Contig and Power Defragmenter GUI 2.0.125 Reviewed

[Beetle Bailey]

Just loaded and tried this for the first time. I can tell a slight difference in my startup time for sure. XP also seems to be responding better. Thanks for the great find.

[phoenixbbs]

Just trying this myself for the first time, but i'm not seeing anything like the "lightning quick" speeds others have been reporting as it works its' magic.

Each file it checks for contiguity seems to be taking 2-3 seconds (yes, EACH) - i'm just sorry I bothered for now, seeing as i've got 120Gb of data on this drive, with no obvious means of stopping the scan :-}

(it's also slightly worrying that the GUI disappears while it scans)


FWIW I have a Gb of RAM, and i'm on a 3.4Ghz P4, so the machine itself isn't exactly a slouch...

[gvblake22]

I don't think the actual defragmentation process is supposed to be lightning quick (not sure where you even got that quote from), but when it is all said and done hopefully your computer responds to actions and requests a little snappier.

[Quakindude]

I stated in the article that the first time you use this program in PowerMode, it will take awhile. If you need to exit out of the program, just click the X in the upper right-hand portion of the DOS box. It's safe to stop it at any time.

Defrag will take more time for some than others. It totally depends on how fragmented your hard drive is and how much data you've got stored on it. While the Windows Defrag utility is fine for most people, this program, which utilizes the defrag API from Windows, does a much better job of knowing where to put files in contiguous space on your hard drive.

A severely fragmented HDD can take up to 3 hours to defrag with the Windows utility. Not only is this app faster, it does a better job of the task. While it's running, your computer can become very slow due to the HDD being accessed continuously. You'll notice a cleaner, quicker OS after it is done and you reboot.

[screwballl]

larger fragmented files take the longest but when you get to all the small files it should zip right through them

[phoenixbbs]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

I don't think the actual defragmentation process is supposed to be lightning quick (not sure where you even got that quote from)

I read reviews elsewhere about this proggy, and many comments were saying this finished in 8-20 minutes flat for them.

Your forums just happened to look nicer than most :-) so I signed up here to spread my experience of it !

Just having a look at how it's progressing second time around (power mode - I quit out just after I posted my original message and restarted it), it's now taking just over 4 seconds per file in a directory where the files average 300-500k each... this particular directory has 2,372 of them, so I could be here all bloody night :-}

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by phoenixbbs

I read reviews elsewhere about this proggy, and many comments were saying this finished in 8-20 minutes flat for them.

I forgot to mention that it will also depend on the amount of defragmentation too.

Oh yeah, Welcome to HardwareLogic!!! :wavey:

[phoenixbbs]

It was fully 'doze defragged 2 days ago, so it couldn't have been that bad to start with...

PS: it's still on the same single directory it was in earlier, still got about another 25% to go :-} (of that directory !)

[drgoa.r]

Hello to all of you!
I registered JUST to make some clarifications about this two apps.
Especially about different modes of Power Defragmenter operations.
There are 4 options, you know...
If you use one of the FIRST THREE - you will get your HDD's defragmented ONLY by Contig application.
What this POWER MODE does anyway?
It does 2 things!
TWO passes of defragmentation.
I am very puzzled how noone of you saw this :)
So...
FIRST PASS is just like in other 3 options: Power Defragmenter runs Contig with desired parameters....
After Contig finishes its job - Power Defragmenter closes it...and then runs the:
SECOND PASS, which is the built-in Disk Defragmenter pass.
You see...Power Defragmenter runs the Diskeeper Defragmenter, built in Windows.
But it runs with options FIRST to analyze the drive.....THEN to perform defragmentation pass, which will make free space contiguous.
The things you see in the SECOND DOS windows are from analyze Disk Defragmenter performed...
So, at last:
Disk Defragmenter is SLOW in making files contiguous....
Contig is FAST in this....
But Contig CAN'T defragment free space...
Disk Defragmenter CAN.
If we use ONLY Disk Defragmenter to make all - we will have ONE(slower) pass to defragment files, and SECOND(normal) pass to defragment free space.
There Contig comes - and we have now: ONE(fast) pass to defragment files, and SECOND(normal, from Disk Defragmenter) pass to defrag free space.
Because of this first (Contig) pass in the second DOS window you see ZERO for defragmentation percent (reported from Disk Defragmenter)
Result is faster defragmentation.
Regards to all!
:)

[Dreadsteed]

How did you find this information? We want to use powerdefragmenter in an automated way but since there is no command line switches we are limited. Your explanation of PowerMode make this very simple for automation and would like to find as much research as possible.
This is the only forum we have heard this from.

Thanks.