A while ago I wrote about my plan to create a simple to use, on demand disk optimization and defragmentation tool. I am pleased to announce that we are making good progress. Let me describe what we have now:

Features:

-          DiskTune relies on the Windows defragmentation API and is therefore completely safe. To further enhance safety DiskTune checks the state (dirty/clean) of all volume at start-up time.

-          DiskTune supports FAT, FAT32 and NTFS volumes.

-          DiskTune is an on-demand defragmenter. It does not run in the background and it does not use it’s own scheduler. If you close DiskTune, absolutely no processes and services remain running in the back ground.

-         DiskTune accepts command-line arguments and includes a module to easily create tasks that can be started with one mouse click. It is also possible to start tasks using the Windows scheduler. Command line options include the ability to shut down the PC after a task finished.

-         DiskTune features 3 modes of operation: defrag, optimize and compact.

-         DiskTune can perform tasks in the background using low priority.

-         DiskTune features a VSS safe-mode. This means it follows Microsoft guidelines to reduce interaction between defragmentation and  shadow copies.

-         Supports Layout.ini file.

-         Context menu integration.

-         DiskTune supports 64 bit Windows versions and is not affected by the file system redirector that normally prevents access to certain system folders by 32 bit applications.

Philosophy:

As all defragmentation software I am aware of ‘uses’ the Windows defrag API you may wonder about the differences between defragmentation tools: If they all do the same why pick one over the other. Well, that is actually easily answered. The defrag API allows software to move clusters. It is up to the program to decide which clusters are moved and to decide where they are moved. And that’s where the different programs are different, apart from secondary features and options (scheduling, interface, continuous background defragging, VSS support etc.). So, in essence each defragmentation program differs due to different philosophies on where to put files etc..

The philosophy behind DiskTune is this:

-          Seeks are the major cause of slowdowns when accessing files. Fragmented files result in more seeks.  Especially smaller files suffer from increased seek times: For a large file split into two fragments, the seeks are relatively of less influence on the total time required to access and read a file. Therefore fragmented files should be defragged. Where they ‘go’ is less important, however it is preferred the file is moved towards the start of the disk.

-          Start of the disk is fastest. Shorter seeks, faster access times. It therefore pays off to put frequently accessed files towards the start of the disk.

In practice, with regards to the above, DiskTune will always try defragment each fragmented file and move it as close towards the start of the disk as possible. If lack of free space prevents a large file to be moved to a single gap (block of adjacent free clusters) then DiskTune will try to reduce the number of fragments if the file is severely fragmented only.

In optimization mode DiskTune will first create free space at the start of the disk. The next step is boot optimization in which DiskTune will move files listed in the layout.ini file into the free space at the start of the disk. DiskTune will also move directories into this free space as they are probably the most accessed ‘files’ on a disk. The remaining free space can be used by Windows but more importantly the defragmentation algorithm: Once you have run optimization the result is that almost by definition files that you frequently ‘process’, modify and alter and therefore fragment, will be moved automatically towards the start of the disk by the defragmentation procedure.

Summarizing the idea is this: After you have run an optimization your PC will ‘feel’ faster: It boots faster, Explorer will feel more responsive while listing files and folders, virus scanners will run faster etc.. Also, because of the way optimization organizes files and free space, fragmentation is less likely to occur and if it occurs it will be recent and recently modified files that fragment. And those will then be automatically placed in the free space created during optimization (the fastest area on the disk) by running a quick defragmentation. In general, optimize every month to every few months, defrag once a week and your hard disk will be in top condition.

And doing that is very easy with DiskTune. For example, it takes just a few mous clicks to create a task that defrags the c: drive and then shuts down the PC, and put a shortcut to the task on the desktop. Just click that rather than shutting down Windows using the start button and the disk will be defragged and when done the PC shuts down automatically. There you have it, defragmentation when you want it made easy, without the need for background services and tasks.

--
Joep

P.S. Some screens:

DiskTune starts ...

Create a 'job'

Simple fragmentation report