Avast WEBforum

Other => General Topics => Topic started by: snuggles on November 18, 2010, 02:47:26 AM

Title: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: snuggles on November 18, 2010, 02:47:26 AM
Hi all,

Which disk defragmenter do you guys say is the safest to use? Currently I use Auslogics Disk Defrag, but I'm considering Piriform's Defraggler.

Also, I only defrag my hard drive once every few months. Is this bad? What is the recommended usage?
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: BRANDONN2008 on November 18, 2010, 03:50:49 AM
Hello. I've been using Defraggler for a while now with no problems. Windows defragger is probably fine, but I like using third-party programs more. Defragging every few months is probably fine. I do it about once per month.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: DavidR on November 18, 2010, 04:28:33 AM
I find Puran Defrag to be very good, fast, configurable and also has an option to do a defrag on reboot.

I also have Defraggler, but I haven't used it since I installed the free Puran Defrag application.

The defrag duration tends to be related to your use of the computer some are constantly installing and uninstalling programs, downloading all sorts, so the drive can become more fragmented. So it would rather depend on how much fragmentation (%) is found on these few monthly defrag scans.

I do mine once a month using puran and one of the options it to optimise the folders to help speed application loading, etc. I could probably extend that duration to every two months, but on a standard hard disk this frequency isn't really an issue. On faster systems with fast NTFS SATA HDDs fragmentation isn't such an issue as it used to be.

Only if you have one of the new SSD (Solid State Disk) drives should you not defrag.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: BRANDONN2008 on November 18, 2010, 08:45:46 AM
Only if you have one of the new SSD (Solid State Disk) drives should you not defrag.

Why is that?
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: SafeSurf on November 18, 2010, 12:01:10 PM
I also use (free) Puran Defrag after having tried most of the other third-party defrag programs out there, and I find this one to be the most efficient for both regular defrag and boot-time defrag.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: JuninhoSlo on November 18, 2010, 12:34:11 PM
Hi :)

I use Ultimate Defrag.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: CraigB on November 18, 2010, 01:27:34 PM
I use defraggler by piriform, very fast and efficient and the new version also does boot time defrag.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Lisandro on November 18, 2010, 01:48:52 PM
Puran Defrag supports boot time and removable drivers.
Auslogic stop supporting removable drivers and never has a boot time defrag. It does have a simple scheduler.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Yezinki on November 18, 2010, 02:13:02 PM
Piriform Defrager on boot time displays Page file & a few System 32 services (security related)the screen disappers in a few secs, is that normal?

Thanks.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Lisandro on November 18, 2010, 02:16:16 PM
Piriform Defrager on boot time gave me BSOD... Couldn't investigate further, maybe a problem in the beta, maybe a conflict with other program in my machine...
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: YoKenny on November 18, 2010, 02:23:04 PM
I let Windows 7 defrag itself:
Defragment Your Windows 7 Computer
http://windows.about.com/od/maintainandfix/ss/SBSdefragWin7.htm

I like Puran Defrag on my XP Pro system.

@ Tech

Piriform Defraggler Version 2.00.230 is now out of beta.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: bong2x on November 18, 2010, 02:28:22 PM
 ::) if the defrag bit is more than workable memory space, it can lead to memory overdamped and BSOD :)
maybe a defrager use also a large amount of memory or a defrager cannot handle the bit that presently defragged  :)

regards!!!!
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Yezinki on November 18, 2010, 02:31:14 PM
I don't get a BSOD but the boot time is real quick displaying these few services, using Piriform Defraggler ver 2.00.230?
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Lisandro on November 18, 2010, 02:39:30 PM
@ Tech
Piriform Defraggler Version 2.00.230 is now out of beta.
Thanks. Will test again...
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Yezinki on November 18, 2010, 02:41:45 PM
I defrag once a day scheduled & on each boot?
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Lisandro on November 18, 2010, 02:45:28 PM
Too much... overkilling...
Maybe once a week or once a month...
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: YoKenny on November 18, 2010, 02:47:00 PM
Too much... overkilling...
Maybe once a week or once a month...
+1
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: DavidR on November 18, 2010, 03:45:29 PM
Only if you have one of the new SSD (Solid State Disk) drives should you not defrag.

Why is that?

What is google ;D

Solid State, no moving parts, platters, etc. so it doesn't matter where the file is the access time is the same, these SSD drives have a finite life on the number of writes, etc. and use a function called TRIM, you can google that too ;D
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Chris Thomas on November 18, 2010, 07:29:31 PM
Puran is really nice compared with other Defrag tools

Defragging everyday is not appreciated

I read somewhere that,

The more you defrag, the less the life of your HD
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Nesivos on November 18, 2010, 10:28:00 PM
I use PerfectDisk 11.0

Set it on automatic stealth defrag, "smart placement".

