Defrag Hard Disk

When trying to figure out how to make your PC run faster, many people turn to look for the best defrag tool and best PC optimizer. Look at reviews, head to the user forums, ask their colleagues and friends to see what the options are. Free or paid for. Automatic or manual. Lots of options or few. Enterprise defrag or for personal use only. It's all well and good, and what drives us here at Raxco to deliver the market's best defrag software year after year.

                                               

But we also like to differentiate ourselves in a different way, through our technical support and customer service. So while we truly believe PerfectDisk is the best defrag software available, we also think our service and support are superior as well. That attitude is epitomized by Wendy Clontz, who heads up our customer service department and whom we are proud to have with us.

Dan Baldry is a 20--year IT professional in Sydney, Australia, managing a team of people who sell maintenance and professional services for one of the world's largest networking companies. Dan wrote to me directly recently about what he described as our "excellent service," which he argues is hard to find these days. Here are some of Dan's words: 

                                                

"I purchased Perfect Disk a few years ago mainly on the basis of an article I came across in a local PC magazine that I thought gave a good impartial review and sold me on the merits of the product. With a computing background, to me disk defragmentation is what I would describe as a routine housekeeping item that I would consider baseline for a healthy PC. In a perfect world this would be delivered as a native part of the operating system. You might argue that it is, but I'm suspicious of the standard utility  and a bit wary of the available freeware (though I know they are reasonably good). With my hard disk capacity getting bigger, I was on the hunt for a good utility that would just do the job and I could be confident in (no doubts), so that was why I decided to stump up the dollars and go for Perfect Disk. In short, I wanted to be sure my system was at optimum health and running with maximum performance all the time. You might ask why? Well, I use my PC  for a mix of work and play and it became a bit of a mission to drive the best performance without resorting to a massive/expensive upgrade as time went on. A few dollars on PD seemed like a good option. Eventually I did upgrade but I still use PD as part of the same housekeeping approach.

However, over the past couple of years, with reinstalls, losing keys, lost downloads etc... and needing to call on support more than once came to realise that the Raxco company offered me an extension of the confidence that I had in the product, and that was the confidence that if I had an issue I would get a reasonably quick, no nonsense, response. Even though it was probably only a few interactions over something like 24 months, I realised it was the same people assisting me throughout, which made me feel the company must have something going for it to be able to retain people like that. The consistent message I hear back is that while customers choose our physical products to drive their business based on value and the vision of our company, it's the Services we offer that keeps them coming back. Not only that, but our partners value our Services above all for the profitable revenue it drives - and customers are willing to pay as they have confidence that they are getting a total package. I think it's how we treat our customers after the sale that creates real business, and I think that's something Raxco has understood from the get go."

                                                 

It seems you can't visit a technology web site or pick up a trade publication today without seeing - oh - 1 to 10 articles on the ubiquitous cloud. Pity the poor, forgotten client PC. It seems nobody cares about it any more. Do they? Should they?                      

Daniel W. Rasmus, author of Listening to the Future (Wiley, 2008), is a strategist who helps clients put their futures in context. He uses scenarios to analyze trends in society, technology, economics, the environment, and politics in order to discover implications used to develop and refine products, services, and experiences. Prior to starting his own consulting practice, he was the Director of Business Insights at Microsoft, where he helped the company envision how people will work in the future. Rasmus coordinated the Microsoft Office Information Worker Board of the Future, an advisory panel composed of college-aged students who share ideas on how to better serve the “Millennial Generation” as they join the workforce. He also managed the Center for Information Work, an immersive experience that helped Microsoft's customers experience the future of work first hand.

                           

Before joining Microsoft, Rasmus was an analyst with the Giga Information Group, and later Forrester Research. His achievements include inventing conceptual frameworks for next-generation collaboration, adaptive workspaces, and intelligent content services. He also served as Giga's Chief Knowledge Officer, managing internal learning within research, sales, and marketing.

Writing on the Internet Evolution website yesterday, Rasmus wrote the article It's Time to Think About Clients, Not Clouds. He asks the question -- "as computers gain more processing power, has the move to the cloud forced us to abandon higher goals for the client?" Rasmus points out that most of a computer's power is used when you sit before it, and writes:

Think about that. When you turn your computer on in the morning, it is no different than it was the night before. Even if you leave the computer on, the most you can hope for is a completed backup, a few patches, a new RSS feed or two, a complete local index, perhaps a hard drive defrag.

