Defragmenter Performance questions

[Moondoggy]

I was wondering if anyone had recently looked at the performance of defragmenting software?

I've use PerfectDisk (PD) for years now on my desktop PC but use the built-in defrag tool that comes with Windows 7 on my laptop. I bought PD in the first place because it seemed to be fast and efficient and to me at least, it did a good job. With recent versions and builds of PD I've noticed that it takes forever to run a defrag pass on my PC and some of their automated features are real resource hogs. For example, recently I noticed that it was taking forever for my PC to completely boot and have the network adapter ready for use. After seeking some help I determined that if I turned off 2 background features of PD, my system booted really fast and my system performance is now great. I can keep running PD in this manner and running defrags whenever I want but it makes me question whether PD without the bells and whistles is any better than other defrag tools or the defrag tool that comes with Windows itself that's free. In addition I wonder if the PD defrag algorithm is any better or worse than other defrag algorithms. If anyone has any insight into this, please let me know. Thanks!

 

[Aapo]

Hard disk is the slowest component in PC and as such it's not used for tasks requiring performance. I would ask: how big impact does, say, 10% fragmentation have to drive seek time compared to 0% fragmentation? If I understood you correctly, you're asking does drive with 0% fragmentation perform better compared to drive with 0% fragmentation where files are in different order. I would say yes in theory, but this is quite academic. Differences are minimal.

Filling your precious RAM with bloatware is going to have much bigger hit on performance than fragmentation that's for sure.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I'm sure you can go to the PD website and see a list of bullet points on why you must have it and why you would be a fool not to buy it. Who wants to be a fool?

It's another question entirely as to whether you'd ever notice the difference between defrag app A and defrag app B if you did not know which was installed. It's very much like "golden ear" types who hear the benefits of $1000 speaker cables on their stereo systems.

They all use different algorithms and have differing ideas as to what constitutes a "defragged" drive.

Seems to me that those who can't live with Windows built-in defragger tend to be obsessive/compulsive and just feel uneasy about being "fragmented". They can't stand the anxiety and feel better for having run some ever-more exotic third party application. The placebo effect is a wonderful thing.

 

[NoN]

Past placebo effect & algorithms, i think defrag is useful for the health of the hard drive because it does prevents heads moving from clusters to clusters seeking the datas, thus should improve hard drive spinning life span. I use manually & weekly the built-in Defrag and Defraggler (Piriform).

Impact of Disk Fragmentation

 

[Moondoggy]

Thank you all for your replies. I guess my real question is how much better job of defragging does PD do in comparison to other defrag tools including the built-in defrag tool that comes with Windows 7? Yes, you can add all the bells and whistles you can to defrag and optimize on the fly and also have a real defrag scheduled, etc., etc., etc. but when the defrag is complete does PD actually do a better job of defragging the hard drive than the others? My gut is telling me that at one time this might have been the case but I'm thinking that there's a point where other products may have caught up on the defragmenting and the only way that Raxco can sell PD is to add all of these bells and whistles to the product that may or may not add value to some users. If anyone knows more on this let me know.

 

[LMiller7]

I guess my real question is how much better job of defragging does PD do in comparison to other defrag tools including the built-in defrag tool that comes with Windows 7?

Setting up a scientifically valid test would be very difficult. The bottom line is that except for extreme cases fragmentation just doesn't make much different in performance. You will have to make your decision on other factors. I just set the schedule for the built in defrag and forget about it.