Internal drive ever three days
External drive once a week

Works automatically starting after so many minutes of HD inactivity.

I also use Defraggler occasionally if I only want to defrag the files and not optimize the files location on the HD.


Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Nesivos on November 18, 2010, 10:32:23 PM
I use PerfectDisk 11.0

Set it on automatic stealth defrag, "smart placement".

Internal drive ever three days
External drive once a week

Works automatically starting after so many minutes of HD inactivity.

I also use Defraggler occasionally if I only want to defrag the files and not optimize the files location on the HD.

Every couple of months I will run a "boot" defrag with PerfectDisk  which will defrag files such as hibernation files which are not defragged when the computer is in Windows.




Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: DavidR on November 18, 2010, 10:34:57 PM
Well Puran Defrag has a right click defrag function if you have a large file that needs defragged or a folder or a partition, etc. and this just does a defrag without any optimization; so it is very fast.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: bong2x on November 18, 2010, 11:00:08 PM
guys!! how do you know that you need to defrag your drive ?  ??? ??? ???

1. it is base on how long you use your drive ??
   a. execute defrag weekly, monthly, yearly

2. it is base on how big the amount of byte added to your drive ??
   a. execute defrag in every (5GB, 10GB, 20GB) that added to your hard drive ??

before that let us know what is the purpose of defrag and you get the right answer above  ;D ;D ;D

Best Regards!!!
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: jadinolf on November 18, 2010, 11:45:36 PM
I have 5 computers running various versions of Diskeeper.

Have yet to experience a problem.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: bob3160 on November 19, 2010, 02:54:07 PM
I use what comes with my operating system.  :)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v190/bob3160/Defrag.png)
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: YoKenny on November 19, 2010, 03:27:41 PM
I use what comes with my operating system.  :)
That's so 1980s ;)

Defragment exactly what you want
http://www.piriform.com/defraggler/features/defragment-exactly-what-you-want
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Hard_ROCKER on November 19, 2010, 05:11:27 PM
As usual you are contradicting yourself. You say you use Win 7 in-built Defrag and then you bash on Bob cause he also uses the in-built Win 7 defrag. Where's the logic in that ?

And yes i too think the Win 7 in-built defrag is quite good. Especially with metadata files.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Hard_ROCKER on November 19, 2010, 05:14:07 PM
Or is what you are trying to imply that if one is on Win 7 the in-built defrag is fine but if you are on XP it's better to use something else than that crappy useless XP defrag ? Cause that i agree with.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: CraigB on November 19, 2010, 06:01:07 PM
As usual you are contradicting yourself. You say you use Win 7 in-built Defrag and then you bash on Bob cause he also uses the in-built Win 7 defrag. Where's the logic in that ?

And yes i too think the Win 7 in-built defrag is quite good. Especially with metadata files.
Im pretty sure YoKenny use's defragler so there is no contradiction.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Dch48 on November 19, 2010, 06:56:57 PM
I will always recommend the free Auslogics defragmenter. It's very fast and it's optimization routines actually work unlike some of the others I've tried like PerfectDisk and SmartDefrag. The first was imperfect and the second not so smart. :-)

You also don't need boot time defragging since Windows (even XP) does that automatically. Scheduled defragging is also not needed and probably does more harm than good. Just do a defrag no more than once a week and maybe run the optimization once a month and you will be fine staying with Auslogics.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Hard_ROCKER on November 19, 2010, 09:13:33 PM
As usual you are contradicting yourself. You say you use Win 7 in-built Defrag and then you bash on Bob cause he also uses the in-built Win 7 defrag. Where's the logic in that ?

And yes i too think the Win 7 in-built defrag is quite good. Especially with metadata files.
Im pretty sure YoKenny use's defragler so there is no contradiction.

I let Windows 7 defrag itself:
Defragment Your Windows 7 Computer
http://windows.about.com/od/maintainandfix/ss/SBSdefragWin7.htm

I like Puran Defrag on my XP Pro system.

@ Tech

Piriform Defraggler Version 2.00.230 is now out of beta.
I will always recommend the free Auslogics defragmenter. It's very fast and it's optimization routines actually work unlike some of the others I've tried like PerfectDisk and SmartDefrag. The first was imperfect and the second not so smart. :-)

You also don't need boot time defragging since Windows (even XP) does that automatically. Scheduled defragging is also not needed and probably does more harm than good. Just do a defrag no more than once a week and maybe run the optimization once a month and you will be fine staying with Auslogics.

