Which defragmentation software do you use? (2017)

[Elliot B.]

Just curious.

[adrynalyne]

5 minutes ago, T3X4S said:

I use a magnifying glass, a tiny magnet glued to the head of a pin.  Of course Im moving thousands of sectors at a time, but thats fine, I hate the way Windows does everything for you.

I sacrifice a goat over my PC and let the blood drain into the water cooler.

[LUTZIFER]

I didn't think anyone did that any more.

[monkeylove]

I worked on several machines recently (two Core 2 Duos, one i5, and one i7 using Win 7, one Celeron using Win 8.1, and one i5 running Win 8.1) which are used in different ways (some for browsing and editing small documents and others moving, copying, and modifying large video files and lots of pics) and noticed that the built-in defrag and automated disk maintenance had different results. In machines where browsing and editing docs and spreadsheets were done, the machines ran normally. However, for those that involved a lot of activity, the slowdown was noticeable. It was only when I used third-party cleaning and defrag programs did the machines speed up. Sometimes, that was not enough, and I had to use system optimizers which dealt with issues other than fragmentation (such as disabling some programs that were loaded at start-up, etc.).

 

For me, then, it's not always true that the built-in defrag works fine. If there are significant modifications in the system (installing and uninstalling programs, moving around large numbers of large and small files, etc.), then the default options won't be enough.

 

I found SSDs very helpful, but they're not cheap. I could only use it for the OS and a few programs, and have to run many other things in platter HDs installed in the same machine.

 

System optimizers, etc., with defrag programs are best because slowdown can involve issues other than fragmentation. In some cases, a particular program or driver can cause deterioration in performance. Programs that also monitor drive conditions, temperature, etc., are also useful.

 

 

 

 

[monkeylove]

For some Win 7 machines, I found out that some programs might cause the scheduler not to see that the system is idle, thus causing the scheduled defrag not to run. I had to create a defrag test to run whether or not the system is idle.

 

No problems for machines running Win 8.1 or 10.

 

[0--JLowzrif]

http://www.hofmannc.de/en/windows-7-defragmenter-test/benchmarks.html

 

As you can see from these benchmarks Windows (7) Defragmenter is good enough for the vast majority of users

 

If i'd had to choose something else besides windows build-in Defragmenter i'd go with O&O Defrag, hands down the most advanced Defragmenter in the market and IMO the only decent program left in this category, all the other similar programs are nothing but snake oils/data miners/scams

 

 

 

 

 

[PGHammer]

On 4/11/2017 at 2:31 PM, Bryan R. said:

Defragmenters can still be useful on servers where rotating disks are still common and fragmentation can be a real problem. 

 

I use MyDefrag for those legacy defrag jobs.

I have no SSDs on any of my Windows PCs - and have stuck to Disk Defragmenter because it still does multipass defragmentation - as standard fare - at a cost of exactly nit.  (No - it has nothing to do with any form of FAT - I went all-NTFS when I left 98SE - even on my notebooks.)