defragmenter what is the best?

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by cooperb21, May 20, 2015.

  1. cooperb21

    cooperb21 Registered Member

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    Im want to defrag my drive looking for free software to do it i have my os and games on a hard drive.

    Also...

    1. How often should you run a defrag/ optimize
    2. Does it speed up the drive at all?
     
  2. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    According to this and other tests, MyDefrag often does the best job. But the author of the test states this about the Windows defragmenter:
    If you're running Vista or later there is not much of a need for a 3rd party defragmenter, as the included defragmenter works well and by default is scheduled to do a defrag in the background weekly. So, if you want to stick with the Windows defrag, you should never need to run a defrag manually.

    Defragmenting a drive can speed up disk access if it is was very heavily fragmented beforehand, otherwise you probably won't notice much a difference.
     
  3. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    If it's an SSD, then never defrag.
     
  4. TomAZ

    TomAZ Registered Member

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    I've tried a lot of them, but for a while now, I've have been using and liking Auslogics Disk Defrag Free --VERY fast!! I'm currently using the installed version, but there's also a portable version if that better suits your needs.
     
  5. cooperb21

    cooperb21 Registered Member

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    Well i heard windows one is not as good as others.
     
  6. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    Take a look at the benchmark resuts in the link, and see for yourself how well the Windows defragmenter does. Some defragmenters, e.g. IObit Smart Defrag, actually do a worse job than Windows defrag. It's worth noting, that prehaps things have improved with more recent versions of Smart Defrag, but the version tested did very badly.
     
  7. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    The speed doesn't matter too much. What actually matters is how well the software defrags files. Being fast, sometimes means less thorough defragmenting.
     
  8. quietman

    quietman Registered Member

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    .... my bold

    I have to agree roger_m , defragging is simply a shunting operation .
    For any one particular system , the time taken is mainly dependent on the number and size of the "moves".

    The limiting factor is going to be the read/write speeds for the drive in that system.
    You could argue that some software may have super-efficient algorithms, but that would be a minor speed improvement , surely.

    I run my ( infrequent ) defrags last thing at night and tick a box that says " Shut down on completion "
    Who wants to watch a defrag in progress ..... when watching paint dry , or the shopping channel is just as exciting !

    Edit : I forgot to say , I've always run defrags when the computer is idle , and I have no further need of it .
    I'm sure that modern algorithms can " skip-around" sectors that are currently in use.... call me old-fashioned !
    I read-up on " Diskeeper" , as recommended by ArchiveX below , and it looks like that is the case.
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2015
  9. ArchiveX

    ArchiveX Registered Member

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    Diskeeper (if you like to buy it...)
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2015
  10. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    I run defrag once a month with Defraggler. I only defrag files that are fragmented and I don't notice any speed improvement.
    For SSD I run Windows built-in optimize option (Trim) once a month also.
     
  11. quietman

    quietman Registered Member

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    Hi ArchiveX , a couple of lines would have done fine .... you didn't need to write an opera !

    ..... just kidding around :) ,
    .... you're into the brevity thing , right ? :)

    I've tried many types of defrag software over the years ( Auslogic , IOBit , Defraggler , Windows , amongst others )
    and I've always come back to Piriform's Defraggler.

    My one gripe would be that it tends to " bloat " the most recent restore point , so you sometimes appear to finish
    the defrag with less free space than you started with .

    It's an easy fix .... just create a new restore point , delete the offender , and you see more free space immediately.
    I should point out that my internal HD is mostly free space.... that might be a factor .

    Have you noticed this type of behaviour with Diskeeper ?

    I'd never heard of Diskeeper before , so I did a search and got this ...
    .... and now I'm keen to check it out ....many thanks for posting .
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2015
  12. Tyrizian

    Tyrizian Registered Member

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    My SSD uses Windows Defrag only to optimize (Trim), All other non SSD based drives (Mechanical) are also managed in Windows Defrag and Scheduled weekly.

    I like it because I never have to worry about it, it's a set it and forget it approach.

    So, by default I would say go with Windows Defrag, it's pretty good and works intelligently enough to determine if it needs it or not.

    But, if I were to recommend a third-party defragmenter (Free), I would choose Defraggler by Piriform software (The makers who brought you CCleaner).

    Now, to answer your questions...

    If you do frequent installs, uninstalls, deletes, copies, moves, etc.. etc... then I would say do a more frequent check to see how fragmented the drive is, so you can determine for yourself if you need to defrag or not. If you don't do a lot of what I listed, then I would do a defrag weekly, every two weeks or monthly (This should be your own decision of what to choose). You could always set up a schedule so you won't have to worry about it that often.

    If fragmented, files tend to get split into two or more sections, making accessing files a bit slower.
    If defragmented, those files are then gathered into single locations, making file access almost instant and a lot faster

    So, yes, defragging a drive can speed thing's up.