I've purposely avoided your bashing on PerfectDisk before but not this time. Show me some proof and convince us with FACTS that PD is such a bad product. Do you understand what FILE PLACEMENT OPTIMIZATION is and what the difference is compared to just defragging ? Judging from your previous posts I THINK NOT. Please educate yourself a bit more. Stop spreading lies.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Nesivos on November 19, 2010, 09:20:17 PM
I use what comes with my operating system.  :)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v190/bob3160/Defrag.png)

LOL

I understand that the W7 defragger is a lot better than the XP one. :)

I started using PD years ago because of the limitations of the defragger in XP.

I like PD so I just have stuck with it and upgrade occasionally depending on the new features available in the Upgrde.

The home version does not defrag your drives across your network, if you have one, so you have to install it on each computer separately.  I do believe that their Pro version will defrag network drives.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Dch48 on November 20, 2010, 06:23:13 PM
As usual you are contradicting yourself. You say you use Win 7 in-built Defrag and then you bash on Bob cause he also uses the in-built Win 7 defrag. Where's the logic in that ?

And yes i too think the Win 7 in-built defrag is quite good. Especially with metadata files.
Im pretty sure YoKenny use's defragler so there is no contradiction.

I let Windows 7 defrag itself:
Defragment Your Windows 7 Computer
http://windows.about.com/od/maintainandfix/ss/SBSdefragWin7.htm

I like Puran Defrag on my XP Pro system.

@ Tech

Piriform Defraggler Version 2.00.230 is now out of beta.
I will always recommend the free Auslogics defragmenter. It's very fast and it's optimization routines actually work unlike some of the others I've tried like PerfectDisk and SmartDefrag. The first was imperfect and the second not so smart. :-)

You also don't need boot time defragging since Windows (even XP) does that automatically. Scheduled defragging is also not needed and probably does more harm than good. Just do a defrag no more than once a week and maybe run the optimization once a month and you will be fine staying with Auslogics.

I've purposely avoided your bashing on PerfectDisk before but not this time. Show me some proof and convince us with FACTS that PD is such a bad product. Do you understand what FILE PLACEMENT OPTIMIZATION is and what the difference is compared to just defragging ? Judging from your previous posts I THINK NOT. Please educate yourself a bit more. Stop spreading lies.
There have been NO lies I tried Perfect Disk and it was the worst defragger I have ever used. The only one that after running the optimization routines left me with a drive that was more fragmented than before. It defragmented fine without using optimization but what it does when you optimize is try to place files regardless of size in the first available open space. If it runs up against an immovable file it will split the file it is currently working on and continue with it in the next available space after the immovable one. This resulted in me having well over 100 fragments on a disc that had none before running the "optimization". I have a number of files that are up to 3 gigs in size. These are files from games like World of Warcraft and LOTRO, among others. Auslogics keeps those files intact without fragmenting them. Perfect Disk simply did not.

In this day and age, file placement is of very little benefit anyway. With the speed of today's drives, It usually makes no difference where a file starts. It can however make a difference if a large file is fragmented instead of being contiguous. Perfect Disk is imperfect, end of story. Auslogics does a much better job of optimizing and reducing free space gaps without fragmenting large files in the process.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: NTxLS on November 20, 2010, 10:43:32 PM
Greetings from here to there,

Has anyone taken a look at JKDefrag, newest version out is now called MyDefrag and can be used by anyone, even someone that is not experienced nor even knowledgeable about these systems.  Plus it is FREE for home use.  There are several different selectable methods of doing your defrag operations.  Once daily, weekly, monthly, each individually for the system and data files and is all automatic for each selection.  Plus is very fast.

No I do not work for them just find it a little unusual that no one has mentioned this one.  As a matter of fact I am retired and only work on my things.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Hard_ROCKER on November 21, 2010, 09:29:50 AM
@NTxLS: Yeah MyDefrag is cool, that is if you are a geek and like making your own scripts. I used it on one of my older machines back when it was still called JKDefrag and i absolutely loved it. But it doesn't have any boot-time defrag option, that is it's weakest point. One other defrag that actually let's you move files to wherever you want to on the disk is called Ultimate Defrag. Pretty cool but damn slow. http://www.disktrix.com/


@dch48: They say a picture says a thousand words sometimes. Here's a few screens of how some of my partitions look like. Note that i am using my own optimization strategy(you can set it yourself with the latest PD versions).

