PerfectDisk 11 Released

[BobArch2]

... It wouldn't do a solid SMARTplacement defrag. I tried with the various different kinds of SMARTplacement as well. It kept leaving gaps.

Hi Chris,

The SMARTPlacement option does not necessarily consolidate all free space. To quote from page 115 of the User Guide:

"PerfectDisk SMARTPlacementTM
This is the default defragmentation algorithm for entire drive defragmentation in PerfectDisk. SMARTPlacement is a patented algorithm of Raxco Software and is used for the best placement of files on your disk to minimize refragmentation. Files are organized by their creation and modified dates. The theory is that files that have not changed recently are less likely to change in the future. These older files are grouped together so that once PerfectDisk has SMARTPlaced them, future defragmentation passes are less likely to move them again. This shortens the amount of time needed to keep the drive at peak performance. Also the free space is consolidated next to the newer files since these are more likely to change or be deleted. Consolidating the free space makes the creation of new files contiguous and therefore minimizes refragmentation of your drive.
SMARTPlacement:
* defragments all your files, consolidates free space, and optimizes the drive according to file usage.
* provides the most complete defragmentation possible, and slows down refragmentation of your drive.
* may still leave small blocks of free space between files if the PerfectDisk engine determines this would take too much time for a minimal performance gain."

There is a SMARTPlacement setting which will consolidate more of the free space at the sacrifice of speed. To quote Raxco:

"Aggressive free space consolidation checkbox - if checked, PerfectDisk will place files one after the next during a SMARTPlacement defragmentation pass. This sometimes can slow the defragmentation process. If unchecked, SMARTPlacement still defragments all the files, however it allows small chunks of free space to remain between files in order to finish the defrag pass faster."

I normally just let PD do its thing and not worry about free space.

[Bigaldoc]

I agree with you, Bob, that the important thing in a defrag is to get files clustered together for (possible) faster reading. Free space will change anyway immediately after a defrag and possibly with the very next hard drive activity that involves deleting, adding or modifying files.

[Cah]

Hi Bob,

I tried various different ways including using the Aggressive free space consolidation checkbox. My point is that SMARTplacement in 11 does a worse job at it than version 10. Surely, if it is leaving holes between files that increases the chance of defragmentation when new files are created? Version 10 organised files with no gaps. Version 11 is like a Swiss cheese.

Chris