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Defraggler suggestions


StuartUK

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I would like the ability to hide certain drives from Defraggler.

 

The reason why is because I have 4 removable drives (the ones for SD cards and such) which are never used and have a capacity of 0.00GB (this because nothing is put into the slots ever) and really do not need to shown.

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1 word, Fckin AWESOME! i Love Defraggler! its so spiffy fast on my XP SP2 :) no problems with it so far, looking foward the the stable release! :)

 

suggestions :

1. include a shutdown when done option?

2. defrag windows XP boot files?

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Some suggestions.

 

Deselect all (currently to deselect all you need to select all first).

Select all files with more than 'n' fragments (ie either enter the 'n' of fragments or right click on a file with 'n' fragments). For example more than 50 fragments

Select all files that are greater than 'n' bytes in size (ie either enter the 'n' of bytes or right click on a file with 'n' bytes). For example more than 1 MByte

Select the top 'n' fragmented files by no of fragments.

Select the top 'n' fragmented files by file size.

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You've got to have an option for setting Defraggler as the default Defragmenter! That way when I go to My Computer> Right click a harddrive> properties>Tools>Defragment Now --> will popup Defraggler and not the crummy winxp one.

I do not like this suggestion as I like to keep Windows as pristine as possible and only have ad-ons or applications run only if I select them.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." - Albert Einstein

IE7Pro user

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<_< Then you would obviously not select this option. But please do give others the OPTION.

Hello hairbautt,

I agree with YoKenny.

What is being discussed here is suggestions for Defraggler development.

We are not discussing changes to Windows.

Best wishes,

:) davey

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A lot of the suggestions are good, but they seem to be beyond Defraggler's purpose. When I `found' the program, it was billed as a file defrag program. While the suggestions of strategic file placement and background operation would be great, there would be a performance trade off.

 

For example; I rent movies from an online vendor. They expire every 30 days. If I were to defragment my 500 gig drive with 60+ 1.5 gig movies on, I would kill my system. With Defraggler, I can defrag my system files, my inbox and email folders, everything that matters.

 

The big fat fragmented wma movie files can be as fragmented as they want to be because they are recycle bin fodder.

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Atm, all I want is 3 things:

 

Free-space defrag (having to use Windows Defragger for this)

Pagefile defrag (currently 2GB across 13 fragments)

The ability to move around whole files and freespace so large files (I have 5 1GB files that can't be defragged further than 2/3 parts despite having 7GB free space) can be defragged easier.

 

Keep up the good work.

Hey Matt,

These should help you take care of your page file and maybe get you back some free space.

If you have a 2nd hard drive,you could speed things up also by putting the Page file on the outside of the 2nd drive.

You will need these links in this order.

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?s=&amp...ost&p=88793 page file JDPower

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308417/ How to set performance options in Windows XP

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinte...s/bb897426.aspx PageDefrag v2.32 By Mark Russinovich

 

Do this also,it may help get those large files defragged.But is it really necessary to defrag these files?

Are they constantly used or just space hogs and don't need defragging any how?

Are you wasting time and space defragging System volume files and backup files etc.That is a waste of time. Strange as it may seem it is sometimes beneficial to leave files fragmented.

 

Leaving these type of files fragmented can make it possible to move other more important files closer to the outside of the disk.Plus when these files are deleted they leave more space to get a better rearrangement of files whether fragmented or not.

 

Don't defrag for awhile and let Windows move some things around for you.It may look ugly but there is a method to this madness.If you keep an eye on your hard drive and run Windows Disk Defragmenter Analysis,you will wonder why it seems like the same files are constantly fragmented and others are not.

Even when you haven't defragged for quite awhile. This is because WDD doesn't waste time moving around files that are constantly being deleted and replaced.But it does move things to better locations if given a chance to do so.Constant defragmenting doesn't allow for this to happen.

 

If every morning you came to work, everything was moved around ,even the contents of drawers and cabinets,you could not work as efficiently as you would if things were put in better locations and not continuously moved around.(Yeah,blame it on the cleaning and maintenance crew.)

 

When you do use Defraggler only defrag files that are important enough to do so.Don't use the easy option and just defrag everything.Then you are forcing files to fit only into larger and larger spaces.

There are many small files that need a chance to be moved by Windows to the outside of the disk also.Larger less used files will prevent them from getting where they will do you the most good.

