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Introduction
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A disk defragmenter is a key toolkit element for keeping your PC running optimally. Disk fragmentation occurs through normal everyday use of your PC; over time your system becomes unable to store related data on your disk in a sequential (contiguous) manner, and must "fragment" files across different physical locations on your hard drive. This increases the number of times your hard drive must spin (or "seek"), which slows down the process of reading and writing files. Defragmentation software compresses files and free space back into contiguous blocks. Here is an example of a contiguous file system:
Here is an example of a fragmented file system:
Defragmenting your hard drive on a regular basis is a sound housekeeping habit; a chore that most home users should do once a month. By Defragmenting your system, one can greatly increase system performance. Your computer will be able to read files much quicker. It will also relieve stress on your hard drive. |
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Discussion
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Another major option in the playing field of free disk defragmenters is Ultra Defrag. Dubbed the "Open Source" defragmenter, it is a highly capable disk defragmenter that has been on the field for a very long time. It is currently in its fifth release. I found the features to be laid out very well, and the defragmentation speed was above average. This being said, the program's vista support is troublesome. Granted, there are guides to getting the program to running on vista, but for a program not to have native support for vista is a bit too much for me. I will continue to keep the program installed on my XP machine, as it is a good piece of software; however in my opinion, it is not worth the trouble in vista. In spite of this, here is the guide to installing the program on vista. To go along with MyDefrag, there is an excellent addon dubbed "MyDefragGUI." MyDefragGUI provides an enhanced graphical user interface for MyDefrag. It allows the user to access all the advanced features of MyDefrag in one easy console. If you use MyDefrag, then you know that instead of a GUI (graphical user interface) MyDefrag instead uses a series of start menue entries. For those of us who feel uncomfortable with that method, MyDefragGUI provides an excellent alternative.
If your needs for a glossy graphical interface are not a driving factor, Contig from SysInternals is a robust command line utility which defrags one file at a time and results in excellent performance gains. It's fast and safe, but the command line can turn off users. Fortunately, eXcessive software has built an excellent user interface for Contig, called Power Defragmenter that turns Contig into a really usable product. The latest release of Power Defragmenter offers a very nice “TripleMode” option which runs Contig in three passes; defragmenting any remaining fragmented files with each pass. |
Our top pick here is 
Close behind is 
Another company investing heavily in product development of late is Auslogics with its |
Related Products and Link
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Enhanced Defraggler Shell for Defraggler from eXcessive Software. Desktop Utilities with Diskeeper Lite V9 from Intel. Instructions to remove nag screen from Diskeeper Lite. |
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v4.2.1 
Unrestricted Freeware 
Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, 2008, and for X64.
Portable version available
This software category is maintained by volunteer editor drewbee
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DOES ANYONE HAVE AN OPINION ON OR EXPERIENCE wITH THE DEFRAGMENTER OFFERED TODAY OVER ON FREE GIVEAWAY OF THE DAY? IT IS BY PARAGON...ARE THERE REE ALTERNATIVES AS GOOD? THANKS
Being a person who is interested in what others use i checked out the item you asked about. Now i'll be honest i haven't used it, but just to point out 1 important thing is, "IT ISN'T FREE"!
Now i know you said it was free, and yes it was, but only for that 24 hr period, than they ask you to download their " trial version".
nuff said me thinks
the problem with disk optimizing is that it takes away hard disk space unless you turn off system restore, and that's dangerous. they should come up with a way to disk optimize without turning off system restore.
System restore is best turned off and replaced with an actual drive image.
Why does it say Auslogics has no disk optimizer? I have Auslogics and use the "defrag and optimize" function every day.
The article needs updating. I also use the latest version complete with optimizer. Thanks for pointing this out.
IObit software gone with the wind...
What do you mean exactly? I am using IObit Smart Defrag currently. Any new information I should know about it?
Please have a look at this discussion on our forum :
http://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum/security/2250-iobit-secur...
Anupam
SmartDefrag 1.20 is still available. IOBit Security 360 which includes Smart Defrag is free for a year through tomorrow 11/11/2009.
Moderators comment:
Sorry but we have had to remove these links to Iobit because their site no longer conforms to our verification policy as it now carries a WOT warning
After the recent developments which we have seen over some days regarding IObit, I seriously doubt, if anyone will take this offer.
Anupam
Easy come - easy go.
http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/download
new Auslogics 3.0.3.50
Auslogics is being reviewed.
