XP defragger for Vista?

[Goldfish4209]

The vista defragger sucks compared to the XP version. There's nothing except a defrag button and a few words telling you to defrag or not. Is there a way to change this back to the XP version? I miss my analysis reports.

 

[stash]

You can get a report using the command line version, defrag.exe.

 

[bigi]

JKdefrag

 

[Nothinman]

Stop worrying about little, largely irrelevant things like disk fragmentation and actually use your computer.

 

[Rottie]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Stop worrying about little, largely irrelevant things like disk fragmentation and actually use your computer.

I want to know WHY???

 

[bruceb]

I like Diskeeper Pro myself .. not too costly and in my view, the best there is.

 

[jonmcc33]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Stop worrying about little, largely irrelevant things like disk fragmentation and actually use your computer.

Disk fragmentation a hard drive is hardly irrelevant. Using your computer will eventually lead to a fragmented hard drive last time I checked. You make no sense.

 

[Nothinman]

I want to know WHY???

You want to know why you should stop worrying about inconsequential things and just use your computer?

Disk fragmentation a hard drive is hardly irrelevant. Using your computer will eventually lead to a fragmented hard drive last time I checked. You make no sense.

Fragmentation isn't the problem that companies like Executive Software want you to believe. Once you understand how disk I/O actually works and you see that most reads are done in very small, random chunks you realize that having files be contiguous doesn't actually buy you much. Sure some niche applications like realtime A/V editing needs contiguous files on very fast drives to keep latency low but they're the exception, not the rule and they also usually employ a dedicated scratch disk that's formatted (or at least has all of the files deleted) before new work is begun.

 

[Tegeril]

What Nothinman said + Vista has a bit of persistent defrag code running. And just wait for SP1, the disk defragmenter will improve.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Goldfish4209
The vista defragger sucks compared to the XP version. There's nothing except a defrag button and a few words telling you to defrag or not. Is there a way to change this back to the XP version? I miss my analysis reports.

Plenty to choose from you tried free one called Defraggler(from makers of CCleaner).


Personally I use a paid one O&O defrag 10 .

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: jonmcc33

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Stop worrying about little, largely irrelevant things like disk fragmentation and actually use your computer.

Disk fragmentation a hard drive is hardly irrelevant. Using your computer will eventually lead to a fragmented hard drive last time I checked. You make no sense.

And Vista handles this automatically, the OP is just concerned since he can't sit and watch the pretty screen display while it happens. Its silly, I dont want to watch pretty graphics while my other maintence jobs occur, why should I 'watch' my defragger run.

 

[her209]

I've never defragged and have had zero problems so far.

 

[jonmcc33]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Fragmentation isn't the problem that companies like Executive Software want you to believe. Once you understand how disk I/O actually works and you see that most reads are done in very small, random chunks you realize that having files be contiguous doesn't actually buy you much. Sure some niche applications like realtime A/V editing needs contiguous files on very fast drives to keep latency low but they're the exception, not the rule and they also usually employ a dedicated scratch disk that's formatted (or at least has all of the files deleted) before new work is begun.

Thanks for proving my point.

 

[jonmcc33]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: jonmcc33

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Stop worrying about little, largely irrelevant things like disk fragmentation and actually use your computer.

Disk fragmentation a hard drive is hardly irrelevant. Using your computer will eventually lead to a fragmented hard drive last time I checked. You make no sense.

And Vista handles this automatically, the OP is just concerned since he can't sit and watch the pretty screen display while it happens. Its silly, I dont want to watch pretty graphics while my other maintence jobs occur, why should I 'watch' my defragger run.

Well, it's scheduled automatically and that option can be unchecked. It's not a feature of Vista so do not say that Vista handles it automatically.

I know what the OP wants but Nothinman's comment that disk fragmentation is irrelevant is what I was commenting on, hence the reason why I quoted it and responded directly to that part.

 

[spyordie007]

I've used AusLogic's Disk Defrag a couple of times, but only because I've got a lot of VMs running on my desktop and I was looking for ways to try and improve I/O performance (it didn't make a discernible difference BTW).

As others have already said the built-in defragger in Vista is more than the vast majority of people will ever need. Unless you have a very specific need I suggest letting it do its job and spending your time on something more productive.

Erik

 

[Nothinman]

Thanks for proving my point.

