Vista Defrag

**dex71** · 01-07-09, 05:33 PM

What the hell!! I have about 100Gb on a 300Gb hard drive, and we are now in hour 5 of defragging. I defragged about 3 weeks ago,and it took forever then too. I used to have the same volume to defrag on my XP machine,and it was done in an hour or so...plus,Vista does not give you any indication as to how much is left....all it tells you is that it may take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours.

Is there a way, in Vista,to see how much time a defrag will take? Are there better/faster defrag software options?

64 bit Ultimate....if it makes a difference.

**QuickLightning** · 01-07-09, 05:37 PM

Vista uses a new system to defrag that is supposedly more efficient and can safely be stopped at any time... or so I have heard. I remember reading a long article about all the things it does better than the XP version and the reason why it does not show progress or estimations, but it has since slipped my mind.

**WileECyte** · 01-07-09, 05:54 PM

Dex,

You can set Vista's defrag up to use a schedule. I'd set it up to run weekly. I purchased a license for PerfectDisk back when I ran XP since you couldn't easily schedule defrags. It's nice because it'll run at scheduled times, or you can have it run whenever your computer is idle (screensaver mode). Makes a huge difference in comparison to the Vista/XP defrag because it optimizes your data so that frequently accessed data is on the fastest part of the HD.

**DeusInnomen** · 01-07-09, 06:01 PM

What they said. ^^

If you're looking for an alternative to the built-in defrag, though, I personally use Diskeeper on my home system and laptop.

**ElFuriosoGato** · 01-07-09, 06:11 PM

I have mine scheduled to run weekly. Most of the time I have my computer shut off at the scheduled time, however when I go and look at doing it manually, it tells me it ran even when I know it didn't.

**WileECyte** · 01-07-09, 07:03 PM

Originally Posted by DeusInnomen

What they said. ^^

If you're looking for an alternative to the built-in defrag, though, I personally use Diskeeper on my home system and laptop.

I used to use a full blown copy of Diskeeper but I found that PerfectDisk did a better job. Boot times were noticeably faster and game load times were better once I made the switch.

**SapiensErus** · 01-07-09, 07:18 PM

heh.. I have not defragged a disk since 2002 or something. I have never had any (humanly noticeable) issue with load times, data loss or anything else due to it either. That is how I got around this problem

**~~Cecil900~~** · 01-07-09, 07:25 PM

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag

Free, and gets the job done quick and easy. However you cant defrag more than 1 partition or hard drive at the same time, or schedule defrags.

But, its a free piece of software. You will get more features in software that costs money though. I ran Diskeeper for many years, and absolutely loved it. Defragged more than one partition or drive at the same time too. But, my dad was the one paying for it and i no longer have it. I would strongly recomend it though.

http://www.diskeeper.com/