Didn't Smart Defrag used to be on this list? Why was it taken off?
Please see the forum thread here:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum/security/2275-iobit.html#...
Thanks for the link but it doesn't tell me anything. The first post says "In light of recent events TSA has decided to adopt the same policy as other sites by withdrawing Iobit products and links from our reviews."
Hows about telling us what "recent events" means?
"Malwarebytes claims IObit stole from its database of signatures"
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10389650-245.html?tag=mncol;latest
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=257222
http://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum/security/2250-iobit-secur...
I would love to if I had the time but unfortunately we are not a Google substitute
I had been using Mydefrag for some time now. But it seems that 4.2.5 is not getting better. I just installed Auslogic yesterday and that is an immediate improvement in start on my win7. I'm really getting very disappointed with Mydefrag. The difference of about 10sec. I time the load time as was told by Mydefrag manual.
Defraggler... beware of new version.. on uninstall it leaves options to "defrag folder with Defraggler" and also on right click Icon openings..
I had to registry edit the icon option and still have folder option..uninstall does NOT remove this!
I think Auslogics Disk Defrag is a great program whose developers work hard to continually improve it. They also offer a slick screensaver app for the defrag program at:
www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag-screen-saver/download
If you have any complaints or know of any bugs with this or any other freeware you use or try out, I'm sure the companies would appreciate your input.
The great thing about Auslogics Disk Defrag is the file tab shows you which files cannot be defragged, and then you can use Unlocker to try defragging that specific file or to (try to) remove that file if you think it's not needed.
Why is Ultimate Defrag (free version) not listed? Also MyDefrag review needs to be updated, im really hating this new version except i dont know where else to go, for instance now program needs to be installed. Power Defragmenter (3.x) is still a very limited GUI for contig what a crap...
I recently came across Flexomizer http://www.flexomizer.com/PermaLink,guid,ce99367e-158c-487a-879d-b32145c... defrag tool. Has anyone ever tried it?
Appears to be more than five years old unless I'm missing a newer version somewhere?
If this is the case then more up to date offerings like MyDefrag and Auslogics have to be a better option.
Auslogics Disk Defrag 3 is out!
http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag
Is this normal: I ran the optimize function on Auslogics for the first time yesterday, and since then every time I finish defragmenting or optimizing the analyze box is always filled with red squares, and this was not the case before the first time I optimized. So do all those red squares mean the disk has not been defragmented?
what you need to do is turn off system restore points. just google it or you can download mydefrag and read about it in the manual.
I uninstalled Auslogics defrag and downloaded MyDefrag. It worked OK but then I downloaded MyDefrag GUI and it seems to work better. I also downloaded SmartDefrag.
Both MD-GUI and SD work great: they defragmented everything and optimized my hard disk. And both are WAY better than Auslogics defrag. Now I just have to decide which one to keep, since having both seems a waste of disk space. So there's my 2 cents.
If you run version 3 of Auslogics Disk Defrag on a system with two monitors (running the release version of 64 bit Windows 7, but it shouldn't make a difference) the main program window appears half on one monitor, half on the other. Fixing this in their code requires a simple change to a constant value passed to the CreateWindow API call. Frankly, this shows poor attention to detail and makes me less inclined to give the software a try.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor Best Free Windows 7 / Vista 64 bit Software
Downloaded after reading your post (thanks). I had defragged this drive once since setting up my new system two months ago but it's never been optimized. I have x64 Vista with a 160g drive but this is dual booted 50/50 with Ubuntu. Auslogics defragged 750 files and optimized the whole partition in just over 10 minutes which i didn't think was bad since there were 8 movies amongst that lot which always slow proceedings somewhat. Nice GUI plus automatic defrag option now in this version and I was quite impressed. I'm no expert in this field though so it will be interesting to see some comments from others who are.
Auslogics DiskDefrag is now at 3.0.2.40 Beta. They have fixed several bugs including missing Add/Delete buttons in the Exclusion window when settings are not at 96dpi, Error message when selecting Settings button, and Scheduler problems. When this release comes out of beta I think it should go to the #1 spot.
MyDefrag v4.2.1 is now available and has changed slightly from the current description on this page. Now it's more user friendly IMO. The standard defrag options have been renamed to Optimize Monthly, Weekly and Daily (which is more intuitive IMHO), and it now comes with a basic but effective GUI built in as standard.
