All Things PerfectDisk and Defrag

                                       

Softpedia provides news, reviews and information on everything from defragmentation utilities to security software, games, and a lot more. Windows, Mac, Linux, Mobil and gadgets are just a few of the categories it tracks. Softpedia's team of editors and reviewers is usually quick to hop on new releases, and the launch of PerfectDisk 11 proved no different.

Softpedia has issued its PerfectDisk 11 review, with some of the highlights listed as BlockViewer, enhanced SSD defrag support, and the new Advanced SMARTPlacement, which seems to be getting everyone's attention. As always with Softpedia, there's a thorough overview, screen shots, and a final section on The Good, The Bad and The Truth, with The Truth summing it all up.

The review points out that the new Advanced SMARTPlacement optimization technology "is now customizable in terms of the file types that should benefit from faster access times. As top defragmenting professional solution, PerfectDisk Professional does not miss anything."

                                             EDITOR'S RATINGS: 

                                             User Interface:  (5/5) 
                                             Features:  (5/5) 
                                             Ease of use:  (5/5) 
                                             Pricing/Value:  (5/5) 
                                             Overall:  (5/5) 
                                        

Softpedia's review looks at the entire product, which for users familiar with PerfectDisk, know it's a big part of the product: "As Raxco accustomed its users, besides defragmentation power, PerfectDisk also includes space management features that are not at all negligible. The module provides an interesting set of instruments designed to provide accurate reports on the available free space on the drives and the data that takes most of it...comes in handy especially as today's market continually lowers the cost for storage devices, allowing users to keep more an more data on the hard disk(s)."

The Truth

Here's "The Truth" on PerfectDisk 11 according to Softpedia, a summary of its findings:

"The latest release of PerfectDisk does not bring spectacular features to the table and does not clutter the suite with useless functionality turning it into a bloated bundle. Instead, it thrives because Raxco perfects the existent features and matures them to the point they become flawless.

"Flexibility, versatility and ease of use remain the attributes of PerfectDisk Professional although these have been pushed to new limits. It can reduce fragmentation even given some of the most precarious conditions, such as less than 1% of free space and excessive fragments scattered randomly. It simply does its best to gather the files together and stops only when it cannot continue, giving you the reason for its halt.

"The few mischieves present in the application are of little importance compared to the benefits of the product, just like the price. Moreover, the application can be purchased at a lower price than it is regularly available ($39.99) through the constant promotions from Raxco."

You can see the entire review here.

                                            

 

                         Welcome to PerfectDisk 11

                              www.perfectdisk.com

                                    
                    

• It's an 11 -- start your engines
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- What's New
• Windows 7 performance -- defrag to get it 
• It goes to 11 -- in 11 days
• Mini-sneak peek: a few few PerfectDisk 11 videos on the PerfectDiskNews YouTUbe Channel
• Well, well -- aren't you picky -- defrag a file -- or 100
• VSS defrag -- more flexibility and control
• More than defrag -- to space and beyond
• Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital
• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon

• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- What's New
• Windows 7 performance -- defrag to get it 
• It goes to 11 -- in 11 days
• Mini-sneak peek: a few few PerfectDisk 11 videos on the PerfectDiskNews YouTUbe Channel
• Well, well -- aren't you picky -- defrag a file -- or 100
• VSS defrag -- more flexibility and control
• More than defrag -- to space and beyond
• Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital
• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon
   

• streaming media faster
• reclaiming hard drive space
• consolidating free space to improve backup performance.

• Over at the MS WHS site, they're in the middle of giving away 11 copies of the soon-to-be-released PerfectDisk 11 Windows Home Server. Check it out at www.mswhs.com.
• And WeGotServed has something else cooked up. I can tell you that even if you already own PerfectDisk Windows Home Server and are covered under upgrade protection, you'll want to check this out, as it will be something for you too. Check this one out at www.wegotserved.com.

