UltimateDefrag - is this the best defragger ever?

Gotta go with PerfectDisk

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Judging from the variety of users choices here it's clear that we do finally have at least a small pool of SUPER-DEFRAGS that transcend the ordinary and go well beyond, so i applaud everyone's preferences here.

Correct me if i skipped any but my list of "Safe" Power-Defraggers goes like this but not necessarily in this order, just listing what i perceive to be in the top levels of sophistication, complexity, but user-friendly for the most part, and important above all, EFFECTIVE!!

I try to list those that offer Smart File-Placement technology. I know there are some others i'm not up on just yet.

Ultimate Defrag
PerfectDisk
DiskKeeper
O & O
Vopt

 

Your are quite right Huupi in that and you do bring up a very good point with your statement i see you've arrived at thru real experience & RESULTS!!

When you know exactly thru practice how best to make the most use of File-Placement to position things it's much better then to turn that control over to some default automation of it. That's the wonder of Ultimate Disk i found most appealing. And boy does that ever make a difference. Like i said somewhere else before, i never knew before that a Defrag could close the gaps in such a way as to allow your programs and files to ZOOM!! open!

 

Does speed matter when considering which is the best defragger ever ?

I have just run a manual defrag using Perfect Disk 8 - total time taken 1 minute
22 seconds - which is somewhat slower than normal.

With Ultimate Defrag I have been unable to defrag in less than 5 to 10 minutes.
Can anyone suggest a configuration of Ulimate Defrag which might result in a reasonable total time ?

I really do like the theory but have been unable so far to see any practical working improvement and certainly can not produce the speed of PD8.

 

Longview,

Here are the Tips & Tutorials for UDF:




High Performance That Stays in Place

A brief tip and tutorial that we wish to bring you today will give you the performance you are looking for with certain programs and at the same time reduce the time for subsequent defrags.

We are going to position a program for High Performance and then we are going to add it to the exclude list so that in subsequent defrags it remains untouched and stays in it’s High Performance position.



The High Performance option will take the programs that you want best performance from - in terms of fastest loading and fastest performance for any disk access that may occur during use of the specific program(s) – and place those files to the outer tracks of your hard drive. At these outer tracks – performance is 180-240% that of files that exist on the inner tracks of your hard drive.



You may have a number of games, simulations and programs that you want absolute best performance from. For the sake of this tutorial we are going to use just one program as an example. Let’s assume that you run a simulation – say Microsoft Flight Simulator. Let’s assume that you have just installed this program and you wish to place it for High Performance.



1. The first thing you will note after you complete the installation is that right from the word go, the installation created thousands of fragmented files. You’ll find around 4000 to 20,000 files are fragmented. The degree of fragmentation is significant. The program will run with suboptimum performance. You’ll find that after most installations of any program that you perform that significant fragmentation has been introduced.

2. Run UltimateDefrag

3. Select Tools=>Options

4. Under High Performance select the Files option

5. Locate the folder in which your Flight Simulator was installed – usually within the Program Files folder. Click it across to the left hand pane

6. Ensure that this is the only folder that has been clicked across. This is the only program that will be positioned for High Performance in this run.

7. Select OK and then OK again to go to the main UltimateDefrag screen.

8. With this little run we are going to perform. All we are going to do is to place the High Performance files and then stop the defrag manually.

9. Select the Consolidate option and Select Options
i. Select Place Directories next To MFT
ii. DE-Select the Respect Archive option
iii. Select the Respect High Performance option
iv. Select the option to "Complete High Performance" Then Stop

10. Press Start to start the defrag and optimization process.

11. Commence the defrag. You can monitor the files that UD is moving on the bottom right hand screen of the user interface. You will clearly recognize the folders and filenames as it repositions the files. Amongst the filenames of the folder you are interested in, you will note other filenames and folders being displayed – these are files that are being moved out of the way to make place for the Flight Simulator files that you want to be positioned for high performance.

12. The files for the High Performance folder you are interested in will be laid out in folder order and within each folder in filename order. You will notice the progress.

13. This procedure will run at about 10 Gb per hour. If your installation is around 4 Gb – this should complete within around 20 minutes on the typical machine.

14. When all these files have been placed for High Performance, the defrag will then stop.
15. Go back into the Tools=>Options menu. Select High Performance and actually remove the folder that you have selected for High Performance from the High performance list. Select OK.