Well, there you have it. Yes, computers do a lot of nothing when their owners or users are not driving them. They sit there, waiting for the next user command so they can go off and do whatever it is the user wants. To defrag a computer or defrag hard disk may not be the most important PC issues for many people (although we think it should be!), we're proud that we are one of the few applications that can give the client PC a boost when you're not sitting in front of it. Whether you want to fix a slow PC startup or obtain overall faster PC performance, applications like PerfectDisk and PerfectSpeed address the issues when your PC is idle and not consuming any CPU. Auto defrag when your computer is otherwise idle, through StealthPatrol. It works, even when you're resting.

                                                                

Check out thought leader Daniel Rasmus' article on the Internet Evolution site;  and remember who's thinking smarter when it comes to your computers. 

 

                                                   

While still in its infancy, we get more and more inquiries about Solid State Drives (SSDs) and whether or not they need defragging - is there a need for an SSD defrag. Greg Hayes, Raxco Software's manager of technical solutions, has a recently-published short white paper that gives an overview of the technology as well as performance considerations and the issue of SSD defrag. 

I'm going to take the next couple of posts to cover what's in the paper. 

SSDs, when used, replace traditional electro-mechanical parts (i.e. rotating disk platters and read/write heads) with flash memory.  The benefits of SSD storage are:

• Very fast random access times due to elimination of slow electro-mechanical components
• Low read latency times due to elimination of disk seek times
• Consistent read performance because physical location of data doesn't matter (no "fastest" part of the drive as in traditional disk drives)
• File fragmentation has negligible effect due to elimination of electro-mechanical component (seeking).

Due to the nature of the flash memory and how data is currently written, SSD write performance degrades over time.  Unlike a hard disk drive, any write operation to SSD storage requires not one step, but two: an erase followed by the actual write.  

                                            

SSD performance depends on the following factors:

Write Endurance

The number of write cycles to any block of flash is limited.  The maximum number of write cycles (endurance) is dependent on type of flash memory (MLC vs SLC) and varies from 10,000 write cycles in older SSD drives to 1,000,000 write cycles with today's modern SSD drives.

Write Amplification

Write Amplification is native to all NAND flash memory.  Just as with traditional disk drives, with NAND flash memory, data is laid down in blocks.  However, block sizes on an SSD are fixed - meaning even a small 4k chunk of data write can take up a 512k block of space, depending on the NAND flash memory being used. When any portion of the data on the drive is changed, a block must first be marked for deletion in preparation of accommodating the new data (read/modify/write).  The amount of space required for each new write can vary. The write amplification factor on many consumer SSDs is anywhere from 15 to 20. That means for every 1MB of data written to the drive, 15MB to 20MBs of space is actually needed .  For example, a read/modify/write algorithm in an SSD controller will take a block about to be written to, retrieve any data already in it, mark the block for deletion, redistribute the old data, then lay down the new data in the old block.

In the next post, I'll cover wear leveling, over provisioning, TRIM, and how PerfectDisk and defrag relates to SSD technology. 
                                                       
 

                                                         

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. 
 
                                                    

• "I used to have problems defragging some drives. A few years ago I purchased PerfectDisk and haven't had a problem since."
• "PerfectDisk is the industry standard for serious defragmentation."
• "For defragmenting, you'd be hard pressed to find anything better than PerfectDisk."
• "PerfectDisk and it works like a charm. Not a hitch!"
• "I run PerfectDisk every night which defrags my drives. (A great tip I got on this forum."

                                          

Just about every Windows user can benefit from a defrag utility, and the best results come from the best defrag tool. Certain applications and certain uses of the computer can benefit even more, and the area of video performance is one such particular subject. We're happy to count some of the world's best photographers and videographers as PerfectDisk users, but we're just as happy to have recreational and even novice users benefit from improved video performance with PerfectDisk. 

                                              

I know better than to talk about religion in a blog about technology and disk defragmentation. However, I'm happy to to write about a particular church's use of what it perceives as the best defrag tool for video performance. And that's where the Fundamentalist Baptist Church comes in. Located in in Santa Ana, California, in the heart of Orange County and just a few minutes from Disneyland, is where this defrag and video performance story starts. The chuirch records videos of its sermons and more. I'll let the pastor's words tell the story:

"The main reasons for my choosing PerfectDisk are:

     (1) Consolidation of files on hard drive
     (2) Defrag/consolidation of system files upon reboot

I do processing of video. I had used Diskeeper, but that software does not do consolidation of files on the hard drive. When you "capture" video on a hard drive, drive consolidation is very, very important. The reason is that, when a file splits due to running into another file ahead of it on the hard drive, it must fragment at the point. This stopping of the file and continuing it at another place on the hard drive can result in lost frames during a video capture. Lost frames are a "no no" for professional quality video capture, because it causes a momentary jump (because of a lost of frames) in movement when played back later. HDV capture from a Canon HV20 HDV video camera using Cineform was the specific application used.