So you don't understand what I meant with "largely irrelevant"?

 

[bsobel]

Well, it's scheduled automatically and that option can be unchecked. It's not a feature of Vista so do not say that Vista handles it automatically.

1) It ships with Vista
2) Vista schedules a boot time defrag for startup performance at idle times
3) Vista schedules a whole disk defrag weekly
4) This all happens without the user doing ANYTHING.

If you say 'this isnt a feature of Vista' your just now arguing for arguings sake.

Bill

 

[tigersty1e]

I agree with the OP.

I want to know how much is complete and how much longer it will take (I can estimate based on the elapsed time it took to get to a certain percentage)


It's not about watching a pretty screen. It's a simple feature that Microsoft left out for no apparent reason (they claim that most users want this feature to run in the background, but as enthusiasts, we know better)


BTW, if you google it, you'll find some commands to enter to show you the details.

I also hate how the Vista will say that the disk drive is good when I check to analyze. (even if I've installed multiple programs over a period of multiple weeks. I have the scheduler turned off BTW. )

Dont' tell me it doesn't need a degrag. Show me why.

 

[Nothinman]

It's not about watching a pretty screen. It's a simple feature that Microsoft left out for no apparent reason (they claim that most users want this feature to run in the background, but as enthusiasts, we know better)

Actually I don't know better and I consider myself more than an enthusiast. Defragging is something that should happen in the background unnoticed if it happens at all. It's routine maintenance that the computer is perfectly capable of handling itself and I shouldn't have to even know that it's happening.

 

[bsobel]

It's not about watching a pretty screen. It's a simple feature that Microsoft left out for no apparent reason (they claim that most users want this feature to run in the background, but as enthusiasts, we know better)

Enthusiasts, please. Users who understand what is going on dont need the pretty screen. Its for non-technical people who think its pretty. You dont have a pretty screen showing you your memory layout, or thread creation, why is watching disk movement special?

I also hate how the Vista will say that the disk drive is good when I check to analyze. (even if I've installed multiple programs over a period of multiple weeks. I have the scheduler turned off BTW. )

So now your argument is the defragger is wrong and you know better. Tell you what, once you write a defragger you can come back and tell us why its better. Personally I've written a couple of them, so I actually understand the issues.

 

[Nothinman]

You dont have a pretty screen showing you your memory layout,

Actually I do, the memscroller screensaver in the xscreensavers package. =)

 

[spyordie007]

I want to know how much is complete and how much longer it will take (I can estimate based on the elapsed time it took to get to a certain percentage)

So use the CLI or a 3rd party defrag utility; this thread is nothing more than a rant that MSFT didn't re-write the pretty GUI for Vista, it has little to do with actual functionality.

I also hate how the Vista will say that the disk drive is good when I check to analyze. (even if I've installed multiple programs over a period of multiple weeks. I have the scheduler turned off BTW.)

That you make this comment is a pretty good indication that you dont fully understand the core concepts here, a good reason for you to not mess with the scheduler.

 

[tigersty1e]

It's about full control.

I don't understand why you guys are even arguing.

All things being equal, wouldn't you want the defragger to show you the percentage completion?

Or even a chart that shows you the continuous files and fragmented files?


Or how about waiting 5 minutes to install your game because Vista says there's only 5 minutes left for the defrag?

If yes, then end of thread.

 

[Nothinman]

It's about full control.

Then you're using the wrong OS, never have you had full control over Windows. Have you read the EULA?

All things being equal, wouldn't you want the defragger to show you the percentage completion?

Not really, I want something that runs in the background automatically and only prints anything if there's an error.

Or even a chart that shows you the continuous files and fragmented files?

Nope.

Or how about waiting 5 minutes to install your game because Vista says there's only 5 minutes left for the defrag?

No because the defrag will run automatically while I'm not using the machine.

 

[bsobel]

I don't understand why you guys are even arguing.

We aren't arguing, we are trying to educate you. Your talking to folks from MS, folks who wrote defraggers, we know a thing of two about how the system works.

Or how about waiting 5 minutes to install your game because Vista says there's only 5 minutes left for the defrag?

Why the heck would I ever wait for a background process to complete before I do anything? Its that jobs purpose to get out of my way while I do what I want and then finish its job when the system is idle, not the other way around.

Bill