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Here is a Disk Manager with all the features you want - maybe even more than
you bargained for! All the features we mentioned as 'good to have', namely;
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Run automated Fragmentation checks on specified days/ times, so that you
do not have to rely on your memory alone
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Let you optimize the placement of your Folders (Directories) as well and
not merely your files alone
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Let you specify which files to place first, (you might want to place all
EXE files first, so that programs run faster), which should be placed
next (you might want to put all DLL files right after the EXE files),
which ones to place last, etc.
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Let you defragment your Windows Swap File. The Swap File is huge – about
150% of the physical RAM your machine has – and therefore, could be
broken up into hundreds of fragments. Defragmenting the Swap File
usually leads to significant increase in Hard Disk performance
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Maybe even load a small portion into memory, thus continuously working
in the background, saving files into contiguous areas as far as
possible: all this in real time and without reducing overall Computer
speed, naturally...
All the above features are present in Disk Defragmenter 2008. Disk Defragmenter
2008 also replaces Windows ScanDisk option, replacing the applet with itself.
This may not be desirable - we strongly opine that the user should be given the
opportunity of taking a decision here - would (s)he want to replace ScanDisk?
Again, once installed, there should be an easy method for rolling it back, so
that ScanDisk is once again made available under the System Tools Menu in the
Start Menu! It is NEVER a good idea to overwrite system files/ tools by brute
force and we are strongly against it!
We are also against Disk Defragmenter's lack of a proper Uninstall option:
although you can uninstall it through the Control Panel - Add/ Remove Programs
interface, the uninstall did not terminate normally. We needed to press the
Control-Alternate-Delete buttons and 'kill' the uninstall program. Mercifully,
once Disk Defragmenter was uninstalled, Windows' native Defragmenter was once
again available... Since we have disabled Boot-time defragmentation, we get to
the screen shown below and to the right, on running the product.
The layout does not match JetDrive in terms of beauty, but it is
nevertheless perfectly standard and intuitive. Various options, including a
decent Help section, are all accessible from this screen. |
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Click for larger image |
Your Hard Disks/ Partitions are listed right at the top, with tabs for Analysis
and Defragmentation of the highlighted drive/ partition being provided right
below.
The bottom of the screen shows you the current operation (Dashboard), a Log of
all Disk Defragmenter 2008 activities till date and a Log, which shows the
fragmentation on a daily basis, for up to 60 days and on a monthly basis for the
last 36 months! Overkill. isn't it! While the Graphs are in no way as pretty as
JetDrive's, they are very detailed - so detailed in fact, that one wonders what
you would ever want it for!
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Click on the Defragment Tab to defragment the highlighted drive/ partition. On
completion of the task (and it may take anywhere from a minute to a few hours,
depending on just how badly your Hard Disk is fragmented), you get the screen
shown to the left here. Under the Tab Volume Map, you have the option of viewing
File Performance and File Structure, in the form of a Horizontal Bar. Our Hard
Disk is, as you can see, one big Blue (and healthy) Bar! It does not have any
system files since it is a near-empty partition. |
Click for larger image |
Perhaps the more important report is the Job Report, which is the second Tab
after Volume Map. This lets you view vital Hard Disk parameters such as the Time
to read fragmented files and the optimum time to read fragmented files (both of
which are absent in our Hard Disk, since we have no fragmented files at all!)
and the overall Current Read Time, versus the Optimal Read Time. A number of
other important statistics are also provided - if you are into Hard Disk
management or are curious to know about it, you will find some interesting facts
in here!
You even have the option to view the
most fragmented files on your Hard Disk/ Partition as well as check out the
number of fragments it has been saved in!
As we observed,
Disk Defragmenter not only does a lot of hard work re-arranging your files, it
also lets you know what it has done - even if you aren't interested in
Statistics, but merely want a faster Hard Disk! You may save the Disk
Defragmenter 2008 Report or print it out as well.
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Click for larger image |
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