Here’s a little something on defragmenting with Windows 7 from a single user perspective. Greg Smith, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a full-time software engineer, and also is a part time audio engineer. He wrote the following to me:
“I mainly use my PC for software development and productivity, but occasionally I use it for live recordings of small concerts around the area.
"The computer is a self-built Intel Q9400 system with 4 GB RAM. There are two hard drives installed – a Western Digital 320 GB drive as my system drive, and a Western Digital 640 GB drive for storage. The system drive is partitioned for dual-booting. The outermost partition (200 GB) is my software development partition, which is running Windows 7. The innermost partition (100 GB) is my recording partition, which is running a stripped-down version of Vista x64. The 640 GB storage drive is partitioned as one large partition.
"Since I use my Windows 7 installation 99% of the time, that’s the Windows installation on which PerfectDisk is installed. It is configured for StealthPatrol on the Windows 7 partition and the Storage partition (I have the Vista partition set to manual). All my programs are installed on the 200 GB Windows 7 partition, but my data is entirely on the 640 GB storage partition. PerfectDisk keeps my program files and data perfectly optimized. I don’t even have to think about defragmenting my drives anymore – I just always have outstanding disk performance. This is especially important when recording, as the large audio files (sometimes several GB per track) can quickly become extremely fragmented. I simply kick off a SmartPlacement defrag on the storage partition before AND after a recording session, and everything is perfectly optimized.”
Greg also had a little to say about PerfectDisk support:
“Your support is simply amazing. If you have a problem, you are contacted within 24 hours, and often times within a few hours of your submission. The support staff are an absolute pleasure to work with - friendly, knowledgeable, competent, and above all — HELPFUL. Raxco has provided some of the best product support experiences I’ve ever had.”
You won’t get any of that from freeware disk defrag software or Microsoft's Windows 7 defrag.
The PerfectDisk 10 Enterprise Console has been updated to Build 127. This latest build provides enhanced support with a VIM plug-in to VMware vSphere Client 4.0 plus a few bug fixes.
The vSphere plug-in allows users to access the PerfectDisk 10 Enterprise Console directly from within the vSphere Client, providing a single point of management for their vSphere-based Windows guests. Using the PerfectDisk Enterprise Console plug-in, users can easily deploy, configure and schedule PerfectDisk, allowing for enhanced disk space management in vSphere environments, for vSphere defrag.
You can “Check For Updates” under Help in the PerfectDisk console, or wait for Autoupdate.
PerfectSpeed PC Optimizer Build 112 is now available. Various bugs have been fixed. You can "Check For Updates" under the Options tab or wait for Autoupdate.
I was recently invited to speak at a VMware User Group meeting about the impact of file and free space fragmentation in a virtual environment. Before I started the presentation I asked the audience how many had ever defragmented a physical server and about 30% raised their hand. Then I asked how many had ever defragmented a virtual server and about 10% raised their hand. This is a pretty typical response.
Systems administrators running virtual machines seem to overlook the fact that each virtual machine is running its own version of Windows Server and within that machine NTFS is busy fragmenting files and free space. While fragmentation is a performance-stealing problem on physical servers, the problem is compounded on virtual machines where each virtual instance is competing for a finite amount of resources. This leads to resource contention between Windows guests and, with Hyper-V, contention between the Windows guests and the host. It is essential to keep the files defragmented and the free space consolidated on Windows guests to maximize performance and minimize resource contention in a virtual world.
After my presentation one attendee told me his company was having performance issues with several of their virtual servers. They were looking at upgrading the hardware and bringing in a consultant. He knew these virtual machines were frequently updating files, the kind of activity that produces fragmentation, but he never thought of fragmentation as the problem. After sitting through my presentation he was convinced fragmentation was the culprit and we just saved them a lot of unnecessary expense. In complex technical environments it is easy to overlook the obvious when looking for a solution. Sometimes you just need to defrag a computer to get a lot more out of it, and that includes VM's.