I heard about your software on a Video production blog, from another guy who had the same problem (the need to consolidate files) and he recommended your product."

No matter what religion, there's only one best defrag tool for video performance.

                          

The Microsoft at Work website was put together by the folks in Redmond to help people ”streamline” their work life” so you can spend a little more time on your life…"we hope the information gathered here will help you get—and stay—ahead at the office.” In a collaboration article entitled 5 ways to speed up your PC, Microsoft recommends disk defragmentation as a key component to keeping your PCs running fast. The article states “disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer.”

And Microsoft continues, noting in particular some instances when performing defragmentation is particularly important. These times include:

• adding a large number of files
• free disk space totals 15% or less
• you install new programs or a new version of Windows,

There are always doubters, but coming from the maker of the operating system that it tells us all is so wonderful, the need for defragmentation is clear. Microsoft has designed a file system that fragments. It tells you so and tells you it should be fixed through defragmentation. It's an easy slow PC fix. Now, what you don’t need is one that isn’t automatic, that can’t run with low levels of free space, and has just a fraction of required functionality. Microsoft creates the problem, go to someone else to fix it. I don’t take my kid back to his sick friend to get better….we go to a doctor.

There’s a smarter cure for faster PC performance.

• Extending media streaming outside the home or office
• Multi-PC backup and restore
• Simplified setup and user experience
• Expanded development and customization tools for partners.

And there's something else that has us really excited here at Raxco Software. There are some changes with the Drive Extender technology coming in Vail that will have some big changes in the area of file management. First, a brief overview of Drive Extender - this is how Wikipedia begins its description:

Windows Home Server Drive Extender is a file-based replication system that provides three key capabilities:[16]

• Multi-disk redundancy so that if any given disk fails, data is not lost
• Arbitrary storage expansion by supporting any type of hard disk drive (Serial ATA, USB, FireWire etc.) in any mixture and capacity — similar in concept to JBOD
• A single folder namespace (no drive letters)

After yesterday's post on the PC Magazine article about software discovery being dead, I found it ironic that later yesterday a review of PerfectDisk 11 appeared in ComputerWorld, Network World, PC World, and a host of other sites that picked it up. Here's an "old school" review of PerfectDisk 11 by a set of "traditional," mainstream technology publications.

When looking at how to make your PC run faster and the best disk defrag tool, there is the Windows 7 defrag tool and lots of free Windows defrag software out there. So why pay for one? Ian Harac's review explains why, including features above and beyond simple auto defrag. He even gets into duplicate file software and duplicate file removal. 

                                                         

Harac, in his review PerfectDisk 11 Whips Hard Drives Into Shape, writes:

"Defragmentation is one of the chores of computer ownership, something that's tedious but which has to be done regularly. Windows includes a free defragmentation tool, but there are plenty of competing products. How do you compete with "free"? You make something worth paying for. PerfectDisk 11 ($40, 30-day free trial) is that worthy tool.

"PerfectDisk 11 has one of the best blends of features and usability I have seen....given the range of features and ease of use, it's well worth upgrading from a free product to PerfectDisk Professional."

All disk defragmentation software is not created equally. A very small set is actually worth paying for.

You can read the entire Computerworld article here.

                                                         

                                                

Writing in that old industry stalwart PC Magazine, columnist John C. Dvorak declares that "software discovery is broken." In particular, he observes:

"A combination of SEO (search engine optimization) tricks, product duplication, fake companies, and bogus product reviews have muddied the water for software. No wonder app stores have begun taking over—it's almost impossible to find good software on the Internet. It's hard to find anything beyond big names like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop, because little sleazeball companies have taken over the space.

"You see them all the time. If you're looking for any sort of utility on Google, you'll come across a ton of crappy and often useless (if not outright fraudulent) garbage that has risen to the top, thanks to what I like to call "active" SEO trickery."

