Windows 7 Windows Disk Defragmenter vs. the other same programs.

[gabiibag]

Hi there,
Can someone please tell me if Windows Disk Defragmenter is a good defragmenting program?
I mean for example if Defraggler, Auslogics Disk Defrag or DiskRescue 2009 are better than Windows Disk Defragmenter?
Some of the 3 other programs have different features such as moving the most accessed files to the fastest part of the disk, or even defragmenting the free space remained on the disk.
Windows Disk Defragmenter does the same things as the other programs?
I want you to be honest and make a correct recommendation, without being influenced by the idea that Windows Disk Defragmenter is a Windows product and here we are on a Windows forum.

 

[Jimbo22]

Yes, MS defrager is pretty good, but - it's very slow IMHO. Where as the ones you have listed are just as good if not better and a whole lot faster. Personally I use Auslogics defrager...and never had an issue with it.

 

[patcooke]

I've used a range of them and like smart defrag the best with a range of optimisation options:

Smart Defrag | Best Disk Defrag Freeware | Free Defragmenter

 

[Matthew Sawyer]

I've been a longtime fan of Diskeeper. I was introduced to Diskeeper way back in the glory days of Windows NT 4 when the operating system didn't even include a defragmenter. Back in those days, there were many who argued that NTFS volumes didn't need to be defragmented. I continue to run Diskeeper products to this day, especially since I use SSDs and their products are known to correctly identify SSDs and deal with them accordingly--mainly by NOT trying to defragment them, although Diskeeper can perform some optimizations specific to SSDs.

Disclosure - No I don't work for Condusiv (the makers of Diskeeper) nor do I own any securities in them. I've just been a longtime user and am happy to recommend their products.

There are plenty of free tools out there as well. My favorite of the free tools is called UltraDefrag. A few years ago when our company wasn't renewing Diskeeper or Raxco PerfectDisk licenses, looking to trim costs, we had to find an alternative. The built-in defragmenter is slow at best, and we needed a solution. Lucky for us, Bill Detweiler at ZDNet had written a review of five different freeware defragmentation tools. He did an excellent analysis of the tools, and this helped us in our evaluation.

So if you're looking for a freeware solution, check out UltraDefrag. One thing I'm not sure about, however, is whether or not it correctly identifies SSDs. The Windows built-in defragmenter (Windows Vista SP-1 and later) will correctly detect and avoid defragmenting SSDs.

Why do I mention SSDs so much? Because defragmenting is bad for them. Defragmenting an SSD can perform a lot of excessive P/E (program/erase) cycles on them, causing premature media wearout. Because an SSD can access all of its memory cells with the speed (no latency of spinning platters or moving of the read/write heads), defragmentation is largely a moot point on SSDs.

 

[Adamsappleone]

I, like patcooke, have tried a variety of defragmenters, including Smart Defrag, but personally, like Bassfisher, use Auslogics and have for many years without issue.

 

[johhnymarshal]

Hi there,
Can someone please tell me if Windows Disk Defragmenter is a good defragmenting program?
I mean for example if Defraggler, Auslogics Disk Defrag or DiskRescue 2009 are better than Windows Disk Defragmenter?
Some of the 3 other programs have different features such as moving the most accessed files to the fastest part of the disk, or even defragmenting the free space remained on the disk.
Windows Disk Defragmenter does the same things as the other programs?
I want you to be honest and make a correct recommendation, without being influenced by the idea that Windows Disk Defragmenter is a Windows product and here we are on a Windows forum.

Well, Disk Defrangement is good to free up the unused space on the hard drive. There are many other software which has the similar operation but It is provided by Microsoft built-in to the Windows, and is genuine, so why to use external application.

 

[ELiTEFX]

well, i remember the built in defrag that came with xp. worked great on C drive but when it came to defragging my storage drives it totally messed up the partition on one and cooked 1/2 a TB worth of data on the other. Don't know if the Win7 defragger is any better but I don't trust it anymore. i always use a 3rd party defrag now................