How often do you defrag?

All the time, well almost. :)
I use Ashampoo Magical Defrag, runs in the background and defrags when idle, stops when I touch the keyboard and mouse.
Uses about 8mb memory.
 
I don't bother anymore. It never seemed to make any difference to the speed of the PC. It just wasted a few hours waiting for the process to finish.
 
Every time I delete a pile of files, usually once a week, I also have a registry cleaner to clear all the empty keys, file paths, shortcuts etc etc etc.
Don't have a clue if the techies would approve, but been doing it for three, four years and never had a problem and don't get the system hanging or stalling when processing tiff image files, which is why I do it so often.
Again, just a personal habit, I also pick my nose and scratch my nuts in public which are, (I am told but don't agree with), bad habits :D
 
Never defrag, I clear everything out and do a fresh install once or twice a year though.
 
One of the many benefits of running Linux. I don't have to. :D
 
i never defrag, however i do a cheat, I have a full backup image of my computer which takes about 20mins to either fully restore or fully backup.

Every 2 months or so i will do a restore and any programs i have added during that time that i like, still use and has no bugs in them i will re install once i have done that i will then make that new backup which i`ll revert back to in the next couple of months.

That way if you get anything going on with your windows that you cant solve (viruses, bugs just general probs) all you have to do is restore for 20 mins and everything is back to normal.

But if you do a defrag just before you do your very first backup then you dont need to defrag because when your restoring it your restoring it back to its freshly defragged state.

Long winded explanation but hopefully some will understand what i`m saying lol.
 
I used to try and do it regularly but lately I haven't been organised enough to have enough free space to DO a defrag! (I know, I know.)
I have an external hard drive but I use a laptop so it's not always plugged into it - I should really move my photos to there so I have more disc space but then what if I need them when it's not plugged in? And besides I currently use the external drive as a backup so if that were the place for them to live I'd need to find a new backup location :-S
 
I run Diskeeper which defrags any time the pc is idle, but never starts up otherwise unless triggered manually.

Windows defrag is just a slimmed down version of Diskeeper. It has other facilities which make it more comprehensive.

I find that it speeded up files/programs loading.
 
Steep said:
Never defrag, I clear everything out and do a fresh install once or twice a year though.
Click to expand...

(y) if it has MS on the box. This gives many times the benefit of defragging and registry cleaning - and also means that you need not bother with the minor clean ups between reinstalls.
 
Have to agree with arclight here, I too run Diskeeper09 in the automatic mode. Defrags smoothly without any hassles. It also works great even on low free space volumes(y)
 
balmer said:
Have to agree with arclight here, I too run Diskeeper09 in the automatic mode. Defrags smoothly without any hassles. It also works great even on low free space volumes(y)
Click to expand...

Yip, and it can do a boot time defrag to get at the files that are too dangerous to move once the OS loads and so would never otherwise get defragged.
 
Never on the Mac, but when I have to use the PC, I use Diskeeper and run that every few months. Seems to keep things running smoothly enough.
 
colinfret said:
All depends on what OS i'm running. Vista automatically defrags.
Click to expand...

Interesting - that suggests MS has used the full version of Diskeeper or at least more of it than is bundled with XP.
 
colinfret said:
All depends on what OS i'm running. Vista automatically defrags.
Click to expand...

hmm
so why does it still have defrag under manage computer?:shrug:
 
I leave JKDefrag going over my disks every few months. I like to do a defrag as a bit of a disk health check as well as for performance.
 
On the 32nd of the month on my main computer, main laptop and 2nd laptop ;)


MacOS and Linux don't need it............

It really does help with Windows though, when I was running XP I defragged every couple of weeks. If you have a HD vastly larger than necessary then you don't need to defrag as often.
 
mmcp42 said:
hmm
so why does it still have defrag under manage computer?:shrug:
Click to expand...

You sure, doesn't have it on mine. :thinking:
When I went on a Vista course was told by the trainer that it defrags automatically. :shrug: Will look that up
 
colinfret said:
You sure, doesn't have it on mine. :thinking:
When I went on a Vista course was told by the trainer that it defrags automatically. :shrug: Will look that up
Click to expand...

it is schedulable (is that even a word?).

i do mine once a year if that. benefits are minor if any to be honest especially in doing it all the time. at the most it should be done once a month.
 
it depends on a number of factors as to what benefits you will get. If you have a 500gb drive with 40gb used and just browse the Internet plus save photos to the drive then the reality is that you will not get much benefit in defragging it every couple of days. If however you have a 120gb hard drive and constantly create bespoke DVDs with new small video clips and making larger images whilst also using the computer with photoshop, browsing, iTunes and a dozen other random apps plus you regularly run the drive with 15gb free then you will probably benefit from regular defrags.
 
