Windows XP Solutions - An Outline - PLEASE READ

[Zxian]

Yes, PerfectDisk is not freeware, but it does a much better job than the built-in Windows Defragger does at cleaning up your hard drive.

V6.0 is no longer being released, so I don't know where you'd get a hold of it. Version 7.0 has gained some speed improvements over 6.0, so it's probably gained some more bang for it's buck.

[Jazz]

The best, by far, is Diskeeper, IMO: -

Diskeeper 9.0

[Viktoria]

I think I have tried about every defragmenter on the market, and DisKeeper comes out in front IMO.

Some believe that Perfect Disk is better because it places the files contiguously on the drive, but this has not been proven to make a PC run faster.

Perfect Disk and DisKeeper as companies go? Diskeeper customer service is brilliant. I once had a program really play havoc and they gave me a free "undelete" application for the hassles.

Perfect Disk? They ask you to go vote for them
~Viktoria

[Zxian]

The reason as to why I prefer PerfectDisk over Diskeeper is because, as Viktoria said, it places the files towards the beginning of the drive. Not only does it do this, it also puts the files needed for booting and prefetching at the very beginning of the drive.

While I haven't been able to find a conclusive test to prove this, I can say from personal experience that this "Smart Placement" (as Raxco calls it) does make a difference in terms of boot times.

Another advantage of this is the fact that you end up having a much larger contiguous free space (also known as free space defragmentation). This may seem like a contradiction in terms, since free space itself can't be fragmented, but if you have a file that is 100 megabytes in size, and the largest contiguous free space is only 50 megabytes, then that file will be guaranteed to have at least one fragment. By moving all the files to the beginning of the drive, you increase this contiguous space and thereby reducing the amount of fragmentation that will happen in the future.

I haven't had any experience with the Raxco product support since I've never had any problems with their software.

[Viktoria]

Originally posted by Jazz
The best, by far, is Diskeeper, IMO: -

Diskeeper 9.0

Jazz, I happen to agree with you. Actually, I wouldn't mind some other's opinions on this.

Zxian, you are happy with PerfectDisk, but for me it didn't really add to the speed at boot up with the contiguous files. Good input! Different perspective

Anyone else have an opinion?

[Viktoria]

Originally posted by Triplate
IMO..Diskeeper Pro is the best Defrag available for XP...so there.......................

It's working fine in my Tower.

I agree Triplate! Diskeeper is the best defragger available for XP........thank you for your input.

~Viktoria

[Zxian]

Thanks for the input guys (and gals).

My recommendation to everyone out there would be to try each product and see which one works best for them. Everyone has their own opinions.

Diskeeper 9.0

PerfectDisk 7.0

[Gene K]

An easier way to access the Windows XP Prefetch Folder is: Start/Run/type "prefetch" (less quote markers), and click "OK". When the folder opens, go up and click "Edit", then click "select all". Go up and click "File", then click "delete". Click OK or Yes or whatever it is on the grumble box and the folder is emptied.

[Viktoria]

Originally posted by Triplate
IMO..Diskeeper Pro is the best Defrag available for XP...so there.......................

I never thought to ask, Trip, but what do you base your opinion on?

I know the answer.......it's in your answer. Just interested to see if you will confess

LOL* Viktoria

[Viktoria]

Originally posted by Zxian
Thanks for the input guys (and gals).

My recommendation to everyone out there would be to try each product and see which one works best for them. Everyone has their own opinions.

Diskeeper 9.0

PerfectDisk 7.0

Fair Comment, Zxian Have you ever tried O&0, or something like that. I did a long time ago, and didn't like it at all.

Perhaps some defraggers work better on some systems rather than others..

~Viktoria

[Gene K]

The important point: use a defragger about once a week. Which one is best is, more or less, just opinion. Paying a bunch of money to obtain a specific one versus the one provided by Windows is a personal choice. Supporting the choice should be specific provable facts which justify the choice as well as the cost.
Over the past few years, I have seen this discussed numerous times in many forums. Provable facts come up short in all.

[Zxian]

Originally posted by Viktoria
Fair Comment, Zxian Have you ever tried O&0, or something like that. I did a long time ago, and didn't like it at all.

Yes, I have tried O&O Defrag, but like you, I found it to be horrible at keeping the file system unfragmented. It would only take a few hours for things to go back to being messy and cluttered on the drive.

Another point that I found with Diskeeper is that it didn't take long for the file system to become fragmented again. It's the main reason why I don't use it. With PerfectDisk, I only run the defragger once a week (or after I've installed a big program). Since it organizes the files in order (their "SmartPlacement" technology), it reduces the risk of the files from becoming fragmented in the first place.

I do think that on some systems you will see the difference between various defraggers more than on others. This is probably more true for newer computers with high speed processors and (relatively) slower hard drives. The bottle neck in speed is how fast the computer can pull data off the disk. In Trip's case, with the 10K Raptors, I don't think that you'd be able to measure the 10ms faster startup time. However, with my laptop with a standard fare 4200rpm drive, the difference is more apparent.

Originally posted by Gene K
Paying a bunch of money to obtain a specific one versus the one provided by Windows is a personal choice.

I partially agree with you here on this note. However, computers are just like any other machine. They need to be maintained, and the built in defragger just doesn't cut it in some cases. I had a partition that according to the Windows defragger was 22% fragmented (!!!). I tried running it time after time, both after a normal startup and after booting in safe mode, and it wouldn't drop below 22%. After running the trial version of PerfectDisk, it went down to 0% after the first pass. For the next week and a half, it didn't go above 1%.

Of course, if you can't afford to pay for a third party defragger (it's not that much money), then the built in one will do better than none at all.

[Viktoria]

Originally posted by Triplate
@ 15 years of building.... (and breaking!) *LOL*

Right! AND because you know that Diskeeper is built on the same engine as XP's native defrag.......right?

[Viktoria]

Yes, I have tried O&O Defrag, but like you, I found it to be horrible at keeping the file system unfragmented. It would only take a few hours for things to go back to being messy and cluttered on the drive.

Another point that I found with Diskeeper is that it didn't take long for the file system to become fragmented again. It's the main reason why I don't use it. With PerfectDisk, I only run the defragger once a week (or after I've installed a big program). Since it organizes the files in order (their "SmartPlacement" technology), it reduces the risk of the files from becoming fragmented in the first place.

I do think that on some systems you will see the difference between various defraggers more than on others. This is probably more true for newer computers with high speed processors and (relatively) slower hard drives. The bottle neck in speed is how fast the computer can pull data off the disk. In Trip's case, with the 10K Raptors, I don't think that you'd be able to measure the 10ms faster startup time. However, with my laptop with a standard fare 4200rpm drive, the difference is more apparent.

Good Points! I have noticed that all it takes is a reboot, and Diskeeper will say it is fragmented again, but my processor is quite fast, so I don't think it makes much difference to me.

One think I have noticed which may interest. I recently changes the size of my pagefile, and Diskeeper refuses to reognize this change.

As for Trip's PC. He probably wouldn't need to defrag more than once a year, and he's being smart on this thread

O&0.....forget it!

I'm actually going to reinstall Perfect Disk again, and see if I notice anything.......it's been a long time.

[Zxian]

Originally posted by Viktoria
Right! AND because you know that Diskeeper is built on the same engine as XP's native defrag.......right?

Oh... another point for PerfectDisk... it's the only MS certified defragger out there. Even though Diskeeper is based on the native XP defragger, it's not officially certified by our friend Bill.