Great find!
The review will be updated.
Yes Mydefrag still Version 4.2 is more frendly and use again 5% SPU!
this defrag is awesum.. I used CC and always had to defrag 3 times..
switched to Mydefrag and ran the monthly optimize and it immediately made my computer faster on loading and file search...
MyDefragGUI 2.1
offers a better GUI for MyDefrag.
-Home Page:
http://mydefrag.8qm.de/
-Download Page:
http://mydefrag.8qm.de/#1
yes this has already been added.
For anyone trying the Auslogics Defrag 3 Beta, this is a reply from Auslogics concerning my feedback to them:
"We already located and fixed problems with missing buttons (this issue arises on systems with displays which are set to 120 DPI or other non standard display settings). Also we fixed problem with debug mode.
These fixes will be available in our next Disk Defrag 3 Beta build which will be available shortly. Once you get it please let us know if both problems disappeared or not.
Thanks for your feedback."
Thanks for the update. It's always encouraging to see a quick and constructive response when users raise such issues with the vendor.
P.S. If you are using other than 96dpi, you can change to it temporarily, set your exclusions, then change back.
I shall not comment on mydefrag (aka jkdefrag)as I have not tried that software since back in the jkdefrag days. I recall that I was not particularly impressed at the time but exactly why I thought that, I can't remember. But I can state from experience that Auslogics is an excellent defrag piece of software and has been on my system for quite some time. Defraggler is nice in that it gives you the option of selecting the files/folders that you want to defrag but it is slow when working on the entire hard drive. IObit smart defrag remains on my system because I like the disk optimizer that is not available in the Auslogics software (I do not work with betas so if auslogics has included optimizing, I am not aware). Diskeeper Lite, IMHO, should not even be included in this list of defrag software. Anytime it takes 12mb of software to defrag a HD, there is something seriously wrong. Other than the facts that Diskeeper Lite will disable some things, take an excessive amount of time to run and is bloated for openers, I guess that some still like the software. You may have gathered that I am not impressed with it. I want to state that the above is my personal opinion and should not be considered the beliefs of the editors/owners of this site. It is also my opinion that this is a great site.
dazeydog
Your opinions are as valuable as our own. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us.
Coming from you, I consider that a compliment. Being able to state your opinion (without being asinine) is one of the reasons I like this site, ergo,
you are quite welcome and I hope it helps someone. BTW, I see that Auslogics in incorporating "optimizing" in their package.....that ought to be real interesting when looking at the ratings for defrag packages.
dazeydog
Maybe I'm paranoid but I always get a little worried when I see the word "optimize" creeping into feature lists. Iobit tripped up with this when they first moved from Advanced Windows Care to Advanced Systems Care, and it took a while to iron out the bugs.
One of the main strengths of Auslogics has always been it's reliability to "do no harm". I just hope they don't inadvertently upset this by tinkering around with the features.
I agree though that these developments should make Auslogics worthy of another look and I'll be interested to see what drewbee thinks when he comes to review the category.
Auslogics has released DiskDefrag 3beta. Among other things they have added an optimization option and it is very fast. As with most beta software though is has some bugs. When this release goes out of beta I'm sure it will put them at the top of the heap for disk defraggers. You can download it here: www.auslogics.com/en/disk-defrag-3/
Here is a report I sent back to them after I tried the beta:
"I am quite impressed with the 3.0.0.25 Beta especially the optimization option and speed. Good Job!
It took me a minute or two to figure out that I had to maximize the window to see the disk map.
One problem I have is that the 'Add' and 'Delete' buttons are missing from the Settings> Program Settings> Exclusion window, so I am not able to exclude any folders.
Also, once when I clicked on the Settings button, a window popped up referring to the debug mode for Auslogics BoostSpeed and said to shut if off to go to the Help button and select turn off debug mode. I am not using BoostSpeed so I don't know where that came from.
I hope this feedback this helps.
Thanks"
As per my routine Auslogics will be reviewed after it leaves beta.
Thankyou for bringing the program update to my attention.
Keep the comments coming and keep checking back.
Drew
I have tried it and its absolutely delightful. It simply has more than any other single defragger and looks better than any of them.
Having been around the industry for some time I guess it was inevitable that Auslogics would improve their own product in light of new introductions and developments from elsewhere. I used the previous version and found it suited my needs perfectly. I would just maybe advise a little caution with this one whilst it is still in beta format.
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