For a limited time, Raxco Software is offering a fully functional free defrag solution: PD Free. PD Free is a simple solution that does not require a license key to operate with full functionality. Read CNET Editors’ 5-Star “Spectacular” review!
PerfectDisk Free Defrag launches with a Quick Defrag scan and optimization, then defaults to the patented exclusive SMARTPlacement intelligent optimization method.
- SMARTPlacement is PerfectDisk’s patented default method that defragments all your files, consolidates free space, and optimizes the drive according to file usage. It provides the most complete defragmentation possible and slows down refragmentation of your drive.
- Quick Defrag only defragments fragmented files without attempting to place files according to usage patterns or attempting to consolidate free space. It provides the fastest defragmentation pass but is not the most thorough and it should only be used if you have lots of free space.
- *SSD Optimize consolidates free space on a Solid State Drive to improve SSD write performance. SSDs are not affected by file fragmentation like traditional electromechanical disk drives and defragmentation can shorten the lifespan of the SSD. SSD Optimize improves SSD performance without unnecessarily and harmfully defragmenting the drive. *This option only appears if PerfectDisk detects a Solid State Drive on your system.
Configure and manage PerfectDisk defragmentation schedules using the One-Time, Daily or Weekly defrag schedule buttons.
Download PerfectDisk Free Defrag
StealthPatrol Auto-Optimization, OptiWrite, Space Management & S.M.A.R.T. Monitoring are NOT available in PerfectDisk Free Defrag. To access these features, try PerfectDisk Pro.
Want to download directly from Raxco? Here’s the direct Raxco download link.
81 comments
The link doesn’t work folks
Hi Mark, Here’s the direct Raxco download link: http://ftp.raxco.com/pub/download/pdfree/downloadpdfree.exe
As this is a beta will there then be a RC version then V 1.0 ?
The beta is v1.0 – (Beta) was a misprint. Thanks!
“Auto-Optimization, OptiWrite, Space Management, SSD Optimize & S.M.A.R.T. Monitoring are NOT available in PerfectDisk Free Defrag.”
This is wrong. The free version does include SSD Optimize.
Thanks for the feedback. We were told by our developers that the SSD Optimize feature was removed for the free version. In fact, it is not available as a Default Method choice in the drive menu if you do not have an SSD. It is auto-detecting SSDs and defaulting to SSD Optimize so we will update the text.
Well, it certainly didn’t auto-detect my C: drive as SSD, and tried to run a conventional defrag on it (which I terminated fairly promptly).
PerfectDisk only detects SSD drives if Windows detects the SSD drive. If you have a RAIDed SSD drive, Windows doesn’t detect that as an SSD and therefore PerfectDisk won’t either. With PerfectDisk Home or PerfectDisk Pro, if you have this scenario, you can configure PD to say that a drive is an SSD even if Windows doesn’t detect it as such.
I have discovered that the NVIDIA ATA disk driver installed — for the particular motherboard apparently, which is two or three years old — does not support the TRIM feature of SSD.
I guess that this equates to “not being recognized by Windows” the way you put it. I’ve been told that if I uninstall the NVIDIA driver then the Windows 7 default ATA driver should (might) support TRIM, and so possibly also enable the SSD feature PerfectDisk Defrag to make an appearance. If I’m brave enough to change the ATA drivers, and if my Windows 7 still works after that, I’ll let you know.
Well now, I have managed to uninstall the NVIDIA ATA driver, and now after several Windows 7 restarts the Device Manager is showing up as “Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller”
Another utility, HD Sentinel Pro, is showing the C: drive (a Corsair CSSD F115GB2-A model) as “The TRIM feature of the SSD is supported and enabled for optimal performance” (which it wasn’t showing under the now-uninstalled NVIDIA driver).
PerfectDisk Free Defrag is showing the default method as “SMARTPlacement” so my question now becomes: Is SMARTPlacment what you mean by “Intelligent SSD Optimization” and is is safe now to proceed with optimization without unnecessarily wearing out the cells on the C: drive? My guess is NO, and your “Intelligent SSD Optimization” is something quite different that for some reason is not happening on my system [even though TRIM is now supported for this SSD drive]. Ideas/comments?
Hi Tony, I’m looking into this with tech support right now.
Any discoveries after a couple of weeks?
