Defraggers

[rootbeer]

That Nick N really knows his stuff...

[JBaymore]

That Nick N really knows his stuff...

Yup.... he sure does.  ;)

best,

....john

[Nick N]

One of the reasons I suggest O&O Defrag and set it up for NAME defrag is because it ALLOWS tweaks such as the Last Access Time Stamp be disable and not affect the defrag optimize, at all. The advantage to disabling the feature is truly seen!

I need to upgrade that statement... O&O Defrag at one time (and I think it still is) was the ONLY defrag software that correctly organizes the MFT catalog. With that catalog in a perfect order the read speed on a disk jumps dramatically because the head of the drive no longer has to seek catalog information all over the MFT. The MFT is a hidden area on a disk that must have the free space available for it to expand and contract as needed. It is not a page file but a place where Windows duplicate entries from the file system are placed in it to maintain records of every file on the system, even those deleted and completely flushed from the recycle bin. Along with many file properties, the MFT maintains the exact numerical sector location of your files on the drive for Windows to find. It goes there first before it goes to the file. If its a shambles, defraging with cheaper software, including the Windows defragger which does not clean up the MFT, only nets limited results.

As a side note, You do not really delete files when they are clean from the recycle bin. They just can not bee seen anymore unless you run special software to wipe the files from the drive. If kids think mom and dad cant find out what they have been doing, they should think again. It takes software that performs what is known as a government wipe (multple passes to write dead characters to the drive not just write a single set of zero's) to actually get rid of files from a hard drive.

As you use a system that catalog changes and if the defrag software you run keeps the MFT as pristine as the file system, your disk does not get run anywhere near as hard, and therefore the memory and CPU cycles are cut down to 1/3 or less. The head finds that info in a single pass where before it had to seek 10-100 (or more) entries before it could read the file it is after in the main area of the disk.

Geometry also plays a very important role in hard drive performance. What I mean by that is, if you have a 150GB hard drive and fill it up 75-80% it will function slower, much slower, than a 250GB hard drive which is less than 50% full. The more free space and the better the defrag program to move the files to the edge of the disk, the faster that disk will run in the system. Basic geometry dictates the head does not move anywhere near as far into the disk sectors to locate or place the information. Those that only use 25-40% see even better results. That all assumes the drive was correctly optimized by software such as O&O defrag.

People think having 50% of their HDD space a waste. It IS a waste if the drive is a storage drive for dead storage of music, movies, ISO's, etc. It is NOT A WASTE if the drive is the boot drive running Windows and the games.

Never partition a boot drive. You create a "speed-bump" effect in the performance of the primary hard drive when you do that. Partition of a storage drive as many times as you like is fine, but NEVER a boot and performance OS/game drive.

[sonic]

Does the services that defragers like O&O run all the time hamper performance at all?
By the way Nick do you have a place that you have listed all your tweaks you reccomend.

[Nick N]

Does the services that defragers like O&O run all the time hamper performance at all?
By the way Nick do you have a place that you have listed all your tweaks you reccomend.

O&O does not run anything other than a standard process unless you instruct it to do a defrag job. The process O&O installs replaces the Windows process that would typically run and shuts it off so there is no change to what is going on in the background.

As for a list of tweaks, no, I have not posted anything past the list in the FSX forums because of what I stated in this thread. Tweaks are only as good as the person trying them. If you don't know what a tweak does or how it may affect everything in the system, don't do it. There are quite a few things I dod not list in that thread, like deleting start item registry keys, many of which people don't need but you MUST know what you can and can not delete. Same with shutting down advanced text services or the boot process CTFMON which requires special RUN box commands and a correct process to turn it off. You can NOT simply delete ctfmon from the start list because that cripples that part of the OS, does not shut it down and creates conflict calls (background cycles wasted) instead of makes things better.


The reason I did not and will not post items like that is because the wrong person, thinking they know what they are doing, will try it... and guess who is at fault if something goes wrong?

