The latest in defragmenting?

Their e-mail support is very responsive, I tried it a lot shortly after install, I had some minor issues that are resolved now, most of them anyway. Apart from that, all I know is that it's a license per machine and the software checks on your LAN (if any) if other machines use the same license.

 

Thanks you very much for feedback.

 

Yes it is, see below.

 

Yes I found that too since it automatically starts defragging an external hard drive when you connect it. I stopped the defrag on that drive and then just unplugged it.

However on a positive it note, it did show that WarpDisk can work on drives with very limited free space - the drive had a 0.5% free.

 

Thanks you as well as Roger_m
I am very impressed by the result on a PC I already have PerfectDisk 12 installed.
I stopped the two PerfectDisk services before installing Warpdisk, and let it manage my Windows 7 Partition.
Here is the first reboot...

http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/75677020130917153907.png

 

About 19s from bios screen appearing to desktop. Not bad for an HD...

 

WarpDisk caused a BSOD for me this morning. So the first thing I did after rebooting was uninstall it.

I will email the developers the BSOD dump file so they can investigate it. They do reply to emails.

 

Just an intuitive question about WarpDisk. According to its site, it makes itself an integral part of Windows' defragging.

Then what if Windows updates itself one day in a way that changes some structural thing that WarpDisk relies on (a modified DLL, for example)? Assuming the authors are still around, crashes could happen until they identify and fix the problem. And if the authors quit? Too close for comfort, it seems to me.

When software are not so close to the OS, they have a better chance of surviving live development. Remember DiamondCS? As long as you still have 32-bit Windows, Process Guard, perhaps the most aggressive kernel-wise, still works with 32 bit Wndows 7 on a netbook. Look and Stop firewall 64 bit edition still works on Windows 8 64, even though it's no longer updated. Etc.

 

That should only be a possible issue when upgrading to a new version of Windows.

If development stops and WarpDisk has problems, uninstall it and replace it with another defragmenter.

 

Is that so? Windows updates don't change executables, DLLs, and other ways of doing business? Only upgrades do?

 

Update will change system files, but this should not cause any problems.

 

Insightful, especially for a software that requires one license per computer and that could wreck a disk in no time by the very nature of its in-depth operations.

 

I fail to see how this could "wreck a disk."

 

Let's remember that WarpDisk makes itself part of the OS. So you have Microsoft and that firm as two independent designers of a common part of the OS, yet the two teams don't talk to each other (unless this company is a close Mcrosoft associate). I'd think it's not a good recipe for gltich-free software. Let's remember that even software further remote from the OS have been been known to suddenly malfunction after a Windows update. There are newsletters that track this kind of malfunction and recommend to skip particular OS updates. And that's when Microsoft is the only one screwing up. Two teams that work on the same thing but don't talk to each other does not inspire confidence. If they do talk to each other, then my concern evaporates.

 

Because these operations shuffle data, software, OS files and even the MFT around. Not every system programmer can do that, especially when the OS and some software know how to put a lock on some files. "Wrecking" may be a dramatic word, because it suffests a rampage all over the HD. My limited experience tells me that all such defrag programmers have been a rather sophisticated bunch. I am amazed that they can do so much as the user is still active on the machine (though some operations can only be done just before rebooting the OS). Substitute one wrong bit in the boot sector and your machine will hang. Fail to unlock something properly and you get a BSOD. That's all I mean by wrecking, just a dramatic consequence and assorted pain in the neck to fix it.

 

Anyone interested in this thread should check that one,

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=353797

The first post has a link to benchmark tests done over the main suspects : PerfectDisk, Diskeeper, O&O, Auslogic, Mydefrag, etc. They are compared to Windows 7's and XP's native defraggers (two separate Web pages, look for link to XP tests).

The benchmark article itself uses the word "optimizer". This is the term that failed me earlier. I kept using the term "defraggers" because they often position files optimally. Defragging, optimal positioning, avoiding gaps, etc. could very well be called "optimizing".

MyDefrag and O&O Defrag Pro were winners in most of the benchmarks.

 

WarpDisk has been updated recently, and it solves the external HDD ejection issue. And so far it has been working really fine. And boot time is really improved, so I'll keep it. I perform images on a regular basis, so if a wreckage occurs, I can always revert to a previous state.

 

Defragmenters don't write to the boot sector.

Nothing should be unlocked. If a file is locked I presume defrag software won't touch it. Of course some software does a boot defrag to deal with files which can't be moved while Windows is running.

 

Actually I just got a BSOD today due to Warpdisk Driver :-(, I'll contact them next time it happens.

 

Funny. Some defragmenters offer a boot sector defrag as an option. In opening this thread, I mentioned finding an MP3 file in the boot area after the boot area was defragged. I feel it'd be embarassing to name the company (a well-known one), especially since my computer booted without a problem thereafter. No real harm done, hence no need to go further. But that episode was worth mentioning. A tech support agent e-mailed to say that this oddity could be explained under some conditions. But I tried another defragger soon after that incident, and the MP3 file disappeared from the boot area.

Funny. Most files are not locked by any process. Their addresses are just tracked. With the appropriate software, they can be read, copied, moved and deleted. However, while it runs, XP locks a FEW files. Those cannot even be copied by most software while XP is live. Defragmenters can only defragment such files in the reboot process, just before Windows itself starts rebooting. When Windows regains controls, they can't do it. The Master File Table (MFT) is one such locked area that can be defragged using that technique. The web sites for those software explain that kind of things right on their web sites, if you click on the "more details" tab.

Ordinary file copiers ("ordinary" because they just copy rather than clone/image) such as Laplink and Fastlynx can copy most files, except the few locked by the OS while it runs. Not just Windows locks. A few other software won't let you even copy--let alone move around--a file if they have opened that file. For instance, Truecrypt won't let you copy an opened container file. To my knowledge, only cloning software (or whoever has that technology) can copy or image such files while being used.

Maybe you define "locked" differently.

 

MerleOne, thanks for keeping us updated. BSODs have been reported by others too, per link I posted above. I can't prove anything, but this software seems too ambitious to my taste (whatever that's worth). It seems more prudent to operate either along with the OS or substitute for the OS shortly, then let it regain control. But the more secure an OS becomes, the less it will let you tamper with it. In the DOS days, game software makers had more sophisticated ways of dealing with the hardware, so they would just suspend DOS, take control of the machine, and then surrender control back to DOS after the user closed the software. I noticed that the more Windows matures, the less it lets you do that (and for good security reasons).

By the way, what do you think about getting a fast boot through an SSD instead?

 

Yes for the SSD, but I would have to open my PC and I much prefer to install software than install new hardware. I might though for my Win7 PC (where I don't use WarpDisk) because the system disk is almost full and cannot be expanded (I curse Dell for that every day because of the stupid Raid 0 configuration they selected as default). I will keep WarpDisk on my old Dell because it really improves overall operation, and I hope WarkDisk Team will fix these BSOD (previous version never caused a BSOD).

 

No they don't. Some offer a boot time defrag, which defrags files which can't be defragged while Windows is running.

Well actually the defrag is done after rebooting, not before.

In any case what you said it essentially no different to what I said.

No I don't:

 

If you could send the memory dump from the BSOD they would find it helpful.

They have said it will be hard to find the cause of the BSOD, so any information they are given I'm sure will be a help.

 

Aside from just boot speed? I'm interested in what other benefits you notice.