Last year, Kansas-based William Newton Hospital, which serves a community of 40,000 people and has revenues of over $40 million, made the switch to PerfectDisk to improve its virtualization performance. The hospital looked to PerfectDisk's virtualization defrag solutions, which include tools for vSphere performance and Hyper-V performance improvements. William Newton Hospital maintains physical and virtual servers for database functions such as electronic medical record keeping, financial, inventory, lab and radiology information, and Point of Care charting. Medical Verification is also used at patient bedside via wireless Chart Carts and PDAs, along with a radiology image storage and retrieval system.
The big appeal, according to IT director Randy Mayo was PerfectDisk's unique Virtual Awareness capability, which eliminated "the severe system slowdown on our servers that we were experiencing with Diskeeper." As Randy points out, "PerfectDisk automatically determines guest and host activity to eliminate resource contention and minimize the impact on our shared storage. The result is faster systems, improved productivity and better service to our patients.”
But William Newton didn't stop there, as they continued to look to Raxco Software for performance and productivity improvements. This investigation led them to PerfectSpeed, Raxco's tool for boosting performance as well as cleaning up performance-debilitating clutter. While its typical use is for the home consumer, William Newton found so many useful tools for slow PC fixes and slow PC performance in PerfectSpeed that they've put it on over a hundred employees' computers. For these users, Mayo gets not only the benefit of the best defrag software, but also a powerful duplicate file removal program and one of the best registry cleaners, all helping speed up PC performance and ensuring these computers run at peak performance and efficiency.
From virtualization performance to an easy slow PC fix -- William Newton Hospital has found its fix.
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.
PerfectDisk, as the best disk defrag software, continues to be our flagship product. But as you've seen recently, there are more and more members of the PerfectDisk family, including our virtualization offerings, upcoming Vail (Windows Home Server R2) and Aurora solutions, and a lot more. There's PerfectSpeed, with its suite of solutions on how to make your PC faster. Plus there are new products in the works, which you'll be seeing in the coming months.
All of this, combined with our 30-plus years of history providing solutions for IT professionals, made it the right time to begin to move toward more of an emphasis on Raxco. You can continue to look to PerfectDisk for more innovation and industry leadership, and look to Raxco Software to continue to bring you more solutions -- for IT groups and for home consumers.
Bookmark it -- www.raxcoblog.com.
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.
Hybrid drives use the fundamentals of a hard drive, but add additional capability with RAM or an SSD for increased performance. Wikipedia gives the following definition:
A hybrid drive, hybrid hard drive (HHD), or hybrid hard disk drive (H-HDD) is a type of large-buffer computer hard disk drive. It is different from standard hard drives in that it integrates a cache using non-volatile memory or even a small solid-state drive (SSD). Although the cache typically uses non-volatile flash memory, some drives use battery-backed volatile RAM (a hybrid RAM disk). The flash memory buffer can speed up repeated reads to the same location; a RAM buffer speeds both reads and writes, but must be written to backup storage when power is lost.
Benefits of hybrid drives can include decreased power consumption and heat generation, the ability to boot quicker via faster boot times and faster PC startup, decreased noise, improved reliability, and improved performance.
But there are drawbacks too. Such as lower performance for non-cached data and small disk writes. They are more expensive than regular hard drives and don't last as long. There may actually be more noise and power usage in some cases. And importantly, recover-ability of data can be problematic.
Well, once you've look at all the considerations and do your research, if you do end up with a hybrid, what about defragmentation - do you need a defrag program for your hybrid drive? The short answer is -- yes.
As for the why, it's due to the fact that at the core of a hybrid drive is a good ol' fashion hard disk drive. So just think - if you need to a defrag utility to defrag hard drive, defrag metadata and defrag, you'll need to defrag a hybrid drive -- because a good portion of it is a hard drive. The reading and writing - and therefore the modifying, adding and deleting that causes fragmentation -- ultimately occurs on the hard drive itself. And that had drive is where the NTFS file system resides, along with all its peculiarities and problems.
