thm

I'm unconvinced by the new tabbed UI: it typically means more clicks to do the defragging. The "Defrag" button now appears to do a full disk defrag, i.e. files, folders and freespace. This is only needed occasionally. In previous versions this would just defrag the selected files, so for a quick defrag, could just click Analyze, then select all files and click Defrag. Now, with the new version, to do the same thing you have to click Analyze, then View Files, then select all files, then remember to right click to get the context menu and then scroll down to Defrag Checked and left-click on that. Not that that is difficult, but I don't think it is particularly obvious and could put off some newcomers to the program (they may not find out how to do it). Now, not everyone wants to look at the list of fragmented files anyway, so how about the following compromise between the old UI and the new... Having the tabbed UI means more space on the "Drive" tab in which extra buttons could be placed. So...how about slimming down the height of the Status and Properties groups and adding buttons at the bottom of the Drive tab to the right of the Analyze button something like this... -------------------- Defrag Options ------------------------- [Just Files] [Files+Folders] [Free space] [Entire Drive] ...The Files button would defrag all the files found in a previous Analyze run (or if none done, then would effect an analysis first). Similarly for the Files+Folders button, except that folders too would be included. This would mean that most users could choose exactly what type of defrag they wanted very quickly and easily (and obviously). For those relatively rare occasions when one only wants to defrag certain files, one could just do the Analyze, then click View Files, select the target files and use the context menu to defrag those selected. This is an excellent feature of Defraggler, it's just that [iMHO] it is less likely to be used than the other options - particularly the first two (Files, Files+Folders) What does the forum think of that ? It's good that Defraggler now persists the window properties (size, position etc) - could the "Priority" option be persisted also, perhaps ?

@Six-pack... JkDefragGUI is written by Emiel Wieldraaijer ( http://www.emro.nl/freeware ) using AutoIt ( http://www.autoitscript.com ), and unfortunately, some virus writers have used this to produce their malware, so sometimes false positives are produced by virus scanners. You could try submitting the file to VirusTotal ( http://www.virustotal.com ) to see if other antivirus tools find anything. The chances are that if less than 2 or 3 out of 32 tools identify anything they are probably false positives. The actual defragging is effected by Jeroen Kessels' JkDefrag, and whilst this is an excellent defragger, it's display is rather poor compared to Defraggler (for example), as you no doubt have noted when you posted an image of it. This is available directly from Jeroen's own site: http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/ When you first run JkDefragGUI, it should download and install a copy of JkDefrag, but I note that your version of JkDefrag appears to be version 3.26. This is a bit odd, as that is very old - version 3.34 was released on 01/02/2008, so maybe you have a rogue version ? - thm

Peter: I think you'll find that if you use Action/Defrag Folder... and then select as the folder the drive that you want to defrag, you will get [at least partially] what you want: it will defrag all the files and folders [that it can], but not defrag the freespace. I also believe that Action/Defrag Drive (or effectively the same via the context menu) will defrag files, folders and the freespace. Take your point re Analysis, though !

