Hi I was poking around seeing what defrag/optimizing software was out there these days and saw O&O was at the top of some lists, who I've never heard of but apparently they've been around for a while. I've always used Defraggler or Diskeeper in the past (Diskeeper actually changed their name to DymaxIO). Now I know everyone's always said don't defrag ssd drives, so i was jsut reading their manual: https://docs.oo-software.com/en/oodefrag-24 And it talks about SSDs and whatnot, and was reading about their defrag methods. Apparently the strategies/algorithms they use for SSDs are different than HDDs, which I think is why companies like Diskeeper changed their name, and even Windows now says Optimize instead of defrag. Does anyone have any experience with using these? I took it upon myself to try it out on a whim, so whether I shortened the life more or not is whatever, what's done is done. I uninstalled the program for now, but I did try some things out beforehand, attached is a picture. Edit: Oh I forgot to mention, that I was reading how I read Windows still does some optimizations with fragmentation management and TRIM, but ofc that's not the same methods as what we would call a defrag, even though technically that's what it's doing. So I was wondering if that's what O&O is doing with their stuff for ssds
I do a simple defrag of my OS SSD about twice per year. The reason: documents can take 5 seconds or longer to open. Whether its windows files, Office files or the documents that have become fragmented doesnt matter, its quick, hardly causes any wear and works. Immediately after the defrag they all open instantly. Other than that I never defrag an SSD. My games SSDs are left as they are because very little changes so no problems can manifest.
It's just snake oil. The only degragmentation an SSD needs is preventing the buildup of too many non-contiguous blocks. Windows already does that along with trim. As for HDDs, I don't know. Maybe there's 3rd party defraggers that provide some benefits. But I'm suspicious that it's mostly snake oil as well.
Anandtech tests shows difference in performance from fragmentation https://www.anandtech.com/show/14601/the-kingston-kc2000-ssd-review/6 There is a tool to create file fragmentation for bench tests... https://www.passmark.com/products/fragger/index.php I use https://www.disktrix.com/ with my HDs and sometimes with the SSDs too I like this feature https://www.disktrix.com/boot-time-defrag.html If you are going to use ANY defrag tool, make sure to have BACKUP!!!! And use Windows Check Disk before/after any defrag.
Honestly, on SSDs, no, there's no need. And for my personal use of spinning drives, I don't care. They're all just backup drives where speed is nowhere near the top of the priority list.
dont use it, its nag ware and very annoying, if you have win 10 it has built in defraggers anyway just use that
I've had Raxco's PerfectDisk Pro since March of 2017, and before that I had Home Premium which I'd bought in 2011. Yadda yadda yadda, they are a Microsoft Partner company, fwiw, and the lay out all their claims on their website. 30 day free trial if anyone is interested. I have both spinning platters and SSDs, and PerfectDisk does seem to do a good job of stopping hard disk fragmentation before it happens. That feature is an option only for hard drives, though it does offer an optimization for SSDs that can be used as one sees fit. It also has an "Analyze" feature for drives which is very informative. There are other features, such as directory defragmentation on (HDDs) (not SSDs), if one wants to really get into it. https://www.raxco.com/products/perfectdisk-pro With Firefox I had to disable Privacy Badger in Firefox to get the FAQ links to work. https://ftp.raxco.com/pub/download/pd14.0/userguides/PD14_UserGuide.pdf
And yeah, afaik it's still the case that Microsoft's built in defragger is one that originated with a company that charges for it. I guess to eliminate support headaches Microsoft eliminated all the options and advanced GUI that came/comes with that not free software, and just gives you the option of defragging now or leaving it to the scheduler. Edit: And i guess that by not giving an advanced GUI, and options like other outfits do, Microsoft preempts the hassle of DOJ regulations about squeezing out companies smaller than them by giving away software that they sell. Same thing could apply with their drive imaging backup software.
They also state that the tool creates fragmentation to extreme, it will never get that bad with average usage, which kind of makes the whole test pointless and a complete waste of time.
Also, the Windows defrag tool will defrag SSDs if they're in danger of actually becoming extremely fragmented.
But imo its good to know exactly what type of defrag/optimization is going on. The whole "just let windows take care of it" doesnt fly with me, cause windows doesn't always get everything right.
well that may be true, but even so, without giving you options, u don't know if its doing what should be done as opposed to what it thinks should be done. And yes, having too many options can potentially be a bad thing, but so can not having any at all (or very limited).