A lot of activity may occur in a RAM drive (or now, SSD), but when this happens, periodically the data is moved to the hard drive. This periodic flushing of the data occurs within the controller and is determined by the drive manufacturer. But once it ends up on the hard drive, it's prone to fragmentation just like a non-hybrid drive.
Hybrid drive defrag? Yes, and use your best defrag software, as always.
Related Posts:
SSD overview and do I need an SSD defrag -- Part 1
SSD overview and do I need an SSD defrag -- Part 2
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.
IndyGeek.net was formed last fall "to serve the latest in technology news to both geeks and non-techies alike by using a mix of social media, blogging and in-person networking." According to the site, "we place emphasis on the end user and small businesses looking to gain an edge in the ever-competitive mid-west market."
Well, it turns out the mid-west market is a lot like the rest of the world when looking for faster PC speed, faster PC startup, and overall faster PC performance. In a PC tuneup article on the IndyGeek site last week, Senior Editor Alex Connor wrote about PC Spring Cleaning Done Right, for those looking for faster PC performance. To get faster PC performance, Connor writes that, in his article, "we will use a variety of free tools, and I will recommend a few paid tools where I feel they provide a good value."
Connor covers backup, anti-virus, and cleanup of various files, including temporary files (while not mentioned in the article, PerfectDisk 11 Pro also does cleanup of duplicate and temporary files). Then Alex gets into my favorite part of every story - the defragmentation program:
He writes -- "defragging will usually help performance. Here’s where I make a recommendation – go order PerfectDisk and install it. It will prevent your disk from becoming highly fragmented and it has an offline boot-time defragger that can defrag your system files to really give you a performance boost. I even get a pretty significant runtime boost on my laptop by keeping the disk highly defragmented with PerfectDisk. If you use PerfectDisk, run the defragment on your drive, then do an offline defragmentation of your system files – which will require a reboot..."
For faster PC speed and slow PC tips, IndyGeek has some answers that you can read here.
Drew Como is the director of infrastructure at Kaos Studios, in the heart of Manhattan in New York City. Kaos is a division of videogame publisher THQ. Kaos Studios artists, developers and designers need the best possible system performance for their computers. Simply put, they need the best defrag software possible. Of course, the millions of people that play THQ's games also want maximum performance.
Drew has his thoughts on PerectDisk 11:“PerfectDisk 11 is a stellar product that far surpasses PerfectDisk 10 “The engine is many times faster, even on large drives with a high volume of files, and the new customization and reporting capabilities help ensure our computers run as fast as possible and we have the storage information we need.”
On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11. Coming tomorrow.
Related Posts:
- PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- What's New
- Windows 7 performance -- defrag to get it
- It goes to 11 -- in 11 days
- 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
PerfectDisk provides more, and that mantra will carry on to PerfectDisk 11. Microsoft has given its seal of approval to PerfectDisk 11, and here is just a very small sampling from some of our thousands of PerfectDisk 11 beta testers that looked to boost their Windows 7 performance with PerfectDisk 11:
"I have been running the PerfectDisk 11 Beta on two different computers - one with Windows XP Pro and the other with Windows 7 Ultimate x64. Not one problem. This is going to be one awesome software when the final is released."
Shawn Antosz
"I am very impressed! 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've noted significant defragmentation improvement on the Windows 7 system. Very much appreciate the usability features. Thanks for a wonderful product."
Henry Gardiner
The Windows 7 defragmenter functions. Like a lot of things in life, you can choose functional, or choose to function...or you can excel.
There's a better way to defrag Windows 7 and boost Windows 7 performance.
On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11. Coming Tuesday.