There can be many reasons why "some files cannot be defragmented", here are a few thoughts on the matter; I hope that you find them of help... In any one attempt at defragging a drive in a reasonable period of time, the algorithms are likely to be fairly simple and move as little data as possible. At the end of this, there may be no contiguous free spaces large enough to accommodate some of the larger fragmented files, hence they could not be defragmented without moving other files out of the way first, and the algorithms probably wouldn't do that if those files had already been defragmented or moved, as it could be relatively easy to get into a endless circle of moving files around and getting nowhere and wasting time into the bargain. You may find that running a defrag a second or third time can resolve most of these, as Defraggler can get a "fresh look" at the files in their new locations. Doing things this way typically results in a good compromise between speed and completeness of defragging. In practice you are unlikely to be able to measure (let alone notice) any significant difference between a drive with a few fragmented files and one with none. [And, of course, as soon as you fire up your browser and start browsing the internet you will generate dozens or hundreds of fragmented files per hour (albeit, rather small ones) !] As far as I can tell, if you effect a defrag of files after an analysis [i.e. by selecting them and clicking the "Defrag" button": method A] the defragmentation is of the files only: no attempt is made to consolidate [defrag] the free space. This is very good for a quick regular defrag (say, once a day), but it is more likely (as indicated above) that some files won't be defragmented. This is unlikely to be of significance, at least in the short term. For a more comprehensive defrag (say once a week or month), you can defrag the files and consolidate the freespace by right-clicking on the drive name in the Defraggler window and selecting "Defrag Drive" [method B]. This will typically take much longer, as it will first defrag the files and then try to defrag [most of] the freespace by moving many files to the beginning of the drive. In so doing, this will make more contiguous space available for large files to be accomodated without fragmentation. So, if you have any fragmented files remaining after the first "comprehensive" defrag you will have a much better chance of getting such files defragmented on a second or third attempt, and if there are only a few such files, you will probably be able to defrag just these files quite quickly by using method A for second/subsequent defrags, but if this fails you can use method B again. Aside:- Now, there *are* defragging programs out there that can pretty well guarantee to defrag all files [if there is enough freespace] in "one go", but these are commercial and when running in this mode can take an inordinate amount of time to complete. Personally, I find that the better freeware defraggers [like Defraggler] are very fast and effective if used regularly. When I really do [rarely] want to virtually guarantee total defragmentation & optimisation on a drive, then I use the command line version of JkDefrag in a script (invoked several times) and set it going [with auto-shutdown afterwards] on my PC before going home. Piriform have indicated that they may include command line support in Defraggler, and if they do so, I may well switch to using that for this purpose . Another reason that some files cannot be defragmented could be due to limitations of either the program or the way in which it interworks with Windows. Windows imposes restrictions on defragging certain system files and components of the MFT, and files that are open. Indeed, some of these *cannot* be defragmented by any defrag programs whilst Windows proper is running, but can only be defragmented at boot time [although there is a further method for the Pagefile]. If you need to defrag files that are locked when Windows is running, then you could use JkDefrag. If you want to defrag your Pagefile and other system files, then you could use Pagedfrg (by Sysinternals). Alternatively, you could defrag your Pagefile on Windows XP IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH RAM (> 512MB) by the following... 1) Remove the Pagefile 2) Reboot the PC 3) Defrag the boot drive [or drive where you want the Pagefile] using Defraggler method B 4) Recreate a Pagefile on your chosen drive, using a custom size with the SAME min/max values. I have deliberately not been too explicit as to how to do this: if you are not confident that you would know what to do from the above instuctions then it is probably best that you don't try it ! Finally, please note that there is a bug in Defraggler up to and including beta 058 whereby if you run an analysis on a drive that has just been defragged using method A it may report that there are some fragmented files when in fact there are not. Sometimes a further "analysis" run will indeed correctly show that all [or most] files have indeed been defragged, but sometimes you would have to restart Defraggler in order to get the correct analysis. Happily, although this is a trivial bug, Piriform have tracked this down and fixed it, but the fixed version has not yet been released. I presume that this will be due to the wisdom of rolling this fix up with other bug fixes & new features and applying reasonably thorough testing of the whole before release. [i look forward to it ]

...Actually, I find that Defraggler is one of the fastest defraggers out there - much faster than most of the competition. But then I usually defrag my drives daily, so they never get too fragmented anyway...

...that will probably be because you can't correct errors on the boot drive (Windows volume) when windows is running. If you try "chkdsk -F" on your boot drive, Windows will not let you do it directly, but complain... Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by process. Would you like to schedule this volume checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N) No doubt Defraggler can't do this either, for obvious reasons. Normally, you should have a "clean" disk (if your machine hasn't been crashing and you shut it down properly, so errors in the filing system should be fairly rare. So using Defraggler to effect a quick check is convenient. If Defraggler reports errors, then run chkdsk with the -F option and type Y to schedule a chkdsk -F on startup, then reboot and wait. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to fix things up, mind you, chkdsk isn't perfect !

...I don't believe that Defraggler does produce a log...unless you explicitly invoke in debug mode, whereupon it will produce a log in the same folder as the executable. See the following topic... http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=12840 If you don't kow where the logs are, why do you think Defraggler is producing them ? Just to check, I've run Defraggler and then reindexed all my disks and sorted a listing by date: I could find no trace of a log file or text file pertaining to Defraggler [loads of Widows logs etc, though !]. -thm

...sad to say this hasn't turned out to be totally reliable either: even if I do deselect the files in a list after a Defrag, a subsequent Analysis sometimes still erroneously reports files as fragmented when they aren't. -thm

