Hi all, just noticed that accessing my files seem to be getting slower over time. There doesn't seem to be a way to do it on windows so some genuine 3rd party software would do, cheers.
If you're excusively looking for third party software, I like O&O Defrag Professional: it's not cheap, but is well worth the money. Windows does have a built in tool, if you want to use it, then go to go to My Computer/Computer depending on your OS, then right click on the drive and go to Properties. Click on the Tools tab then press Defragment Now. Then voila! Your drive is defragmenting If you need any more assisstance, then don't be afraid to ask.
Perfect disk is a good one too, the only one I've found that organises files based on how much they are used Like Norton Utils used to.
I've not been impressed with paid-for defrag software since Vista arrived on the scene. All of them make grand claims about how they defrag the MFT... which they do, if you're using XP. O&O, PerfectDisk, DisKeeper... tried various ones and they always report that they've defragged the MFT in Vista/7 (boot-time defrag tried as well) but analyse the drive again, and *bang*... MFT still in n fragments. Spent days detailing everything to O&O once, who, to their credit, were very helpful - sending me beta builds to try and all sorts. Long story short, I've given up on defrag software that costs me money, and use Defraggler, by the same people who make CCleaner and Recuva.
I think Vista/7 re-arrange the files on boot. Just defragged and checked again an hour later, only 13 files are now fragmented (from 0) I think this can be attributed to background processes and cookies for the web pages I've accessed since.
Defraggler is good, as mentioned by Paradigm Shifter but since I switched to Windows 7 I've just been using the built in tool.
Surprised nobody mentioned Mydefrag -- it has different scripts based on the type of defragmentation you want to perform (Weekly, monthly, daily etc) I've used it on clients machines for a while now, does what it says on the tin.
I thought Defraggler superceded MyDefrag? I use Defraggler too. If I'm doing a good clearout, I'll use CCleaner, then use MS Disk Cleanup, then disable and delete the pagefile and hibernate file. Then run defraggler. Then reactivate the pagefile and hibernation file if required. Just wondering, is there a free tool that'd defrag the pagefile and hibernation file?
Defraggler certainly used to, back when I was still using Windows. T'was an option - can't remember if it was just a toggle or if it ran a separate defrag run specifically for those two, tho'.
My system is setup to defrag drives at 1pm every Wednesday. Although I think it really does it when the system is idle, as I've never noticed it doing it. And my drives are all according to windows, 0% fragmented, or as near as. This is on 3 drives, just under 2TB worth.