UltimateDefrag v3 - is THIS the very best defragger ever?

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by qazwee, Jul 21, 2010.

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  1. Coolio10

    Coolio10 Registered Member

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    UD is the only defragger to detect my VM Disks as fragmented. Is it oversensitive?
     
  2. TraumaDoc

    TraumaDoc Registered Member

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    I'm using build 3.0.100.15 and have an error with Boot Time defrag

    I think I know the origin of the problem but it makes no sense to me

    The error message at boot time is that it cannot defrag because "the MFT mirror is different"

    So basically it thinks the MFT and MFTMirror do not match

    It's odd

    It says to use chkdsk

    Of course, chkdsk finds no problems and makes no changes to the disk

    I have 2 disk, with 3 partitions total. I think the problem originates with the way that I formatted/partitioned the drives. I used an external program prior to installing Windows 7 64 Ultimate 64 Bit because I set my disk cluster size to 16KB instead of the defaults.

    So, as of now I cannot do a boot-time defrag of my C (Windows, System drive)

    I moved all my files off of D and E drives and then reformatted from within Windows itself (with 16KB clusters again) and now they defrag fine at boot time defrag

    So, what's the deal? How can the MFT mirror have gotten mismatched, etc and Windows chkdsk doesn't see or repair it ?

    Why would another disk partitioning tool do things differently than Windows? No matter the source, the OS files should be the same ...

    So, how can I either repair the system disk C drive MFT Mirror is different problem WITHOUT reformatting or reinstalling my OS entirely ? Or, how can UltimateDefrag be forced to defrag anyway?

    I've used Puran Defrag and it will defrag the so-called bad drive MFT Mirror problem on C system disk just fine .... but ONLY UltimateDefrag won't work on it.

    Can anyone help with this ??
     
  3. MerleOne

    MerleOne Registered Member

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    could you try opening a cmd window (in admin mode if Vista/Win7), and type :
    chkdsk c: /f /v and reply yes to check at boot time, reboot and check if the issue is solved
     
  4. TraumaDoc

    TraumaDoc Registered Member

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    As I said in my post above, I've already done chkdsk many time. I've done chkdsk with Windows, with 3rd party diskcheck tools (though most are just a different gui utilizing windows own chkdsk command), and other things. I've tried to restore the MFT Mirror, used testdisk, etc. and more.
     
  5. MerleOne

    MerleOne Registered Member

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    Ok, I was just pointing out that you have to use the /f parameter for chksk, if you don't it doesn't repait anything.

    Try downloading easeus Partition manager, there is a filesystem checker integrated, but I think the only tool able to fix ntfs is chkdsk.

    You may also try a paragon software tool, that also plays with the mft, but it's usually buggy, so at your own risk !

    I hope you will find a solution !
     
  6. TraumaDoc

    TraumaDoc Registered Member

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    Yes, thanks. I guess there are people out there that don't know how to use chkdsk or other tools properly, but I do.

    Yes, I've done repairs and nothing was found to repair.

    Oddly, I think it all originated from the original formatting of the disk.

    Then again, no tools (other than UltimateDefrag) find anything wrong with my disks.

    So, I tend to think it's an internal bug with UltimateDefrag, and I think we all know how their support service is . . .
     
  7. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    one quick odd thing. i noticed on occasion a system with BOTH puran and ud have issues. the boot time on my system would not work till i fully removed puran. i had to actually remove registry entries etc not just uninstall the program. not sure if that will help but it has worked for me. now i simply have to have one or the other installed this happened on 3 different systems. i had some strange message also about the mft though different than yours i do not remember what exactly it was at the moment.

    one question is why not use diskpart to set up the drives? thats what i use before installing win7 and works great every time this is built right into the installation disk
     
  8. MerleOne

    MerleOne Registered Member

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    Well actually there may be another explanation : I used once some tools from Paragon software (some partition manager) a few years ago. I more specifically used the "compress MFT" feature and another one also related to MFT. After that, all seemed to be ok. After a few months, I started to notice that folders were not sorted correctly with puran defrag. That was hard to detect because there was no error message, just the fact it took a long time for a second folder sort whereas the second sort is usually much quicker with puran. I talked some time to puran support but they couldn't locate the issue. After trying many different things, I finally copied all files to another partition (it was not a system partition), reformatted the source partition whose MFT had probably been altered by Paragon (or maybe another tool). I then restored all files, and puran started to sort folders correctly again.

    So, there may be an undocumented/minor issue with your MFT that blocks UD and not other software. Since it's your system partition I think, I don't know how you could repair this (though I am thinking about hdclone from miray software that has a defrag option during partition copy, maybe this would recreate a correct MFT & mirror).
     
  9. TraumaDoc

    TraumaDoc Registered Member

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    The conflict between UD and Puran isn't the issue - I installed and used Puran long after the fact of the problem coming about.

    I thought I stated why I didn't use Windows 7 partitioning-at-install .... because I formatted my disks to have a 16KB cluster size .... Windows 7 setup doesn't allow you to specifiy the cluster size - it uses the standard default size of 4 KB
     
  10. TraumaDoc

    TraumaDoc Registered Member

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    In fact, I do believe I used thd same MFT compression and defrag within Paraong's boot disk .... hmmmmmm

    I'll consider seeing if your HDClone suggestion does any good

    Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I'll have to wipe the disk and start over

    Thanks
     
  11. MerleOne

    MerleOne Registered Member

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    Hmm, I think we are seeing a pattern here...
     