You get what you pay for. And sometimes paying nothing is good enough, sometimes it's not. If you're looking for defrag downloads, you can find some free stuff. That might be okay for you...but maybe not.
Writing in his Naples News Technobuddy column, Bill Husted writes often about free software programs that do a great job. Indeed, he writes that "one of the things I enjoy most with this column is recommending free programs that do a great job. From an early age I’ve been a great believer in the “if it’s free, it’s for me,” school of thought."
However, Husted goes on to write that "there are programs I do buy. That’s what we’ll talk about today, those rare programs so good that I’m willing to pay for them." As for the Windows built-in defragger, Husted says "it works OK. Perfect Disk 10 is better — so much better that I am willing to pay $40 for Perfect Disk 10 Professional." And the bottom line for Husted -- "my computer runs faster because of it."
Most Windows defrag software, including the free stuff, won't defrag metadata completely. Won't defrag system files completely. Won't optimize your drives, won't do a good job of consolidating free space...won't do much more than basic defrag of files. A disk defragmentation tool can do a whole lot more, and benefit users a whole lot more.
The must-have computer programs -- read the entire article here.
In the November 16th issue of Business Week, Matthew Boyle's feature article, The Accidental Hero, describes how Subway has thrived in the recession as nearly every other restaurant chain reeled. How is it doing it? The big surge got its boost from an obscure Subway franchisee in Miami, who started the $5 footlong concept on slow weekends and then watched business take off. The concept went national, and the rest is history, as Subway is now on track to surpass McDonald's in worldwide locations by early next year. McDonald's still has a big lead in revenue ($30 billion to Subway's $9.6 billion), but Subway has supplanted both Wendy's and Burger King in market share.
As usual, there's a lot that goes on in this multi-billion dollar business to make it all work. And in fact, as Business Week's article points out, there have been various logistical challenges in trying to meet the huge increase in demand. One thing that has not been a concern for Subway is its hard drive defragmentation. For years, Subway has relied on PerfectDisk to ensure its servers perform at maximum efficiency. At the time PerfectDisk was installed, free space consolidation and auto defrag capabilities were forefront in Subway's requirements. Now, PerfectDisk is just a standard part of its operating procedures.
My favorite video magazine, Videomaker, has its annual Camcorder Buyer's Guide out in the just-released December edition. And as the guide's author Randy Hansen states, "in video, if there's one constant, it's change." Like so much of electronics, do you buy today or wait a few months for the price to drop and/or for extra storage and capabilities to be added.
It's a very comprehensive guide, covering a wide range of camcorders, including those that start as low as $50 and skyrocket to the "if you have to ask" range. For me - I'm asking...and I have to! And there are lots of choices in the various categories - not like the choices for defragmenting a computer, of which I find very few if any (insert grin).
But unlike a disk defrag utility, where you'll receive regular updates to the software, a camcorder is typically an investment that you will hold onto for quite a long time, as is - barring add-on accessories.
We get emails from people every week who are video editors and videographers of all types - just starting out and professionals. The more anyone performs video editing on their computer, the more they realize the importance of a disk defragmenter program like PerfectDisk. The video editing gets them better videos; disk defragmentation makes it all easier, from a faster PC to better use of their PC's space through free space consolidation and things like duplicate file removal. It really acts as a disk cleanup program as well.
If this upcoming holiday shopping season includes shopping for a camcorder, I'd recommend taking a look at this guide before you spend your money. And of course, once you start taking those videos and editing and storing them, I'd recommend maximizing your investment with the necessary software to keep your computer performing like new.
Our development staff has been making some final improvements to Version 11, including the incorporation of some new enhancements, all with an eye toward making what we believe to be the best defrag software even better.
We've expanded our Alpha test and incorporated feedback from additional testers. Additional tweaks have been made to the new analysis phase of PerfectDisk, allowing for some really good results which lead to a much faster analyze and fast defrag. Some of the performance improvements will be particularly noticeable on large drives. In some cases we're seeing improvements of several hundred percent. We're now also incorporating new graphics into the product and will begin the beta test in just a few weeks.
