Defrag Software Review

lhgpoobaa · Jun 8, 2003

Warning: Results are subjective and somewhat rushed.
CPU = AMD XP @ 1750Mhz
1Gb system ram.

Default windowsXP defragger

Well, the less said the better eh?

1. O&O Defrag 4.0508

Managment Console Addin or Standalone
Pretty resizable eyecandy display
Install file size = 3.7Mb
Mem usage = ~10-11Mb
CPU usage at full speed = ~30%
Can defrag removable drives
Boot time defrag for Registry, Pagefile & MFT (NTSF only)
Adjustable system load (0 to 100%) for better background running
File inclusion/Exclusion ability
Batch drive defrag (does many at once)
Scheduling based on date/time or Defined capacity checkpoint.
Multiple defrag methods, Stealth (for lots of small files), space, name, date, last accessed time.

Downsides:
Doesnt move hiberfil file, even if selected with boot time defrag.
Somewhat slow with large volumes

VoptXP
Stand Alone
Pretty block display but not resizable
Install file size = 3Mb
Memusage = 7.8Mb
CPU utilisation at full defrag = ~ 30%
Batch Defrag
Builtin cleanup of documents/temp/cache/cookies
Seperate pagefile optimisation
Better than O&O handling the swapfile
File inclusion/exclusion
schedule day/week

Downsides:
No specific Boot time defrag found
Cant change eyecandy settings
Also cant move hiberfil file
Doesnt seem to be settings to defrage based on name/date etc

Perfect Disk 6.0
Couldnt do it as it wanted ALOT of personal details including Phone number, addy email and a warning it may contact me at a latter date regarding purchace. (to start the demo download) Talk about spyware.
It also wouldnt accept AUSTRALIA as a valid location, it kept wanting an american zipcode.
So i said FUCKIT.

Conclusion:
Hrrrmmmm take your pick really.
I like the better eyecandy with O&O and the ability to defrag based on name or date, but voptXP seems to run faster overall.
Whatever works for you really.

The end.
Can someone get me a copy of perfdisk and i might consider looking at it.

Many modern games must be played multiplayer. And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, complete and utter cockmongers. :frown:

dhlucke · Jun 8, 2003

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.

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GOD BLESS AMERICA

FDTzeng · Jun 8, 2003

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

Toejam31 · Jun 8, 2003

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.

Toey

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Toejam31 · Jun 8, 2003

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

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lhgpoobaa · Jun 9, 2003

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)

Many modern games must be played multiplayer. And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, complete and utter cockmongers. :frown:

lhgpoobaa · Jun 9, 2003

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

Many modern games must be played multiplayer. And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, complete and utter cockmongers. :frown:

Toejam31 · Jun 9, 2003

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

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lhgpoobaa · Jun 9, 2003

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.

Many modern games must be played multiplayer. And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, complete and utter cockmongers. :frown:

dhlucke · Jun 9, 2003

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.

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sjonnie · Jun 9, 2003

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.

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lhgpoobaa · Jun 9, 2003

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

Many modern games must be played multiplayer. And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, complete and utter cockmongers. :frown:

Toejam31 · Jun 9, 2003

I agree. While I really like PerfectDisk, one thing it does not 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

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lhgpoobaa · Jun 10, 2003

ahh cool. maybe you can do a REAL review then

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

Many modern games must be played multiplayer. And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, complete and utter cockmongers. :frown:

dhlucke · Jun 10, 2003

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.

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