[sonic]

If I uninstall or install a large app or game say 3 or 4 gigs should I defrag using your method before and after. Not counting the normal maintance.

[Nick N]

If I uninstall or install a large app or game say 3 or 4 gigs should I defrag using your method before and after. Not counting the normal maintance.

When ever you move that amount of data around you do hash the drive and file system. For best performance you should do the maintenance runs and especially re-run the Complete\Name defrag if you were to uninstall and then reinstall FS9 or FSX. It will go much faster if you already completed the initial runs I posted in that thread.

[DizZa]

Providing I have a clean disk used 30%, would defragging using O&O REALLY make that much of a diferance to my fsX?

And how do I know if I will get the problem with O&O causing the bluescreen?

[Nick N]

Providing I have a clean disk used 30%, would defragging using O&O REALLY make that much of a diferance to my fsX?

And how do I know if I will get the problem with O&O causing the bluescreen?

Oh yea.. it will make a big difference but the other items in that list must be done too... and the more free space, the more it will improve things. At 30% used you will most likely see a very decent leap in speed and smooth MSFS if you follow all the directions carefully.

As for the error reports... If you are running a copy of WindowsXP SP2 which was not supplied by an OEM and you are not on an older HP or Dell tower, I see absolutely no issues.

If you run an OEM tower that has their own Windows disk supplied and that OEM Windows disk installs a repair partition, or is SP1 and you must web update for SP2, I would cautious about using ANY 3rd party defrag or partition software. It is not just O&O that may cause that problem. O&O is just one of many software titles that may not work with OEM systems or old versions of WindowsXP

[rootbeer]

It seems I have to put something here in order to make these replies stop coming to my inbox. And so I have...

[DizZa]

Providing I have a clean disk used 30%, would defragging using O&O REALLY make that much of a diferance to my fsX?

And how do I know if I will get the problem with O&O causing the bluescreen?

Oh yea.. it will make a big difference but the other items in that list must be done too... and the more free space, the more it will improve things. At 30% used you will most likely see a very decent leap in speed and smooth MSFS if you follow all the directions carefully.

As for the error reports... If you are running a copy of WindowsXP SP2 which was not supplied by an OEM and you are not on an older HP or Dell tower, I see absolutely no issues.

If you run an OEM tower that has their own Windows disk supplied and that OEM Windows disk installs a repair partition, or is SP1 and you must web update for SP2, I would cautious about using ANY 3rd party defrag or partition software. It is not just O&O that may cause that problem. O&O is just one of many software titles that may not work with OEM systems or old versions of WindowsXP

Thank you.

Don't tell anyone, but I am on a Dell 8400 (ARRRRRGH).... Which is moderately old; the Windows Disk is SP2 though.... Repair partitions. eh? How do I find that out?

Once again thanks!

[Nick N]

Providing I have a clean disk used 30%, would defragging using O&O REALLY make that much of a diferance to my fsX?

And how do I know if I will get the problem with O&O causing the bluescreen?

Oh yea.. it will make a big difference but the other items in that list must be done too... and the more free space, the more it will improve things. At 30% used you will most likely see a very decent leap in speed and smooth MSFS if you follow all the directions carefully.

As for the error reports... If you are running a copy of WindowsXP SP2 which was not supplied by an OEM and you are not on an older HP or Dell tower, I see absolutely no issues.

If you run an OEM tower that has their own Windows disk supplied and that OEM Windows disk installs a repair partition, or is SP1 and you must web update for SP2, I would cautious about using ANY 3rd party defrag or partition software. It is not just O&O that may cause that problem. O&O is just one of many software titles that may not work with OEM systems or old versions of WindowsXP

Thank you.

Don't tell anyone, but I am on a Dell 8400 (ARRRRRGH).... Which is moderately old; the Windows Disk is SP2 though.... Repair partitions. eh? How do I find that out?

Once again thanks!