Related posts (Windows 7 defrag):
- Windows 7 -- defrag with confidence
- Windows 7 defrag -- no file or folder exclusion
- Windows 7 defrag in a corporate environment
- Windows 7 defrag -- real world, real guy
- Defrag for Windows 7 -- "Raxco Software has outdone itself again"
- It goes to 11 -- in 11 days
- 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
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
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.
We like to think we have the best PC performance optimizer software, and we're constantly testing and improving to make sure that's the case. But we also take pride in the technical support and customer service we provide to go along with our defrag and PC optimization software. It's instilled into everyone here, no matter what their job title. We receive a lot of feedback from our customers praising our employees as well as our technology, and I'd like to share some of a recent one. We think the perfect mix is superior technology and service.
George Carr of Ontario, Canada is a retired employee of a Fortune 100 hardware company, who managed a $600 million division of the company. George now is an active stock trade, where faster PC speed is critical, which is why he is interested in PC optimization software. One of his 3 laptops is devoted specifically for trading. Video performance is also important to Carr, as he has another laptop devoted to his hobby of video creation and video editing. The third laptop in his household belongs to his wife, who wants a optimize PC, but doesn't spend a lot of time worrying about PC maintenance.
Unsolicited, George wrote the following:
"I am writing to share an experience I recently had with your company that was pretty unique in the consumer software business, and really influenced my decision to purchase from your company. I downloaded a trial copy of your PerfectSpeed product for evaluation. Within days of downloading the trial, I received a message from Wendy Clontz. What was unique about this is that the email was very professional, it was from a real person, and the tone of the message sounded to me like your company was really interested in how the evaluation process was progressing.
Normally when you download a software trial, a computer generated form message is sent saying "if you have any questions, please call "1-888-i want to sell you something." This was not the case with the message I received. I actually replied to the message with some comments and questions that I had about the product, and amazingly, I received a reply within 24 hours actually addressing my questions and comments.
What I learned from my communication with Wendy was that the PerfectSpeed product was probably not the one I really needed. The product I needed was PerfectDisk Professional, and I purchased that product with a 3-user license, and now have it installed on all three of my computers. The product has made a huge difference in my disk performance, and I love the fact that I can set the "AutoPilot" on my wife's computer. She is not technical, and usually ignores defragmentation warnings.
Finally, I want you to know that the overall approach you company uses to communicate with clients is what made me decide that you are the company that I want to do business with. I have spent over 30 years in the computer industry in client services for a fortune 100 computer company, and this experience would rank as number 1 in my book.
Please thank Wendy for her tremendous dedication, diligence, and follow up. This is what clearly demonstrates the Great companies from the average companies."
Will do -- thanks Wendy. And thanks for sharing your video performance and PC performance optimizer story, George.
While the ultimate goal for a defrag programs is faster PC speed and faster PC performance, a best defrag tool should be able to go beyond that. There is a lot of information about your drive and files that are of interest to many users.
Answers to questions such as:
- how much space is being taken up by certain file types
- what percentage of files on a drive are new and how many are old
- what percentage of files on a drive are recently modified or recently accessed
- what are the largest files on a drive, which are the oldest.
On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11. March 2010.
Related Posts:
- 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
One of our most passionate and vocal group of users is the Windows Home Server (WHS) crowd. These users recognize that the WHS environment can benefit greatly from a completely defragmented environment. A solid WHS defrag is the reason HP partnered with us to offer PerfectDisk Windows Home Server to its MediaSmart and DataVault users - they can stream media faster and reclaim hard drive space, improve backup performance and basically optimize their digital life.
The evolution of PerfectDisk includes WHS. Faster analyzes, faster WHS defrag, BlockViewer, enhanced SMARTPlacement, improved interface and more all get into the PerfectDisk WHS package. The bundling options remain intact, providing the best value available to optimize the entire WHS environment -- server and home PCs.
The best overall WHS performance, via superior WHS defrag.
On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11. March 2010.
