[high CPU, low IO, slow defrag]

ok, here's a repro.

 

on a large drive with a lot of small, fragmented files, the following uses approximately 0 (zero) CPU:

 

df64.exe e:

 

the following pegs 1 core:

 

df64.exe e: /Large .arj 0 /Large .tar 0 /Large .rar 0 /Large .zip 0 /Large .cab 0 /Large .tar.gz 0 /Large .tgz 0 /Large .arj 0 /Large .lzh 0 /Large .7z 0 /Large .gzip 0 /Large .gz 0 /Large .uue 0 /Large .bz2 0 /Large .img 0 /Large .mig 0 /Large .mp3 0 /Large .wav 0 /Large .aiff 0 /Large .rm 0 /Large .ra 0 /Large .flac 0 /Large .bin 0 /Large .iso 0 /Large .mdf 0 /Large .dmg 0 /Large .vxd 0 /Large .avi 0 /Large .mkv 0 /Large .mpg 0 /Large .mov 0 /Large .mp4 0 /Large .m4v 0 /Large .mpeg 0 /Large .wmv 0 /Large .bup 0 /Large .ifo 0 /Large .vob 0 /Large .msi 0 /Large .msp 0 /Large .msu 0 /Large .wim 0 

This guy should get free Defrag support for life Nailed it, I guess.

[Restore points]

Even considering your aspect, we have to keep in mind that nothing has fundamentally changed as far as the hard or soft configuration on that box, between the upgrade of the "good" version of the program and these ones.

So, I did remove "totally" Defraggler, and reinstalled an older version of it; strangely the problem didn't show up again !

What is your opinion ?

The reason is probably pretty trivial: older Defraggler just by chance happens to modify the drive in such a way that the Shadow Volume subsystem doesn't use up too much space for the system restore point. It's a sheer coincidence. Newer Defraggler does the modifications in such a way that Windows uses up significantly more room for the restore points, and removes the old ones much quicker. What you're experiencing is a designed-in "feature" of Windows with unintended consequences. There is nothing, zero, NADA, that can be "fixed" on Defraggler's side. If you don't like it, you can completely disable system restore for potentially significant gain in defragmentation speed, and use a third party backup solution instead. I mean, you do backup your system to physically separate storage on a fixed schedule, right? Right? If not, your problems are bigger than lack of System Restore!

 

A way to work around is to maximize the amount of space that can be taken by System Restore. This only has a chance of helping you if you have plenty of room on your hard drive (say 50%+).

[Crash on secheduling Boot Time Defrag]

This is with Defraggler v. 2.01.239 (latest at the moment), on a fully updated

Windows XP Pro SP 3. No obvious signs of malware (AVG did not report anything,

then I switched to Security Essentials and still nothing). The machine otherwise

performs fine.

 

When I select Run Once or Run Every Time option from Boot Time Defrag menu, I get a

Problem message box with following contents:

 

Defraggler was unable to schedule the Boot Time Defrag. Please make

sure you run Defraggler with administrative privileges.

 

After I click OK (the only button), Defraggler crashes.

 

The crash is most likely a bug, but I presume there is still a problem with

registry key permissions somewhere to trigger the message.

What registry key(s) does Defraggler access

when scheduling a boot time defrag? I'd need to check their permissions.