Think of it this way. Its easier moving rocks and gravel around than massive boulders.

Many applications are not improved by constant rearrangement of files.They just aren't that time critical.

However they will perform better when the files and software that they need get moved by Windows to more permanent and more optimized locations.

 

This information may benefit you some.You may already know these things.It will be new information for many.A slightly different prospective on some things.

Ever notice how sometimes "common" sense tells you things work better a certain way and then come to realize that some things are quite the opposite.

 

Good Luck,

:) davey

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Would it be possible to implement moving selected files/directories to the end of the disk?

And keeping the ability to (reverse) sort them by certain criteria while doing that?

 

End of the harddisk is good place for old backups, installation files and generaly all files that you rarely access or those that don't require fastest possible read speed (as end of the harddisk reading speeds are usually significantly slower).

It also helps to speed defragmentation - they stay out of the way of new files and can be ignored by all new defragment passes.

 

Right now I'm using Jkdefrag to do such things, but it does not offer sorting while moving to the end and sometimes failes to move NTFS compressed files without creating fragments.

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I would like to see a "defragment file" option in the explorer context menu for defragmenting individual files. I realize that explorer context menu items are kind of useless for portable applications but it could just be an optional feature during the install for those of us planning to use this on a single machine.

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As mentioned in the very first post of this sticky I think you need to add a feature to compact the files so that the end of the drive is all contiguous freespace. I was looking for a defragger just for this purpose when I came across a PCmag review of defraggler. Norton Speed Disk (mid-90's) used to call this option "Full (defrag) with file reorder"

 

Scheduling defragging, automatic updates (before defrag, at program start, and on demand), queueing up multiple drives to be defragged sequentially (or simultaneous defrags) are the features I think need to be added to make this a complete 1-stop defragger.

 

A feature to move frequently used files to the fastest part of the disk (optimization) would be nice but not as important as the features mentioned above.

 

I do wish you could find a tidy place to display the legend permanently with using much space. I too like to watch the colored blocks moving around more than file lists.

 

If viewing the file list while defragging it would be nice if it would uncheck each file as it is defragged. I'd also like to be able to resize the columns so I can view the full path while in a defrag.

 

The ability to defrag the registry (if such a thing actually exists) would be nice.

 

I still don't understand why there are ANY fragments left after I tell a defragmenting program to fully defrag the drive. I don't care how many passes it takes, I just want it defragmented.

 

I am very happy with Defraggler and this it will be unbeatable as a defragger if these features are included.

 

I am using v1.02.077 (Beta) downloaded and installed today as an update to a previous beta.

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I think that there should be an exclusion function in Defraggler. Why? It's because my computer has a file that cannot be defragmented (I have no idea why) I selected that one file to defragment (with the new version - right click the file in the file list and click defragment highlighted) and left it there for like 15-20 minutes. However, Defraggler showed the file name, followed by 100% in the pop-up after clicking Defrag. Because of this, I am unable to defragment my entire drive due to that one file. Defraggler will always be stuck halfway, attempting to defrag the file but never finishing its task.

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You've got to have an option for setting Defraggler as the default Defragmenter! That way when I go to My Computer> Right click a harddrive> properties>Tools>Defragment Now --> will popup Defraggler and not the crummy winxp one.

 

Hey Hairbautt,

You can add the option to open defraggler (or any .exe) to the context menu (right-clicking the HD icon) by doing the following; (admittedly it only opens Defraggler, and does not defrag the specified drive, but it works-ish)

BTW - I've purposely been blunt in the info below, because if you are not familiar with the registry - DO NOT GO NEAR IT (EVER) !!! ;)

 

1. Navigate to HKCR\Folder\shell

2. Add key 'Defraggler' (or whatever name u want), and add sub-key to this key called 'command' (has to be 'command')

3. Set the (Default) entry and enter the full path to Defraggler (e.g. C:\Program Files\Defraggler\defraggler.exe)

4. Close registry editor, and now when you right click the drive (C:, D:..) icon you will have a 'Defraggler' option

 

(if you want this 'new' context menu on all folders as well, repeat the process but for HKCR\Directory\shell - although until we can specify exact contents to defrag there's not much point)

 

Of course it doesn't automatically start defragging, etc. but hey - maybe soon

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I'm not in favour of any moves which would take Defraggler in the direction of being a PerfectDisk or DiskKeeper clone - strategic file placement, offline defrag, real-time defrag and so on. The beauty of Defraggler is that it is a small, resource-light program that performs a specific function superbly well - homing in on just the fragmented files. In my view, once the GUI has been more or less perfected, little further development will be needed.