With PerfectDisk 11, we plan to release all the client versions together with the Enterprise Console. This will be particularly beneficial to our corporate customers, especially with all the new virtualization functionality.
Our latest disk defragmenter program -- the PerfectDisk 11 beta test comes soon.
It's what we try to do with every release of our software. It's what our entire company -- from development to technical support to customer service to account managers -- sets out to do every morning as we walk through the door. Do better than we did yesterday.
For defrag downloads, today I came across a new PerfectDisk 10 Pro editor's review on the Windows 7 Download website, which provides "the best free Windows 7 downloads." The review states that with PerfectDisk, "whether you are downloading movie files or manipulating jpegs on your machine, you will find that the speed of your computer stays at its maximum performance level. If you are tired of your programs hanging or your software coming up with countless errors, PerfectDisk 10 Professional can assure you of optimum execution."
The editor continues: "...Raxco Software has outdone itself again with this nifty piece of optimizing software. Installation is simple and navigation is uncomplicated and straightforward. PerfectDisk 10 Pro is a follow-up to its predecessor that was released in 2008 that is proving to be faster and more reliable in its functionality. The fact that it has included compatibility with Windows 7 is already a plus to many since it is obviously up-to-date and at par with other developments in the tech world.
"PerfectDisk 10 Pro also offers a defragmentation system that accommodates mini applications that maximize space management by effectively taking care of temporary and duplicate files in your PC. Perfect Disk 10 Professional is definitely a big improvement from the last release, which was already impressive when it was introduced back then. For those thinking of an optimizing defragmenter for their PC, you can be sure never to go wrong with this Raxco product that will take care of your PC internal optimizing needs."
To defrag Windows 7, there's the Microsoft defrag and the other usual suspects. But as the review points out, a basic disk defrag program doesn't give you all the power, flexibility and thoroughness of PerfectDisk. And when you then add capabilities like disk space management and the ability to boot quicker, you end up with a whole lot more.
You will have outdone yourself. You can see the full review here.
As the National Football League continues negotiations on a new labor agreement, many issues need to be addressed in order to reach an agreement and avoid a strike or lockout two years out. And the urgency increases, as this week NFL commissioner Roger Goodell indicated that he'll participate in the latest round of labor negotiations with the players' union today in New York, along with NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith.
As both sides' lawyers and representatives crunch numbers and perform the research necessary to make their cases, it wouldn't seem that something as mundane as Windows defrag software or a disk cleanup program would come into play. And perhaps in the big scheme of things, they don't.
But when the NFLPA (NFL Players Association) goes about the backend of their business, they don't mess around. They use PerfectDisk. As do many NFL teams. In fact, the Seattle Seahawks take it a step further, as they defrag Exchange and compact their data stores with PerfectDisk Exchange.
Pro labor. Pro business. Pro fast defragmentation.
With all the fanfare given the launch of Windows 7, it's easy to forget that Microsoft has also released Windows Server 2008 R2, This contains the kernel of Windows 7, and is the predecessor to Windows 7 Server, which is probably about a year or so from being released.
While there is a rush to Winodws 7 for many consumers, there are also many that will wait for at least the first service pack. And that is certainly more likely on the enterprise side. And just as there is usually caution with new releases of a Windows OS, there is even more caution on the server side. Which is why you don't hear or see much about R2.
But for those taking a look at it, PerfectDisk 10 is ready for a server defrag on it. And R2 provides additional management and virtualization capabilities that we will take advantage of in PerfectDisk 11.
Windows Server 2008 defrag -- PerfectDisk is R2 ready...and certified.
In a report by editor-at-large Charles Babcock, Information Week recently reported on IBM's plans to bring the virtual machines of multiple vendors under one management umbrella called IBM VMControl. The new VMControl is due out in December, and no, it won't include any defragmenting PC or server defrag software. But, from a single management console, it addresses a new data center reality - VM sprawl (as opposed to the old physical server sprawl).