                                                 

Well, I do know there's a lot of junk out there. Hey, there are 5 billion people in the world, and there are a lot of bad ones too - but that doesn't make everyone bad. As one of only 2 real  enterprise defrag software companies in the world, we know there are a lot of weeds out there. No matter what you do on the Internet - work, play, research - you know you have to be smart about it and put your filters on. It's only natural, given the freedom of expression that the Internet has provided the world. 

So everything is not so easy. But day after day, month after month, the largest enterprises in the world, thousands of small businesses, and millions of consumers do what they are paid to do -- or desire to do -- and look for the best defrag software. And while I'm sure many end up with 'crap" (hey, Dvorak's words :)) for a defragger, we know that the majority end up with PerfectDisk or Diskeeper. They do their homework, they find real, valid reviews, and make the determination that the best disk defrag or the best enterprise defrag really leads to very few options.

You want the best recipe for making pizza? You know how to find options and filter through until you get the ones that you can trust. Want the best defrag software? Same process. It's life in 2010.

What do you think - is software discovery broken? 

The PC Magazine article is here.

                                         

• file placement strategies result in fewer resources consumed over time
• flexible scheduling options like idle background processing, screen saver and more result in fewer resources consumed
• longer life for PCs and laptops, because they maintain their performance, means fewer in the trash
• longer life for hard drives.

Looking for a real-world example? Steven V. Smith is the president of SoundsSmith Mastering, a media post-production service company specializing in traditional mastering, fine editing, creating duplication masters, and quality control. Steven writes: 

"I have to say that my biggest appreciation is that I’ve noticed my hard drives (all of them, regardless of brand) seem to be so much more trouble-free, and work like new (quiet, fast) after several years of hard use. Before I started using PerfectDisk regularly, hard drive failure was not so uncommon for us here. 

"I think the difference has been since PerfectDisk's StealthPatrol proved to be so completely non-performance-impinging, and I could leave it on all the time (for all our drives) and never worry about fragmentation or system performance issues from running an auto defrag. This is like having your cake and eating it too. I attribute it to PerfectDisk and StealthPatrol (with the default SmartPlacement, in our case)!

"I don’t build systems for other people these days, but if I did, not a one would go out without PD11 installed and set for Stealth Patrol." 

Less hard drive failure leads to holding on to your hard drives longer. And being greener.

With or without the green beer.

                                      
 

                                       

Softpedia provides news, reviews and information on everything from defragmentation utilities to security software, games, and a lot more. Windows, Mac, Linux, Mobil and gadgets are just a few of the categories it tracks. Softpedia's team of editors and reviewers is usually quick to hop on new releases, and the launch of PerfectDisk 11 proved no different.

Softpedia has issued its PerfectDisk 11 review, with some of the highlights listed as BlockViewer, enhanced SSD defrag support, and the new Advanced SMARTPlacement, which seems to be getting everyone's attention. As always with Softpedia, there's a thorough overview, screen shots, and a final section on The Good, The Bad and The Truth, with The Truth summing it all up.

The review points out that the new Advanced SMARTPlacement optimization technology "is now customizable in terms of the file types that should benefit from faster access times. As top defragmenting professional solution, PerfectDisk Professional does not miss anything."

                                             EDITOR'S RATINGS: 

                                             User Interface:  (5/5) 
                                             Features:  (5/5) 
                                             Ease of use:  (5/5) 
                                             Pricing/Value:  (5/5) 
                                             Overall:  (5/5) 
                                        

Softpedia's review looks at the entire product, which for users familiar with PerfectDisk, know it's a big part of the product: "As Raxco accustomed its users, besides defragmentation power, PerfectDisk also includes space management features that are not at all negligible. The module provides an interesting set of instruments designed to provide accurate reports on the available free space on the drives and the data that takes most of it...comes in handy especially as today's market continually lowers the cost for storage devices, allowing users to keep more an more data on the hard disk(s)."

The Truth

Here's "The Truth" on PerfectDisk 11 according to Softpedia, a summary of its findings:

"The latest release of PerfectDisk does not bring spectacular features to the table and does not clutter the suite with useless functionality turning it into a bloated bundle. Instead, it thrives because Raxco perfects the existent features and matures them to the point they become flawless.

"Flexibility, versatility and ease of use remain the attributes of PerfectDisk Professional although these have been pushed to new limits. It can reduce fragmentation even given some of the most precarious conditions, such as less than 1% of free space and excessive fragments scattered randomly. It simply does its best to gather the files together and stops only when it cannot continue, giving you the reason for its halt.