SMARTPlacment is not for your SSD. The only setting you should use on your SSD is SSD Optimize. If SSD Optimize does not appear as an option, do not run SMARTPlacement on your SSD, as this method is only to be used on traditional HDDs.
No, you missed my point, it’s nothing to do with SMARTPlacement and it’s all about SSD Optimize.. The problem that I’m having (explained previously) is that I had to uninstall the NVIDIA SATA driver and fall back to to the default Windows 7 SATA driver, all in order for TRIM to be activated for my Corsair SSD drive. But even after that, PerfectDisk Defrag FREE is not showing any SSD Optimize for this drive, and it was mentioned that your development team would look into this. I was just wondering if they had anything to report back.
Hi Tony, I’ve been looking into this for you but it looks like there are no updates for issues like this in the works. Because PD Free is a basic free defrag product it is not supported like our other paid products. You can also download a free trial of our PerfectDisk Pro product for home users, which we provide support for – even during the free trial – and it has more functionality than the free version, including fragmentation prevention and automatic background optimization: http://www.raxco.com/home/home-professional.aspx
Lauren, thanks for your reply, which convinced me to uninstall the free version and install the trail version of PerfectDisk Pro (version 12.5 updated to build 310).
The Pro versions DID identify the Corsair SSD, so it seems that statements elsewhere by Raxco that the free version identifies SSD drives and provides SSD Optimize are incorrect.
Anyway, I started the SSD Optimize process, which
Nevertheless, I let the SSD Optimize stage run to completion. It completed in 65 seconds and reported drive performance Before as 63.3% and After as 62.6% (change -0.7%). It seems counter-intuitive to me, but is a lower value for the performance percentage afterwards supposed to be an improvement or a worsening? It’s not a startling change, does Raxco consider that to be a good or bad result?
The SSD Optimize capability could be a product differentiator, and to me could well be be the main value of PerfectDisk Defrag.
There are lots of other defrag products for Windows, some of them being FREE and still rather effective. For example, one such good free one that I’ve tried is IObit’s Smart Defrag (see http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html ). Others, even if not free, could be more or effective or less so. How do you compare the benefits and advantages PerfectDisk Pro against such contenders? … Your chance to sell, sell, sell !!!
Hi Tony,
Firstly, you’re seeing those confusing SSD optimization performance stats because the performance number calculated by PerfectDisk for SSD drives is flawed – it is looking at file fragmentation when it shouldn’t be. PerfectDisk is calculating drive performance as if it is a non-SSD drive, meaning that it is looking at file fragmentation, free space fragmentation, directory fragmentation, MFT and metadata fragmentation. For SSD drives, PerfectDisk should only be looking at free space fragmentation. We are looking to revamp how we calculate drive performance in the next version of PerfectDisk.
Secondly, regarding the free options out there. PerfectDisk offers the most thorough defrag/optimization than any of those free alternatives. Not only does PerfectDisk Pro intelligently file data using the SMARTPlacement strategy, which defrags and consolidates free space and reduces the rate of refragmentation, but it prevents fragmentation with OptiWrite, reducing the amount of defragmentation needed in the first place. That, combined with our world-class reputation in customer support, the SSD Optimize feature for SSDs, advanced boot time defrag, flexible scheduling options, all other features and pricing, makes us the clear choice.
Hi,
I tried to launch this version on a portable PC, running on its battery, and PDFree warned me it couldn’t start, but that I could change this setting in the Global Setting area. The issue is that I cannot find Global setting anywhere.
Also, double-click on a drive display an error popup window with a really long error number.
I am looking into this for you. Customer Support will be in touch via email. I’ll keep you updated here.
I just got word back from customer support that they contacted you Friday. Let me know if you need anything else!
Thanks for the support. The issue is still there but I just sent a screen capture that should help customer support track down the problem.
Forgot to mention I was running XP SP3 on a Samsung NC10
supports PDFree boot time defrag?
Yes, right-click in the drive menu and select Boot Time Defrag.
thanks for info 🙂
supports PDFree layout.ini?
Yes! PD Free reads layout.ini and places files appropriately.
I also have an NC10 and will be interested in your reply.
It is a pity that Raxco chose to use CNET given its current download practices.