• Windows 7 performance -- defrag to get it 
• It goes to 11 -- in 11 days
• Mini-sneak peek: a few few PerfectDisk 11 videos on the PerfectDiskNews YouTUbe Channel
• Well, well -- aren't you picky -- defrag a file -- or 100
• VSS defrag -- more flexibility and control
• More than defrag -- to space and beyond
• Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital
• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon
   

• Windows 7 -- defrag with confidence
• Windows 7 defrag -- no file or folder exclusion
• Windows 7 defrag in a corporate environment
• Windows 7 defrag -- real world, real guy
• Defrag for Windows  7 -- "Raxco Software has outdone itself again"
   

• It goes to 11 -- in 11 days
• Mini-sneak peek: a few few PerfectDisk 11 videos on the PerfectDiskNews YouTUbe Channel
• Well, well -- aren't you picky -- defrag a file -- or 100
• VSS defrag -- more flexibility and control
• More than defrag -- to space and beyond
• Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital
• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon
   

                                         

I've done MVP stories in this space from time to time. As a refresher, a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) is someone recognized by Microsoft for technical excellence and more. According to Microsoft, MVPs "freely share their deep knowledge, real-world experience, and impartial, objective feedback to help people enhance the way they use technology. Of more than 100 million users who participate in technology communities, around 4,000 are recognized as Microsoft MVPs. MVPs are independent experts who are offered a close connection with people at Microsoft."

That explanation is just one example of why thousands of Microsoft employees' PCs, laptops and servers are defragmented by PerfectDisk - they're often on the lookout for the top defrag software. In any event, it was nice to hear last week from Dudley Henriques, recently retired professional pilot and Microsoft MVP. 

                                     

Dudley explains his use of PerfectDisk and why he thinks it's the best disk defrag software:

"As a retired professional pilot active both as a flight safety advisor to the Warbird display flying community and to the flight simulation community on realism, fidelity, authenticity, and accuracy, my computer systems need to be in top notch condition at all times. My work in the simulation industry involves highly detailed testing of new add-on aircraft, where files and folders are being constantly worked, altered, moved about on the system, added to, and deleted. It doesn't take long in my job to turn an organized computer into a computer deeply fragmented and in serious need of a PC tune up.

"I've used most of the major computer maintenance software at one time or another, trying to find the very best to suit my needs. My choice of software that does the job for me since 2006 has been PerfectDisk from Raxco Software. To put it bluntly and in plain language, Raxco software works. Once installed, PerfectDisk has never once failed to meet my rigid expectation demanding maximum performance. It's simple to use, and it's rock solid dependable.

"I've been recommending Raxco products since the day I discovered them in 2006. In my opinion, you can't buy a better product to keep a computer clean and running properly as it should."

The best disk defrag? For Dudley Henriques, and thousands of Microsoft MVPs, it's PerfectDisk.               

                                                                      
 

                                    

Are you ready? The people below certainly are. They're just a small sampling of feedback from the largest beta test in PerfectDisk history. Thousands of users -- home users, small businesses and enterprises -- have lent their time, energy and expertise to making sure we deliver the best defrag software ever.

And with their help, we've done it. On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11.

Coming March 9th, 2010.

                                    


"...once again, the best compliment I can give is that YOU GOT IT RIGHT!  I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit and the interface is clean, beautiful, and totally functional. This version appears to be noticeably faster than PD10, which was already pretty good.  You have stepped ahead of the competition yet again."
                                                                Paul T. Blades

"...lots of goodies in this new version. Many times products come up with a new feature here and there or fix things that should have been fixed in the prior version—you guys really aired it out and took a whole new crack at the product. Really speaks volumes of the caliber of your people and company. VERY fast compared to prior editions -- great!

"Like the new progress bars showing how much of the drive is left to defragment and the activity indicators along the bottom right in the drive map view showing 'defrag' 'recycler' and 'schedule.' Again, pounding on the GUI stuff, I really like the new block effects -- the blocks with the 'shine' effect and bright colors are great.

The SMARTPlacement types you can select based upon resources available and performance needs so far as fast file access etc., blew me away.  Pretty much ended my even checking to see what each new version of *** expletive deleted *** looks like before I upgrade to one or the other. I did have a chance finally to compare the amount of file information *** expletive deleted *** gives you when you use the 'cluster inspector' versus your new right click feature-- not even close. PD11 wins the details award there.  Everything anybody would ever want to know is reachable through a right click and a few other clicks to get to the specific details you want-- very nice."
                                                               Gary Michelson

"I've noted significant defragmentation improvement on the Windows-7 system. Very much appreciate the usability features...thanks for a wonderful product." 
                                                               Henry Gardiner

"Your claim that initial analysis of a drive is faster in Version 11 than in previous versions is an understatement. Analysis used to take several annoying minutes, just to determine whether defragging was needed. I just ran the analysis for an 80GB PATA HDD in 19 seconds. In the past, the analysis of that drive always took several minutes, even when it was not highly fragmented."
                                                               Kenton Machina

