PerfectDisk & FirstDefense

[TonyW]

To FD users out there, when using PerfectDisk to defrag a system, is it better to do this from the Primary snapshot, or doesn't it matter which snapshot you use?

[Acadia]

Good question, Tony, and I am afraid that I cannot answer that. But I can relay one bit of info. When you do a defrag using PerfectDisk ALL Snapshots get defragged; I asked tech support about this once. Maybe all defraggers do all Snapshots also, I don't know, but PerfectDisk definitely does. Hmmm, yet I bet the GoBack bin does not get defragged, so again, maybe the Snapshots are not completely 100% protected.

Acadia

[Peter2150]

Hi Tony

I always do it from the Primary. As we discussed in another thread, the primary really is different, even though all snapshots can be interchangeably.

To refresh. If you have two snapshots, called Primary and secondary, and you were to uninstall from secondary. You would be left with just one shapshot and it would be the one that had been named Primary.

For that reason, I do all imaging, defragging, etc from the primary. Also I still disable preboot for imaging. Do this just so the image has a clean MBR. Raxco tech support has told me technically this isn't necessary, but isn't a bad idea.

Pete

[WWS]

Originally Posted by Acadia

When you do a defrag using PerfectDisk ALL Snapshots get defragged; I asked tech support about this once. Maybe all defraggers do all Snapshots also, I don't know, but PerfectDisk definitely does.

Acadia

Check it out. Perfect Disk and FDISR

[Acadia]

Interesting, WWS, thank you; I never checked into those PerfectDisk settings, I should have.

EDIT: which one of those $ISR0-9 is the Primary, you don't want to exclude that one!
Acadia

[TonyW]

By default, they are not excluded, which means they all get defragged as has been said. You can, of course, exclude them as it looks like WWS has done. But I wonder if Raxco don't want them excluded - otherwise I'm sure Tech Support would have said surely.

The one file that isn't moved during PerfectDisk's boot time defrag pass is $ISR.BIN in version 6 build .28 and up.

[WWS]

Originally Posted by Acadia

EDIT: which one of those $ISR0-9 is the Primary, you don't want to exclude that one!
Acadia

Beats me.

All the snapshots will be excluded except the one you're in.
Just be sure you're in the Primary when firing up PD.

[Acadia]

Originally Posted by WWS

Just be sure you're in the Primary when firing up PD.

But I fired up PD, and 0-9 showed up in the exlusions; one of those would have to be the Primary! Will PD ignore the exclusion if you accidently mark the Primary for exclusion?

Acadia

[WWS]

I seems to me that even if you have 10 snapshots and you put that little red x in the box, 9 of those snapshots will be excluded.
So, if you are in your Primary, that's the one that's not excluded.
Nothing to uncheck.
If your Primary was excluded, what would you be defragmenting?

Wonder how long a 9 snapshot defrag session would take.

[Peter2150]

Fascinating. when I check excluded files by looking at drive properties, I don't have a single red check box, not one. Even $ISRbin isn't checked. But when I run analyze on the drive and then look at the files excluded c:\$isr\0\$ISRBIN is excluded. Interesting.

Pete

PS. I think both of my snapshot are infact being defragged.

[Acadia]

Originally Posted by Peter2150

But when I run analyze on the drive and then look at the files excluded c:\$isr\0\$ISRBIN is excluded.

Not sure what this means; what is PD doing?

Acadia

[Peter2150]

Originally Posted by Acadia

Not sure what this means; what is PD doing?

Acadia

It means if I defrag that file won't be moved. That makes sense, but what puzzles me is there is no red check mark when I look at the exclusion list under the drive properties.

Pete

[Acadia]

Interesting, Peter, I just tried the same thing. There NEVER appeared a red check by that file, either before or after Analyze!

[Peter2150]

Originally Posted by Acadia

Interesting, Peter, I just tried the same thing. There NEVER appeared a red check by that file, either before or after Analyze!

Interesting, but not a big deal. It works, thats what matters.

Pete

[TonyW]

Originally Posted by Acadia

Not sure what this means; what is PD doing? ?

PD has been set to not move $ISR.BIN because in versions below 6 build .28 the file was moved, and the MBR could not find it at the new location resulting in problems rebooting the system.

According to the FDISR website:

PerfectDisk V6 Build 28 and higher will not "move" $ISR.BIN during it's boot time defrag pass. If you are running an earlier version/build of PerfectDisk, please update to Build 28 or newer of PerfectDisk.

If you are running Diskeeper or O&O Defrag, please contact the software manufacturer for assistance with excluding $ISR.BIN from being "moved" during a boot time defrag.

However:

If you are running Build Build 121 or newer then the FirstDefense Master Boot Record (MBR) code has been enhanced to handle the situation where $ISR.BIN has been moved - such as with an offline disk defragmenter or a drive imaging program. If $ISR.BIN is not found at the expected location, the system boots without the pre-boot screen. When the service starts, it will correct the location in the MBR and so the next boot will have the pre-boot as usual.

[Acadia]

Yeah, Tony, I knew all that, what I was questioning was why his file was being excluded AFTER analyze. Mine does not appear to do that.

Acadia

[Peter2150]

Originally Posted by Acadia

Yeah, Tony, I knew all that, what I was questioning was why his file was being excluded AFTER analyze. Mine does not appear to do that.

Acadia

Hi Acadia

Only thing I can guess is that PD automatically excludes it so it doesn't show up on drive properties where you can manually select stuff, but once you run analyze or defrag for that matter it is automatically included. Just a guess.

Pete

[crofttk]

Probably a pretty good guess. Note that PD ALWAYS precedes a defrag with an analysis.

I've done a lot of monkeying around excluding different combinations of snapshots and defragging FROM different snapshots, including tagging each snapshot by placing an empty directory with a special name off of the root so i can tell which snapshot is which when exploring the $ISR structure from within the "Excluded Files" directory structure. This was a simple way for me to track PD's behavior during all these permutations.

I concluded it was best to defrag only from the Primary in my case because I find the Smart Placement strategy best for me. The snapshots ARE all intimately entwined and all sorted together by frequency of modification, but if you have a special snapshot set up -- say a clean Windows XP test bed -- the contents aren't identical nor are the files in the "boot" and "soon after boot" files classes and so you may have a slightly different file layout upon defrag depending on which snapshot you're in if you're letting PD manage the prefetch sorting and file placement.

[Acadia]

crofttk, thanks for all that info (and work!)

Acadia

[Peter2150]

Amen.

Pete

[TonyW]

I have been trying out PD, and it seems to work quite well. However, after doing my first offline and online defrag 20 days ago (using the Smart Placement option), each analysis I have done since has recommended no action to be taken. I presume this is good. It makes setting up schedules a moot point tho, and I'm glad I haven't set any up with the results thus far.

[Acadia]

Yes, eventually PD will notify you to do the offline boot whatever it is called, but not very often, at least not in my case.

Acadia