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deathadder

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  1. Please see this thread for more info. http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...mp;#entry125064 To summarize: AFAIK Defraggler, like other freeware defrag utilities cannot process the MFT. You'll need a commercial tool like Diskeeper 2009 (not Diskeeper Lite) to move/defragment the MFT. BTW, IMHO if you want to parition for a dual boot setup, I strongly suggest that you backup all your essential data and start off with a clean drive. Fewer chances of future complications that way.
  2. OS: XP Pro SP3 / Vista HP 32bit depending on the hardware A/V: AVG 8 http://www.avg.com Spyware: Spybot, Malwarebytes http://www.safer-networking.org/ and http://www.malwarebytes.org/ Browser: Opera http://www.opera.com Media player : WMP and VLC http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ Codec pack: FFDShow + MPC http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow Disk defrag: Diskeeper 2009 Pro http://www.diskeeper.com Disk utilities: HDTune http://www.hdtune.com Virtual Clone Drive http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html DVD Decrypter (google!) Transcoder: Handbrake http://handbrake.fr/ System utilities: CCleaner Process Explorer: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinte...s/bb896653.aspx Windirstat: http://windirstat.info/ 7zip http://www.7-zip.org/ Burner: CDburnerXP http://cdburnerxp.se/ Office: MS Office Foxit PDF reader http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php Nitro PDF maker http://www.nitropdf.com/
  3. Hi Davey, Apologies, but I have no intimate knowledge of the defrag APIs since I am not in the software field (I am in materials science ). I am just reporting what I read somewhere else. As far as I am aware, the defrag API for NTFS in XP was developed jointly by Microsoft and Diskeeper, and although the API does support MFT defragmentation, the XP defragger itself cannot defrag the MFT. Don't know why MS thought it unnecessary to include the feature...maybe due to licensing agreements when they borrowed the 'lite' diskeeper version many years ago. But since almost all defraggers use the same defrag API, some can leverage it's power better than others and include MFT defrag and other enhancements. Diskeeper surely defrags the MFT, but I think other commercial defraggers should also be able to do the same. I haven't investigated the other ones deeply enough to check, since Diskeeper has worked nicely for me all this time. Vista defragger does defrag the MFT, so that's an improvement over the XP WDD! BTW, yes you are right I think addition of a large number of files would probably cause the MFT to expand and then when you delete the files, those records would also be removed, resulting in holes in the MFT and fragmentation.
  4. The Microsoft/Diskeeper defrag engine in Windows defraggers from XP onwards have the power to defragment the MFT, but unfortunately, hardly any defragmenters actually utilize this functionality. I know for a fact that Diskeeper 2007/2008/2009 versions (i.e the ones I've used extensively) defrag the MFT, and without a boot-time defrag either. They nearly completely defrag the MFT during the normal defrag itself. Not sure if other third party defraggers have this feature...
  5. Defrag will not gain you any disk space, it only rearranges file fragments on the disk to make them contiguous. What OS are you using? If it is Vista, and if the volume shadow copy service is enabled on the drive, then defragging it with a defragger that is not VSS-compatible may trigger the creation of new shadow copies (restore points etc) and increase disk space consumption. I am not 100% sure of this, but this is what I understand. On my vista laptop I use Diskeeper 2008, and it's an excellent defragger. They recommend using the VSS-defrag option, to minimize the creation of new shadow copies and I've done so. So far, it has been working great. If you are using XP, I am sorry, but I can't think of any answer to your question.
  6. It should be safe to defragment the page file and MFT as long as the defragger is reliable and knows what it's doing. However, AFAIK, there is no free defragger that is capable of defragging the MFT. I use Diskeeper 2008 on my XP rig, and it has the capability to defrag both. I used to do the occasional boot-time defrag with Diskeeper Pro on my XP system, but I find that it is very rarely needed now, since DK's 'fragshield' feature keeps the MFT un-fragmented, and I've also moved the paging file to a separate partition on a different drive.
  7. To go one step further, with automatic background defragmentation, you don't need even that one button click, let alone scheduling defrags in tandem for all partitions. All you need to do is check the auto defrag option during installation. Everything else gets done automatically, in the background using free system resources. That's the easiest and most effective solution for multiple partition defrag.
  8. I prefer auto defrag to scheduled, since there is zero work to be done after installation and initial configuration of an auto defragger. I currently use a commerical (paid) auto defrag utility on my computer and it has awesome performance. No more messing with schedules and waiting for hours for it to end before I can use the PC. Auto defrag runs in the background using idle resources, so the PC is always available for use.
  9. I know Diskeeper can defrag multiple drives simultaneously- I do it all the time without any problem. Don't know about consecutive, although i don't see how consecutive defragging is useful, if the drives can be done simultaneously to save time.
  10. I know it's not free, but my favourite defrag program would be Diskeeper Pro 2k8, I've been checking out the trial version on my XP Pro SP2 rig; it's fast and performs well. I like the ability to run a boot-time defrag, the option of different defragging settings for each drive, or letting diskeeper manage most of it on it's own. No problems with stability, compatibility etc, either.
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