(http://www.shrani.si/t/1a/at/2z93K6he/d1.jpg) (http://www.shrani.si/?1a/at/2z93K6he/d1.jpg)  (http://www.shrani.si/t/2c/gO/1XWTsHMD/d2.jpg) (http://www.shrani.si/?2c/gO/1XWTsHMD/d2.jpg)  (http://www.shrani.si/t/1M/gj/4xbxoUFj/d3.jpg) (http://www.shrani.si/?1M/gj/4xbxoUFj/d3.jpg)  (http://www.shrani.si/t/30/UE/4qNbeaID/d4.jpg) (http://www.shrani.si/?30/UE/4qNbeaID/d4.jpg)  (http://www.shrani.si/t/2L/uI/2QXPrYrs/d5.jpg) (http://www.shrani.si/?2L/uI/2QXPrYrs/d5.jpg)

Surprise surprise, no fragments whatsoever and fully optimized partitions... Anyone interested in the internals of PD can go here. Lot's of interesting articles. http://www.raxco.com/products/home-perfectdisk11-home-premium/white-papers

Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Dch48 on November 21, 2010, 08:34:44 PM
I have also tried JkDefrag/ MyDefrag and found it to be painfully slow. The other thing I didn't like was that it kept putting my large game files at the end of the disk and referring to them as "Space Hogs". It also treated each platter of my HDD as a seperate partition and would only work on one at a time. It left huge empty space gaps as a result.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Lisandro on November 22, 2010, 09:21:25 PM
I have also tried JkDefrag/ MyDefrag and found it to be painfully slow.
+1
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: scythe944 on November 22, 2010, 09:32:16 PM
guys!! how do you know that you need to defrag your drive ?  ??? ??? ???

1. it is base on how long you use your drive ??
   a. execute defrag weekly, monthly, yearly

2. it is base on how big the amount of byte added to your drive ??
   a. execute defrag in every (5GB, 10GB, 20GB) that added to your hard drive ??

before that let us know what is the purpose of defrag and you get the right answer above  ;D ;D ;D

Best Regards!!!

It's based on how fragmented the drives are, really.  15% is about the point that you would want to defrag.  Any amount of fragmentation past that is pretty bad.

Of course, you could be anal about it and defrag at 10% or less, but it probably won't speed up the system all that much, and will probably be working your hard drives for no reason.  I tend to be anal about it though.  Hard drives are cheap, and backups are a must!

Now to answer your next question, to find out the level of fragmentation, you just need to run an analyze task in whatever defrag program you're using.  It will likely show some form of picture (in third-party defraggers at least) and give you a percentage of fragmentation per drive.  With that info, you'll know if you need to do it or not.

Auslogics Disk Defrag has been my choice for the past year or so for XP and 2003 machines, but vista and 7 have great defrag progs built-in.  Well, they're not all that great, but they finally have the scheduler built-in, which was long overdue.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Dch48 on November 23, 2010, 06:18:43 PM
guys!! how do you know that you need to defrag your drive ?  ??? ??? ???

1. it is base on how long you use your drive ??
   a. execute defrag weekly, monthly, yearly

2. it is base on how big the amount of byte added to your drive ??
   a. execute defrag in every (5GB, 10GB, 20GB) that added to your hard drive ??

before that let us know what is the purpose of defrag and you get the right answer above  ;D ;D ;D

Best Regards!!!
Well, there are a growing number of experts who will tell you that with today's HD's you might never need to defrag at all. It is a certainty that it no longer provides the same benefits as it once did when Hard Drives were slower and clunkier.

 I personally like to do a defrag and optimize with Auslogics about once a month but I honestly can't say that I have ever noticed any better performance after doing it.

Scheduled defragging is a bad thing and causes much unnecessary wear and tear on the disk. Auto-defrag at every boot is even worse. All of the built in Windows defraggers will automatically optimize your boot files on a periodic basis so you don't need to worry about that either.

Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: bong2x on November 23, 2010, 06:54:52 PM
Quote
but it probably won't speed up the system all that much, and will probably be working your hard drives for no reason.
::) i see, maybe its just a byte arrangement  ???

Quote
I personally like to do a defrag and optimize with Auslogics about once a month but I honestly can't say that I have ever noticed any better performance after doing it.
::) UN-noticeable Performance  ???

so if this things don't affect or make any changes in performance, why people like me want to do defrag??
Maybe to care the hard drive?
to monitor the drive sector?
to secure some programs?

Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: Dch48 on November 23, 2010, 11:17:49 PM
I still think defragmenting may provide better performance if you're a gamer where every little bit of performance matters, but for the majority of people it may be getting close to the same position as screensavers which are now totally unnecessary.
Title: Re: Disk Defragmenters that are safe to use?
Post by: bob3160 on November 24, 2010, 01:50:41 AM
Quote
to secure some programs?
How does defraging make the program safer ???