What is the best policy for defragmenting the drives ?

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  1. Posts : 61
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #1

    What is the best policy for defragmenting the drives ?


    Hi,

    I use Auslogics Disk Defrag. I'm no expert, I just bought it based on what people said. There are quite a few ways to defrag, for eg. simple defrag, free space defrag, optimize by prefetch layout, optimize by disk zone etc.

    I've only used simple defrag until now as I can't conclude which one would give me best performance. But canone tell me which one should I use and how ?

    Also, how often should I use it ? I usually run it once the fragmentation is around 10%.

    Also, please share the best policy to defrag the drives. Or any other software recommendation.

    Thanks for reading.
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  2. Posts : 3,785
    win 8 32 bit
       #2

    A lot depends what you do if you use the same programs all the time then optimize is good but if you use different ones a lot there may be little gain
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  3. Posts : 61
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    samuria said:
    A lot depends what you do if you use the same programs all the time then optimize is good but if you use different ones a lot there may be little gain
    Hi,

    Thanks for the reply. Yes it's always the same program with a very few exceptions.
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  4. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #4

    I recommend just sticking with Win 7's defragger. Set it up to automatically defrag at night, say, once a week or once a month (just make sure the computer will be on then) when you won't be using the computer to automatically defrag. or you could just check it manually every so often and manually defrag if the percentage of defragmentation exceeds 10% of HDDs and 25% for SSDs (yes, SSDs DO need defragging, just not as often as HDDs and excessive defragging will noticeably shorten their remaining write life; they shouldn't need it more than once every two or three years, if that often).

    To reduce the amount and rate fragmentation occurs (and for other reasons), HDDs should have no less than 10-15% free space and SSDs should have no less than 10-25% free space at all times.

    There are other defragging programs that, technically, do a better job of defragging but this is one example of when good enough is good enough and Win 7's defragger is good enough.
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  5. Posts : 61
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Lady Fitzgerald said:
    I recommend just sticking with Win 7's defragger. Set it up to automatically defrag at night, say, once a week or once a month (just make sure the computer will be on then) when you won't be using the computer to automatically defrag. or you could just check it manually every so often and manually defrag if the percentage of defragmentation exceeds 10% of HDDs and 25% for SSDs (yes, SSDs DO need defragging, just not as often as HDDs and excessive defragging will noticeably shorten their remaining write life; they shouldn't need it more than once every two or three years, if that often).

    To reduce the amount and rate fragmentation occurs (and for other reasons), HDDs should have no less than 10-15% free space and SSDs should have no less than 10-25% free space at all times.

    There are other defragging programs that, technically, do a better job of defragging but this is one example of when good enough is good enough and Win 7's defragger is good enough.

    Thank you for the information, very helpful. So I think the best way to do it is just simply check the fragmentation level and if it's above 10% defrag it with simple algorithms and that's it.

    Thanks for the reply.
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  6. Posts : 3,785
    win 8 32 bit
       #6

    In the old day defrag was effected by interleave as defragging could slow the pc Interleaving
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  7. Posts : 67
    MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
       #7

    From what I gathered after maintaining three Win 7 PCs:

    If the system is used routinely, the built-in defrag will do. When more files are moved around and software installed and uninstalled, no to mention repair install, etc. of the system due to crashes, then not only defrag but optimization might be needed. You can only find out after doing a system file check, etc., and notice that the system still boots or accesses files slowly.

    One thing I noticed for the built-in defrag is that sometimes it won't run as scheduled, and probably because something isn't making the system idle. With that, I had to run it manually several times or use a third-party program.

    From what I remember, prefetch layout is used for the system drive, disk zones for other drives that contain combinations of programs and data, simple defrag for everyday use, and free space defrag to try to prevent further defrag. Given that, I'm guessing that if a system runs fine, then a simple defrag will do, with prefetch layout or disk zones monthly or so. Some programs will choose what to do automatically or through a wizard.

    For SSDs, no defrag is needed. Instead, any defrag program should just trim them. But because they are still expensive, then HDs are still needed for programs and data that won't fit in them, and defrag still needed.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 61
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #8

    monkeylove said:
    From what I gathered after maintaining three Win 7 PCs:

    If the system is used routinely, the built-in defrag will do. When more files are moved around and software installed and uninstalled, no to mention repair install, etc. of the system due to crashes, then not only defrag but optimization might be needed. You can only find out after doing a system file check, etc., and notice that the system still boots or accesses files slowly.

    One thing I noticed for the built-in defrag is that sometimes it won't run as scheduled, and probably because something isn't making the system idle. With that, I had to run it manually several times or use a third-party program.

    From what I remember, prefetch layout is used for the system drive, disk zones for other drives that contain combinations of programs and data, simple defrag for everyday use, and free space defrag to try to prevent further defrag. Given that, I'm guessing that if a system runs fine, then a simple defrag will do, with prefetch layout or disk zones monthly or so. Some programs will choose what to do automatically or through a wizard.

    For SSDs, no defrag is needed. Instead, any defrag program should just trim them. But because they are still expensive, then HDs are still needed for programs and data that won't fit in them, and defrag still needed.
    Thank you brother. I think for the system partition, it's best to use prefetch layout but I don't understand how it work so I stick to simple defrag.
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  9. Posts : 2,774
    Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
       #9

    Do not defrag hybrid HDs, ssd portion will slowly sink into the sea...
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  10. Posts : 61
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #10

    RolandJS said:
    Do not defrag hybrid HDs, ssd portion will slowly sink into the sea...
    I didn't quite get what you were trying to say, can you elucidate please ?
      My Computer


 
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