Poll! Built in defragger vs 3-rd party. Your opinions of using it

People, write here what Defragmentation Software do you prefer. And if 3-rd party is it better than built-in one then why?

I use Piriform Defraggler. It is very simple and you can see HDD's map of files.
Also I used O&O Defrag which can put exact file in the beginning of HDD or other place. I think that they both are better because of advantages I wrote above.

 

^^same as me. used O&O in the past and using defraggler at moment.

 

In the past I used Auslogics defrag portable, because it was faster than defraggler. Now I have a SSD, this makes defragmenting obsolete.

 

I have used third-party defrag program', like MyDefrag (formerly JkDefrag) for example, as well as Windows builtin defrag, and I don't know if there is any reference point to say the Windows Defrag is worse off.

Also, following many former discussions here in NBR over defrag and the tools to defrag, I've learned from the expert' that the built in defrag is as good as any other 3rd party defrag... may be some 3rd party tools are *faster*, but I really don't know and I don't think so...

Cheers

 

vote goes for mydefrag for non-ssd systems

 

perfectdisk 11

 

I use Piriform Defraggler...

 

I like Defraggler but it behaves pretty weirdly on many systems I've used it with. It'll defrag fully but then show lots of fragmentation on an analysis just minutes later (and not just the page file). It'll notice thousands of new fragments a few days after being run. etc.

 

what does defrag actually do to the computer? Does it speed it up? like the web browser since chrome has been running very slow lately. Should i defrag and use cc cleaner?

 

OVer time your hard drive becomes "fragmented" files get stored on different parts of the drive and they get broken up, this will hurt performance when trying to access a file because you have to search multiple places for it.

Defragging basically aligns the files back up so that you can read them faster.

It's a minor performance tweak unless you have a really fragmented hard drive.

 

I tried a 3rd party defragger once before, and it was ridiculously slow. So i just use the built in windows one

 

The windows build-in one is good, but I'd use O&O Defrag because its do more thorough job defragging files

 

i use an ssd.

 

Puran Defrag - both the paid and free version - work very well.
Then I got a SSD and really don't worry about defragging anymore...

 

If you use torrent or special download software like Orbit Downloader or or Downoad Master you definitely need defrag. Otherwise you need it use orftenly if HDD is full on at least a half or if your browser or other soft suddenly slowed down.

I think we all wish to use an SSD

 

never needed defrag for torrents or something.

get an ssd, then.. i know they're not cheap.. but more worth the money than most other stuff you can buy in computer tech.

 

none of my torrents excibit that behaviour even without the precaching. i use utorrent.

 

For XP: The built in Disk Defragmenter

For Vista and 7: None. It handles itself perfectly with no user interaction.

Vista and 7 both try to store files without splitting them up in the first place, so IMO, there's no need for any of that nowadays... SSD or HDD. The Defrag app that's built into NT 6.1 is self scheduled from the get-go so there's also no need to set it up.

 

I install Defraggler, but hardly use it. I haven't had to defrag in a LONG time, since 98, 'cause I haven't had to, I didn't see a drop in HDD or System performance. I might just run one tonight though, just to see

 

Try this out guys.. How to speed up boot process under Windows Vista or Windows 7 - MSFN

 

For external USB drives mydefrag is great - "collect" all free space it keeps your copy speeds reasonably high
(-> fragmentation on a USB HDD is hell for transfer speeds)

Internally... hmm, I suppose the Windows App really does all that's needed, alternatively, MyDefrag - which, if I understand the documentation correctly uses the built in Windows Tools.

But on a SSD it's not needed anyway

 

there should be a poll option "defrag? I use an SSD!" just to annoy all non-ssd users

 

i use defraggler but O&O sounds liek something i need. someone mentioned in my thread a good one and i will try thjat one out this weekend too.


EDIT:SSDs can still be affected by fragmentations. Granted it has to be very bad fragments. SSDs perform worse when a file is not a large file so if you got a 1MB file that is in 10 100KB files than ur SSD will read it slower. It just isn't a very noticeable drop. Flash drives though notice fragmentation a lot more since their flash is very slow with small files.