  12. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    ah sorry i missed that about the cluster size. and just wanted it to be known there seems to be some kind of issue when run with puran for the boot time defrag
     
  13. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    TraumaDoc,

    Comparing MFT to MFT Mirror is a very simple operation that is unlikely to have bugs, so I believe they are indeed different on your disk. You can try some disk editor software and check it (unfortunately I don't know any free one, I used commercial WinHex and Runtime Disk Explorer, but most likely their trial versions will allow you to do the check). All you need to do is compare the entire $MFTMirr to the first part of $MFT that is equal to $MFTMirr size (i.e. if $MFTMirr is 16 KB, you take the first 16 KB of $MFT).

    If you find them to be the same please let me know so I check UltimateDefrag.

    If you find them different you might try to copy data from $MFT to $MFTMirr. Please make sure to get a backup image of that disk before doing any changes to it.

    BTW the next release of UltimateDefrag is ready and in testing right now and I think it'll be released in a couple of days. I'm sorry we delayed it.
     
  14. Boyfriend

    Boyfriend Registered Member

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    Thanks for good news :) You guys delayed it too much :mad:
     
  15. TraumaDoc

    TraumaDoc Registered Member

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    Thanks for the information. I've used Winhex to check it as you said. It turns out that my $MFTMirr is only 4KB in size on the disk!!

    As I said, I have 16KB clusters.

    Anyhow - it looks like you helped me find the problem there. Clearly my $MFTMirr got corrupted/edited somehow, but still can't be noticed by chkdsk.

    I haven't actually edited files directly with a hexeditor in many years - so I'll need to figure out exactly how and the safest way to edit the $MFTMirr with data from the $MFT.

    If you have suggestions on exactly how to do it, I'd appreciate it.

    Otherwise, you put on the path to solving it.

    Thanks !
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2010
  16. crofttk

    crofttk Registered Member

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    TraumaDoc:
    FWIW, I ran into this same problem with UD3.

    UD3 boot-time defrag was working fine on my wife's laptop but the hard drive was performing really slowly. After many diagnostics, I decided to try (grasping at straws really) converting the drive from default 4k to 16k clusters to see if it was an efficiency problem (used Acronis Disk Director in my case). After conversion, UD3 would not do boot-time defrag and claimed $MFT and its mirror did not match.

    Chkdsk repairs including a /R run gave no joy, UD3 BT defrag still no go and same error message.

    Then I remembered having read somewhere that UD didn't like other than 4k clusters for BT defrag (sorry, can't locate thread). So, I converted back to 4k clusters and then UD3 BT defrag worked fine again.

    I know this doesn't solve your specific problem but just wanted to relate that it seemed other than 4k clusters was the real wrench in the gears for UD3 in my case.

    BTW, turns out the laptop drive controller was stuck in PIO mode and simply uninstalling it in device manager and rebooting for Windows to reinstall the driver got it back into UDMA 5 mode and her transfer speeds went up by a factor of 10! :argh:
     
  17. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    awesome to hear isso cant wait for the next version and it was pretty awesome you stepped in to help. i know it was not my problem but thank you in any case!
     
  18. PaulBB

    PaulBB Registered Member

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    UltimateDefrag 3.0.100.17

    * "Changed file handling" module significantly improved - now the defragmentation is more smooth if there is lot of other disk activity, and much faster when there are big files being constantly modified by other programs.
    * NEW FEATURE Added an option to shutdown the PC when defrag is finished
    * Fixed wrong calculation of MFT reserved zone size in boot time module.
    * Fixed boot time module skipping entire defrag process when only MFT reserved size is changed.
    * Program icon made 32 bit to fix jagged edges
    * In "Auto" mode, after defragmentation the status says "Analyzed" instead of "Defragmented" - fixed
    * The end cluster of a file and the start cluster of the next file are the same in cluster viewer - fixed
    * Defragmentation mode control fixed to close when clicked on the same mode.

    http://www.disktrix.com/DT_News.htm
     
  19. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    am i blind or do i not see the shutdown when done option? maybe i missed it..
     
  20. mike42

    mike42 Registered Member

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    A number of bugs have been fixed. Good work!

    I still have a few bugs on my list, mostly cosmetic stuff and some cluster number display issues. I sent this list to Isso and hope, he will iron those out.
    However, I had a problem with boot time defrag (although I cannot reproduce it): When trying to move the page file, UD complained about an unknown error (rc = -102 I think) and terminated the defrag.
    Furthermore I asked for a new feature: The possibility to cancel the reboot after a boot time defrag. I have a scenario, where I need to mount some volumes before boot defrag, and afterwards unmount them before rebooting. Maybe there are also other cases where this is needed.

    BTW: The shutdown after defrag is a neat feature.
     
  21. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    oh now i see it ... i feel stupid the red button next to the pause button. i was looking for like a checkbox or something... seems to work well
     
  22. mike42

    mike42 Registered Member

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    The big STOP button right next to the PAUSE button.
     
  23. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    yeah i found it. see post above yours i was expecting a checkbox or something not a simple stop button lol
     
  24. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    Last edited: Nov 3, 2010
  25. TraumaDoc

    TraumaDoc Registered Member

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    You've left out one very important piece of information in this tutorial

    The fact that you CANNOT do compression if you've got cluster sizes OTHER than 4 KB ...... in my system I have 16KB and so compression is not available and running the manual compact command gives you nothing but ERR (errors)

    Eventually someone will contact support wondering why they have errors and it's because for some reason they have non-default cluster sizes .... like me :)
     
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