defragmenter what is the best?

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheRealAndCompleteStoryDoesWindowsDefragmentYourSSD.aspx

 

For HDDs, I always liked Vopt.

 

Vopt remains my preferred defragger even though the latest version is quite a few years old.

 

I agree...it's the fastest I know and perhaps still to buy
http://www.disktrix.com/store/cart.php?target=product&product_id=11&category_id=2&pageID=0
On XP, Vista I Win7 I'm using few years Ultimate Defrag 1.72 Free that was mentioned here
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/ultimatedefrag-1-72-freeware-now.210241/

 

ultimate defrag stuffed my windows install to many times now. i can no longer recc or will use it again. it seems any fixes or updates are dead now.

 

I have tried 'em all, and use Smart defrag, which seems to work the best..It's also very highly rated on CNET's download site.

 

me too...I've used VoptXP 7.22 regularly for many years.

 

Roger, other than containing a pup, what's your opinion of Puran Defrag? I think it's boot-time defrag & optimization is great.

 

@Scott W I personally have not used it for a long time, but I hear that it is a very good, from what I read on the internet.

 

there are so many good free programs out there so no need to bother with crapsware.

 

@Snoop3 While I don't use it personally, it is one of the best defrag tools.

 

yeah i was using it up to a few years ago but i recall the author's thread on here and also i'm trying to use only portable programs as well. Puran was not portable last i checked.

 

@Snoop3 While the author does not publish a portable version, if you do a Google search, you will find several sites with a portable version of the current release, v7.7 for download.

 

Anything more aggressive than the Windows built-in one will probably do for hard disks, IMO. Not sure what the schedule should be.

What I'm more inclined to wonder is whether anything can be done to mitigate the need for defragging.

 

@Gullible Jones Both O&O Defrag and System Mechanic have technology which incercepts disk writes in order to prevent fragmentation. However, I'm not sure how well it works.

 

I would be very skeptical of such things from third parties. There's a lot that can go wrong there, and potentially lose data (or even corrupt the filesystem depending).

 

@Gullible Jones System Mechanic has not given me any problems, and O&O Defrag is a well known and trustworthy product, so I would say that they are both safe to use. I would presume that O&O does a better job out of the two, as with System Mechanic, the features often don't live up to the ridiculously exaggerated claims iolo make about their product.

 

@roger_m the problem isn't the trustworthiness of the vendor, the problem is the mechanism.

Windows normally has data going to the hard disk via the write cache, in RAM. The OS makes sure the write cache is flushed when it has to be, so that file loss or filesystem corruption don't occur on an improper shutdown. Changing the behavior of the write cache from the Windows defaults could make the system less robust in in the event of a crash or power failure.

It also depends on how it's done though. If it's through the Windows API, worst case is probably loss of file data.

 

imo system mechanic is garbage. again IMO. and O&O actually does a great job but installs a bunch of things i dont want, some can be disabled others cant. and i do not use or recc the defrag on the fly from any company. i personally feel it is not necc.

 

you have no idea how many system i remove it from that people bring in ive seen it screw things up way to many times.

 

I use O&O defrag. During installation I chose custom install and deselected tray icon. Then I made O&O defrag service to run manually rather than automatic. Whenever I want to defrag I will re-enable the service and stop it after the job is over.

 

correct you can do that but i know i dont want to have to re enable the service every time then disable it etc. and yes you can disable the tray but when O&O updates sometimes it installs that stuff i have had that happen a couple of times myself. so i always do a uninstall first then reinstall when i am using it.

 

Diskeeper I think is now ancient history since Windows 8. It's really not compatible. Check-out The Diskeeper Forums. It freezes PCs with Windows 8. I used Diskeeper Premiere for years. While there are defraggers that do a better job (Diskeeper only defrags to a point where any further defragging would not speed up your read/write speed) and if you have Shadow Copy enabled you can not use it's enhanced layout option., I always liked the idea of installing Diskeeper and forgetting about defragging forever because of what was the best auto defragger. But just can't use it any more though I have tried many times to do so. There are no apparent plans to upgrade the last edition which was released years ago.

Perfect Disk, of course is an excellent defrag program that defrags EVERYTHING. but I never thought it's layout - last modified - made much sense for my purposes.

I have used O & O Defrag Pro 18 and believe it to gives very good results, has a layout that makes sense, and is fast. (Instructions are a bit confusing at the start. but soon become clearer. A result of O & O having many options)

Puran does a very good job with a sensible layout scheme and is fast and free.(No Shadow Copy option-not sure that means much any more. Windows 8 does have Shadow Copy, but not sure it's useful anymore.)

With that said, IMHO all defraggers are second in results to the "Program Accelerator" in IOLO's System Mechanic which also includes an SSD defragger if you choose to do so. (Yeah I know most here think little of System Mechanic).

IOLO's Program Accelerator to my mind, at least in theory, makes it the best defragger available. Program Accelerator both defrags to the greatest degree while realigning files. It is slow if you also want it to consolidate free-space, because of its thoroughness, so I use it before going to sleep.

"Program Accelerator™ is the first file storage calibration technology that addresses the modern problem of program misalignment.

Disk defragmenters, originally invented in the 1980s to ensure that individual files were stored contiguously on a hard drive, fail to effectively consider today’s complex software programs with critical interdependencies and relationships with potentially hundreds of dependent files, each of which must be read as the program is used. While modern programs and their associated files may be initially aligned for maximum performance on a new PC, they become disjointed and scattered across the hard drive as a result of ongoing Windows and program updates, and other general file operations. While disk defragmentation can make a single file contiguous, it cannot solve the problem of broken data relationships, and in many cases even worsens performance by indiscriminately moving files related to a single program into remote physical locations around the drive in a blind attempt to make each one individually contiguous. Ultimately, this misalignment causes severe levels of unnecessary hard drive head movements and processing churn, which results in programs taking increasingly longer to load and becoming progressively less responsive over time.

Using iolo’s patent-pending optimized data storage technology, Program Accelerator™ automatically re-aligns all programs and their dependent files on a hard drive, a process that by nature also results in the full elimination of any file fragmentation, so systems are both re-aligned and made contiguous using one efficient tool. The result is faster program startups and increased responsiveness, with initial iolo Labs studies showing significant performance gains – even on brand new PCs – after using Program Accelerator™ alone.

http://www.iolo.com/pressreleases/new-system-mechanic-10-solves-the-nine-root-causes-of-pc-slowdown/

https://www.techdata.com/techsolutions/softwareconnections/files/jan2011/iolo_Myths and Facts of PC Slowdown - iolo White Paper.pdf (start at page 7)

IOLO Video explaing the "Program Accelerator" concept in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIkILoDezMo

NB: Boxed System Mechanic is usually sold at TARGET for $19.95 if you are interested (much cheaper than buying from IOLO). IOLO offers renewals for $14.95.

 

I used to be a defrag junkie and considered O&O one of the best, but honestly, from Vista forward, I have seen little to no increase in performance from defragging.