16. Now select the EXCLUDED Files option and press Select Files.

17. Locate the folder you just placed for High Performance and place a check next to it.

18. This folder and program will now be excluded from future defrags. It will remain in place in the exact location that you placed it throughout all future defrag runs.

19. This will vastly further reduce defrag times and save repositioning this entire group of files and keep this program in position for High Performance.

As you can tell by that particular option to layout high performance files and then stop, UltimateDefrag is a product designed specifically to enhance hard drive performance. No other defragger on the market is designed with this in mind. As we say, defraggers defrag, UltimateDefrag on the other hand enhances hard drive performance - significantly.

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Rapid Launching Of All Applications

In this tutorial we teach you how to use UltimateDefrag to speed up the launch of ALL your applications so that they launch with vastly increased speed.

All applications have the extension .EXE also associated with those applications are files with the .DLL extension. EXE stands for executable – meaning this is what executed. DLL is Dynamic Link Library and these are called upon a lot by programs – either at launch or during use.

If you place both your EXE files and DLL files to the High Performance outer tracks – you will be achieving fastest data transfer possible from these files and programs will launch with rapidity and any use that calls on these DLL files will also occur much faster.

In the previous Tutorial you learned to place an entire folder to the outer tracks. If you want it to stay in place then ensure that you still keep that folder in the exclude list. This procedure will make these particular files follow on immediately after the folder you laid out for High performance in the previous lesson.

To do this – please follow this procedure:

1. Select Tools=>Options
2. Under High Performance, place a check next to “Include These File Types”
3. Select Add and scroll down and add .EXE
4. Then Select Add again and add .DLL
5. Select None immediately under High Performance
6. So all that is checked is the “Include These File Types” with EXE and DLL extensions selected.
7. Select OK to go back to the main interface
8. Select Defrag Method Consolidate
9. Select Respect High Performance
10. Select Respect Archive
11. Select Put Directories Close To MFT
12. Select Start

This procedure will perform the Archive Routine and will then place .EXE and .DLL files to the outer tracks. After these are laid out in position a regular consolidate will be performed.



If you like, after you complete this routine, restart your computer and you should immediately sense a far greater level of performance as you launch files. Even your operating system will be more responsive.

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Setting Up A Defrag Schedule

Here are some tips on how to set up a good working defrag and defrag maintenance schedule for UltimateDefrag. A good defrag schedule will keep your hard drive constantly well tuned for optimum performance.

A couple of things to consider are:

1. Archiving.
We thoroughly recommend that you use the Archive feature of UltimateDefrag and also to use Fast Archive. You will find this under Tools=>Options. Archiving “effectively” reduces the amount of data that UltimateDefrag (and your system) needs to deal with by placing those files out of the way. You are effectively clearing 80% of the data by placing it out of the way.



2. Don’t “over-defrag”.
There is no point in running complete Filename or Recency defrags on a daily basis. What happens is that when you select one of these methods, UltimateDefrag will comply with your wishes and will layout the entire disk as per the method you selected. If you ran a Folder/Filename Defrag yesterday and one file changed (which it most likely will) – UltimateDefrag will need to layout all of those files again – from start to finish. Thankfully we have the archive function otherwise the program would have to manipulate all of your files to layout the disk as per the defragmentation method.

If, however, you only have a few Gigabytes of data that aren’t sent to archive (let’s call these your working set) you can perform more frequent complete Filename and Recency defrags but again it is not entirely necessary.

A good defrag schedule will perform a more comprehensive defrag on a less frequent basis and a less comprehensive “maintenance” defrag on a more frequent basis.

When you run a complete Folder/Filename defrag or a Recency defrag, subsequent computer use “undoes” it – but very slowly over time as files are changed, updated and saved. Performance deteriorates – but only slowly and is not that significant.

Remember a complete Folder/Filename or Recency defrag will layout your files in strict order according to the method selected. It also consolidates free space.

A “Consolidate Defrag” doesn’t sort at all. It does two things. 1. It defrags fragmented files. 2. It packs the files to eliminate free space between the files in order to minimize refragmentation.

A “Fragmented Files Only” Defrag – simply defrags fragmented files only. It then places them in the most “outer” space that will fit them. It doesn’t touch files that are not fragmented.