"Thank you. I have participated in many Beta tests, including Microsoft XP Beta and Vista Beta, but never has the experience been as easy or as pleasurable as my experience with you and PerfectDisk 11. PerfectDisk 11 has been faultless in its operation. You have done an outstanding job with this program."
                                                               Michael Downs

"I now find the software excellent and a big improvement on v10.  The drive map does not take so long to build; the menu tabs are clearer and more logical. Well done!"
                                                               Julian Grenfell

"Version 11 Beta operated flawlessly. Solid, stable and much faster than Ver 10."
                                                               Richard Lindsay

"New StealthPatrol features make this a very feature-rich version."
                                                               Alfred Morgan-Jones

"I think you're showing off a little - when I installed this build, PD11 immediately analysed my 4 1TB disks simultaneously in just a few seconds. Keep up the good work."
                                                              Robert Rigby

"The speed improvements are very obvious with the analysis. Going maximum window and analyzing gives the WOW to the client. Just two words: Love it."  
                                                             James Brown

"I've noted significant defragmentation improvement on the Windows-7 system. Very much appreciate the usability features...thanks for a wonderful product."
                                                              Henry Gardiner

"...faster than previous versions. So far everything looks great to me." 
                                                              John Hull

"PD 11 Home Edition is looking good, and its performance is excellent. I like the changes you've made to the Drive Map tab."
                                                              Greg Webb

"...quick....smooth..."
                                                              Richard Futch

"...faster....solid..."
                                                              Richard H. Brown, Jr.

"....much faster....thank you...."
                                                              John Hall

Having used PD11 HE and Pro the same as I have been using PD10, the overall impression I have is one of a more professional and robust feel. There are many minor interface tweaks and additions, input and output, which contribute to this feel and after a while I could tell that there are many improvements under the hood too." 
                                                             Mark Stubbs

"It is substantially better on the Win7 x64 system! So the better the system, the more performance gains you'll see with PD11 (which makes perfect sense). Congratulations on a smooth dev cycle. I generally leave PD in Stealth Patrol, and forget about it. Once in awhile, I check on things and find all my hard drives in optimal condition. I just smile and silently thank you guys for a great product."
                                                            Stephen V. Smith

"...noticeably faster and has a very nice feel. Congratulations." 
                                                            Alan Burt

"Product has worked flawlessly on several different machines using various operating systems and hardware."
                                                            Ronald Chenoweth

“awesome software”
                                                            Shawn Antosz

“…very impressed…”
                                                            Bryn Pritchard

"Analyzing and defragmenting is noticeably faster than previous versions and I like the new layout.  I've not noticed any issues. Installed on Win 7 x64.  Looking forward to the final release! Good work." 
                                                            Adrian Jefferies

"I like the intelligent handling of SSD drives."
                                                            Tom Bruce

"Bravo Zulu!!"
                                                            Tom Vaughn 
 

Related Posts:

• Mini-sneak peek: a few few PerfectDisk 11 videos on the PerfectDiskNews YouTUbe Channel
• Well, well -- aren't you picky -- defrag a file -- or 100
• VSS defrag -- more flexibility and control
• More than defrag -- to space and beyond
• Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital
• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon
   

                                                                       
Market researcher IDC has released its latest figures on worldwide server sales, and they indicate that businesses are starting to increase spending on their IT infrastructures. IDC's numbers showed that revenue from servers in the fourth quarter of 2009 declined 3.9% year over year to $13 billion, as shipments rose 1.9% to 1.9 million units. The fourth quarter was the second consecutive period of quarter-over-quarter revenue growth, and driving the increase was a rebound in spending on volume servers, particularly x86 machines. 

In a statement, IDC analyst Matt Eastwood said that "market conditions improved significantly in the fourth quarter as the marketplace transitioned from recent stability to growth in several critical server segments."

                                               

We've seen this trend in the server defrag area as well. Many large businesses appear to be on the move in their infrastructure buildup. And accompanying their server acquisitions is a high interest in server defrag, whether vSphere defrag, defrag Hyper-V or even SQL defrag as they look for SQL server performance improvements.

IDC's rival Gartner has similar numbers, with Gartner predicting a return to shipment growth this year in the middle or high single digits and revenue growth at a slightly lower level.

Server growth is upon us  -- get your server defrag ready.

