PerfectDisk 11 -- Go

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 by Joe Abusamra
                         Welcome to PerfectDisk 11

                              www.perfectdisk.com

                    PerfectDisk 11 best defrag software                
                    

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It's an 11 -- Start your engines

Monday, March 8, 2010 by Joe Abusamra
The new CDs are shining, the warehouses stocked, and finishing touches are being made on back-end systems and the web site. Everyone here is ready and excited to help serve up PerfectDisk 11 to the world tomorrow.

Drew Como is the director of infrastructure at Kaos Studios, in the heart of Manhattan in New York City. Kaos is a division of videogame publisher THQ. Kaos Studios artists, developers and designers need the best possible system performance for their computers. Simply put, they need the best defrag software possible. Of course, the millions of people that play THQ's games also want maximum performance. 

Drew has his thoughts on PerectDisk 11:

“PerfectDisk 11 is a stellar product that far surpasses  PerfectDisk 10 “The engine is many times faster, even on large drives with a high volume of files, and the new customization and reporting capabilities help ensure our computers run as fast as possible and we have the storage information we need.”

                                        
                               
On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11. Coming tomorrow.

                                            PerfectDisk 11 -- best defrag software

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PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- What's New

Thursday, March 4, 2010 by Joe Abusamra
                                    

For those of you following this space over the last several weeks, you've seen a glimpse of what's new in PerfectDisk 11. For an overview, here's a link to follow to what is new in the PerfectDisk 11 disk defrag program:

                                         PerfectDisk 11 Whats New

On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11. Coming Tuesday.

                                       PerfectDisk 11 What's new in best defrag software


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Windows 7 performance -- defrag to get it

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 by Joe Abusamra
Rightly so, Windows 7 has obviously received lots of accolades. And yes, there's a Windows disk defragmenter, with modifications, built in. That's enough for some people. Others want more, or better. 
  
                                             
                                 

PerfectDisk provides more, and that mantra will carry on to PerfectDisk 11. Microsoft has given its seal of approval to PerfectDisk 11, and here is just a very small sampling from some of our thousands of PerfectDisk 11 beta testers that looked to boost their Windows 7 performance with PerfectDisk 11:

"I have been running the PerfectDisk 11 Beta on two different computers - one with Windows XP Pro and the other with Windows 7 Ultimate x64. Not one problem. This is going to be one awesome software when the final is released."
                                                                             Shawn Antosz

"I am very impressed! 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've noted significant defragmentation improvement on the Windows 7 system. Very much appreciate the usability features. Thanks for a wonderful product."
                                                                             Henry Gardiner

                                       Boost Windows 7 performance with Windows 7 defrag

The Windows 7 defragmenter functions. Like a lot of things in life, you can choose functional, or choose to function...or you can excel.
 
There's a better way to defrag Windows 7 and boost Windows 7 performance.

On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11. Coming Tuesday.

                                       Boost Windows 7 performance with PerfectDisk 11 Windows 7 defrag

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It goes to 11 -- in 11 days

Saturday, February 27, 2010 by Joe Abusamra

                                     Best defrag software and auto defrag

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.

                                     Best defrag software and auto defrag


"...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 
 

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VSS defrag -- more flexibility and control

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 by Joe Abusamra
Hard drive for VSS defrag

Shadow Copy (also called Volume Snapshot Service or VSS) is a feature introduced with Windows Server 2003 and made available in Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.  VSS allows taking manual or automatic backup copies or snapshots of a file or folder on a specific volume at a specific point in time.  VSS is used by backup software providers, including System Restore in Windows 7 and Vista, and provides previous versions of files for Windows Server 2003/2008 and Windows 7/Vista.