 

My mistake! I really should let some people to show off, otherwise why else they spent money?

But I think there is no possibility to change the poll, isn't it?

 

yeah, change the polls to

[x] i don't defrag, i have an SSD
[_] i still defrag, i fail..

 

+100500

 

i'll say it again SSDs can still be affected by fragmentation but its nowhere near as bad and it has to be very bad fragmentation but they still can be affected.

My previous statement
"SSDs can still be affected by fragmentations. Granted it has to be very bad fragments. SSDs perform worse when a file is not a large file so if you got a 1MB file that is in 10 100KB files than ur SSD will read it slower. It just isn't a very noticeable drop. Flash drives though notice fragmentation a lot more since their flash is very slow with small files."

 

We got it That was just a joke

 

and i have about 10 ssds in use and i still wait for one to be that much fragmented hat it's actually noticeable...

 

Why? Do you have any definitive proof to backup this claim?

Gary

 

I use Power Defragmenter on my desktop and on my old laptop which had a mechanical drive.

 

look at this http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/545390-fragmentation-ntfs.html

This is just one week after a complete defrag with defraggler and this is from steam and some moving around of movies.

 

still waiting to see the list of fragmented FILES there, DCMAKER.

 

read that post this morning i started the defrag last night. It was mostly steam games and movies. ranging from 2 fragments to a couple thousand. the norm for me

 

scattered files are NOT the same thing as fragmentation.

people obsess about their pretty pictures in a defrag program without bothering to read the relevant Microsoft documentation on the subject (NTFS performance and reliability)

 

Thут why wouldn't you tell us what is a difference if it is? Or at least just give a link where we all can find out what means fragmentation and what means scattering

 

Scattered files = files from one folder scattered over several places on the HDD, but all files intact.

Fragmented Files = individual files broken into pieces on the HDD.

No documentation needed, just some understanding of language

 

scattered files: take the different books you have at home and place them all around in the room. isn't any harder to read one of those books now. maybe a bit harder to find one (but the file system has an index for it, so it won't take longer to find it).

fragmented files: take your books and rip out all the pages, now scatter all those PAGES around in your room. now it starts to get harder to read one of those books, where you have to find each page individually (even though you will be provided with an index for each page btw).

to dcmaker: that's what i thought: nothing fragmented on your system except for NEW stuff. and that this new stuff is fragmented depends on how it got created, what download programs where used, etc..
and any fragment that is 60mb or bigger is a fragment which does not take performance down => if you have a 1gb file, it can be split into about 20 pieces and you would NEVER notice a performance difference. now having it split into 2000 pieces might result in a difference.

 

rest assurd my 100k fragments in just a week is a good sign. i could redo my drive to have 500k easily but it would take a couple weeks to redownload the 705 gigs of games and than move some movie files back and forth

EDIT:705gigs of games downloading at 1MBps takes forever. Plus my 2 roomates will get really made with no bandwidth

 

depends on the app, actually. because both fragmented files and scattered files can look red, if they result in a "fragmented ntfs zone". i'm talking mostly out of .. well.. ooold memories about learning how ntfs is built, but the way apps visualize it is not consistent, at least.

 

I use Defraggler. Theres several articles showing that defragmenting isn't necessary or the boost is almost non-existent.

I mainly defrag just cause it feels like the right thing to do. Half a percent performance increase is enough, I guess.

Articles:
Defragging: Why, How, and Whether - PCWorld

Technology's Biggest Myths - PCWorld

They are both PCWorld articles, I usually like to get articles from multiple sources, but I think a lot of magazines/major tech blogs avoid the discussion as some of their bigger advertisers provide defragmenting software.

Overall, I don't think defragging really matters in the long run. If you move a lot of files around or are constantly installing/uninstalling things.. its not a bad idea. For instance I installed about 60 new games on Steam recently and my 500GB HDD was fragmented 23%.