"The few mischieves present in the application are of little importance compared to the benefits of the product, just like the price. Moreover, the application can be purchased at a lower price than it is regularly available ($39.99) through the constant promotions from Raxco."

You can see the entire review here.

                                            

 

• streaming media faster
• reclaiming hard drive space
• consolidating free space to improve backup performance.

• Over at the MS WHS site, they're in the middle of giving away 11 copies of the soon-to-be-released PerfectDisk 11 Windows Home Server. Check it out at www.mswhs.com.
• And WeGotServed has something else cooked up. I can tell you that even if you already own PerfectDisk Windows Home Server and are covered under upgrade protection, you'll want to check this out, as it will be something for you too. Check this one out at www.wegotserved.com.

                                    

Are you ready? The people below certainly are. They're just a small sampling of feedback from the largest beta test in PerfectDisk history. Thousands of users -- home users, small businesses and enterprises -- have lent their time, energy and expertise to making sure we deliver the best defrag software ever.

And with their help, we've done it. On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11.

Coming March 9th, 2010.

                                    


"...once again, the best compliment I can give is that YOU GOT IT RIGHT!  I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit and the interface is clean, beautiful, and totally functional. This version appears to be noticeably faster than PD10, which was already pretty good.  You have stepped ahead of the competition yet again."
                                                                Paul T. Blades

"...lots of goodies in this new version. Many times products come up with a new feature here and there or fix things that should have been fixed in the prior version—you guys really aired it out and took a whole new crack at the product. Really speaks volumes of the caliber of your people and company. VERY fast compared to prior editions -- great!

"Like the new progress bars showing how much of the drive is left to defragment and the activity indicators along the bottom right in the drive map view showing 'defrag' 'recycler' and 'schedule.' Again, pounding on the GUI stuff, I really like the new block effects -- the blocks with the 'shine' effect and bright colors are great.

The SMARTPlacement types you can select based upon resources available and performance needs so far as fast file access etc., blew me away.  Pretty much ended my even checking to see what each new version of *** expletive deleted *** looks like before I upgrade to one or the other. I did have a chance finally to compare the amount of file information *** expletive deleted *** gives you when you use the 'cluster inspector' versus your new right click feature-- not even close. PD11 wins the details award there.  Everything anybody would ever want to know is reachable through a right click and a few other clicks to get to the specific details you want-- very nice."
                                                               Gary Michelson

"I've noted significant defragmentation improvement on the Windows-7 system. Very much appreciate the usability features...thanks for a wonderful product." 
                                                               Henry Gardiner

"Your claim that initial analysis of a drive is faster in Version 11 than in previous versions is an understatement. Analysis used to take several annoying minutes, just to determine whether defragging was needed. I just ran the analysis for an 80GB PATA HDD in 19 seconds. In the past, the analysis of that drive always took several minutes, even when it was not highly fragmented."
                                                               Kenton Machina

"Thank you. I have participated in many Beta tests, including Microsoft XP Beta and Vista Beta, but never has the experience been as easy or as pleasurable as my experience with you and PerfectDisk 11. PerfectDisk 11 has been faultless in its operation. You have done an outstanding job with this program."
                                                               Michael Downs

"I now find the software excellent and a big improvement on v10.  The drive map does not take so long to build; the menu tabs are clearer and more logical. Well done!"
                                                               Julian Grenfell

"Version 11 Beta operated flawlessly. Solid, stable and much faster than Ver 10."
                                                               Richard Lindsay

"New StealthPatrol features make this a very feature-rich version."
                                                               Alfred Morgan-Jones

"I think you're showing off a little - when I installed this build, PD11 immediately analysed my 4 1TB disks simultaneously in just a few seconds. Keep up the good work."
                                                              Robert Rigby

"The speed improvements are very obvious with the analysis. Going maximum window and analyzing gives the WOW to the client. Just two words: Love it."  
                                                             James Brown

"I've noted significant defragmentation improvement on the Windows-7 system. Very much appreciate the usability features...thanks for a wonderful product."
                                                              Henry Gardiner

"...faster than previous versions. So far everything looks great to me." 
                                                              John Hull

"PD 11 Home Edition is looking good, and its performance is excellent. I like the changes you've made to the Drive Map tab."
                                                              Greg Webb

"...quick....smooth..."
                                                              Richard Futch

"...faster....solid..."
                                                              Richard H. Brown, Jr.

