Perfectdisk vs. Defraggler

[mrfatboy]

I looking for a good hard drive defragger. I have been using Defraggler for awhile and I like it. However, I have been reading in these forums that some third party defraggers defrag too much to the point that all the files are not optimized for Windows (i have XP pro). I'm not sure if Defraggler is one of those programs or not. People seem to recommend Perfectdisk to avoid this problem but it's a paid app. Defraggler is free. Does anybody know of any problems with defraggler?

Is it worth buying Perfectdisk or just stick to Defraggler?

thanks

 

[corkyg]

Some experts here will tell you you don't need anything but what is built in to Windows. I personally prefer PD because I have used it for several years. It's metaphor is akin to the old Norton Speed Disk. You can either defrag or optimize. It does a good job of optimizing free space, and that is good for some SSDs.

 

[mrfatboy]

Thanks. The threads I was reading were specifically talking about optimizing the windows files and Perfectdisk was the only program that did this. I wanted to know if it was true or not. It still sounds like it is debatable.

On a side note, I was told that you should not defrag SSD drives. I'm not sure if that was because it was bad for them (wear them out) or something else?

 

[corkyg]

PerfectDisk optimizes system files by correctly placing them according to Microsoft specs. This can only be done during a boot time or off line operation.

Basically, SSDs do not need defragging. TRIM takes care of keeping freespace optimized. But, not all SSDs have TRIM, and not all mobo controllers support it. Free space fragmentation will slow down a SSD writes. But, that is another topic and much has been written on it.

 

[martensite]

Thanks. The threads I was reading were specifically talking about optimizing the windows files and Perfectdisk was the only program that did this. I wanted to know if it was true or not.

I use Diskeeper 2010 Pro, and it also has file sequencing for most frequently accessed files, so it would 'optimize' the windows files too.

 

[corkyg]

System files can only be optimized, defragged, nor moved off line when the system is not functioning. Diskeeper 2010 Pro does indeed have a boot time mode.