[merlinxi]

Is their an ultimate defragmenter out their? Better then the Windows XP one?

A hardcore defragmenter in other words.

Merlin

[mkk]

I haven't seen any free defragmentation software, but there are a few that have fully working trial versions. I prefer O&O Defrag from O&O Software. Another good one that I've used in the past is Perfect Disk from Raxco. You could give both a try to see wich fits you the best.

[Nacht]

Perfect Disk 6 or
Diskkeeper 8

[Shinjikun]

I vote for Perfect Disk 6. Awesome piece of software.

[PangingJr]

PerfectDisk, Diskeeper and O&O Defrag are the 3 best win XP defragmenter on most reviews..

Diskeeper does NOT consolidating free space results in faster file system re-fragmentation and the need to perform more frequent defragmentation.
PerfectDisk and O&O Defrag both do consolidating free space.
O&O Defrag boot-time defrag is not easy to set as the PerfectDisk.
And the only defragmenter that is capable of defragmenting all of the non-$MFT metadata is "PerfectDisk".

Norton's Speed Disk is the best defragmenter for win 9x.

[pr0digal jenius]

i always used diskkeeper, but i'm goign to try out the O&O one as it looks as it might be much nicer

[Vampyromaniac]

it is

[pr0digal jenius]

so it is :: waves adieu to diskkeeper ::

[dipstick]

PerfectDisk 6

[merlinxi]

Thanks guys!

[MIG-31]

my recomendation is PerfectDisk 6.

[Shinjikun]

Aye; I used to use Diskeeper 7 and didn't like it too much so I switched over to Perfect Disk 6 and I love it. Great piece of software.

[nohbody]

I was under the impression that disk defrag was kinda pointless under NTFS. Could someone clear that up for me.

[mkk]

Originally Posted by nohbody

I was under the impression that disk defrag was kinda pointless under NTFS. Could someone clear that up for me.

An old myth. It is largely just as necessary to defrag once in a while as with older filesystems. In some small measures NTFS tend to fragment less oftenly than say FAT, but other factors like the smaller cluster size can on the other hand increase the likeliness of fragmentation to occurr.

[PangingJr]

Originally Posted by nohbody

I was under the impression that disk defrag was kinda pointless under NTFS. Could someone clear that up for me.

this's a cut/paste version but hope it helps..

When it first introduced its New Technology File System (NTFS) with Windows NT, Microsoft believed NTFS would correct many problems associated with hard disk fragmentation. Most IT pros, however, quickly learned that NTFS did not live up to this expectation. Unfortunately, Microsoft was so confident in the ability of NTFS that it did not include a hard drive defragmentation utility with Windows NT. Users were forced to find a third-party product to defragment their hard drives, and many turned to Executive Software’s Diskeeper Lite. Fortunately, Microsoft has chosen to make the life of an IT pro a bit easier and include a defragmentation tool with Windows 2000. While the inclusion of this utility is a vast improvement over Windows NT, the Windows 2000 Disk Defragmenter leaves much to be desired, and some users may still require a third-party solution.

In terms of fragmentation, the impact of this on NTFS differs from that on FATxx, but impact there still is.

In FATxx, directory entries are small - which is just as well, because to find an entry, the system has to wade through all the other entries
that precede it in the directory's cluster chain. When a subdirectory (or a FAT32 root) grows slowly, the cluster chain is fragmented and that process becomes very slow (and vulnerable).

In NTFS, directory entries can be a lot larger, as they contain more metadata as well as the first part of the file itself. But access to entries is indexed, so the code doesn't have to wade through every entry on the way - that's why fragmentation has less impact.

Small files can reside entirely within an NTFS dir entry, which skips the extra step needed to reach the data - that's why NTFS can be faster when small files are involved.

If a file is too large to be stored in a single location on a hard disk, it is broken into fragments and stored in multiple locations across the disk. This process is unnoticed by the user and normally does not cause problems. However, heavy fragmentation can slow a hard drive’s access time by forcing the drive to take longer when reading and writing information.

Fragmentation of files is the number one cause of noticeably long reads and sluggish reboots. Files can be shattered into hundreds, thousands, or millions of pieces and fragmentation is triggered by everyday tasks such as creating, editing, and deleting files, as well as by installing and uninstalling operating systems, programs, and applications. Scattered system and data file fragments lead to the degradation of system performance, as the disk head is forced to move to different points on the disk to read and recompile the fragments into a contiguous form.

NTFS has a massive and critical structure called the MFT (Master File Table), and as this is just about always in use, defraggers tend not to be able to defrag it.
When this frags, it can slow down NTFS, and if it's never defragged, the slowdown can't be fixed.