"....much faster....thank you...."
                                                              John Hall

Having used PD11 HE and Pro the same as I have been using PD10, the overall impression I have is one of a more professional and robust feel. There are many minor interface tweaks and additions, input and output, which contribute to this feel and after a while I could tell that there are many improvements under the hood too." 
                                                             Mark Stubbs

"It is substantially better on the Win7 x64 system! So the better the system, the more performance gains you'll see with PD11 (which makes perfect sense). Congratulations on a smooth dev cycle. I generally leave PD in Stealth Patrol, and forget about it. Once in awhile, I check on things and find all my hard drives in optimal condition. I just smile and silently thank you guys for a great product."
                                                            Stephen V. Smith

"...noticeably faster and has a very nice feel. Congratulations." 
                                                            Alan Burt

"Product has worked flawlessly on several different machines using various operating systems and hardware."
                                                            Ronald Chenoweth

“awesome software”
                                                            Shawn Antosz

“…very impressed…”
                                                            Bryn Pritchard

"Analyzing and defragmenting is noticeably faster than previous versions and I like the new layout.  I've not noticed any issues. Installed on Win 7 x64.  Looking forward to the final release! Good work." 
                                                            Adrian Jefferies

"I like the intelligent handling of SSD drives."
                                                            Tom Bruce

"Bravo Zulu!!"
                                                            Tom Vaughn 
 

Related Posts:

• Mini-sneak peek: a few few PerfectDisk 11 videos on the PerfectDiskNews YouTUbe Channel
• Well, well -- aren't you picky -- defrag a file -- or 100
• VSS defrag -- more flexibility and control
• More than defrag -- to space and beyond
• Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital
• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon
   

• Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital
• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon
  
   

• "Truly an improvement over an already awesome product."
• "The best there is, without a doubt."
• "It has no real competition."
• "The 2010 standard for Disk Management. It Simply ROCKs!
• "Improving on an already fine product."
• "Still best on the market."
• "My laptop loves it."
• "State-of-the-art defragmentation for people who like perfection."
• "A prettier interface."
• "World class."
• "Still the best - and now you can customize it too!"
• "The best defrag tool on Earth just got better."
• "The most customizable and comprehensive product on the shelf."
• "It is the best defrag software on the market. It has features for every level of computer user, from the person that just wants to defrag their hard drive to the person that wants to not just defrag hard disk, but wants more about space usage on the hard drive, the ability to defrag while still using Windows."

• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon
                                                

                                              

When it comes to defrag programs and what they can handle, size does matter. As drives and files get bigger and bigger, the challenge for a defragmenter program is to be able to handle the increased sizes efficiently and the best disk defrag software should not fall down when drive and file sizes increase.

But a professional defragmentation program should not cost more just when the going gets tough -- or bigger. So you won't find extra fees for even the largest drives with PerfectDisk, and you can hold onto your money.

                                             

We've worked hard on the algorithms and back end work that goes on when analyzing and defragging large drives and files, so the time it takes to handle them decreases. But there's still no extra charge, no matter what the drive size is.

On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11. March 2010.

                                              
 
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• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon

                                        

I won't add to the barrage of articles, posts and more reviewing 2009 that list the the top stories of the year. But I did want to touch on 2009, from our perspective, as a supplier of a disk defragmentation tool that has evolved and continues to evolve with the times.

2009 brought the reality of a deep recession and tough times for many technology companies; there was Windows 7, Chrome, Bing, more mobile action. But 2 big areas that also stood out, and which helped us grow this year, was the increased movement towards virtualization and big growth on the storage front. Virtualization has been taking hold for awhile now of course, but the tough economic environment has accelerated its growth. For many companies, the potential savings realized from virtualization are too hard to ignore. And that's why our vSphere defrag and Hyper-V defrag solutions are resonating with users. Virtualization defrag with virtual awareness such as that provided by PerfectDisk allows organizations to maximize their investments in virtualization and help realize its benefits. Without proper management and resource control, virtualization efforts can fall short.

                                               

Storage was another big segment in 2009, with people and companies buying increased amounts of storage and different types of storage, including SSDs, as prices plummeted. Data requirements continue to expand, with new applications and lots of video driving demand. And cloud-based storage was another key driver.

                                           

These were the biggest factors (there were others) behind the growth of defragmentation utilities this year, even in a down economy. Individuals and companies looked for savings, and the result was an investment in infrastructure and certain types of software. Virtualization defrag and vSphere defrag to better manage the virtualization movement. Efficient hard drive defragmentation to control the storage explosion. 

All wrapped up in the PerfectDisk family of defragmentation utilities.