Hi Paul, Here’s the direct Raxco download link: http://ftp.raxco.com/pub/download/pdfree/downloadpdfree.exe
Is there some other place to download it? Cnet wants you to install their app launcher first, which then goes ahead and installs advertisers programs and homepage hijacks without your permission. The last time I downloaded from Cnet, it took me a couple of weeks before I could get everything rotten found and removed.
Hi Steve, Here’s the direct Raxco download link: http://ftp.raxco.com/pub/download/pdfree/downloadpdfree.exe
Without exposing any proprietary algorithms/methodology, in overview how is it possible for SSD Optimize to execute without causing additional “wear” on the cells of the SSD?
SSD Optimize only consolidates the free space on the solid state drive, improving write performance on the SSD. We have a video that explains the process more in-depth: http://www.raxco.com/ssd-optimization.aspx
Hello,
I can’t even install PDFree..
I tried to install it many times in my laptop and desktop, facing in all of my
attempts the same issue.
The installer asks me to enter my email address. I do it, but when i hit the
“Next” button, i get the following message:
“Unable to query for EMail Exchange Server.”
The installation process can not be continue.
So, what is going wrong here?
Thanks
Hi George, Do you have any other edition of PerfectDisk installed on your PC? If you do, I believe you will not be able to install PD Free. If you have a trial version of our PerfectDisk Pro or Home Premium product installed, you would have to uninstall it to be able to install PD Free. Usually, if that is the case, you will get a message that says you already have a more recent version of PerfectDisk installed on your computer.
Since that may not be the issue you’re encountering, I will ask tech support and have someone get back to you about this. I’ll keep you updated as I receive information. It may be a temporary glitch, so retry installing PD Free from or direct download manager link: http://ftp.raxco.com/pub/download/pdfree/downloadpdfree.exe – Let me know if that works again in the meantime. I’ll keep you posted.
i have this message to
“Unable to query for EMail Exchange Server.”
Thanks for your feedback, we are looking into this.
When you entered your email during the PD Free installation process, PD Free tried to validate the email and for some reason it was unable to determine or connect to the SMTP server for your email address. This could be due to security software blocking/preventing access, no internet connection, etc.
Was your security software enabled? Try disabling it temporarily and let me know what happens when you try again. Thanks!
Update: I notified tech support of this issue. They will respond directly to the email address you provided here if there is a solution (they will be back in 9am EST tomorrow). Otherwise, I will keep you updated. Sorry and thanks for your patience!
Hello again,
Thank you for quick reply.
About your question, no, i have not installed any other edition of PerfectDisk,
nor any other defragmenter.
It’s pointless i think to retry as you suggest me, since i already did it many
times, using the web downloader-launcher “downloadmanager_pdfree.exe”,
letting it to do its job and following the steps until this strange message
i mentioned.
Also, both my computers are in very good condition without problems.
If this makes any sense, i forgot to mention that my OS on both my computers
is WinXP SP3.
Thank you
The download manager link extension you mention is the CNET download manager file. Have you tried the direct Raxco download I mentioned in my last reply? http://ftp.raxco.com/pub/download/pdfree/downloadpdfree.exe – this may work if the problem is with the CNET download link.
If you have already tried the direct Raxco download, it may be that your security software is blocking PD Free from accessing the Internet in order to validate your email address. This is what tech support is telling me. If this is the case, temporarily disable your security software to finish the installation. Let me know if you have luck with this!
Just a note of thanks to Raxco for the PerfectDisk Free Defrag. It works very well on my laptop.
Looking through this discussion/support thread, the Raxco comments are all very helpful.
Great product. Great support. (/thumbs-up)
Many thanks!
We’re glad you like it! Thanks for the feedback.
If the drive to which the drive letter is not assigned is analyzed or optimized, it will disappear permanently from a drive list.
It did not come out, even if OS rebooted.
Can you provide more details? I will have tech support look at this. Thanks!
When analyzing the “システムで予約済み(System Reserved) (Unmounted drive)” partition, it disappeared from the list.
It disappeared, when the drive letter was not being assigned with the partition which is not “System Reserved”, either.
They are added to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARERaxcoPDCore12.5ExcludedVolumes” without knowing why.
It occurred by Windows 7 Enterprise Japanese and Windows 8 Consumer Preview Japanese.
Thanks for your feedback! Tech support is looking into this.