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I would really like an option in the File List screen to ignore certain directories.

The thousands of files in my IE and Firefox temp dirs are going to be fragmented, I don't care. But since they make up 95% of the fragmented files, I have to wade through them to get to the interesting files.

 

A simple right-click: hide directory would be all it take. (like Sysinternals' tools have, to ignore selected processes in FileMon or ProcessMon, for example).

 

Thank you.

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I'd love to see the ability to utilize multiple partitions/disks when defragging. My largest partitions are nearly always nearly full (under 5% free), but the smaller ones are about half full only (~50% free). The free space on the bigger ones is hardly sufficient for effective defrag, but by utilizing the free space on the smaller ones it could be done -- and faster too.

 

Thus far I've never come across this kind of feature, but it would certainly seem logical.

 

Yes, yes, yes!

 

Posting from a 60GB drive with 50+ GB used, but an almost-empty 500GB USB drive attached.

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The feature that allows you to highlight one or more files and see where they are located physically is very nice. I was thinking... would it be possible to go in the other direction as well? Let's say you spot one or a few used blocks in the middle of a free area, and you would like to know what files were placed there. If you could right click / double click, for instance, to get that info, that would be great!

 

hartvix

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Okay. One feature I'ld like to see in Defraggler is support of NTFS reparse / junction points. I've only seen them supported in expensive software and in Microsofts own defrag tool until now.

 

To explain my point: with NTFS it is possible to "mount" NTFS partitions to empty folders, similarly to *nix. These partitions don't have to have an own drive letter in that case, but are still another partition. Thus, Defraggler can at the moment only defragment my system partition, but not my programs and data partitions, because they have no own drive letters, but are still used regularly.

 

If Defraggler will once support that, then it will really be my favorite freeware application ;) (currently, it is Foxit reader).

 

But: Defraggler already kicks ass, I'm really impressed. Keep up the great work!

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Something that definitely needs added is an auto-disk-check before defrag.

 

I recently had a drive become unbootable after running defraggler and had to backup my data, reformat, and reload to get my system back to 100%. (see my other post for more)

 

I assume some people will think it's unneccessary so you might want to have an option to disable this feature, but it should be enabled by default to protect most users.

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Hi, I'd like to give several suggestions regarding defragmentation efficiency and minimizing fragmentations.

 

1. Add an option for not to defrag "fragments whose size is greater than x mega bytes". Defragmenting large files (eg. several hundred MB or several GB) that have small number of fragments are IMO, waste of time and the result doesn't impact on data transfer rate that much. This option should apply for both drive and file based defragmentation.

 

2. For drive-based defragmentation, a manually editable file exclusion list should be present. These files should be treated as "breakable" and will not be defragmented (aka. "don't touch"). It'll speedup the defragmentation process when properly used. Note: This option should take top priority over any other options.

 

3. In complement of suggestion #2, a manually editable file list for placing the files to the end of the disk should be present. These files should be the ones that have low access priority (file read speed is not important). With this option, all newly created files will be automatically placed either at the start or at the middle of the disk, since the end area are already used. So it'll give better performance for new files. When re-defragmenting, the listed files (after adding them into the excluded file list; or with a new "auto add" option) will never need to be touched since they are already defragmented and at the right place. Thus this option can lower the time needed for defragmentation.

 

4. Add an option for placing "files whose last modification date is less than x days" to the end of the used area (before the free space area). These files are the ones that are frequently changed/written. Most applications uses temporary files when saving data to the file and preserve the original file until the new one is successfuly stored, in which will create "hole" at the area where the old file is. This option can minimize "hole" creation (or free space fragments).

 

I hope I explain it clearly. I used to use Norton SpeedDisk since it has excellent defragmentation rules, but I can't stand its low fragmentation speed. Norton SpeedDisk defragmentation driver is slower than Windows internal defragmentation engine. Currently, I use O&O Defrag and Defraggler, but O&O Defrag is getting more and more bloated in each version without any better control over the defragmentation process.

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I think on Defraggler there should be a tick box where you can select shutdown after defrag.I want to defrag overnight but when defragging is finished, I dont want my computer still running, so this option would be nice and easy :rolleyes:

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