PerfectDisk 11 Released

[Bigaldoc]

I was notified in an email today. Don't know much about it, so you'll have to judge for yourself:

        Version Information: Whats-new-PD11

        Pricing: Buy Now | PerfectDisk

[JoeP]

I installed it last week at home. So far so good. The organization is somewhat different but since I seldom open it I don't care. I just let it run its scheduled tasks.

Joe

[Bigaldoc]

Thanks Joe. It's always nice to hear that someone has already tried it. I just upgraded and will install it now, and run it this coming weekend when I usually do "housekeeping" stuff.

[BobArch2]

I was notified in an email today. Don't know much about it, so you'll have to judge for yourself:

Hi, Al,

Got the same advice from PD, March 2. Since I have the annual maintenance, I got advance notice.

Downloaded PD 11 Pro, installed it and gave it a whirl. To say the analysis phase is speedy would be an understatement! The defrag phase is also very fast. Haven't invoked the auto-daily-background-phase as I'm not too sure how it would impact Shadow Protect. Notwithstanding I have never really been an advocate of daily defrags!

I am impressed with the new version.

[Bigaldoc]

... Haven't invoked the auto-daily-background-phase as I'm not too sure how it would impact Shadow Protect.

I don't remember if I got this from you or the SP web site, but I wouldn't do any defragging in the middle of a week's full and incremental backup procedure. My understanding is that it won't hurt anything BUT will result in the next backup becoming a FULL rather than a true incremental.

I only defrag these days once a month or sometimes longer, but when I do it it's always just before I run a full backup.

I've got PD 11 installed but haven't run a defrag yet, just looked around in its screens.

[Rebel]

Got the same advice from PD, March 2. Since I have the annual maintenance, I got advance notice.

Downloaded PD 11 Pro, installed it and gave it a whirl. To say the analysis phase is speedy would be an understatement! The defrag phase is also very fast.

I also got the advance notice and I upgraded to PD11 a few days ago. It certainly is fast.

However, I have one question. The PD site says:
"PerfectDisk 11 has a drive map viewer which allows you to see the files within a certain block. To be able to view a file in a block on the drive map you will have either to run an analysis or complete a defrag. Once this is done, right click on the drive map and choose show files."
Have you been able to do this (right click on the drive map and choose show files)? I've run an analysis and I've completed a defrag, and yet right clicking on the drive map does nothing.

[BobArch2]

I don't remember if I got this from you or the SP web site, but I wouldn't do any defragging in the middle of a week's full and incremental backup procedure. My understanding is that it won't hurt anything BUT will result in the next backup becoming a FULL rather than a true incremental.

You are correct in that defragging will cause the incremental to be larger. I, like you, only defrag the day of a full backup... if deemed necessary. By that I mean I do an analysis first... if heavy fragmentation, then I defrag... otherwise I leave it alone.

Having said that, I thought that I read that some defrag tools will not cause an issue for the incremental backup. I intend to check into that claim a little further.

[BobArch2]

However, I have one question. The PD site says:
"PerfectDisk 11 has a drive map viewer which allows you to see the files within a certain block. To be able to view a file in a block on the drive map you will have either to run an analysis or complete a defrag. Once this is done, right click on the drive map and choose show files."
Have you been able to do this (right click on the drive map and choose show files)? I've run an analysis and I've completed a defrag, and yet right clicking on the drive map does nothing.

Just tested the Show Files feature. Click on the Drive Map, look for the fragmented block (outlined in black) and right click on the block.

[Rebel]

Just tested the Show Files feature. Click on the Drive Map, look for the fragmented block (outlined in black) and right click on the block.

Yes - that's exactly what I've done Bob. Still, the right click does absolutely nothing. I'm going to uninstall and then reinstall and see if that might fix the problem. I'll report back.

[BobArch2]

Yes - that's exactly what I've done Bob. Still, the right click does absolutely nothing. I'm going to uninstall and then reinstall and see if that might fix the problem. I'll report back.

John, Just tried another test. This time I tried several blocks... both fragmented and whole. Right clicked on any block and on each occasion was able to see the file information.

[Rebel]

Well, I've done a "repair" and I've done a complete uninstall and reinstall and still no pop-up when I right-click on any of the blocks. It's not a deal breaker, but I'd like to find out what is causing this.

