The debate about whether or not free is good enough for a defrag of the data on your disk drives will likely go on as long as Windows and NTFS are around. I've discussed the merits of third-party defrag software that is not free here before, but I'm not doing that today. However, there are some instances and conditions that lend themselves to a much easier conclusion and a clearer delineation between free and "not free". And I do want to share an interesting user experience with you.
Like the case of the CNN newsroom that was brought to a halt because its servers were so severely fragmented. And a recent story that was brought to my attention by Andrew Hart of Australia. Andrew is a heavy Photoshop user and has 5 1TB hard drives that he gives quite a workout with all he does. And he needed to defrag Windows 7. He gave a couple of freeware defrag tools a try. For his environment, they didn't cut it.
This is how Andy describes his situation:
"After only 3 days of trialing it, albeit to the point of having tried, almost exhaustively, all the available defrag options on very large, heavily fragmented data drives, I have concluded that PerfectDisk 11 PRO is a very competent and comprehensive defragging program. I am very pleased to have it looking after my 5 x 1 Terabyte HDDs in a 64-bit Win 7 computer. On days when I am working in Photoshop CS5, which is quite often, I can generate and delete several gigabytes of image data in a single session, and this makes it virtually mandatory to have a defrag program with robust strength, speed and intelligence to keep my system from becoming bogged down and unresponsive. I have tried the defrag utility built into Win 7 64-bit, as well as another free 64-bit program, but unfortunately neither are quite up to the task of both completely defragging and simultaneously compacting all free space quickly in a single pass. For those requirements I have to look to PerfectDisk."
How to make your PC run faster? There are various things that can help, defragmentation being one. When people look at a defrag utility to defrag Windows 7 or auto defrag XP, at the individual user level, freeware may be considered. But they might not be good enough for the biggest, baddest and ugliest of your drives - the ones with large files that are edited, created and deleted frequently. And when you add things like the ability to find and remove duplicate files, the decision becomes easier still.
Sometimes the best things in life are free. Sometimes, however, as in the case of the best defrag software, free just doesn't cut it.
I like Windows 7. Lots of people and critics like Windows 7, and more companies are beginning the process of moving, or at least planning, to move to Windows 7. But it's not perfect, as I've also pointed out before, focusing in particular on the Windows 7 defrag shortcomings.
This past week, eWeek's Nicholas Kolakowski wrote about 5 Windows 7 issues that every IT pro needs to know, which I found interesting because it touched on some real world scenarios that an organization must face when moving to Windows 7. The five issues Nicholas calls out are:
- Lack of upgrade path between Windows XP and Windows 7
- Libraries functionality
- Legacy applications backwards compatibility
- Occasional battery life issues for laptops running Windows 7
- Early drive incompatibility.
Some of these issues may or may not be a problem for any particular organization. For example, not everyone has experienced battery life issues, and Microsoft denies it is even an issue at all. And depending on your level of expertise, upgrading from XP to Windows 7 may or may not be an issue.
But the point is, as with any major upgrade, things may not be as simple and straightforward as they appear. And that's the case with the Windows 7 defrag - sounds decent on paper, but there's more to the story. Even ignoring even the quality, thoroughness and flexibility, a key thing for IT managers is management and control of the process. There is no management and control of the built-in Windows 7 defrag. So if you're looking to speed up PC performance across the enterprise and also manage and report on the process, you'll run into roadblocks with the built-in Windows 7 defrag. We've outlined the administrative issues and a lot more in a
white paper previously released.
Windows 7 offer a lot. But particularly for IT pros, things are not necessarily as straightforward as they may seem.
You can see the entire eWeek set of slides
here.
Related posts:
Dimensional Research recently surveyed 923 IT professionals about their Windows operating system adoption plans, and the indication is that the trend away from XP and towards Windows 7 is at least starting. Gregg Keizer, writing in Computerworld (April 5, 2010), states that "business are finally prying their hands from Windows XP and they warm to Windows 7. The feeling about how great XP has been is beginning to fade.
In Dimensional's new study, 40% of the respondents said that they're worried about the hassles of maintaining XP as it gets more and more outdated. That's up from 28% almost a year ago. And while 60% of the respondents said they're worried about the cost and overhead of migrating to Windows 7, that number is down from 72% last year. The study stated that "IT is still more worried about Windows 7 than XP, but the trend is favoring Windows 7."
As I and many others expected, it's just a matter of time. And in terms of defragmenting computer, PerfectDisk has it all covered. From auto defrag XP to a certified Windows 7 defrag, you can get the best disk defrag from PerfectDisk and speed up PC performance and boot quicker.
From the past to the present...and whatever is to come.
eWeek Labs recently put together a list of the
25 Technologies That Changed the Decade, an interesting list of hardware, software, applications and more "that have changed the way we work, play and live" over the last 10 years. I guess since Windows defrag software has been around more than a decade, and defrag programs in general have been around for much more than that, the simple yet important task to defrag a computer was nowhere to be found (insert smirk here).
But I was interested to see how much defrag programs touched on many of the 25 technologies. While the expected flashy consumer products were on the list, including the iPhone, iPod and other smart phones, several back-end technologies that power our world of technology were also there, and disk defrag software played a role with those technologies. From multicore processors to netbooks to blade servers to virtualization to Windows XP, PerfectDisk is there to help these technologies work better. Whether it's a faster PC startup or the need to speed up PC performance or a server defrag to ensure a mission critical application runs fast and efficiently, auto defrag has played a role.
Regarding the 25th spot, it seemed a bit amusing to see Windows XP listed, since the flashier and well-received Windows 7 seems a more likely candidate. But as the article states, "Windows XP is certainly the most dominant operating system of the decade." I can see some merit in that selection.
You can read the entire article
here and compare it with your Top 25.
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