Perfect Disc 12 (Overview)

Occasionally we have discussions here about Disk Defragmenters. If needed or not, what everyones preference is, etc.

As many of you may know, I often recommend Perfect Disc. I know many may not agree, but I personally find it to be one of the best. Of course, thats just my opinion.


At any count, I thought I'd do a quick write up about it for those who may possibly be curious about it.
How is it different from others?
Is it worth paying for over Windows own or other free solutions?

Only you can make that decision, but I'll try and cover its features and you can decide for yourself.


The main interface lists all your partitions, and obviously where you make most changes related to deframentation.


The buttons at the top-left are pretty self explanatory.
After Analysing a disc, you'll have a blockviewer at the bottom of the UI showing the layout & fragmentation of the drive.

In the Block Viewer ,by right clicking any block, you can see what files are located there.
You can also have it show where all fragments are on the disk of the select file by pressing 'Show on Disk"
Alternatively, you can choose "Open Folder" to open the location with Windows Explorer.




--Defrag Selected Files at the top - Opens the file explorer for the selected disc.
You can defragment only the files you choose, rather than the entire disc.

--BootTime requires a reboot. It defrags system files than can not be moved while the OS is running.

--Drive Preferences is where you change when and how a defarg is to be done.


Online Defrag section is where you choose the Defrag method for the selected drive.
Defrag method can be Consolodate, SmartPlacement, Defrag Only, SSD Optimize, or Shrink Prep.
You can also choose the free space method as well. Forward,backwards, or Short Stroke.


Shrink Prep is just what it sounds like. It preps the partition to be shrunk.

Smart Placement arranges files according to a preset or custom defrag plan.

SSD optimization optimizes the free space on a SSD without defragmenting to improve write speeds.

You can change the order in which files are placed, as well as the amount of free space between each with Smart Placement.
Boot, Rarely Modified, Occasionally Modified, and Rarely modified files can follow One of the presets or your own custom plan.
Presets range from preventing defragmentation in the first place, to higher performance at the cost of increased fragmentation.



The Stealth Patrol and Scheduling tabs allow you to set schedules to automatically defragment on a schedule.


You can also set it to ignore a scheduled or needed defrag if certain programs are running when it is due, or avoid it on certain days of the week.

I find this handy if Im video Encoding for example & I do not want that particular drive messed with.




Thats the main features of PD12 Home Premium.

In Pro, theres a couple extra things.

S.M.A.R.T. monitors your drives and can alert you if certain thresholds are exceeded.
It also provides SMART & Drive health info.


The Drive Setting Tab on this screen has a couple options to enable if you wish to be warned about them. HD Tempratures & Error read rate, if you want to be warned about them.


Dashboard is a Overall view of Defragmentation History, Hard Drive Health, and Scheduld tasks.


Thats really the only difference between Home Premium and Professional versions. Whether Pro is worth a bit extra is up to you.

But, ATM of writing this, if you currently have a older version of PD you can upgrade to PRO for the same price as HP so it costs nothing extra.

Very nice Wishmaster another great layout thank you for the info much appreciated...

As of yet I couldn't say how much better it is than previous versions.

Since I use a SSD for the OS and Apps, it doesn't really get defragmented.

The other drives haven't been in use long enough under PD12 to know for sure.

But I can say previous versions did help keep deframentation down pretty well over the long term.
So if its been improved upon, as they claim, I do not see why it wouldn't.

But I have to be fair here.
My Media and Games drives do not change that often. When they do change, PD usually kicks in that night and organizes them.
So its a bit hard to tell considering they do not constantly change.

Odd.
I haven't experienced an issue like that myself, BUT ...

My PC uses the High Performance power profile, and never sleeps.
Simply because its always doing something. If its not encoding Video, its folding when Im not using it.

Could it possibly be a coincidence & something else caused it?
Not saying it was, but a possibility.

Also, have you checked over at PDs forums or contacted Customer Support about it? Its also possible its a known issue that will be fixed soon.

They do have excellent customer support, and if you are not aware they have a
30 day .. No Questions asked .. money back gaurntee if you are not happy.
They will refund you in 30days without issue.



Opti-Write is new is the latest version. If I understand it correctly, its purpose is to help minimize fragmentation on the fly, but full passes are still used. It is just supposed to be needed less, and when it does run is faster.


I too have Opti-Write disabled on all but 1 of my drives. (The one containing Documents which is isolated from the OS)



For me, I just prefer using my own schedules as well as defrag settings, depending on the drive.
For example, my Games drive uses a aggresive, performance type SmartDefrag at the cost of higher future fragmentation.
Where as my Media drive gets defragged in a manner to help prevent future fragmentation.

But I also have it set that if my video encoder is running, to ignore a defrag pass on that particular drive.


So I think some of these options are quite simply so you can set it up how ever you like it to be.
And I do agree, It certainly takes a little bit to get oriented with it and know your way around.

Im wondering if you set the PD to, "Do Not wake the computer if its asleep" if everything would be OK then?
I am curious what caused the issue, so if you find out please let us know.


Yes, each Drive or Partiton can have its very own defrag settings.
In the main Window, highlight the partition, and click the Drive options tab at the top.
Whatever you change here, is for that drive only & is not global.


For the rest, it will really come down you own needs and prefrences but what I would try:

SMART Monitoring: This shouldn't have any effect on anything at all. All this option does is allow PD to access each drives SMART Data. You can set warning for errors, temprature etc.
Whether its On or Off is up to you. It will not have any impact on defragmenting or schedules. Its just for checking drive health & stats.

MODE:
For the most part, Id say SMART.
The default algorithm works very well, and helps minimize future fragmentation.
The performance algorithms help slightly, but I do not think theres anything to be gained from a DATA storage drive (I/E Music, Pictures, Video)
Id use this one for both main drives.

For the backup drives, you can just use a Consolodate defrag. thats how I always handle my backup drives.
or exclude them altogether.

Schedule:
Personaly, I think a weekly check is more than enough. But, it depends how often DATA changes on your drive.

I do use the Auto Optimize. Since it only runs if the system is idle, and only defrags if needed, I just leave it on.


OptiWrite/Stealth Patrol as I mentioned before is disabled on mine, except for my Documents drive, since it is changing often.
Im still undecided if this is worth it or not. It does seem to help some though.

If you have it set to "Do Not Wake" it will postpone or reschedule the defrag pass, depending on how you have your options for that drive set.

In the Global settings tab, take a look at the Schedule options.
Being global these settings have an effect on all drives.

You can set it here on what to do if a schedule is missed.
I have mine set to run the pass when the PC starts again, after a 15 minute delay.


I think I would use the Smart Placement for both the main drives personally.
Consolodate for all backups. But again, its your choice.
As you get used to PD, youll eventually settle on a defrag scheme and schedule that fits your habits and use quite well.


The SMART portion I mentioned is only in the Pro version. If you have Home Premium you will not have this feature.
But, you are not really missing anything either. Its simply reads and monitors the drives SMART DATA.
This is, as far as I can tell, the only difference between HP and Pro.
Everything to do with defragmenting and schedules seems the same between the two.