    Hope I was of some assistance, hope you find what you're looking for.

    Have a nice day! :)
     
  13. quietman

    quietman Registered Member

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    Hi TyRizian , I'm probably a total pessimist , and please feel free to say so , but I tend to have the opposite view.
    If I allowed Windows to " set it and forget it " , for anything , I probably wouldn't sleep at night :)

    But I'm with you " 110 % " on your recommendation of Defraggler .
     
  14. Tyrizian

    Tyrizian Registered Member

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    Trust me, I usually don't set it and forget it with any Windows feature.

    Windows Defrag is the only exception.
     
  15. wshrugged

    wshrugged Registered Member

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  16. allizomeniz

    allizomeniz Registered Member

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    Overall I'd rate Defraggler very good for what it is. I've got Defraggler, UltimateDefrag, and MyDefrag installed and use them for different things. I used to use PerfectDisk for boot-time defrags but now I use UltimateDefrag. UD has the best boot-time defrag options of all the others I've tried. It's not free though.
     
  17. Brummelchen

    Brummelchen Registered Member

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    at least all free defraggers use the windows api and/or VSS thats why they are slow. get a specialist you get a kernel driver but sometimes trouble du that. defragging is usefull on a storage device but somehow pointless on a system partition. boot defrag same pointless, windows handling for prefetch cache pretty good. and its service superfetch assists -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperFetch
    since hard drives became really fast defragging on ntfs drives is not really neccessary. once a month if some care or less.

    software depends on some needs, since they use same api (as mentioned) its all in the GUI.
    mydefrag is upgrade to jkdefrag but both have issues on modern systems (uses also windows api)
    see http://www.mydefrag.com/manual-knownproblems.html

    raxco perfectdisk was really fast up to version 7 after that time all were crap and much more slower than windows defrag, awful. all defragger who are logging something are slow this way.

    fastest defrag were defrag express (same vendor as UltimateDefrag) but outdated and Vopt (also outdated).

    from time to time i check auslogics defrag pro (if the provide some update), if you care about O&O defrag check out their free license for older versions.

    defragging - ask 3 people and you get 4 answers, same old story.

    btw IObit at least is crap ware at all their products - and contains anytime adware.
     
  18. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    @Brummelchen IObit's Smart Defrag has no adware. The installer does try to install other software from IObit, but that's easily avoided by unchecking the option to install it.
     
  19. Brummelchen

    Brummelchen Registered Member

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    thats called "adware" too in common sense - unwanted software, trials whatever. glad to check it off.

    cheers
     
  20. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    @Brummelchen You could call it that, but at least if you pay attention during the install you can disable it.
     
  21. appster

    appster Registered Member

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    ...or just install unchecky. ;)
     
  22. kyuzo

    kyuzo Registered Member

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    Last night I tried to install Puran Defrag (directly from the Puran site) on my niece's computer and I was watching for the usual junk to be bundled with it. This time a particularly nasty installer came with it which appeared to have no "opt out" button (available on the previous junk offers). Thank heavens my Norton Security caught it and removed the installer:

    Sape.InstllMontzr.e

    What a shame such good software has to be bundled with such garbage. Last time I use Puran...:(
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2015
  23. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    @kyuzo I just downloaded and ran the installer for Puran Defrag. You actually can still opt out of installing the extra software. The "Cancel" button is working - it just greyed out to give the appearance that is not functional. But, if you click on it, you wont get any unwanted extras installed.

    It appears that there is nothing at all nasty about adware installer. It seems to work the same as OpenCandy. I highly doubt that any of the extra programs it offers to install are malicious. I would classify if them as more of an annoyance than anything, and should be able to be easily removed with MBAM for AdwCleaner for example.

    I would rather it came with no extras. But, as least it is easy to opt out.
     
  24. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    defraging at this time and age does not appear to make much sense if your OS is Windows 7 and above. It made a lot of sense back in Windows 95/98/2000/xp era.
     
  25. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    i have done EXTENSIVE tests a while back on pretty much every defrag program out there. imo even though its a bit heavier and slower than a few others perfectdisk for me wins. now mydefrag *can* do a better job is its configured properly but under normal use of just click and go i do not see this. imo for free puran defrag is an excellent choice also. if you download the standalone you can easily opt out of anything and nothing gets installed. i find even on win 7 and 8 (and 10) if you are still using spinning drives defragging can for sure help. as others have said i do not see any real advantage with ssd drives though. i own lic's to basically every defrag program out there (current or not) and do test free ones as they pop up. personally i would never give auslogics another dime nor will i ever run their software again (long story), O&O is excellent but installs extra things i dont want (extra services tray icons etc) it does do an excellent job but is imo just as slow as perfectdisk and i find it needs to be run more often.
     
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