 

I don't know about you but i don't ever listen to PCWorld. I found they lack intelligence. I find them recommending and writting some very poor reviews. It's liek quoting myth busters....they really don't use very good science. Also it all depends. Defragmenting is relatively useless. Unless you use stuff like i do. In a matter of a week my drive was destroyed. Now this isn't 24/7 but It happens on and off. When i d/l a bunch of games, restore drives, d/l or burn movies, and/or move lots of files between my drives. This is how i got 100k fragments in a matter of 5-7 days. Most people don't do this type of stuff and my fragments were not that bad per-say. They were 95-99% 2-3 fragments and a few had several thousand fragments. So this is relatively same when you consider size/fragmentation. Now it is a good thing to run an optimizer. Once i d/l that optimizer all my favorite games will be on the outer platter and OS will be too. That makes a huge difference. I am on a government computer so i can't check my screenshots but the outer platter gets like 2-6ms latency while the inner is like 35ms, while the whole drive has an average from 14-18ms (depending on your AAM settings) I keep crystal marc info open 24/7 because my ecternal defaults to slowest setting which is 18-19ms which is terrible. With AAM at highest performance i get 14.3ms which is really good. Don't know how to make that the drives default so oh well. Use HD Tune and maximize it and you'll see the latency and speed get much worse closer to the inner parts. I get 130-140MBps on outter part and latency is i THINK 3-5ms (from memory so don't quote me) And the inner is 70MBps with like 30-40ms i think.

 

You're on a government computer that has screen shots disabled yet you feel free to download games and third-party programs that read and write the hard drive in ways you don't fully understand?

Someone needs to call your S-2 and give them a heads up on this.

 

I am not sure but there are possibilities that he was talking about 2 different computers: with games at home and he is on job now sitting on Gov. comp. now). Also I don't know from what country is he

Besides in my country "government computer" means computer in every non-private building starting from any school and finishing the government

 

lol no NMCI blocks tons of websites. My screen shots are on imageshack.us. Once i get off work i can view all that from my laptop lol hahahahahaha sorry you crack me up

EDIT: its also S-6 not S-2

 

Alright i just ran these tests. This shows the importance of running a disc optimization and high AAM settings. I am off by a bit from my statements earlier but now you can quote me ^^

Important do not follow the transfer speeds in HD Tune. HD Tune is inaccurate and glitches on some drives. Check my thread below to read my full post on this issue.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...hdtune-hdtune-pro-inaccurate.html#post6744790
SiSoft Sandra does show accurate speeds so read those.

Note that there is a large difference in latency uses a faster setting in AAM the closer to the center you get.

Important information from tests.
AAM low settings
18.7ms for HD Tune
outer platter 5-15ms
middle platter is 15-27ms
inner platter is 25-35ms

AAM high settings
12.9ms for sisoft
14.3ms for HDTune
outer platter 5-14ms
middle platter is 12-20ms
inner platter is 15-25ms
SiSoft Sandra
Random Access Time 12.9ms
Full Stroke Access Time 4.54ms
Transfer speeds 139.75MBps-67MBps

Screen shots of tests.
ImageShack Album - 5 images

 

He has a point there.

Imaging you are downloading quite a number of video file(or say ISO images) using some torrent clients at the same time. These files are usually pretty big and the internet bandwidth can be quite slow(comparatively speaking), so there would be chunks of data coming in at unknown rate(for each file).

Depending on how the client is written, if it doesn't allocate the full size on one go, we are seeing a situation of multiple random smaller appends to a number of big files(and the spaces are thus allocated as needed). So it is quite possible that all of them are fragmented at the end. Of course, if the client then do a 'copy then delete' after completion(like what IE does for downloading), this may remove the fragmented file.

 

I have deleted a few off-topic posts

This is a reminder to please stay on-topic

 

i use the default
it in automated mode runs on weekly bases
i don't think i would install 3rd part apps.

 

really drives me crazy how I'll run Defraggler and get it down to only a few fragmented files and <100 fragments (usually system restore and page file related stuff) then analyze literally seconds later and it picks up a few hundred fragmented files and thousands of fragments.