When VSS is enabled on a drive, VSS may detect defrag activity as changes to the drive and attempt to replicate those changes (MS KB article 312067).  Depending on the amount of data that VSS attempts to replicate, Shadow Copies/Restore Points may be purged or "dropped".  This means that previous versions of files may no longer be available or Restore Points may be purged. If a VSS enabled drive has been formatted with a cluster size of 16K or larger (default cluster size is 4k), VSS has the ability to detect defragmentation activity and minimize replication - reducing (but possibly not eliminating) the number of Shadow Copies/Restore Points that may be purged. 
  VSS defrag for auto defrag
Today, PerfectDisk can be configured to detect if VSS is enabled on a drive and to take appropriate action.  By default, if VSS is configured on a drive and the cluster size is less than 16k, then PerfectDisk will defragment in VSS compatible mode.  If VSS is configured on a drive and the cluster size is less than 16k, then PerfectDisk can also be configured to not defragment the VSS enabled drive at all or to defragment the VSS enabled drive normally.
If PerfectDisk is configured to Stop if any Shadow Copies exist, PerfectDisk will NOT defragment the drive at all.
If PerfectDisk is configured to perform normal defragmentation, it may result in Shadow Copies/Restore Points being purged as defragmentation is performed. When configured to defragment in VSS compatible mode and the drive cluster size is less than 16k, PerfectDisk limits the number of files "moved" during the defragmentation pass so that purging of Shadow Copies/Restore Points is minimized.  For VSS enabled drives where the cluster size is 16K or larger, PerfectDisk defragments drives normally.
Note that when PerfectDisk defragments a drive in VSS compatibility mode, it may not defragment files/free space as completely as it normally does.

What was just described is current PerfectDisk behavior. But some users, particularly power users, may want more control over their VSS environment. Like the ability to specify a percentage threshold on a drive that limits how much of the drive will can be defragmented, to minimize the purging of Shadow Copies/Restore Points even more than is currently available.

As always, we're looking to put more into an auto defrag. For those that want to defrag a computer with more flexibility and control than a standard auto defrag can provide.

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

Defrag and Hyper-V

Monday, February 22, 2010 by Bob Nolan
A week ago I had the opportunity to speak at the VirtG Deep Dive in Waltham, MA. The Deep Dive is a day long event focusing on Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization solution.  My topic was the impact of file and free space fragmentation in a virtual environment.

The effects of fragmentation in a Hyper-V environment can be more profound than they are on a stand-alone physical server. Hyper-V performance suffers because there is fragmentation on the virtual guests and fragmentation on the host. This can result in I/O contention between the virtual guests, and between the virtual guests and the host. There is a finite amount amount of resources available and excessive I/O in the virtual guests or on the host due to file and free space fragmentation can stress the system. This is why it is necessary to defrag Hyper-V on both the virtual guest and the host ends of the system.

Hyper-V, or any virtualization platform for that matter, takes steps to provide good performance. However, if a virtual guest generates unecessary I/O, the impact will be felt by the rest of the system. Defrag reduces I/O loads and minimizes I/O contention between virtual guests and the host. Hyper-V performance monitoring indicates that defragmenting the guest and the host reduces the total number of I/Os on the whole system. Defrag, along with free space consolidation, should be part of of any Hyper-V performance-tuning efforts.

My presentation at the Deep Dive was well received and there were a lot of questions afterward. Several attendees indicated they thought fragmentation could be part of their Hyper-V performance issues. I told them to defrag Hyper-V on a regular basis to get the most from their virtualization investment. Defragmenting host and guests should be part of any Hyper-V performance tuning best practices.  Of course, I had to tell them the best defragmentation came from PerfectDisk.




Well, well -- aren't you picky -- defrag a file -- or 100

Friday, February 19, 2010 by Joe Abusamra

                                           Defrag a file -- slow PC fixes

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.

                                       Defrag a file to fix slow PC problems

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.

                                               Defrag a file for slow PC problems

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A PC performance optimizer and service, all in one

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 by Joe Abusamra

                                                 PC performance optimizer and customer service for defrag
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.

                                                video performance and pc performance optimizer

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.

