Boot Time Defrag

                                                         

As another weekend approaches, so does that time when many Exchange administrators think about the need to defrag Exchange database, and if they're smart, some good Exchange defrag software.

Now, Exchange performs, on its own, some basic defragmentation. But here I'm referring to Exchange offline defragmentation. Offline defragmentation and subsequent compaction of your Exchange Server data stores allow the operating system to reclaim disk space occupied by deleted data. How does this happen?

As users delete e-mails, the Exchange Server software frees up the space within the data stores where those e-mails reside, but never returns actual on-disk storage space to the operating system. The resulting data store never shrinks in size, whereas smaller data stores equate with expedient backups and more efficient disk utilization. If an Exchange data store starts to consume increasingly large quantities of disk space, the only way to reclaim those resources is to perform an offline defragmentation and compaction pass.

Now, an Exchange administrator can do this via the ESEUTIL utility, but it's a cumbersome and time-consuming task. There's a lot of manual commands and entering of data that is prone to user error. Which is why we developed PerfectDisk Exchange to automate the process and save Exchange administrators time -- lots of time. PerfectDisk Exchange enables you to automatically shut down an Exchange Server, then copies selected data stores to local or remote volumes, and compacts and optimizes volumes. You can also return data stores to their applicable Exchange directories and restart Exchange Server either through the user interface or via a scheduled event. On Exchange 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2010, selected data stores are dismounted and no services need be stopped. This leaves your mail server available to other data stores it may manage.

A question we often hear is "how much free space is needed to perform an Exchange defrag?" The answer is 110%.

When your data store is being defragmented, a copy is made and defragmented, then copied back to the location of the active information store. In order to create this temporary working copy of the data store, there needs to be sufficient space on your hard drive. The process requires free space equal to 110% of the size of the data store. By default, the boot drive (i.e., the drive containing the WinSystem folder) will be used.

There's a way to defrag Exchange without all the aggravation and without all the time - with the proper Exchange defrag software. 
 
                                                    

From time to time, I’ve saluted Microsoft MVPs (Most Valuable Professionals),   recognizing the invaluable service they provide to the Microsoft user community in numerous categories. Having an MVP on staff here has only deepened my appreciation for what they do. Of course, I have to admit it’s nice to know and makes us proud that PerfectDisk is the preferred defragmenter of choice of MVPs around the world.

I love hearing their stories, which are relayed to us frequently. Keith Elder is a Microsoft MVP and INETA speaker, and runs the popular, informative and entertaining Deep Fried Bytes technology podcast as well as his blog, Words of Wisdom from the Elder. Keith is a big fan of the PerfectDisk base product, but also has experienced huge benefits from the PerfectDisk VMware Bundle.

Keith had a virtual machine that would not boot. He kept receiving an error message and it appeared to him that the disk was somewhat corrupted. Keith says he “ran PerfectDisk on it and after it was done it fixed the problem, and I’m still developing in this VM right now. Had it not been for PerfectDisk’s integration with VMware, I honestly don’t know what I  would have done next. Probably would have had to resort to recovering off site backups.”

                                            

How do you defrag VMware and boost virtualization performance?
 

1. The developers of your defrag utility meet regularly with Microsoft development teams, including file system experts, for a true understanding of file system behaviors, strategies and plans.
2. The defrag utility employs disk and file optimization strategies for the best possible drive optimization, rather than simply defragments files, so it is a true PC performance optimizer, beyond just a simple defrag utility.
3. It performs robust free space consolidation to significantly prevent fragmentation, reduce the rate of future fragmentation and improve write performance.
4.  It's smart enough to just defrag a file -- a single file or a few selected files -- rather than the entire drive, if that's all that is fragmented and that's all you need done at a particular time.
5. It doesn't force you into a single way to defrag - it provides flexible scheduling options that are accommodating to your activity and requirements, whether you need or want automatic background defragmentation during idle time, screen saver defrag, or daily or weekly schedules.
6. It optimizes boot files to improve boot time by 20% or more.
7. It provides a free, Microsoft-certified duplicate file remover and file recycler to further assist disk cleanup and optimization efforts.
8. It's simple enough for the novice user but with free, optional advanced features for power users.
9. It's smart enough to be the choice for tens of thousands of World of Warcraft users around the world to improve World of Warcraft performance and used by millions of gamers around the world to improve the performance of other PC games.
10.   It's intelligent enough to contain patent-pending technology that ensures no resource contention in virtual environments and can boost virtualization performance with specific solutions for vSphere and Hyper-V.
11.   It's passed the internal tests, pilot programs and RFPs of many of the world's largest companies and government agencies, and is deployed in and helping those enterprises today.
12.   It is certified by Microsoft for Windows 7.

The PerfectDisk 11 Client and Enterprise Console have been updated to Build 174. These latest builds include various bug fixes and minor enhancements.

You can “Check For Updates” in the products or wait for Autoupdate.

