DiskKeeper vs XP Defrag vs BootVis

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i_pedal

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If XP is constantly optimising programs by moving files, does using defrag undo this? What about defrag after using BootVis? And is DiskKeeper a better defrag than XP's?
thanks,
seriously confused bill
 
Diskkeeper is just a full version of the windows defrag, they are both made by executive software.

XP isn't really "constanly moving files" it just basically keeps track of the most used and such so that when the drive is defragged and such the files are moved closer to the beginning. thats what the layout.ini file does. using xp defrag or a full diskkeeper defrag will not undo this.
 
Thanks for reply.
Ok, so what is it that BootVis does? Is it like a winalign thing?
bill g
 
Bootvis tracks which files are used during bootup and the initial start of WindowsXP.

Bootvis will then move these frequently accessed files together and as close to the start of your harddisk as possible.

If you run Defrag AFTER running BootVis, you will undo any changes it has made.

The best way to deal with this is to..

1st run defragger.
2nd run bootvis.

Hope this clears up your queries.
 
"And is DiskKeeper a better defrag than XP's? "

Just about any defragmenter is better than XP's :)

The built-in defragmenter was built by Executive Software to Microsoft's specifications. Microsoft retains exclusive control over the functionality of the built-in defragmenter.

The built-in one can't defragment directories on FATx partitions, requires at least 15% free space, may not consolidate free space, may require more than 1 pass, can't defragment the pagefile or hibernate file and can't defragment non-$MFT metadata on NTFS partitions.

The commercial version (Diskeeper) has a lot of the same limitations as the built-in defragmenter: requires at least 15-20% free space, may not consolidate free space, may require more than 1 pass, can't defragment the hibernate file and can't defragment non-$MFT metadata on NTFS partitions.

Both the built-in defragmenter and Diskeeper will "honor" the file placement done by XP approx every 3 days (layout.ini). One of the things that XP does is to monitor application launches and put this information in /windows/prefetch/layout.ini. Approx every 3 days, XP will do a "partial" defrag and attempt to make sure that the files indicated in layout.ini are contiguous (ensuring faster application launches). Unfortunately, since the built-in defragment is quite limited, it may not be able to ensure this (especially if there isn't a large enough piece of free space available for the partial defrag to use). When you perform a full defrag pass using the the built-in defragmenter, it is supposed to "honor" where these files are already placed and not move them around (Diskeeper does this as well). Some defragmenters don't honor at all (SpeedDisk, O&O Defrag, Defrag Commander, Vopt, Ontrack) and you can run into a situation where the built-in defragmenter and the above defragmenters try to "fix" what the other has done. PerfectDisk gives you the choice to have PerfectDisk manage these files (PD will make sure that they are contiguous and placed regardless of how fragmented free space is) or you can have Windows XP manage them (in which case PerfectDisk will "honor" where these files are placed by XP).
 
GHayes,
Thanks for the detail. I have been doing demos of PD and DiskKeeper and it liked PD for speed and ease of use. Sounds like it's also better at defrag.
bill g
 
Thanks GHayes

You just answered my 'question', although it's not exactly what i wanted to hear. ;)

I posted this yesterday in another thread.

No problems here. The only thing is, that sometimes when i just finished defragging with Speed Disk, Windows start's his automatic optimization cycle, and i have to start all over again. But, after doing another defrag, everything runs really smooth for quit a long time. Maybe it's the "Speed disk screws up XP's optimization cycle" thing Lonman was talking about. Maybe not. I thought about disabling XP's optimization cycle and let Norton do all the 'good' work. Just to see if there's any difference in (boot)speed. Because i really would like to know if they are helping each other out, or if they are just playing a game of "hide and seek" with my data.
You think disabling the optimization cycle thing is a good idea, or should i just dump Speed Disk?
 
Since SpeedDisk and XP lay files out differently, they are essentially working at odds to each other. Is this a "bad" thing? Not really - it just means more work for each to do with they run. It doesn't cause any "damage"...

You could certainly disable XP's optimization, but you would need to ensure that SpeedDisk is running frequently to make sure that performance remains peak.


- Greg/Raxco Software
 
I run Speed Disk allmost every day, so i think i'm just going to disable XP's optimization, and see what happens.

Thanks again!
 
Originally posted by GHayes
Since SpeedDisk and XP lay files out differently, they are essentially working at odds to each other.
- Greg/Raxco Software

Gregg, when you get back on line at this site, could you let us know if pd's optimization is at odds with the ms file placement optimization, or if in fact it facilitates the strategy and speeds the effort.
thanx
 
Originally posted by GHayes
The commercial version (Diskeeper) has a lot of the same limitations as the built-in defragmenter: requires at least 15-20% free space, may not consolidate free space, may require more than 1 pass,

the diskeeper site also says that a certain percentage of free space is required.

but in practice its far from true

I have had a 31 gig fat32 partition with less than 300meg spare
Diskeeper defragged it no problem,

in one pass :)

Diskeeper always consolidates free space (unless large files are involved)
 
How do you know how good of a job Diskeeper is doing in consolidating freespace? You really can't tell from their stats. You can kinda tell from their disk map - which isn't granular enough to tell the whole story... Are you running their Best Performance defrag or their Improved Free Space consolidation free space (interesting how they now have this option)?

- Greg/Raxco Software
Microsoft MVP - Windows Storage Management/File System

Disclaimer: I work for Raxco Software, the maker of PerfectDisk - a commercial defrag utility, as a systems engineer in the support department.
 

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