SOFTWARE REVIEW:
When 'Free' can be expensive: Defragmenters
Diskeeper 7.0 is an automatic disk defragmenter for Windows. It isn't free like the one that comes with Windows but it's better.
By LAWRENCE S. GOULD
Contributing Editor
Disk defragmenting is a chore easily forgotten, and you already have a disk defragmenter built into your Windows operating system, so why buy a shrink-wrapped version of a disk defragmenter?
Simply because the workstation version of Diskeeper 7.0 from Burbank, CA-based Executive Software International, Inc., is better — it's faster, more efficient, and it makes defragging easier by letting you defragment multiple partitions and physical drives simultaneously, as well as to schedule the defragging to run in the background.
Those last two capabilities alone are worth the extra $50 for the single-workstation version. Why? Consider these two approaches to hard-drive implementations.
Some gearheads swear that having big, honking hard drives is the way to go. Fine, but defragmenting large partitions (what Diskeeper calls "disk volume") and huge drives takes a long time.
Other computer users "grow" their hard-drive space piecemeal, buying several 20-GB or so hard drives over time. These people swear that having multiple partitions on multiple small drives is better than having all your "eggs in one basket." That may be true, but the defragmenters that come with the Windows operating system can defragment only one disk volume at a time. So, again, defragging can take a long time if several disk volumes and drives are involved.
Diskeeper handles both of these hard drive environments equally well. In Diskeeper's manual mode, you click on a disk volume to highlight it, then click the "Analyze" button to determine the extent of fragmentation (the number of fragmented files and excess file fragments). A summary message tells you what's up.
There's also a color graphic that shows the type and condition of the data on the selected disk volume. If the display shows lots of red, you have a heavily fragmented disk volume. At this point, click the "Defragment" button and let Diskeeper do its stuff.
And here's the first major benefit. Unlike the defragmenter with your operating system, you can then click another disk volume for Diskeeper to analyze and defragment — while the first disk volume is being worked on.
On my computer, simultaneous defragging multiple partitions seemed to slow the defragging of individual hard drives. However, I could manually set multiple disk volumes to defrag — and then walk away from my computer to do other things.
Or, I could continue working while Diskeeper worked in the background. That's the second major benefit of Diskeeper over built-in defraggers, which do not let other tasks run during defragmentation.
You can also use Diskeeper's "Set It and Forget It" mode. This lets the defragmenter run automatically in the background, either after hours or while you, applications, or system processes are active on the computer. In this mode, you can specify times or days of the week for Diskeeper to run or not run.
Alternatively, you can set Diskeeper's "Smart Scheduling" feature. This lets Diskeeper automatically determine the optimum defragmentation schedule for your disk volumes, based on the number of files moved each time it runs on a disk volume. Quite simply, if the number of fragmented files moved increases each time Diskeeper runs on a particular volume, then it will automatically schedule to run more often. And vice versa.
Here's another defrag feature you don't get with built-in defraggers: a command-line interface. This lets you dispense with the graphical interface entirely. From a MS-DOS command line, enter "diskeeper C:" to start defragmenting. Diskeeper will tell you that it started and, eventually, that it ended — and that's it.
The Windows NT/2000/XP versions of Diskeeper also have a Boot-Time Defragmentation option. This option does three things that cannot be done while Windows is active. First, it will move directories to a single location on the disk, thereby freeing up larger portions of a disk for defragmenting. Second, it will defragment the operating system's paging file. Last, it will defragment the Master File Table. You can schedule these boot-time operations for weekends or other times when the computer is not needed immediately and rebooting the computer isn't a problem.
While there are more features not mentioned here, keep in mind that above all else, Diskeeper is faster than the defragger in your operating system. In a test report by NSTL, Inc. (Conshohocken, PA), a technology testing organization, it was found "that Diskeeper was between three and five times faster than the Windows 2000 Disk Defragmenter when defragging drives. In addition, NSTL discovered that Diskeeper did a much more thorough job of defragging the test drives."
On my computer, I can't prove the "more thorough job" part, but I can attest to a noticeable difference in defragging speed. Plus Diskeeper's user interface is more informative. For instance, after using Diskeeper Lite for years on my Windows NT computer and lately Windows 2000's defragmenter, I finally found out what those various progressive stages of Diskeeper's operations are as displayed at the bottom of the Diskeeper window (Stage 1, Stage 2, etc.), namely (1) gathering volume data, (2) clearing directory area, (3) defragmenting and consolidating directories, (4) defragmenting files and consolidating free space, (5) defragmenting files and closing gaps in free space, and so on — nine stages in all.
On my Windows 2000 Professional computer, installing Diskeeper was a breeze. For its user interface, Diskeeper requires Microsoft Management Console (MMC), which comes with Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher. If that's not on your computer, Diskeeper will install the proper MMC components. On Windows 2000/XP computers, Diskeeper 7.0 will not remove the built-in defragmenter; however, it will automatically become the default defragmenter.
The Diskeeper User's Guide is a blessing; it's exactly how software documentation should be written: clear, concise, detailed about implementing and operating the software; software option are well described, it has readable page design, and informative screen shots. Well done, Executive Software.
This software is a keeper.
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