Client enhancements and fixes: 

• Correct issues connecting to and displaying data stores for Exchange 2010
• Change behavior when stopping a defrag pass. PerfectDisk used to display the statistics at the time you stopped even though they were inaccurate. PerfectDisk no longer does this.
• The display files in block feature has been disabled during a defrag and analyze pass since there was no data to display
• Corrected some display issues on the virtual machine tab
• Added support for translation into Japanese
• Corrected some statistical calculations when files are being added and deleted from the drive during the defragmentation pass.
• The list of drive types that can be impersonated was limited to prevent confusion. The purpose of impersonating drive types was due to the inability to accurately determine whether or not a drive is a solid state drive.
• Corrected a display issue on the Hyper-V host product. GUID was being displayed in lieu of the guest computer name.
• Clarified the code to ensure the user realized the schedules maximum duration only applies to the online portion of the schedule. There is not maximum duration for a boot-time defragmentation pass.
• Ensure that PerfectDisk does not attempt to perform an offline defragmentation pass on a FAT/FAT32 from a schedule. This functionality is not supported.
• Corrected some typo's in displayed text
• Changed the default behavior regarding file modification date on FAT/FAT32 drives. When no date exists we now display nothing. We used to display 1980.
• Improved the layout to better fit all the on screen data
• Corrected a bug when defragmenting drives greater than 2,147,483,648 clusters (8 TB with 4k cluster size)
• Improved boot-time defragmentation logging.
• Corrected a display issue with the schedule tab buttons when using Group Policy.
• Certain error messages were improved to aid the user in understanding what went wrong.

• Improved the task planner
• Corrected an infinite loop in the Console User Interface. PerfectDisk Enterprise Console would appear to hang.
• Corrected a crash in the Console user interface.
• Updated to SQLExpress Service pack 3.
• Displayed the Space explorer Client when PerfectDisk is not installed. This feature replies on PerfectDisk Client being present.
• Improved the historic data reports.
• Default Configuration profile data values have been adjusted to better represent the real world.
• Corrected Connect using PD option not being available if Hyper-V Host installed on Console computer.
• Corrected Console listing Hyper-V Host software as VMware.
• Corrected import of settings that created registry keys that were not correct type.
• Corrected Console reports that incorrectly did not include the Console computer.
• Corrected issue in Deployment wizard that incorrectly displayed local/GP schedules.

                                                 

One way PerfectDisk stands out is its ability to defragment all system files (including all NTFS metadata). System files is the designation that PerfectDisk uses to identify important files that the operating system uses at runtime to operate your PC. These include the Windows paging file (pagefile.sys), the hibernation file used to support sleep mode on desktop Windows PCs (hiberfile.sys), and numerous operating system files (primarily found in the %systemroot% — often C:Windows — and %systemroot%System32 — often C:WindowsSystem32 — directories).
                             
                                                
Depending on whether or not the drive is a system drive, or some other drive that PerfectDisk can’t lock, offline file defragmentation may or may not run on the drive(s). As long as PerfectDisk can lock a drive for exclusive access at runtime, it will defragment system files immediately. But for a Windows system disk or any other locked drive — one, for example, where a paging file might reside in a whole or in part — attempts to defragment system files at runtime will usually fail.

These files are then defragmented if the drive is not locked. Otherwise, this occurs at boot time with a boot time defrag. PerfectDisk locks the drive for its own exclusive use, so it can then defragment and move files the operating system would otherwise not allow to be altered. So, a boot time defrag is really only mandatory for drives that cannot be locked at run time.                         
                                            
                                               
                                                  
Occasionally when you schedule a boot time defrag pass in PerfectDisk, it doesn’t work. This is because PerfectDisk is unable to lock the drives during boot time, so the system gets booted without the defrag pass getting executed. When this happens, it is almost always because a third-party program has modified the BootExecute registry key so that PDBoot.exe (the name of the PerfectDisk boot time defragmenation executable file) is no longer the first entry in its value string. This entry must occur first in that key for boot time defrag to run correctly. Another possibility is that a third-party software product has opened the drive for write access before PDBoot.exe can mount the drive for exclusive access. If the drive is open for write access, PerfectDisk will not run a boot time/offline defrag in order to avoid potential damage to or corruption of system files.

All system files…to complete the drive.             

                                                

Want to speed up your boot time? We're often asked how to make people's PCs boot quicker. There are a couple of options within PerfectDisk to do so:

Let PerfectDisk Manage:

This option is the recommended option and is selected by default . If selected, PerfectDisk optimizes the location of the files needed to start your computer. This decreases the time necessary to reboot your computer, so you boot quicker. If not managed by the Operating System or PerfectDisk, your computer could become unbootable if a file needed to boot the system is moved beyond the BIOS limit of your computer. This is a subset of the files listed in the layout.ini file (i.e. only those needed to boot the operating system).

                                                

Let PerfectDisk Manage all layout.ini files:

The file stores every file that is accessed from the moment you power up your computer to one minute after the desktop appears. By placing files on the disk in the exact order recorded in the layout.ini file, your machine boots faster. With all Windows versions starting with Windows XP through Windows 7, Microsoft includes a prefetch routine, which reads this file and loads the files in memory prior to them being needed. In this way, the operating system can access the files faster during boot up. If selected, PerfectDisk defragments and places all the files listed in the layout.ini file in order, starting at the beginning of your disk. This list contains all files loaded by Windows from the second you turn on your computer until about 1 minute after the desktop appears. This list not only contains the files needed to boot, but also the applications you routinely start after the system has booted.