So it is with the approach we are taking with PerfectDisk as we move beyond hard drive defragmentation to the new virtual world. We've certainly learned a lot and continue to learn since we started moving in this direction. We've built up our virtualization expertise and continue to do so, both internally and through alliances and partnerships outside Raxco.
On the data center side, PerfectDisk has evolved from its initial ESX offering to more comprehensive solutions for the new vSphere 4 as well as Microsoft's Hyper-V environment. This is in addition to our disk defragmentation tool for VMware Workstation and VMware Server. Now, through the PerfectDisk 10 Enterprise Console, this more heterogeneous environment can be managed and controlled, and there will be additional capabilities added with PerfectDisk 11. In his article, Babcock reports numbers in the 60% - 80% range for IBM customers using multiple hypervisors. The trend is clear for this still-evolving world of virtualization, and it carries over to virtualization defrag as well. The data center is moving well beyond a simple server defrag. Physical and virtual servers need to be addressed, as do guests and hosts, and all from multiple vendors. With our patent-pending Virtual Awareness technology, we're working hard to build on the foundation we've started, and move forward with our customers, as their virtualization partner.
As evidenced by our partnetrship with HP and scores of success stories from users everywhere, it is widely recognized that Windows Home Server users can benefit from using a disk defrag utility. But the real value goes beyond what you might think of when putting those files back together when you say you want to defrag a hard disk.
Many WHS users tell us there are a couple things in particular they are looking for to help their environment. And they don't care if it comes from disk defragment software or anywhere else - they just want results. They want to stream media faster and they want to mximize use of their disk space, since they are generally using a lot of it with big video files and the like.
So disk defragmentation becomes pretty obvious for part of this. Defrag hard disk, access times improve and media is streamed faster. Simple enough. Now, add in PerfectDisk 10 Windows Home Server's free space consolidation and you also benefit from a reduced rate of refragmentation, fewer resources used, and backup and anti-virus performance is improved.
Complete optimization of the WHS environment - for a better experience.
With almost 12 million monthly subscriptions, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft (WoW) has a fanatical user base. And like these or players of any other MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing game), they look for any advantage, any edge they can get. Every day, we hear from WoW players telling us how PerfectDisk has beefed up their game and improved their WoW performance. Fast defragmentation is just part of the story.
Take Lee Morris, whose own words say it best:
"PerfectDisk is an amazing product. I originally downloaded the demo to see how it could improve the performance of World of Warcraft. Specifically WoW's MPQ files which are huge files that are updated weekly. They fragment so easily, and when fragmented they cause lagging and hangs during interactive game play as you cross particular boundaries between geography. Once I used PerfectDisk, I had nearly flawless performance. No hangs or lagging. I bought the tool immediately and scheduled the defrag after each patch from Blizzard. I've never had any lag since. I bought a 5 user license for my guild mates. Totally amazing product that's fast running and reliable. Might as well call it a WoW optimizer."
Disk defragmenter software that goes to war for WoW players every day....and wins battle after battle.
With VMware's recent release of VMware Workstation 7, support is immediately available for PerfectDisk 10 VMware Workstation customers. 7 introduces many enhancements, including installing and running VMware vSphere 4 and VMware ESXi in a virtual machine.
VMware calls VMware Workstation "the gold standard in desktop virtualization." So it makes sense for those that want disk defragmenter software to work seamlessly with VMware products, they look to the gold standard in virtualization defrag.
PerfectDisk 10 VMware Workstation incorporates and automates the disk space-saving “Shrink” and re-indexing found in VMware Workstation, enhancing their effectiveness. It defragments Windows guests and moves all the free space to the end of the disk, allowing the Shrink utility to maximize the amount of valuable disk space it can recover.
The defragment program for automatic defragmentation, re-indexing and shrinking of VMware Workstation - it's only here.
When looking to Windows defrag software for Windows 7, there are various defrag programs to choose from and decisions you need to make. Do you want to be able to do a boot time defrag in order to defrag metadata? Is free space consolidation important? Do you want to boot quicker? Are you running any disk cleanup tools? Are you going to defrag Exchange databases?
