So are you saying it should be done every single day or do you actually agree with me it should not be done every single day...I don't recall ever saying it should not be done, just not done every single day as the ROI when doing that is nil. Maybe I'm just being dense to the contradiction you are referring to...?
* Underlined "every single day" to make sure it was clear.
Sorry if I caused any trouble. I agree that it should NOT be done on every single day and if read my 2nd post on this thread, I said it should be done periodically, once every few weeks or once a month.
But you did say this:
And this is what made me think that you don't see any importance to it at all.
From my personal experience, doing a full defrag with optimizing free space is a good thing to do after a clean install of an OS or perhaps after a lot of software install/uninstall.
Outside of that, running CCleaner and just a quick optimization pass every couple of weeks is good enough to keep your files in place which reduces seek times.
But....NEVER run a defragger on an SSD drive. It is not necessary since read and seek times are already fast and the read/write that a defragger does would wear out the flash cells on an SSD very quickly.
T
Thanks for all your answers, everyone.
Taliseian, do you also recommend a full defrag after installing Windows 7 via factory restore disk? Also, when you say "quick optimization pass" are you referring to just a regular defrag or the special optimization feature that third-party defragmentation software offers?
Thanks.
When using a recovery disk (to be honest, I don't like those HP or Gateway recovery disks as they tend to install way too much bloatware - google "decrapifier"), I would probably do a complete optimization afterward.
The Quick Pass is just a simple defrag of recently changed files where a complete optimization would move the directory information and other important files to the portion of the disk that performs the best. It sounds like you've got the right idea about them. If you do a quick pass every week or so, they should go very fast where a complete optimization could take a while -- on a heavily fragmented large drive I've seen complete optimizations take hours and upward to a day or so based on size, number of fragmented files, and speed of the drive.
T
Yeah, I don't like the HP restore discs either; I always have a ton of uninstalling to do. I usually use Iobit uninstaller to clean out leftover registry entries, but the decrapifier software looks interesting. Companies these days don't ship out actual copies of the Windows dvd, so that's pretty much the only option...
So, am I correct in assuming that you recommend a third-party defragmentation software with optimization features? And, what is the different between file optimization on those software and the defrag that the built-in Windows one does?
Thanks again!
Again, these are my personal preferences....there are those who feel the built-in defragger is more than enough and that's good.
From what I've seen on my own systems, the way that third party defraggers do their job seems to me to leave my system in a better state as far as fewer fragmented files and specific files (like swap files, boot files, and directory structure files) in locations on the disk that work better for the OS.
If I recall, the built-in defragger is a limited version of one of the third party ones....I want to say DiskKeeper...and its advantage is its built in and it does a good job. Third party ones need to be installed, options set, and schedules made so its a bit more involved, but once you've gone over the options it can also be "set it and forget it". The options vary as to level of defragmentation (consolidation of free space to complete optimization) to optimizing boot files and page files, to offline defragmentation (where certain locked system files are able to be optimized during the boot process before Windows starts).
T
In my experience, programs do load up a bit quicker on a well used Win7 system if a good 3rd party 'optimizer' defragger has been used rather than the Win7 one. It probably doesn't make much difference on setup with a few programs but once you get into the hundreds...
I don't think it's mild fragmentation as such which causes slowdown, it's having files grouped in the best place on the drive for performance that helps, as this saves the drive head having to waggle about so much looking for the next file.
I have used and tested loads of defraggers but these days I tend to stick with MyDefrag using a script called 'System Disk Robust Monthly' only. Once a month as well :) I use this because it does what I claim above plus it doesn't slow down bootup which a lot of defraggers do (but not the Win7 one). Some are absolutely terrible for this - their optimizations aren't optimum shall we say - they can't be if they triple boot times.
Superfetch, sbrads, is what makes applications load faster, not defragmentation. Superfetch watches what you do on the computer and loads files or application into memory before the application needs them.
No, I've allowed for that - it's active in both cases. The Windows 7 defragger is fine but I still think there are slightly better ones around (and worse ones). Not worth worrying about really for most users, just use the Windows one if you don't mind losing a few seconds here and there.
The best free boost in bootup speed is to be had by using Microsoft's own Performance Toolkit as described here.....How to speed up boot process under Windows Vista or Windows 7 - MSFN Forum
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