RE: Analysis after Defrag not working correctly ...Ah...I think I am onto something... I've done some further tests, using Dave Whitney's defrag utility at... http://www.flexomizer.com/PermaLink,guid,c...2145cc1957.aspx ...as this has the capability to *fragment* files - good for subsequently testing defraggers ! Anyway, what I've found is that if I *deselect* the files in the list after a Defrag then a subsequent Analyse run will consistently [and correctly] report that there are no defragmented files. Hope this provides a pointer to the source of the problem ! -thm PS. to generate fragments in a test folder, use Whitney's defrag tool like this:- wdefrag -s -b d:\testfolder\*.*

...Ah...perhaps I wasn't very clear: you need to right-click on the drive's name in the Defraggler window to get to this context menu. The attached screenshot should make this unambiguous... -thm Where_to_Right_Click.zip Where_to_Right_Click.zip

Actually, something has just dawned on me ...I bet that all the files in question were browser cache files, and the problem is that the browser is write-locking them. I've tried the same exercise a few times but quitting the browser before trying to effect a defrag, without problems. I shall investigate further... -thm [Edit] ...Nope that was too simple an answer: I'm still getting the same effect [defragged files showing as fragmented after an Analyse] even on some simple log files that I know are closed (coz I know the application that generates them !).

Well, the files are just ordinary ones. Nothing special that I can see. For example, the easiest way of getting fragmented files on the boot drive is to browse the 'net for a minute or two. I did this, and then ran up Defraggler under debug and did the following... 1) Analyse C: - loads of files shown as fragmented 2) Selected all files & defragmented C: (via Defrag button) - all files then showed as defragmented (i.e. just 1 fragment). 3) Re-ran Analyse on C: - Now all files showed as fragmented again ! 4) Re-ran Analyse on C: again...now all files shown as defragmented. I've edited the log file to show these phases, and have attached it to this post I've also captured a screenshot of Defraggler taken at stage 3, which lists some of these files. -thm Defraggler.exe._1_1_50__2008_01_24_16_15_.txt ScreenShot.zip Defraggler.exe._1_1_50__2008_01_24_16_15_.txt ScreenShot.zip

One bug report to kick off the topic... Version: Defraggler 1.1.44 and 1.1.50 Bug severity: Low (but but a little irritating) Bug description: Sometimes after effecting a defrag (via "defrag" button), I re-analyse the relevant drive to see whether all files have indeed been defragmented. Frequently Defraggler then reports all of the files I've just defragmented as still fragmented, but if I re-run the analysis a few times it usually gets it right and reports "This drive contains no fragmented files" (as expected). Alternatively, just quitting and rerunning Defraggler [and then the analysis] works correctly every time. As indicated above, this is of no real consequence, but it is just a little irritating ! -thm PS. Thanks for an excellent defragger, though !!!

Further to my earlier post (of a few minutes ago), here is another suggestion as a possible alternative... 1) Leave the "Defrag" button as it is, but... 2) Change the right-click context menu on a drive to replace the current "Defrag Drive" [which currently defrags files and freespace] with three entries: "Defrag Files" [which would just do all the files], "Defrag Freespace" [which would just compact the freespace], and "Defrag Files + Freespace" Would this be a better suggestion to my previous one ?? -thm

Here is a very simple [but hopefully useful suggestion]... It would be good to have two Defrag buttons, for example "Defrag Selected" "Defrag All Files" ...the "Defrag Selected" button would act as the "Defrag" button does now, but the "Defrag All Files" button would effectively select all files and launch a defrag in one click. Call me lazy, but after effecting an analysis I would prefer not to have to go over to select all files and then back to the existing Defrag button. Maybe an even simpler thing to do would be to select all fragmented files by default after an analysis. After all, if you don't want to do this you would have to click around on those files that you do want to defrag, (so one more click to deselect the "all" box wouldn't make much difference) but it would make things a bit slicker for those that usually want to defrag them all ! Opinions ?? -thm

...and mst Defrag can do them concurrently... - thm

Jim: the System Volume Information folder is used by System Restore to put "restore points" in - see the following links... http://www.theeldergeek.com/system_volume_...ion_folder1.htm http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2007/1...n-xp-and-vista/ You can reduce the size of this folder by reducing the amount of space allocated for system restore points on that drive (or turning it off). Look at My Computer/Properties/System Restore, then select the drive and click on Settings. BTW, I wouldn't recommend turning off System Restore on your boot drive !!! - thm

--I think you will find that if you defrag the drive (right-click on drive name) then Defraggler will attempt to defrag the freespace after it has defragged the files. It's not perfect and sometimes takes a couple of goes, but it is reasonably effective and a good compromise between speed and completeness. - thm