                                        
 

                                          

Savvy computer users looking for slow PC fixes often look to defragmenting programs to speed up PC and generally improve slow PC problems. As we've pointed out before, there are many users who make great use of PerfectDisk's Selected Files Defrag feature to defrag a file or a few files. It's very valuable for users who have a particular set of files that are heavily and regularly modified. For example, a videographer doing lots of editing may be focusing on just a few files needed to improve video performance, but the entire disk does not need to be defragmented as often as the few video files he or she is working on.

                                      

PerfectDisk has progressed from allowing a single file to be defragmented to several files. Now the number moves to 100 with ongoing counters of selected files. Defrag a file -- or defrag a hundred files. Be a picky user -- another way to speed up PC performance.

On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11. March 2010.

                                              

Related Posts:

• More than defrag -- to space and beyond
• Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital
• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon
   

                                                
We like to think we have the best PC performance optimizer software, and we're constantly testing and improving to make sure that's the case. But we also take pride in the technical support and customer service we provide to go along with our defrag and PC optimization software. It's instilled into everyone here, no matter what their job title. We receive a lot of feedback from our customers praising our employees as well as our technology, and I'd like to share some of a recent one. We think the perfect mix is superior technology and service.
                           
George Carr of Ontario, Canada is a retired employee of a Fortune 100 hardware company, who managed a $600 million division of the company. George now is an active stock trade, where faster PC speed is critical, which is why he is interested in PC optimization software. One of his 3 laptops is devoted specifically for trading. Video performance is also important to Carr, as he has another laptop devoted to his hobby of video creation and video editing. The third laptop in his household belongs to his wife, who wants a optimize PC, but doesn't spend a lot of time worrying about PC maintenance.

                                               

Unsolicited, George wrote the following:

"I am writing to share an experience I recently had with your company that was pretty unique in the consumer software business, and really influenced my decision to purchase from your company. I downloaded a trial copy of your PerfectSpeed product for evaluation.  Within days of downloading the trial, I received a message from Wendy Clontz. What was unique about this is that the email was very professional, it was from a real person, and the tone of the message sounded to me like your company was really interested in how the evaluation process was progressing.

Normally when you download a software trial, a computer generated form message is sent saying "if you have any questions, please call "1-888-i want to sell you something." This was not the case with the message I received.  I actually replied to the message with some comments and questions that I had about the product, and amazingly, I received a reply within 24 hours actually addressing my questions and comments.

What I learned from my communication with Wendy was that the PerfectSpeed product was probably not the one I really needed. The product I needed was PerfectDisk Professional, and I purchased that product with a 3-user license, and now have it installed on all three of my computers.  The product has made a huge difference in my disk performance, and I love the fact that I can set the "AutoPilot" on my wife's computer.  She is not technical, and usually ignores defragmentation warnings.

Finally, I want you to know that the overall approach you company uses to communicate with clients is what made me decide that you are the company that I want to do business with. I have spent over 30 years in the computer industry in client services for a fortune 100 computer company, and this experience would rank as number 1 in my book.

Please thank Wendy for her tremendous dedication, diligence, and follow up.  This is what clearly demonstrates the Great companies from the average companies."
 
Will do -- thanks Wendy. And thanks for sharing your video performance and PC performance optimizer story, George.

                                        

                                       

• start with capacity analysis
• monitor performance continuously
• test for application stability
• get real-world benchmarks from peers.

• how much space is being taken up by certain file types
• what percentage of files on a drive are new and how many are old
• what percentage of files on a drive are recently modified or recently accessed
• what are the largest files on a drive, which are the oldest.

• Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital
• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon
                  

The PerfectDisk 10 Client and Enterprise Console have been updated to Build 129. These latest builds provide for compatibility between PerfectDisk 10 and the upcoming PerfectDisk 11.  

You can “Check For Updates” in the products or wait for Autoupdate.

Get PerfectDisk and defrag news like this earlier — follow PerfectDisk on Twitter.

                               

 

                                            

Since we have thousands of WoW players who are PerfectDisk users and always looking for all the WoW performance tips they can find, I thought I would provide a quick list of a few things that we think help improve the WoW game experience as well as any MMORPG game. Of course, I'm always partial to a good defrag as my favorite World of Warcraft performance tip - I can't help myself.

                                               

But a few other handy tips include:

• Increase virtual memory
• Update your graphics card
• Close startup programs you don't need
• Increase the priority of WoW
• Clean up your computer of junk (duplicate files, temporary Internet files, etc.)

• A war worth fighting -- defrag World of Warcraft MPQ files -- WoW optimizer
• PC game performance -- defrag for a fuller life for Half Life 2

• Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital
• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon