O&O Best Defrag method?

Craig321

Craig321

Craig321

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I've been reading up on O&O Defrag and a lot of people have recommended it so I thought I'd give it a try.

There are quite a few defrag methods available.

I just wondered which one is best to use?

EDIT

I read up on them earlier in the help file, all the full ones say they take quite a bit of resources (disk space, RAM, CPU etc.)... does it release the taken hard drive space after the defrag?

The help file didn't really help me choose which one to use as all the full defrags say suitable for workstations/servers.

Thanks,
Craig.
 
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Stealth is efficient and uses little resources, Space uses more RAM and CPU.

The Complete methods are all very good, access for quick read times, modified for quick write times, and name for file servers. I might be wrong with those, read it on some website a while back.
 
squiffy said:
Complete, Name.
Otherwise Stealth if you're using the drive at the same time (gaming etc)
Click to expand...

Ok, cool, thanks. I'll stick in on 'Complete, Name' overnight :) (10 hours ETA :eek: )

Zefan said:
Stealth is efficient and uses little resources, Space uses more RAM and CPU.

The Complete methods are all very good, access for quick read times, modified for quick write times, and name for file servers. I might be wrong with those, read it on some website a while back.
Click to expand...

Judging by what the help says I think it's: Complete/Access for read access on servers & Complete/Name for read access on servers/workstations. Complete/Modified is write performance.

I was just a bit confused between the three because all of the complete defrags say suitable for workstations & servers... but I'll go with Complete/Name now as suggested :)

Thanks,
Craig.
 
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for media drives (videos /pictures / music etc) use Name
for your main drive, do an Access, then leave it to automatic (stealth) and do the odd Access when you've got spare time
 
bledd. said:
for media drives (videos /pictures / music etc) use Name
for your main drive, do an Access, then leave it to automatic (stealth) and do the odd Access when you've got spare time
Click to expand...

Will an automatic stealth defrag run only when the PC is idle?

In the help of O&O is says Name would be particularly suitable for system volumes... what's the difference between Access and Name?

Thanks,
Craig.
 
bledd. said:
access puts the most accessed files towards the start of the drive
Click to expand...

Just found the algorithm sections of the defrag methods - I missed them last time looking at the help :rolleyes: !

Access sounds the best (thanks :))

Access
Files are sorted according to when they were last accessed. The files that have been accessed the least will be placed at the beginning of the partition, and those that are accessed that most frequently are put near the end. Seldom-used files are defragmented and will not need to be moved in future. Frequently-used files are placed at the end of the volumes. This strategy means that future defragmentation runs are as quick as possible, as fewer files need to be checked and defragmented.
Click to expand...

Name
Files are sorted alphabetically from the beginning to the end of the partition. This leads to quick access to files in a directory. When Windows starts up, many system files will be read in sequence from the \WINDOWS and the \WINDOWS\system32 directories (DLLs, system drives, etc.) and the start-up time will therefore be shorter.

This method is particularly recommended for computers on which the files rarely change. This reduces the reorganization time that is needed for every defragmentation.
Click to expand...

Name also sounds like a very suitable one, but I think I will go for Access after all... it'll probably place my WINDOWS files in the quickest, best place anyway as they are used almost every day (startup/shutdown).

EDIT

I think I'll set a stealth at screensaver as well :)

I doesn't look like it lets you set a defrag type yourself for the scheduled ones... I'm guessing it's STEALTH for all scheduled runs?

Thanks for the help all :)
Craig.
 
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does O&O "remember" the type of defrag used? say i wanted to have my boot partition do a COMPLETE/NAME but the rest of my drives to do a COMPLETE/Modified, will that work when O&O does its background defrag?
 
skanky said:
does O&O "remember" the type of defrag used? say i wanted to have my boot partition do a COMPLETE/NAME but the rest of my drives to do a COMPLETE/Modified, will that work when O&O does its background defrag?
Click to expand...

You set up your drives to background defrag manually. Under the jobs menu there's an add schedule option, you can then set it to defrag in screensaver etc.

You also get to choose the defrag method of the schedule.
 
Did a Full/Access defrag through the night...:

Before:


After:


Still 26% defragmentation?!

It also still looks rather messy (the blocks). The top and bottom are fine, but it got lazy in the middle!

Do I need to run a stealth to get the defrag % down or something?

Thanks,
Craig.
 
squiffy said:
MFT wil be yellow. You've got quite a fair bit of locked files (red), and perhaps not enough free space for a defrag.
Click to expand...

Locked are grey according to O&O. Red are fragmented.

xuYO5pmU_chart.png


Should I maybe remove the backup, re-do the defrag & then re-do the backup?
 
do you have system restore turned on?

turn it off, that really fragments a lot and is stored in the system volume information folder
 
Squiffy's right, it'll be the fact that the disk is really full.

I'm betting those files are pretty large, the disk needs to have that amount of space free to swap it all around.
 
i done re-install but not sure if i want to install this.

each time i did a defrag i lost upto 15GB, done 4 defrags till i saw it again.

done access and name and on restart i had BSOD saing it cannot find boot something, done RS and last known config.


things are working well now dont wanna mess it up for atleast till end of the week :D
 
Zefan said:
Squiffy's right, it'll be the fact that the disk is really full.

I'm betting those files are pretty large, the disk needs to have that amount of space free to swap it all around.
Click to expand...

I guess it's mainly that 31GB backup I have on my C drive that's leaving all that fragmented stuff lying about (most of the red is my 31GB backup).

bledd. said:
do you have system restore turned on?

turn it off, that really fragments a lot and is stored in the system volume information folder
Click to expand...

Yep, but I'd like to keep it on, it has saved me in the past!

Or do you mean I should turn it off, defrag & turn it back on??
 
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