Related Posts:
- 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
As alluded to in a previous post, PerfectDisk's patented SMARTPlacement optimization strategy is about to get a whole lot smarter. Users will be able to let PerfectDisk do its thing as always, but if they prefer, they can make their own settings, their own custom strategy. Files, applications and directory data can be automatically placed on the drive according to each users' unique requirements or preferences. Flexibility and customization, not tyranny, to better maximize drive and file performance, and better speed up PC performance.
Here's a little peek:
As beta tester Allen Flores stated, "I love the ability to specify the placement order and additional space between categories - terrific feature addition!" Wes Barter noted that "using the 'performance' strategy seems to improve overall system speed; placing frequently used files in areas of faster access improves the 'snappiness' of my machine."
What's a smarter way to speed up PC performance, as well as server and virtual machine performance?
A smarter SMARTPlacement. March 2010.
Related Posts:
- 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
Get news like this faster -- follow PerfectDisk and PerfectSpeed on Twitter.
Many PerfectDisk users install the program, set up an automated schedule or auto defrag to run in the background, and almost never think about defrag again. They've made their slow PC fix and achieved faster PC speed, effortlessly.
And then there are those, of which there are many, that like to watch the map viewer, with all it's color and information about file location and drive layout. And then there's another set of users - those who want to dig deeper into the map -- to get an understanding of what files are where on their drives.
But there's also another reason to look into the colorful blocks, even beyond fixing slow PC problems. For Vista and Windows 7 users, Windows ability to shrink drives can be very powerful. But it doesn't always work according to plan, according to the Microsoft text book.
In order to shrink a drive, it's very likely that you'll need to clean your PC, either through duplicate file removal or the removal of other unnecessary files. And then, with PerfectDisk's free space consolidation, you're in good shape to shrink the drive.
But you can't easily remove those files to shrink your drive if you don't know where they are. The perfect solution would be to click on a block to gain a better understanding of the files and their usage. Then again, you may want to click on the bit map to see what's where.
A new block viewer to dig deeper....and beyond the colors.
On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11. Coming March 2010.
Related Posts:
Defragmenting computer or your Windows Home Server on a Friday night? Seems like a great idea!
Tim Daleo did just that on Friday night. Tim is a Project Resource Analyst and Oracle Applications Trainer for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Tim currently runs a Dell Power Edge server running Windows Home Server and a HP MSS at an off-site location. On Friday nights, Tim posts in the Using Windows Home Server blog - which classifies itself as "your number one stop for all things Microsoft Windows Home Server, Windows Media Center and anything in the Connected Home."
Tim provides a good overview of PerfectDisk 10 Windows Home Server, although he is still looking for the definitive answer as to whether disk defrag software is needed, especially since there is not a Microsoft defrag for Windows Home Server.
Here is how Tim concludes his review:
Overall I like the functionality and interface of PerfectDisk 10. If you are looking for a Disk Defragmenter for your WHS then this is a great choice. In addition, like I said earlier, their manual has 325 pages so there is a lot more to it then what I covered here.
Only time will tell whether PerfectDisk10, and disk defragmentation in general, is worth the effort and money. For now I will give PerfectDisk 10 the benefit of the doubt.
That said…does WHS really need a Disk Defragmenter? Microsoft would have included it if it needed it, right?"
Well, PerfectDisk 10 Windows Home Server lets you not only defrag the server but also defrag PC or multiple PCs in your environment. One of the reasons HP partnered with PerfectDisk for its MediaSmart Servers is that its testing showed PerfectDisk would eliminate hard drive fragmentation, consolidate free space to speed backups, and allow HP users to stream media faster.
HP recognizes the need to defrag Windows Home Servers, and it has partnered with the leading disk defrag utility as part of its validation. This review provides some more insight. And thousands of users around the world provide more evidence.
Your entire connected home defragmented is a better-connected home. You can read the entire review here.
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PerfectSpeed: disk defragmentation software, disk cleanup program, and more.
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PerfectSpeed: disk defragmentation software, disk cleanup program, and more.
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