                                         PC performance optimizer for defrag


More than defrag -- to space and beyond

Friday, February 12, 2010 by Joe Abusamra
                                       Best defrag tool

While the ultimate goal for a defrag programs is faster PC speed and faster PC performance, a best defrag tool should be able to go beyond that. There is a lot of information about your drive and files that are of interest to many users.
                                        Best defrag software

Answers to questions such as:
  • 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.
Space Reports -- more comprehensive, improved charts and graphs.

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

                                         Best defrag tool        

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Home, Sweet Home -- WHS defrag goes to 11 too

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 by Joe Abusamra
                                                     HP.com home

One of our most passionate and vocal group of users is the Windows Home Server (WHS) crowd. These users recognize that the WHS environment can benefit greatly from a completely defragmented environment. A solid WHS defrag is the reason HP partnered with us to offer PerfectDisk Windows Home Server to its MediaSmart and DataVault users - they can stream media faster and reclaim hard drive space, improve backup performance and basically optimize their digital life. 

                                            

The evolution of PerfectDisk includes WHS. Faster analyzes, faster WHS defrag, BlockViewer, enhanced SMARTPlacement, improved interface and more all get into the PerfectDisk WHS package. The bundling options remain intact, providing the best value available to optimize the entire WHS environment -- server and home PCs.

The best overall WHS performance, via superior WHS defrag.

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

                                                 

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Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital

Monday, February 8, 2010 by Joe Abusamra
                                                    

When it comes to determining the best defrag software, there can be a lot of back and forth discussion. Kinda like some of the big debates on the big issues of the day that take place just a few miles from our headquarters, in Washington DC. Proponents on each side.

One of the reasons we feel PerfectDisk is the best defrag tool available is that we've invested in R&D while delivering innovation over the years to address the changing landscape. And, all the while maintaining an open dialog with our customers to ensure we keep up with their demands.

                                              Best defrag software -- bipartisan support

We may be biased, but we put the best defragmentation test to some of our biggest critics -- those who love PerfectDisk but want it to be better, and those who have never been that crazy about it, and used something else. The support has been coming in from all sides.

Will it remain the best defrag tool?
  • "Truly an improvement over an already awesome product."
  • "The best there is, without a doubt."
  • "It has no real competition."
  • "The 2010 standard for Disk Management. It Simply ROCKs!
  • "Improving on an already fine product."
  • "Still best on the market."
  • "My laptop loves it."
  • "State-of-the-art defragmentation for people who like perfection."
  • "A prettier interface."
  • "World class."
  • "Still the best - and now you can customize it too!"
  • "The best defrag tool on Earth just got better."
  • "The most customizable and comprehensive product on the shelf."
  • "It is the best defrag software on the market. It has features for every level of computer user, from the person that just wants to defrag their hard drive to the person that wants to not just defrag hard disk, but wants more about space usage on the hard drive, the ability to defrag while still using Windows."
The best defragmentation around.

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

                                           Best enterprise defrag - PerfectDisk 11

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Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management

Thursday, February 4, 2010 by Joe Abusamra
                                          Photgraph of Muhammad Ali standing over a prostrate Sonny Liston
While reasonable people can argue the merits of using freeware to defrag a computer or to defrag a file, if that capability exists in the particular defragmentation software, no such arguments exist when it comes to enterprise defragmentation. The choice becomes greatly limited. The freeware utilities, the built-in Windows defragmenter, and even most of the chargeable ones are simply not designed for enterprise defragmentation.

Putting aside for a moment the actual quality, flexibility and customization capabilities of the defrag program to improve PC performance, a large enterprise or even relatively small business has a lot more to worry about to ensure successful enterprise defragmentation. Installation and deployment across the organization to the required PCs and servers. Configuration and management. And reporting. Any good administrator requires full reporting capabilities to have a handle on the status of his or her enterprise. And better yet, be able to be proactive. Which is why PerfectDisk provides an elaborate alerting and warning system for administrators within the PerfectDisk Enterprise Console.

                                            Enterprise defragmentation reports

And now comes Remote Free Space Management, a shot in the arm to IT administrators responsible for enterprise defrag. It allows IT administrators to generate detailed reports on disk use, including graphical representations of storage usage. This new functionality provides significant improvements over Windows Storage Server Reports, providing not just data, but actionable reports. For instance, you can run a Duplicate File Report in Storage Server, but it does not allow you to remotely identify and execute duplicate file removals across the enterprise. PerfectDisk does.

Enterprise defragmentation evolved. March 2010.

                                            Enterprise defrag evolved

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Artificial? No. Smarter? Yes. Your MFT? Just fine, thank you

Monday, February 1, 2010 by Joe Abusamra
                                              Blackboard

Users sometimes ask us why PerfectDisk does not change the size of the Master File Table (MFT). Other defragmenters do it and, hey, changing something seems pretty cool. Well, this is another area where we think PerfectDisk is a little smarter.

When an NTFS drive is formatted, it creates the $MFT, which contains a fixed number of records which can used. As files are created, these records are used. Eventually, the pre-allocated number of records is filled up and the $MFT needs to grow, adding another chunk of file records. Immediately adjacent to the $MFT, the MFT Reserved Zone is created. By default, the MFT Reserved Zone is 12.5% of the drive and goes from the first record of the MFT to the first non-free cluster after the last MFT record. If you have a 100GB drive, then the Reserved Zone is going to be 12.5GB - quite large! If you look in the Windows Explorer/Properties on a drive, the free space shown is the total of both INSIDE and OUTSIDE the Reserved Zone.

The MFT Reserved Zone is created specifically to allow the $MFT to grow in a contiguous fashion. When the $MFT fills up, it allocates the next chunk from the free space located in the MFT Reserved Zone. NTFS will avoid putting files inside the Reserved Zone unless you get into a low free space condition. It is not necessary to artificially pre-allocate additional space for the $MFT in order to keep it from growing fragmented. Remember this the next time you ask yourself how to make your PC run faster.

A smarter MFT means a smarter defrag.

                                              Learn



Size matters; then again, it doesn't

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 by Joe Abusamra

                                               Defrag programs -- large disk defrag

When it comes to defrag programs and what they can handle, size does matter. As drives and files get bigger and bigger, the challenge for a defragmenter program is to be able to handle the increased sizes efficiently and the best disk defrag software should not fall down when drive and file sizes increase.

But a professional defragmentation program should not cost more just when the going gets tough -- or bigger. So you won't find extra fees for even the largest drives with PerfectDisk, and you can hold onto your money.

                                              Defrag program -- no extra charge

We've worked hard on the algorithms and back end work that goes on when analyzing and defragging large drives and files, so the time it takes to handle them decreases. But there's still no extra charge, no matter what the drive size is.

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

                                              Best defrag software for large drives
 
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Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 by Joe Abusamra
                                                         

While the adoption rate for Exchange 2010 will likely be slow, as organizations go very cautiously with such a mission critical application, we know there are still many that are working with Exchange 2010 now. PerfectDisk 10 today runs on Exchange 2010 servers and can perform full defragmentation on those servers' drives.

                                                   Exchange defrag software -- in front

But unique to PerfectDisk is the PerfectDisk Exchange component that automates the process of offline defragmentation and compaction of Exchange data stores. This eliminates white space, allowing Exchange administrators to recapture valuable space, while at the same time improving Exchange performance. Changes did need to be made to incorporate Exchange 2010 and allow the automation and compaction of the Exchange data stores within PerfectDisk Exchange, and these are being made.

Exchange 2010 brings many enhancements to Exchange, and Microsoft will be doing its best to entice companies to migrate to the 2010 version. We've been incorporating the many changes throughout PerfectDisk 11 into the Exchange component, including support for Exchange 2010.

