A defragmenter is a utility program that keeps the files on your hard disk in single, contiguous arrangements so that they won’t require the drive’s read head to jump around to many file fragments on the drive. This lets the drive read the files faster. In the last utility issue, I waxed enthusiastic about the Diskeeper 6.0 defragmenter, which was much faster than either Windows’ Disk Defragmenter or Norton Utilities Speedisk, and which would run under conditions that neither of the other two programs would. I was disappointed to find that Diskeeper 6.0 would not run under Windows XP, but pleased to see that Microsoft had licensed the basic Diskeeper technology as the standard Windows XP Disk Defragmenter. However, as with many utility features in Windows XP, its defragmenter is a bare-bones implementation using older technology. For example, the disk map showing the defragmention of the drive only shows a single line for the entire disk. In my computer, that means the entire 40 GB hard drive shows up as only a single line — not much detail there! Diskeeper 7’s display shows much more detail. It has many other advanced features, which we shall explore.

When I installed Diskeeper 7.0, it replaced its little brother, the standard Windows XP Disk Defragmenter. The installation CD has both a workstation version of the program and a server version. On my single, non-networked computer, I installed the workstation version; however, the installation program also offered to install the server version, which could be confusing.

Running Diskeeper 7.0 is straightforward; just choose a drive to defragment, click on the program icon and then on the Defragment button. Diskeeper 7.0 will first analyze the drive, display a disk map showing the current level of fragmentation, and finally, start the defragmentation operation. One thing it doesn’t normally do is defragment blank spaces by moving all files into a the first part of the drive and all blank spaces to the end of the drive. The well-written manual explains that it will defragment blank spaces and move files and directories to load faster if you schedule it to run at boot time before Windows XP takes rigid control of all the files. All the vacant space on the drive has been moved to the end of the drive, and the boot-time defragmentation also moved the directories to the front of the drive space, where they will read faster.

Although I couldn’t compare the speed of the defragmentation to the standard Windows XP Disk Defragmenter, it seemed to take appreciably longer to defragment my drive after an evening’s use than Diskeeper 6.0. There are many variables involved in defragmentation speed, so it’s really hard to compare speeds precisely, but that’s my impression. It still provides a nice report of the results of the defragmentation, however.

Unlike most defragmenters, Diskeeper 7.0 will run in the background while you are using the computer, avoiding the need to wait till a slack period to perform a defragmentation. You can hear the drive running as Diskeeper 7.0 defragments it in the background. If you launch the Diskeeper 7.0 program, it shows you the progress of the background defragmentation. You can set the priority with which Diskeeper 7.0 runs, giving it a higher priority if you want it to run faster. 

You don’t even have to schedule when Diskeeper 7.0 runs: it provides a Smart Scheduling capability that determines when it should run based on how your disks are used.

Although it works great on a single workstation, Diskeeper 7.0 has even more attractions on a network, where its new push installation makes it really easy to upgrade or install. 

Bottom Line
Is Diskeeper 7.0 worth its $44.95 (electronic download) or $49.95 (packaged in a box) cost? It does a better job than Windows XP’s native defragmenter, but the latter does an adequate job. I lack the ability to test both on identical drives, which would be needed to give a realistic comparison. Diskeeper 7.0’s more advanced features — Smart Scheduling, Boot-time Defragmentation, and Priority Settings — are definitely better than the Windows XP’s Disk Defragmenter, while for network installation there is no contest at all. Strongly recommended!
 

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