Which defrag software?

Ok... ok ... ok...
So this question has been asked before. However, the softwares have been updated for the most part. With updates pros and cons are always added.
So which defrag software do you have and recommend?
I currently have o&o defrag and it's great. I really have not experienced any bad issues.
However, the world keeps on spinning and i might need to get a new defrag software if there is one better than 0&0.
There's Perfectdisk and diskeeper and the other competition.
Which one would you ladies and gents recommend?

 

Heres a chart that "compares" PerfectDisk8.0, Diskeeper 10.0, and 0&08.5 features. Only problem with the chart is that its made by Raxco, the makers of PD8 so there might be a bias.
http://www.raxco.com/products/perfectdisk2k/Whitepapers/PDV8_Vs_AllC.pdf

I also currently have 0&0 8.5 and i am also satisfied with it. PD8 and DK10 might be better suited for you but the only way to truly find out its to try them out the others and see if you like them.

Also Windows Defragmenter which is based off of Diskeeper. To what extent i do not know.

 

I'm using Diskeeper 9. It seems to work fine.

I can't comment on the others.

John

 

This free one is pretty good, should be enough for most people. Auslogics disk defragmenter.

 

I use O&O and it seems alright, as long as a defrag software does the job its meant to do then either one will do fine for ya, tho i guess the features or options in them might help decide which u wanna go for. looking at that comparison chart, i think the comparison is clearly biased. afaik O&O does move does the things the comparison says it doesnt, plus being a comparison by a rival product u wud expect them to twist the truth or "lie" in their opinions

 

2nd that - and they keep the free version up.to.date as well
and it works under vista

cheers ...

 

I'm a fan of PerfectDisk <3

 

Whats so wrong with Windows Defrag

 

Former user of Diskeeper. Frankly, I had problems with v10 and used to send e mails to tech support....NEVER received answers. Then v2007 came out. Called them...had a question...put me on hold and left me there. OK...so I went to the Perfectdisk website. Question about v8. Received an answer within an hour. Downloaded the demo of v8 and gave it a spin. I can't tell you how much better my system ran after installing and using Perfectdisk. Called to purchase...and they gave me a 50% off thank you. Perfectdisk support has been great. I even receive e mails about new updates, etc.

Long live Perfectdisk...and Raxco

Bob

 

I tried the Auslogics defrag program, and it seemed to perform about the same thing as the standard XP utility, maybe it ran a little faster. But it seemed to leave my free space even more fragmented than the XP util. I don't see any reason to use that program over the standard XP util.

I discovered another free option recently that works well. It is called dirms. See here: http://www.dirms.com/
It seems to defrag more files than the XP util or Auslogics, and it does a MUCH better job defragging the free space. The UI is very basic, either a command line util or a very simple windows app, but the bottom line is that is seems to work well. It has a somewhat confusing licensing model. Supposedly you get additional features by registering it, and you can register for 30 days for free, but I didn't see any difference in the functionality after registering.

 

i dont like the way the new diskeeper (2007) opens up the defrag status window in a seperate window instead of the main one.

 

Hmm, did not notice this with Aus. Does it matter all that much, performance-wise, if it's "free space" that is "fragmented"? I figure it's most imporant to get files and data defragmented to improve performance, but haven't given much thought to "free space." I'm having trouble understanding the concept, and especially how this will degrade performance.

 

Free space fragmentation doesn't necessarily affect performance, but if your free space is fragmented than new files are more likely to be fragmented because they may be split up to fit into the small blocks of free space. The result is that your files will become fragmented more quickly. There is also some performance benefit to having your files located near the beginning of the drive and the free space at the end. Then the drive head then doesn't have to move as far when accessing different files (i.e. average seek time will be reduced because all your files are physically located closer together).

 

I just purchased PerfectDisk 8.0. PerfectDisk/Raxco has a lot of comparisons to their competitors. Mind you data can usually be spun to your advantage, it certainly looks convincing. My laptop certainly comes out of hibernation faster as it defragged that for me. I do not think other defraggers can do this which is one reason why I went with PerfectDisk. One thing that I did find interesting is that PerfectDisk seemed to be the only one that compared themselves to other products. In addition, I think in the end, you got more bang for your buck with PerfectDisk.

One of the main arguments they present are competitors are multi-pass or in other words, they defragment my taking multiple attempts. Therefore, in the long run, the defragment process takes much longer. PerfectDisk is a single pass design where it tries to do all the work on the first try. It may result in an initial longer defrag time, but because of its design, that defrag only needs to happen once, versus many times.

If you want more info, go to their web site

 

I don't use a defrag tool

I keep my system drive clean (only Windows and most important applications are installed on that). All other working files, MP3s, Videos, Temp folders etc.. are on other partitions.

From time to time I use my external HDD and do a complete copy + format + copy back to other non system partitions, much quicker

 

actually, it's not much quicker to do the complete copy + format + copy back to other non system partitions. Formats can take as little as 5 mins, or more depending on your system specs.
I use O&O and every time my drive hits about 5% frag. is defragments. One can also set the software to do it nightly.
Most people in these forums leave their pc on for downloading. So one can have it set to do it at 3-4am.

 

I have found PerfectDisk 8 to do the job really well. Have been using it for months now without any problems whatsoever. Very simple and intuitive to use.

And it solved one of my major gripes with XP's inbuilt defrag.msc utility - i.e. now with PerfectDisk, I can schedule my Defragmentation as I wish. So set it and forget about it. It takes care of itself.

 

Been using Diskeeper 11 now for awhile and it's doing a fine job. Have it set to defrag when the screensaver is active. So far the HD doesn't seem to be as active as it was before this app was installed.

Have had no exp with the other apps mentioned... other than XP's built in utility... so ... no comment on those.

 

I switched from O&O to Perfect disk, because for some reason O&O could not defrag C:\$Extend\$UsnJrnl, even in the offline boot-up defrag; Perfect disk can successfully defrag it, so I stuck with it. They both seem to do a good job overall though.

btw, $UsnJrnl is a metadata file that windows live messenger totally screws up and fragments excessively, scattering chuncks of it all over the drive; on my old comp, before I had a good defrag program, it was in like 10000 fragments; and it continually gets more fragmented as more info is added on to the file (it's some sort of access log for the filetable). Fragmented metadata files can really slow down the system too; a good offline defragger is necessary.

 

I've tried them all and in my experience, PerfectDisk is the best in improving system performance. It probably has to do with the method PerfectDisk uses in defragging files.