Boot quicker and get to work...or play.

                                                  
 

There have been a number of blogs and articles written in recent months on the topic of best defrag software. I think that just begs the question, what would you want in your best defrag software?

At a minimum, you would want any defrag software to defragment all of your data files. The Windows 7 defragmenter and the free defrag utilities do a decent job in this regard, but the disks still re-fragment quickly. File defragmentation is just half the job, to truly hinder file fragmentation you need a defrag tool that also consolidates the maximum amount of free space. If the file system can find contiguous free space it will write files in one piece.

So, if you start to really look at what constitutes the best defrag software you want something that defragments all your files and consolidates the maximum amount of free space. But is there more to look for in a disk defrag program?

The location of the files can also make a difference. Files that don't change often can be defragged and placed together. The next time the defragger runs these files don't have to be moved. The same goes for frequently changing files, they can be located near the free space so they can grow in the fewest number of pieces. Boot files can be placed next to the Master Boot Record for faster system boot ups, and you can defrag system files, the ones Windows 7 doesn't touch, to get them out of the way so your on line defrag is faster.

Combine all of this with flexible scheduling, automatic defragmentation, a duplicate file finder, virtual system support and ease of use and you have something that really qualifies as the best defragmentation software. This is why PerfectDisk 10 is the choice of thousands. These users know that the best defragmentation software does the whole job.

                                             

One way PerfectDisk stands out is its ability to defragment all system files (including all NTFS metadata). System files are the designation that PerfectDisk uses to identify important files that the operating system uses at runtime to operate your PC. These include the Windows paging file (pagefile.sys), the hibernation file used to support sleep mode on desktop Windows PCs (hiberfile.sys).                          
                                               
Depending on whether or not the drive is a system drive, or some other drive that PerfectDisk can’t lock, offline file defragmentation may or may not run on the drive(s). As long as PerfectDisk can lock a drive for exclusive access at runtime, it will defragment system files immediately. But for a Windows system disk or any other locked drive — one, for example, where a paging file might reside in a whole or in part — attempts to defragment system files at runtime will usually fail.

These files are then defragmented if the drive is not locked. Otherwise, this occurs at boot time. PerfectDisk locks the drive for its own exclusive use, so it can then defragment and move files the operating system would otherwise not allow to be altered. So, a boot time defrag is really only mandatory for drives that cannot be locked at run time.

                                             
Occassionally when you schedule a boot time defrag pass in PerfectDisk, it doesn’t work. This is because PerfectDisk is unable to lock the drives during boot time, so the system gets booted without the defrag pass getting executed. When this happens, it is almost always because a third-party program has modified the BootExecute registry key so that PDBoot.exe (the name of the PerfectDisk boot time defragmentation executable file) is no longer the first entry in its value string. This entry must occur first in that key for boot time defrag to run correctly. Another possibility is that a third-party software product has opened the drive for write access before PDBoot.exe can mount the drive for exclusive access. If the drive is open for write access, PerfectDisk will not run a boot time/offline defrag in order to avoid potential damage to or corruption of system files.

All system files…to complete the drive and boot quicker.

Here’s a little something on defragmenting with Windows 7 from a single user perspective. Greg Smith, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana,  is a full-time software engineer, and also is a part time audio engineer. He wrote the following to me:

“I mainly use my PC for software development and productivity, but occasionally I use it for live recordings of small concerts around the area.

"The computer is a self-built Intel Q9400 system with 4 GB RAM.  There are two hard drives installed – a Western Digital 320 GB drive as my system drive, and a Western Digital 640 GB drive for storage.  The system drive is partitioned for dual-booting.  The outermost partition (200 GB) is my software development partition, which is running Windows 7.  The innermost partition (100 GB) is my recording partition, which is running a stripped-down version of Vista x64.  The 640 GB storage drive is partitioned as one large partition.

"Since I use my Windows 7 installation 99% of the time, that’s the Windows installation on which PerfectDisk is installed.  It is configured for StealthPatrol on the Windows 7 partition and the Storage partition (I have the Vista partition set to manual).  All my programs are installed on the 200 GB Windows 7 partition, but my data is entirely on the 640 GB storage partition.  PerfectDisk keeps my program files and data perfectly optimized.  I don’t even have to think about defragmenting my drives anymore – I just always have outstanding disk performance.  This is especially important when recording, as the large audio files (sometimes several GB per track) can quickly become extremely fragmented.  I simply kick off a SmartPlacement defrag on the storage partition before AND after a recording session, and everything is perfectly optimized.”

                                                   

Greg also had a little to say about PerfectDisk support:

“Your support is simply amazing. If you have a problem, you are contacted within 24 hours, and often times within a few hours of your submission. The support staff are an absolute pleasure to work with - friendly, knowledgeable, competent, and above all — HELPFUL. Raxco has provided some of the best product support experiences I’ve ever had.”