So the order of comprehensiveness of each defrag is as follows:

1. Folder/Filename or Recency – More comprehensive but slowest
2. Consolidate – Less comprehensive but faster
3. Fragmented Files Only – Least comprehensive but fastest

Users who are looking for the absolute best performance should opt for a “Folder/Filename Defrag” as their main defrag method and “Consolidate Defrag” as their maintenance method.

Users who are content with slightly slower (but still excellent) performance yet much faster defrags should opt for a “Consolidate Defrag” as their main defrag method and continue to use the “Consolidate Defrag” or “Fragmented Files Only” method as their maintenance method.

You can schedule your defrags on a daily or weekly basis. We suggest daily for maximum maintenance of optimum performance.

Here are some Defrag Schedules you can use:

Example 1

Once per month run a Folder/Filename Defrag as your main defrag

On a weekly basis run a Consolidate Defrag as a maintenance defrag

On a daily basis run a Fragmented Files Only Defrag as your maintenance defrag

Example 2

Once per month run a Folder/Filename Defrag as your main defrag

On a daily basis run a Consolidate Defrag as your maintenance defrag

Example 3

Once per week run a Folder/Filename Defrag as your main defrag

On a daily basis run a Consolidate Defrag as your maintenance defrag

Example 4

Once per week run a Consolidate Defrag as your main defrag

On a daily basis run a Fragmented Files Only Defrag as your maintenance defrag

Example 5

Once daily basis run a Consolidate Defrag as your only defrag method

By choosing a schedule such as one of the above, you’ll strike a balance between maintaining best performance, reducing re-fragmentation and not overdoing the defragging. After all – it’s not so much about doing the defragging but more about maintaining optimum system performance. A good defrag schedule will do it for you.

Deciding upon which schedule to use is up to you. Consider the amount of data that is in your “working set” and how long a more comprehensive defrag will take.

Don’t forget to use the scheduling facility within UltimateDefrag. It will do its work for you at times when you are away from your computer. And when you start using it again you can rest assured that performance is at its best.

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Using Layout.ini To Give Yourself A Very Responsive System

We’ve just released version 1.32 of UltimateDefrag and now support the Windows Layout.ini file for optimal file layout.

Layout.ini is a file that is generated by Windows Prefetcher and exists in your Windows/Prefetch Subfolder.

Each time you launch an application or boot up your PC, Windows monitors the launch (or boot) for file access patterns. These patterns are stored in files with a .PF extension in the prefetch folder. When you launch a program Windows actually checks the .pf file for the application you are launching and prefetches data and files that launching of that application normally accesses. Every 3 days, Windows queries these .PF files and creates a file called Layout.ini – within this layout.ini file is the Optimal File Layout for your drive. It is not exhaustive but is for most commonly accessed applications. What Windows also does every 3 days is perform a Boot Optimize. It looks for a contiguous area of your drive and lays out “some” of these files according to the layout.ini file layout. The operative word here is “some”. The area of the disk that these files are placed is not the optimum position nor does it layout for the entire layout.ini file.

UltimateDefrag 1.32 now has the option to “Respect Layout.ini” and it lays out all files for the entire layout.ini file and places them at the very beginning of the drive. This includes files accessed during normal boot, your registry files and applications and their respective DLL and other files that are accessed during program loading.

The performance increase is quite remarkable!

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10 Minute Defrags That Maintain Peak Performance

There's no other product on the market that can give you such fast defrag times while maintaining

absolute maximum hard drive performance.



Remember the secret to UltimateDefrag is that it minimizes seek times and places most used files in the fastest performing areas of your hard drive. These are the two key ingredients to maximum hard drive performance - even moreso than defragged files. (By the way, it does that too!)



If you haven't used the archive feature yet, we recommend that you do. This is the key to "de-crowding" the high performance areas of your drive.



So what is the secret to 10 minute defrags that Maintain Peak Performance?

1.
The use of Fast Archive
2.
Consolidate Defrag Method
3.
Respecting Layout.ini

You can set up a scheduled defrag method that uses all these options. What will happen with each defrag is that:

1.
The archive section will be updated (usually only a few files move into or out of that zone)
2.
The layout.ini file (that determined by Windows as the optimal file layout) is layed out to the very outer tracks. These are your most used programs and applications as determined by the Operating System.
3.
The remaining files are simply defragged and consolidated

This whole procedure will, on most systems, take anywhere between 5 minutes and 15 minutes and will keep even the fullest hard drive performing like a freshly formatted drive.

hth,

...screamer

 

After optimal placement off the files is set,as mentioned before,a following defrag( with option "defrag fragmented files only") takes 15 to 20 seconds.
initial analize takes 15 sec.Total defrag time to get to the "ideal placement"after coming from the rather diffuse "smart placement"off PD takes 1hr and 10 min.thereafter its smooth sailing,no more moaning sounds from the harddrive at heavy lifting in Photoshop ( batch processing and using filters) on big files ( 50+ MB), I love that !!!