If I click on the "Product Resources" tab and then click on "Support", the self diagnosis screen opens. When I click on the Start button, "Problems found" indicates "Driver HA20X2K.sys found - possibly incompatible with PerfectDisk". From what I've been able to find, this is a Creative driver. There is an option to "Fix", but I'm hesitant to try that as there is no indication of what "Fix" actually does.

I've visited PD's support forums, but I can't find any postings which refer to a similar problem.

[BobArch2]

Well, I've done a "repair"...

Sent you a PM with contact information for PD staff customer service.

[BobArch2]

Well, I've done a "repair"...

Did your search find this?
http://www.perfectdisk.com/support/kb/823

[Rebel]

Did your search find this?
http://www.perfectdisk.com/support/kb/823

No it didn't. Thanks for that link - it clarifies the issue with the Creative driver. And thank you for the PD contact information.

[Bigaldoc]

It's a good thing you fellas made the above sequence of posts! I just now wanted to see if PD 11 would let ME see the files in a block (it does) and saw an opening screen where it seems that by default it was scheduling a defrag. Boy, I don't want that, so I turned it off.

But, in checking the blocks thing, I see my C: drive is pretty "fragged" up so I guess a run is in order this afternoon before my weekly backup.

[BobArch2]

It's a good thing you fellas made the above sequence of posts! I just now wanted to see if PD 11 would let ME see the files in a block (it does) and saw an opening screen where it seems that by default it was scheduling a defrag. Boy, I don't want that, so I turned it off.

But, in checking the blocks thing, I see my C: drive is pretty "fragged" up so I guess a run is in order this afternoon before my weekly backup.

Hey Al,
We knew you were scheduling a defrag for this weekend so wanted to make sure you started off on the right foot!

The auto scheduling was the first thing I sought out and turned off. Did not want the daily incremental backups to be affected. Notwithstanding I'm still trying to find that article about defrags and incrementals I mentioned earlier.

The other thing I sometimes do before a defrag and the monthly full backup is to turn off System Restore Points and run CCleaner. Once the SRPs are eliminated and the defrag has run, I restart the SRP process and create the initial point. Makes for a cleaner defrag and lessens the future full backup time... IMHO. I only have SRPs set up for the system drive (100GB) and SRPs can occupy 15GB in no time. I do not have SRPs set for the remaining logical drives.

[Rebel]

Well, I've done a "repair"...

Sent you a PM with contact information for PD staff customer service.

Just an update Bob. PD tech support got back to me this morning and informed me that the block file viewer is not available in the PD Home Premium version (which is what I have). It's only available in the Professional version. That certainly explains my inability to use this feature.

BTW, I was very impressed with the prompt response from the PD support team.

[BobArch2]

Just an update Bob. PD tech support got back to me this morning...
BTW, I was very impressed with the prompt response from the PD support team.

Hi John,

I have always been impressed with the PD Client Service Group - pre-sales, sales, general and technical support.

I first used PD back in 2000. Can't remember if I started with the Home or Professional version... but have been using the Pro version for several years. A couple of years ago, I acquired the 3 License Power Pack for $39.99 which included Support and Upgrade Protection for one year. When that year expired, I subscribed to their SUP for 2 years covering all 3 PCs. Total cost... US$21. Hard to beat that price!

[Rebel]

I think I'll pass on upgrading to the Pro version. Price (and it is certainly very reasonable) is not a factor. For me, the Home Premium version simply does all that I require.

[Cah]

Hello, I got an early email about PerfectDisk 11 as I was eligible through their software upgrade policy. I installed it and while it seemed faster than version 10 I found the results were very spotty - literally. It wouldn't do a solid SMARTplacement defrag. I tried with the various different kinds of SMARTplacement as well. It kept leaving gaps. So I didn't find then new SMARTplacement smart at all. I sent them an email about it but didn't get a reply, though I didn't open a formal support request about it. I just went back to version 10. I'll probably give it a go again in a few months after they have updated it. What I still find strange with Perfect disk is if you do an analysis and then select a defrag option it always reanalysises again from scratch. One would think it would just be able to start directly but it only does so when it makes a recommendation. For some reason I find that a bit galling. It's the first thing I check every time I see a new version and it never changes.

Cheers,

Chris