiplayer. And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, <b>complete and utter cockmongers.</b></font color=blue> :frown:

I've been running perfect disk on my 200GB drive and all I can say is that it is dog slow if you do the full defrag/move stuff process. I'm half way done and it's been hours and hours.

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=38..." target="_new"><font color=red>dhlucke's system</font color=red></A>

<font color=blue>GOD</font color=blue> <font color=red>BLESS</font color=red> <font color=blue>AMERICA</font color=blue>