 

Another happy UD user here (well almost) ...while UD's online defragging options are very useful and effective, Disktrix still needs to work on UD's lame offline (boot-time) defrag process... It is totally uninformative and the end-result is poor (judging from performing a subsequent boot-time defrag with Diskeeper)!

 

pvsurfer, I agree, BootTime DeFrag needs some (lotsa) work. That why I keep PD in my arsenal. Aside from this one issue (which can be circumvented) I think UD is one of the best pieces of SW I've come across.

...screamer

 

Yes, and that's why I still keep a copy of DK10 installed, but I hate to have to keep and use redundant software! I've written to Disktrix a few times about this (ever since I bought v1.32), but it seems to fall on deaf ears (perhaps if more of us UD users complained about that, they would devote the time to enhance their offline defrag process).

 

Thanks screamer. have tried this but I still get high performance working. Do I have to do something to turn this off ?

 

Longview, did you follow this:

To do this – please follow this procedure:

1. Select Tools=>Options
2. Under High Performance, place a check next to “Include These File Types”
3. Select Add and scroll down and add .EXE
4. Then Select Add again and add .DLL
5. Select None immediately under High Performance
6. So all that is checked is the “Include These File Types” with EXE and DLL extensions selected.
7. Select OK to go back to the main interface
8. Select Defrag Method Consolidate
9. Select Respect High Performance
10. Select Respect Archive
11. Select Put Directories Close To MFT
12. Select Start

This procedure will perform the Archive Routine and will then place .EXE and .DLL files to the outer tracks. After these are laid out in position a regular consolidate will be performed.

...screamer

 

No I didn't - but now I will - Thank you very much.

 

Good grief screamer, really nice & very informative helpful tutorial that all of us can finally better understand of UD. Is that all or is there more? I make a motion to Sticky it even if most was copy/pasted. LoL

Users and non-users alike need to see ALL the benefits and features of this.

 

EASTER, it's a combo of copy / pasted e-mails that I received from Disktrix.
I keep it handy in My Docs since I'm always foolin' around w/ UD. It'sa great baseline guide.

btw: I was in contact w/ Disktrix developer and was told that he -is working on the "offline" issue and has a few new trix that will be added to the app.

...screamer

 

That is good news... I can hardly wait.

 

I remember a few months ago a UD person suggested that Perfectdisk may not be putting offline files in the most optimum places with their boot defrag. Could be what they're working on.

 

As far i remember it was about MS own defragger

 

Hi,

I downloaded UD to see if it works here.I read the help files and the tips.Interesting.Now I tried the following trix:



To do this – please follow this procedure:





1. Select Tools=>Options
2. Under High Performance, place a check next to “Include These File Types”
3. Select Add and scroll down and add .EXE
4. Then Select Add again and add .DLL
5. Select None immediately under High Performance



Where is this "none" under high performance ? I can't see it/find it.

Thanks

 

Glad you asked. I can't find it either. Nothing I can do can make consolidate acceptable in terms of time.

 

I believe the wording is misleading. At least I take it as: un-tick custom:

 

This will be great...

 

Hi,

Thanks.If it says "none" couldn't it also mean none=untick custom+ automatic?

 

I "guess" it could. But since I have 0% in Automatic and lotsa files in "Custom"
I just un-tick Custom.*

*I followed a procedure where I added several folders to Custom: Program Files, Windows, D&S... Then I ran UD, after that, these files are placed in High Performance. Then when "adding" .dll & .exe, I "believe" they are brought to the "front" of High Performance.

This is just my take on it. I have nothing to back up my theory.

...screamer

Give it a shot and see what works best for you

 

If I understand you right what you are saying is: 1)tick automatic and put 0%.
2) tick custom and add windows,program files etc there.
3) add *.exe and *.dll
4) start


Today I had ud move all exes and dlls to the outer tracks and then my pc was snappier.