I dont think I've defragged a drive since going to Vista which co-incided with upgrading my drives to 2 x 1TB, I just dont feel the need to do so any longer.
 
I never have to defrag since I too use Diskeeper (2009 Professional version) which automatically defrags as necessary using idle system resources. It works great and essentially you don't need to worry about defragging at all.

Recently, I added a 500GB Hitachi to the system in place of my 250GB 'Photos' drive that was almost full. After transferring close to 220GB of data comprising of thousands of photos (mostly PEF, PSD and TIFFs) and a few movies, the drive was pretty badly fragmented. Checked back after a couple of hours and it showed all blue, thanks to Diskeeper.(y)

I use only XP on my systems currently...used Vista for a year on one, and didn't like it. I used to run DK (2008/2009) on that one too. BTW, the Vista defragger is a 100% MS effort; nothing to do with Diskeeper (almost certain about this...read it on some MS blog).
 
balmer said:
Have to agree with arclight here, I too run Diskeeper09 in the automatic mode. Defrags smoothly without any hassles. It also works great even on low free space volumes(y)
Click to expand...

Agree. :clap:

I've been using Diskeeper Pro Premier for 2 years now, and it's been one of the best buys I made. Runs quietley in the background with minimum memory drain, and also works very well on Vista 64bit, which I've got. Keeps your MFT nicely defragged as well, so no need to do any Boot Time Defrag.
 
colinfret said:
You sure, doesn't have it on mine. :thinking:
When I went on a Vista course was told by the trainer that it defrags automatically. :shrug: Will look that up
Click to expand...

/Agree, there is a defrag prog in vista but it does defrag on idle so if you were to run it, it shouldnt take anytime at all.

(y)
 
Can someone tells me the benefits of defrag? My internet provider advise me to defrag my computer regularly but my technician told me its non sense. To whom I will listen. This makes me sick :LOL:! And based on the posts here, some enjoy defragging some do not. Well, what shall I do? Will defragging ruin my computer or not?
 
yrina said:
Can someone tells me the benefits of defrag? My internet provider advise me to defrag my computer regularly but my technician told me its non sense. To whom I will listen. This makes me sick :LOL:! And based on the posts here, some enjoy defragging some do not. Well, what shall I do? Will defragging ruin my computer or not?
Click to expand...

Defragging won't ruin your computer. Depending on your hardware and your operating system version defragging will either be done for you, or be scheduled to a set limit for the op system. ISPs on the other hand dumb down to the common denominator and tend to spout out of date technical speel sometimes.

Google 'Benefits of Defrag', there are thousands of articles.. :)
 
Defrag improves file access times since it takes longer to read a moderate/heavily fragmented file compared to an unfragmented one. Same with free space fragmentation...writing a file as a contiguous block is faster than writing it into many small gaps inbetween other files. Sequential operations such as backups and file transfers between drives will be faster with un-fragmented files.

I've read (not 100% sure if it's true) that file recovery from a crashed or corrupted HDD is relatively easier if the files are logically contiguous as opposed to split up and scattered around. I don't want to find out :D

If the MFT (the most critical file on an NTFS volume) is badly fragmented, then access to other files also will slow down since the MFT is referred to for each file read; so it's a good idea to avoid it's fragmentation (don't fill the drive up beyond 90%).

Anyway, regardless of all the arguments for and against defrag, I've always found that a nicely defragged system just runs smoother overall, boots up faster, and does not have irritating pauses when opening or writing files. This is not a placebo effect since I use my systems for more than 5-6 hours daily and am very sensitive to performance changes. On slower systems like laptops, defrag can make a solid difference in file performance.

So, defrag or not, the decision is yours. I know I will keep my drives defragmented. Well, actually my Diskeeper will...since it's fully automatic.
 
I never defrag my os drive as I don't want to shorten it's life - it's a pair of ssd's.

I defrag my storage drives every 3 months or so.

Re the benefits, run the defrag program on your os and let it analyse your disks, if a lot of the files have a high degree of fragmentation (i.e. the file isn't in a continous block) then it may affect performance and you may benefit from a little optimisation, otherwise just leave it alone and don't worry about it.
 
You don't need to defrag SSDs anyway makes no difference, definitely the future of storage :)

I'll defrag my PCs every few months as a matter of routine, and will always do it before I install any large programs on my system drive.
 
mid_gen said:
You don't need to defrag SSDs anyway makes no difference, definitely the future of storage :)
Click to expand...

I don't think this is entirely true, the files are still becoming ever more fragmented over time, the read speed hides this and it's less apparent and out of choice most seem to be limiting writes where possible - no pagefile, no indexing etc due to 2 year warranties on the drives and some scare stories about short lifespans - the first 2 generations will be shortlived, most who adopt so early will replace them once the sata 3 interface is established and drives are out that use it.

Defo the future of storage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top