There may be many more questions and requirements. Or your list for choosing between defrag programs might be short and sweet - you want a faster computer. One criteria that many people look for is certification from Microsoft. To some, it's just a "feel good" thing. To others, it's critical. And to some, it means nothing.
To us, it's important. We know there are many people that look to certification from Microsoft. And we know that many businesses have a requirement that they will only run certified applications. So PerfectDisk is certified by Microsoft for Windows 7.
In reviewing a disk defrag program, you might ask yourself why a particular product is not certified by Microsoft. For example, one area that Microsoft focuses on is overly-intrusive installations and snap-ins to the operating system - if a disk defragmentation tool is overly intrusive, Microsoft won't cerify the product. Look, with all the positive feedback Microsoft has garnered from Windows 7, it is not about to put a stamp of approval on an application that takes away from the positive user experience people are receiving from the new OS. Microsoft also made changes to the boot process in Windows 7, and we modified PerfectDisk to address these changes.
So one can choose to tell the world that certification doesn't matter and the fact that a program just works with Windows 7 is good enough.
We choose a different path for our users -- no risk.
Rick Broida, writing last week in PC World in an article also picked up by Computerworld, Network World, InfoWorld, The Industry Standard and more, describes his moving to Windows 7 from Vista on a new hard drive partition. Because Rick wanted to get more "shrinkage" on his drive than Disk Management would give him, he "turned to PerfectDisk, a drive defragmentation program that can perform the all-important function of moving system files to the beginning of the partition, thus freeing up much more of the available space."
This is just another benefit of PerfectDisk's free space consolidation available through its Space Restoration Technology. Defragmenting software that can also provides disk space management such as shrinking a drive effiently. If you're moving to Windows 7, you'll need more than the built-in Windows 7 defrag utility to effectively shrink your drives, just as you did with Vista. With PerfectDisk, you can do more than defrag a computer.
With our recent announcement of support for vSphere 4, PerfectDisk now provides unparralled support for vSphere defrag. VMware has received a great deal of interest with this cloud operating system, as its battle with Microsoft's Hyper-V, Citrix' XenServer and others shows no sign of abating, but only intensifying. While auto defrag is a key element of any solution for a virtualization defrag tool, any defragmenter program that fails to address the unique complexities of a virtual environment will come up short.
Because vSphere 4 is able to manage large pools of virtualization computing infrastructure, including hardware and software, its overall performance is critical to organizations implementing it. This is one area where a defragmenter program can help. And with its ability to defrag seamlessly in a vSphere environment, providing the patent-pending Virtual Awareness defragmentation that eliminates resource contention and ensures efficient use of resource, PerfectDisk 10 vSphere ESX delivers.
Time to defrag VMware environments like you mean it...with true integration.
September 30, 2009 - a fun day here at PerfectDisk headquarters -- the pre-Alpha code for PerfectDisk 11 was distributed internally here this morning. More auto defrag functionality without bloat. Backend and frontend improvements. Shinier and more intuitive, without a new learning curve required. Faster. More virtualization improvements. Desktops, laptops, production servers, Exchange servers and Windows Home Servers will benefit.
Okay, I'm biased. But your chance to see for yourselves is coming.
I know you're asking...if PerfectDisk 10 is so great, why an 11? Well, for the best defrag software, we felt "a little extra push" was needed...
And here it is.
11 is on its way -- stay tuned.
Follow PerfectDisk 11 developments as they happen and get the latest updates on Twitter.
Welcome to the new look of the PerfectDisk Blog. I'm Joe Abusamra, and in this space I'll continue to provide the latest updates and information on PerfectDisk. I'll also provide my views on related topics, from general defragmentation utilities to Windows 7 defrag to free space consoldation and more. From time to time, I'll continue to highlight how some of our consumer and business users are using PerfectDisk and our disk defrag software family of products.
I welcome any and all comments. Comments are all displayed immediately, to be removed only if they contain inappropriate language or spam. Thanks for visiting.
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