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

                                                    Exchange defrag software with PerfectDisk 11

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White paper: Key Differentiators — PerfectDisk and Windows 7 Defrag

Friday, January 22, 2010 by Joe Abusamra

                                                     whitepaperimagepd10win7

This paper that outlines some of the key differences between PerfectDisk and the Windows 7 defragmenter was published a few months ago. It continues to be one of our most popular, so I'm reposting. You can download the PerfectDisk - Windows 7 defrag paper here.

Learn.

PC game performance -- defrag for a fuller life for Half Life 2

Monday, January 18, 2010 by Joe Abusamra

                                                 

Every month we receive hundreds of emails from gamers telling us how PerfectDisk has helped improve their PC game performance. Some of the most interesting are from those gamers that have never defragmented their computer - the boost to their games is usually huge. There are many guides and forums on the web that recommend to gamers that they defragment their drives. Shockingly, I concur with that advice -- defrag as one of the top slow PC solutions....:)

                                                                                       

We recently had a Half Life 2 user with very large GCFs (Game Cache Files) that were so big the Windows defragmenter was struggling severely. Now, as you may know, space for GCFs is reserved and content subsequently downloaded to fill it. This process is intended to minimize fragmentation, which it may do initially. But they do fragment, and since they can be big, Half Life 2 players don’t like that. Many start off with the built-in Windows disk defragmenter; many then come to PerfectDisk, because it can better handle large files and better clear up free space.

You’ll also find that it’s important to defrag after you’ve installed Half Life 2 and updated all the files from Steam. The files are large, and by defragging with PerfectDisk you’ll reduce stuttering and load times. Just as WoW players do to improve WoW performance.

Complete disk defragmentation, including free space consolidation with PerfectDisk’s Space Restoration Technology, gives Half Lifers a better PC game performance.

Supersized servers for 2010 -- defrag to ensure vSphere and Hyper-V performance

Sunday, January 17, 2010 by Joe Abusamra
                                                     

A couple of weeks ago I looked at part of Computerworld's Forecast 2010 Special Report. Today I'll look at another part of the report -- Supersized Servers and the message that "virtualization will hit a hot streak in 2010, and enterprises will order more systems fully loaded with maximum processing power, memory and I/O capabilities." In question after question in Computerworld's study, virtualization, and particularly server virtualization, came up big:
  • #1 of Top 5 technologies most likely to be the target of spending increases in 2010: Servers
  • #1 of Top 5 project priorities for 2010: Server upgrades, virtualization
  • #1 of Top 5 most promising new technologies for respondents' industries or organizations: virtualization
  • #1 of Top 5 technology areas for beta testing: virtualization.
While 2009 saw cutbacks or budgets on hold, 2010 is forecast to see an increase. Almost 65% of IT professionals polled indicated their organizations are likely to virtualize more servers this year. And the servers are going to be beefy, bigger and more powerful to handle more virtualization servers.
                                                    Budget -- virtualization defrag

As organizations look to virtualizatoin to handle more, they also need to look at virtualization performance. And one key aspect of virtualization performance is defragmentation, including Hyper-V defrag and vSphere defrag. As important as we feel defrag has always been and continues to be for physical servers, it's as least as much with virtualization, as organization look to improve vSphere performance and Hyper-V performance. If all that power in those new servers is not allocated properly, much of it will be wasted. Only with a technology such as PerfectDisk's Virtual Awareness can the power of a busy virtual server be fully harnessed. Without virtual awareness, even the biggest and most powerful servers can waste a lot of resources, spinning its wheels, so to speak. Virtual awareness ensures perfect communication between the host and all its guests.

Maximize virtualization performance with enterprise defragmentation -- with virtualization smarts.

The entire Computerworld article, by Robert L. Mitchell, is here.

                                                   Hyper-V defrag and vSphere defrag

PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta

Monday, November 9, 2009 by Joe Abusamra
                                                

UPDATE: It goes to 11 -- in 11 days

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.  

Related Post:

PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon