Defragmenting in Windows 7

[Kick]

Hi, apologies for this being a bit long-winded.

I was getting a regular DCOM error in the Event Viewer on my Windows 7 desktop and was advised it was caused by SuperEasy Live Defrag (which I will refer to as SELD in future). No other problems were caused but it was suggested that I use Piriform Defraggler instead.

I removed SELD then installed Defraggler and the DCOM error ceased. I liked SELD as it ran in the background keeping defragmentation consistently low. Other than the Event Viewer reported DCOM error it seemed to work very efficiently without trouble. Defraggler is, I know, a very respected piece of software but I immediately began to notice unusual happenings after each run. By C drive disk space reduced noticeably each time. This turned out to be caused by Defraggler creating restore points during the process (and not just one per session but several). I used the Windows Disk Cleanup utility to remove all but the latest restore point and investigated whether or not I could set Defraggler not to set restore points but could find nothing helpful. As a double check, I ran Defraggler again and sure enough, additional restore points were created. However, worse was to follow as System Restore seemed to lock up and the Windows Disk Cleanup utility could not remove any of the restore points. I decided to remove Defraggler using Revo Uninstaller which would normally first create a restore point but it couldn't do this. However it did successfully remove Defraggler (I chose the highest level setting).

Fortunately, I had recently created an image backup of the C drive using Macrium Reflect. I have used the program for restoration successfully with Windows XP but never before with Windows 7 but I connected the external dive with the backup, booted the system with the rescue cd and hoped for the best. Macrium Reflect did its job perfectly. Defraggler was now back on the system but from a time before it had locked up System Restore. I uninstalled Defraggler with Revo Uninstaller and was relieved to see System restore was working properly once more. After the odd program and data file update my system is now back to normal but without SELD or Defraggler.

The Windows defragmenter in Windows 7 is not too bad a utility but has a very basic user interface and does not give as much feedback as the other programs. I would welcome comments and advice over the matter. I can live with the Windows utility at least for the time being but it would be interesting to learn of other members experience with it and third party defragmenters.

Thanks, Kick.

 

[Plastic Nev]

General consensus being that most third part defragmenters don't do any better a job than the Windows own does, in fact I proved that to myself by trialling Puran Defrag and one other, possibly defraggler. I found no real difference between them.
Although the Windows one in Windows 7 can be and is in fact automatically set to run regularly by default, there is little to see while it is doing it, however what does that matter when all we want is a defragmented drive?
However I now have them all turned off as defragmenting is not recommended to be done as regularly as normal since I installed a solid state drive.

Nev.

 

[allheart55 (Cindy E)]

I used to use Diskeeper but ever since Windows 7 I have used the Windows built in defragger.
I've found it to be better than all of the previous Windows built-in defraggers.

 

[Kick]

Hi Nev,

I understand that SSDs should not normally be defragmented and that some defragmenter programs will identify SSDs and leave them alone. I don't have an SSD so that problem does not arise on my system but I am interested in your test results and reassured by your comments about the Windows defragmenter.

At the moment I have turned off the scheduling facility for the Windows defragmenter and rely on manual operation. I need to read up a bit on the utility to see if I can make use of scheduling. Initially it was scheduled for one day a week at 01:00, a time at which the computer was invariably switched off. SuperEasy Live Defrag had kept defragmentation down to less than 1% - a manual run of the Windows defragmenter was very quick but probably this was due to the low level of fragmentation at the start. I'll explore the utilities settings and experiment but it looks, from what you say, I don't need to bother with any third party software.

Thanks for your very useful input Nev, regards, Kick

 

[Kick]

Hi Cindy,

Your reply came through as I was replying to Nev. It neatly and precisely confirms what Nev was stating so has provided additional reassurance for me.

I have used Diskeeper in the past on a Windows ME system. At that time, the built-in Windows defragmenter was painfully slow and Diskeeper was a great improvement. Later I used Ashampoo Magic Defrag (a pay for program obtained free from a magazine cover dvd) and retained it when I moved on to XP. Using it became a habit so when I obtained a Windows 7 system, I got SuperEasy Live Defrag which is a free version of the program Ashampoo marketed. The constant Event Viewer DCOM error was a mystery for me, an irritation but not a major problem - I didn't connect it with SuperEasy Live Defrag until someone else pointed it out to me. Then I moved on to Defraggler which cured the DCOM error but at some price.

I am now happy to stick with the built-in Windows defragmenter and should have tested it before trying the third party alternatives - another lesson learnt.

Thanks for reinforcing Nev's point, regards Kick.