I received same error message at Windows 7:
” unable to query for email exchange server”
I disabled Windows defender and firewall but did not help
Those solution wored at Vista but did not help with Windows 7
Does anybody to setup Percectdisk free on Windows 7?
PerfectDisk Free works on Windows 7. We are looking into this issue. Thanks!
PD Free had difficulty initially validating your email address but I do see that you were successfully added to the PD Free download database. Are you still having trouble?
I successfully installed perfectdisk free my Hp2530p notebook. It runs Windows Vista. But I want to setup notebook of m wife. It runs Windows 7. But I could not…. I tried her mail address xxxxxxx (removed for privacy)
I removed the email address in your comment for your wife’s privacy 🙂 I checked it against our PD Free database and it is not in there. Security settings may be blocking the validation process on her PC. Make sure she’s connected to the internet and disable her antivirus temporarily (Windows Defender and any other installed program). Also make sure she isn’t running any other version of PerfectDisk. Let me know what happens!
I disabled Windows Defender and firewall also. This solution worked with Vista, but did not help with Windows 7. Notebook has Internet connection.
I would like to try because I put SSD disk to Notebook, and Hp 2510p has only ATA interface without Trim support.
Hi Andras, I’m having tech support email you at the email address you’re using for your account here. Thanks!
I will try setup trough 3G (WWAN) connection also, because may be my Rooter blocs e-mail verification
I tried with 3G connection, but it did not work…
I alwasy get this error message:
http://kepfeltoltes.hu/120420/pdfreeerror_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg
I solved in Windows Vista , and PerfectDisk freedefrag works very well, I like it.
Unfortunately, this is some type of email verification issue. Thank you for the feedback. I’ve made our development team aware of it. I’ll post any updates on this issue here on this blog. And we’re glad it’s working nicely on your other PC!
I solved. I think my rooter caused the email verification error. I connected my notebook to Internet WWAN only. Email verification and setup worked this way, thanks
Great to hear that Andras! Thanks for choosing Raxco.
Dear temraxco.
I solved, I’m sure my rooter blocked the e mail verification.
I disabld my WLAN and cinnect only WWAN (3g), and it worked. Thanks
Dear teamraxco,
Freedefrag works fine.
I have only one question.
What about half year later I will have to setup my Windows again.
Will E-mail verification server work about half year later?
I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t. 🙂
I tried to download PerfecfDiskDefrag.
It chose to download DownloadManager – twice.
Are you referring to the CNET download manager? If you’re having trouble with that one, try the in-house Raxco download manager for PD Free: http://ftp.raxco.com/pub/download/pdfree/downloadpdfree.exe
Downloaded the free version and there is no way to select a time(either daily or weekly)to have it defrag…..Yes, there is a daily and a weekly tab but they do nothing when clicked on.
If I put the mouse pointer on the tab a popup appears saying that it will defrag at 8pm(daily)or sundays(weekly).
Hi Kevin — It is working as designed. Daily and Weekly defrag runs at the specified time. For more flexibility, you can upgrade to PerfectDisk Home or Pro.
Hi,
I’ve just had a rather nasty experience with PerfectDisk Free Defrag. First, upon startup, it AUTOMATICALLY ran a non-ssd defrag, because I could clearly see file fragmentation being decreased, and free-space fragmentation increased. I am pretty sure that W7 detected it as SSD: AHCI is enabled, latest Intel RST drivers installed, defrag was automatically disabled after installation, TRIM enabled.
Furthermore, on next restart, it actually did ran SSD optimization as intended.
After making ~18GB of host writes (SMART attributes), this is what it reported:
Drive performance:
Previous: 96%, Current: 91%
Great, thanks! I seriously hope that’s based on file fragmentation impact for a HDD.
Number of excess MFT fragments:
Previous: 1, Current: 97
97 excess MFT fragments? Was that really a necessary “optimization”?
Hi Groo,
I’ve contacted our Technical Support to help. They will be in touch.
Thanks,
Joe
has anyone successfully change the settings on the drive for example the schedule? i have tried on 3 different computers and always get the same error.
I double click the hard drive , 2 small windows pop up and close immediately and get the following error
“Fail to save drive settings due to error – 2147467263
Thanks for the feedback – this is a known bug and our developers are looking into it.
Exceptional program! I don’t care for the splash screen, but the program’s performance is wonderful! Thank you.