Disk Defragmenter or something else

[asdf_abx]

I have been a Norton Speed disk user in the past. The problem is that norton can't defragment properly when the harddisk is very big and full. It's slow and sometimes just sits there doing stuff on the harddisk for hours without the getting anything done. I installed perfectdisk and everything has been much better since. I like companies that specialize in one thing. Norton makes bloat ware nowadays. Non of its programs work to great.

[robaczek]

Is it possible to use Diskeeper in the manual mode ?
I'm just not a big fan of things running without my knowledge.

[CaptainMajic]

I am sorry I have always used the built-in defrag program that comes with Windows (XP, 2000, NT, 98 etc).

Is there any benchmarks or documented proof that these 3rd-party programs do a better job?

I appreciate people gut feelings etc but I am looking for some tangible proof (if any?)

thanks

[traveler]

Originally posted by robaczek
Is it possible to use Diskeeper in the manual mode ?
I'm just not a big fan of things running without my knowledge.

I totally agree.

[traveler]

Originally posted by CaptainMajid
I am sorry I have always used the built-in defrag program that comes with Windows (XP, 2000, NT, 98 etc).

Is there any benchmarks or documented proof that these 3rd-party programs do a better job?

I appreciate people gut feelings etc but I am looking for some tangible proof (if any?)

thanks

They all defrag CaptainMajid. It's up to you to decide what else do you want to have done in addition to the defrag.

For example: Archieve files that I keep on the hd I want to have placed at the end of the hd. So I tell SpeedDisk to put those unchanging, infrequently used files in the back and to put active changing files in the front for fast access. I also tell it to put directories in the front of the disk. MS has never had this in any of its included defraggers. But that's what you get for "free".

[Mattflick]

Try Diskkeeper 7.0. Executive software makes it. I've had it for about six months now and it works awesome. It has a set and forget it feature that allows the program to defrag as you go. I set mine to only allow it to run from 1 am to 7 am. So when 1am roles around if the disk needs defraging it just runs by itself and when it's done it's done. You'll never even know it happened. Also, it not only defrags files, but it defrags data, something the windows xp defrag doesn't do. My system using speed disk and Disk Keeper 7.0 always shows 100% defraged. I really recommend this as a third party defrag program.

[pointreyes]

Perfect Disk and O&O Defrag are both good defraggers. I have not found Diskeeper to be that impressive due to resource usage-maybe that has been improved with 7.0. And that miserable 7 passes was annoying.

Things that the built-in defragger cannot do:
Method of defragging - by Name, Size, etc.
Boot time defragging
See it and forget it or whatever each utility will call it-O&O calls it Sleath.

The built-in defragger btw is a lite version of Diskeeper.

I use O&O Defrag 3.5 Pro for my W2k servers and O&O Defrag 4 for XP Pro.

[garnet_abx]

Originally posted by robaczek
Is it possible to use Diskeeper in the manual mode ?
I'm just not a big fan of things running without my knowledge.

Yes you can run it manually. Which I did in the beginning until I got used to it and developed a trust for it. Now I let it run automatically and really never give it a thought.

[CkRtech]

Hmm. Interesting.

Yes. There are a lot of defragging programs out there, and many tend to disagree as to how to defrag things. I am using Norton Speed Disk that came with the Systemworks 2003 suite & it works just fine for me.

I have used Diskeeper in the past and didn't quite like the way that it optimized my software. Of course, that was an older version (it was probably about 1 1/2 years ago) I don't know about it now.

Bottom line is - I am pretty sure you are going to get better results from a defragger other than the built in ones with windows.