Definitive Best Defragmenter 2007

[kinetix63 Veteran]

A fresh "Best Defragmenter" poll for 2007. Please use this as a reference when researching Defrag utilities. As time goes on, the poll can be updated to add further options.

Happy voting!

[john0877]

my drive never has to spin up and spin down to keep up with the dvd drive. you must have crappy drives :p

[Imothep]

O&O Defrag Pro

To me, by far the best between Diskeeper and PerfectDisk.

[ZIPO]

my drive never has to spin up and spin down to keep up with the dvd drive. you must have crappy drives :p

No I just have a problem with Windows cache file. It decreases when a large file is being copied so that the system becomes less responsive. And fragmentation only makes things worse.

[Guest Jeremy of Many]

When I refer to free space consolidation, I am not interested in having a pretty display or expecting significant improvement over the performance already present, but to reduce future fragmentation. If you have gaps between existing files, a newly written file is more likely to be fragmented moreso than it would be if you had made everything contiguous.

John0877 is correct regarding the mechanical movements of the HDD. FSC helps reduce this.

Another concern is the defragmentation and placement of directories. It is important to have the directories placed next to the MFT because of how file queries are managed. Basically, when you double-click a file, the drive reader has to query for its location in the MFT, then the directories in series (I think, not positive) until it reaches the file(s). If your directories are scattered (which is most likely because few defragmenters do directory placement), it's more work for the drive reader.

Anyway, I'm testing 20 defragmenters and will post the results on my blog and several forums. Negative criticism, comments, discussion/debate, questions are all welcome.

If my understanding is incorrect I welcome anyone with more knowledge to clarify. :)

[Blaine]

Anyway, I'm testing 20 defragmenters and will post the results on my blog and several forums.

Have anything for us to read yet?

[Guest Jeremy of Many]

Sometime this week, yes. I'm making a simple HTML based chart followed by explanations.

These are the defragmenters I have tested:

Ashampoo Magical Defrag 2

AusLogics Disk Defrag

DirMS

Diskeeper 2007

Diskeeper Lite

HDiskDefrag

IOBit SmartDefrag

JKDefrag

MindSoft Defrag

MST Defrag

O&O Defrag 2000

O&O Defrag Pro 8.6

PCMesh Defrag For Windows (Same as Abexo's Disk Defragmenter)

PerfectDisk 8

Power Defrag

Power Defragmenter + Contig

SpeeDefrag

UltimateDefrag

Vopt

Windows Defragmenter

[MrBear5587]

Cool.

Am looking forward to seeing your findings Jeremy (Y)

[Pallab]

I was just wondering how does one test a defragmentation software?

For the results to be accurate exactly same data must be present at exactly the same spot on the hard disk for all the software. How are you achieving that?

[[deXter]]

I was just wondering how does one test a defragmentation software?

For the results to be accurate exactly same data must be present at exactly the same spot on the hard disk for all the software. How are you achieving that?

The first step is to mess up a drive so that it's suitably fragmented. The next step is to ensure that no 'interfering' services/programs are enabled on startup, like antivirus, updaters, services of other defragmenters, programs that create temp files, etc.

Once the drive is ready, it's imaged to another drive using software like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image. Imaging programs can create an exact sector-to-sector clone of a drive. After the test is done, the image is restored again for the next test.

[Pallab]

The first step is to mess up a drive so that it's suitably fragmented. The next step is to ensure that no 'interfering' services/programs are enabled on startup, like antivirus, updaters, services of other defragmenters, programs that create temp files, etc.

Once the drive is ready, it's imaged to another drive using software like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image. Imaging programs can create an exact sector-to-sector clone of a drive. After the test is done, the image is restored again for the next test.

Ok.

Thanks :)

[Guest Jeremy of Many]

The results will not be available until next week sometime due to spontaneous circumstances.

I'm doing this virtually in VMware Workstation where the snapshots save file locations on the virtual disk. The fragmentation level in the original snapshot is 29-30% of the virtual disk.

[deleted-user-9812]

Diskeeper 2007!

Then PerfecDisk.

[gadean]

I used to use PerfectDisk but with Diskeeper2007 the auto defrag works so well I had to buy it. Prior versions of Diskeeper were okay but never quite good enough to purchase.

[soldier1st]

i keep switching between perfectdisk 8 and diskeeper 2007 so these results may help.

[BryanChung]

I recently switched to Diskeeper 2007 after [dExTeR]'s recommendation :p Moreover with auto defrag! :D

[Guest Jeremy of Many]

Hey everyone! Just wanted you all to know that I am progressing well with my results and should hopefully have them out next week sometime. I'm trying to make the information as detailed and thorough as possible. It will also be unbiased; no favoritism whatsoever.

[Lomond]

I prefer O&O Defrag in new version 10. Background defrag and 5 different methods of defragmentation.

[Guest Jeremy of Many]

I prefer O&O Defrag in new version 10. Background defrag and 5 different methods of defragmentation.

Same thing in 8.6, 10.0 is just a new UI and some memory enhancements according to a changelog I viewed a while back.

[Blaine]

I recently switched to Diskeeper 2007 after [dExTeR]'s recommendation :p Moreover with auto defrag! :D

haha, same!!! We talked some through pm's, and then he convinced me to buy it.

[migo]

Anyone know how an automatic defragger would contribute to quicker HD failure?

I've got a 4200RPM hard drive, so if it's jumping around too much it can die pretty quickly. Going for empty CPU cycles is fine, but I have a feeling my hard drive might die quicker if it's continuously defragging and doesn't get a break.

[Pallab]

Well it definitely does increase disk thrashing. It's continuously defragging the drive. I dont like that. I definitely feel its unneccesary.

And without automatic defrag also you should not defrag too often. Not more than once a week. I generally defrag once a month. Thats generally good enough.

[Guest Jeremy of Many]

Anyone know how an automatic defragger would contribute to quicker HD failure?

I've got a 4200RPM hard drive, so if it's jumping around too much it can die pretty quickly. Going for empty CPU cycles is fine, but I have a feeling my hard drive might die quicker if it's continuously defragging and doesn't get a break.

Get a Seagate 300GB SATA2 NCQ drive. ;)

[migo]

I'm on a laptop.... 2.5" IDE only.

[ZIPO]

Jeremy, what happened to that test? It was supposed to be out last week, right?

[KenGo]

Other - I love UltimateDefrag by disktrix.

http://www.disktrix.com/

KenGo

edit-never tested on XP, only on Vista, though.