Unique Differences Between PerfectDisk 12 and Diskeeper 2011

October 3, 2013

Check out how the two best defrag softwares are stickin up!

unique_differences_between_perfectdisk_12_and_diskeeper_6_8_2011.zip (13kB)

here: https://anonfiles.com/file/ab1965656b4321b0839610a35b7277bc

Users can use this paper as guidance

in their own product evaluations and testing.

Edited October 4, 2013 by Blackchildcx

October 4, 2013

Check out how the two best defrag softwares are stickin up!
unique_differences_between_perfectdisk_12_and_diskeeper_6_8_2011.zip (13kB)
here: https://anonfiles.com/file/ab1965656b4321b0839610a35b7277bc

Thx for the info just downloaded gonna have a look through now.Funny thing is i just uninstalled raxco :( cause the key didnt work for me.So now im using frontpaged o&o.oh well we will see :)

October 4, 2013

Mind telling us whats in the zip file and why we have to download it instead of reading online?

October 4, 2013

Mind telling us whats in the zip file and why we have to download it instead of reading online?

its just a text file m8

October 4, 2013

Mind telling us whats in the zip file and why we have to download it instead of reading online?
its just a text file m8

So why isnt it posted into i dunno a post, thats kind of what the forum is for :) :)

Posting a link to a compressed file on a hoster that only contains a text file is not only unnecessary but inconvenient and makes me, for one, and i suspect many, suspicious and normally id report it.

If the OP wants to share info, heres my tip, post the info in here directly....

Edited October 4, 2013 by stylemessiah

October 4, 2013

Mind telling us whats in the zip file and why we have to download it instead of reading online?
its just a text file m8
So why isnt it posted into i dunno a post, thats kind of what the forum is for :) :)
Posting a link to a compressed file on a hoster that only contains a text file is not only unnecessary but inconvenient and makes me, for one, and i suspect many, suspicious and normally id report it.
If the OP wants to share info, heres my tip, post the info in here directly....

cool.But i to tend to trust users with a lot of posts.same as the bay realy :) And as a matter of fact saying that users with a lot less on nsane.Why you might ask answer simple :) i might say common sense....You do what you want to do peace gl :P

October 4, 2013

Contents from text File:

Unique Differences Between PerfectDisk 12 and Diskeeper 2011

This paper gives an overview of the differences between PerfectDisk 12 and Diskeeper 2011 disk
defragmentation software based on key areas of functionality and defragmentation methods.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary......................................................................................................................................................... 3

Defragmentation Performance .................................................................................................................................... 3

Effectiveness of Defragmentation .............................................................................................................................. 4

Fragmentation Prevention............................................................................................................................................. 5

Effectiveness of Fragmentation Prevention ............................................................................................................. 6

Zero Fill™ for Virtual Storage / Thin SAN ............................................................................................................. 7

Single Pass Defragmentation ....................................................................................................................................... 8

Free Space Consolidation .............................................................................................................................................. 8

Optimization Strategy ..................................................................................................................................................... 8

Diskeeper I-FAASTTM .................................................................................................................................................. 10

Centralized Management ............................................................................................................................................ 11

PerfectDisk Enterprise Console ................................................................................................................................ 11

Diskeeper Administrator Edition .............................................................................................................................. 12

Product Activation ......................................................................................................................................................... 12

Automating Defragmentation .................................................................................................................................... 12

Free Space Requirement .............................................................................................................................................. 14

Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) Capability Mode ...................................................................................... 14

Online Directory Consolidation ................................................................................................................................ 15

Designed for Disks of Several Terabytes ................................................................................................................ 15

MFT Placement .............................................................................................................................................................. 15

NTFS Metadata .............................................................................................................................................................. 16

Page File Defragmentation ......................................................................................................................................... 16

Selected Files Defrag .................................................................................................................................................... 16

Consolidate Free Space Defrag.................................................................................................................................. 16

GUI-less Installation ..................................................................................................................................................... 17

User Defined Thresholds ............................................................................................................................................. 17

Summary ........................................................................................................................................................................... 17

Executive Summary
This paper provides an overview of the differences between PerfectDisk® 12 and Diskeeper® 2011
based on key areas of functionality and defragmentation methods. The process of comparing two
utilities that perform a similar function (i.e. disk defragmentation and fragmentation prevention) is
not necessarily a case of comparing “apples to apples,” as the two products’ philosophies and
strategies, and most importantly results, differ substantially.

To assert that “all defragmenters are the same” is a gross oversimplification of the issues
surrounding disk defragmentation. Sure, data files need to be defragmented; but equally important is
the treatment of the remaining free space. System files and metadata files that can’t be moved online
are also significant since their location will affect data file defragmentation. Disk optimizing file
placement strategies can also make a difference in overall performance.

The goal of this paper is to discuss these key areas of functionality and compare the named products
and their approaches to the problem. Users can use this paper as guidance in their own product
evaluations and testing.

Defragmentation Performance

The most popular way to compare any two defragmentation solutions is to pit them head to head
against the same drive image to determine which product returns the best results. Defragmenters
must successfully defragment as many files and consolidate free space, with as little resource impact
as possible.
The following test was performed to compare the ability to eliminate file and free space
fragmentation. It was performed on a Server 2008 R2 x64 system with a Quad Core CPU, 8GB of
RAM and a 93.1GB drive partition which contained 1,915 files and 32,919 file fragments. Total file
fragmentation was at 78.4% and total free space fragmentation was at 100%. While total free space
was 1.51 GB (1%), the largest piece of contiguous free space was only 2.05MB.

A duplicate image of the drive partition was created and restored between tests. The partition was
hosted by two Seagate 1TB Hard Drives (ST31000340AS) in a RAID 0 configuration.

Per the help documentation, in order to get the “best results”, Diskeeper was set to use automatic
defrag, which was allowed to run for 45 hours before being disabled. PerfectDisk performed a single
SMARTPlacement defragmentation pass.

This test was designed to measure defragmentation effectiveness on an existing fragmented volume
and was not designed to measure fragmentation prevention (see Fragmentation Prevention for
those results). The test is also designed to measure the ability to eliminate free space fragmentation
against marketing claims. The results show that while both offerings claim to eliminate free space
fragmentation, only PerfectDisk demonstrates the ability to do so effectively.

Effectiveness of Defragmentation

Prior to
Defragmenting

PerfectDisk 12

Diskeeper 2011

Total Elapsed Processing Time

1 Hours 43 Minutes

45 hours

File Fragmentation

76.20%

0.2%

56.1%

Directory Fragmentation

23.10%

0%

0%

Number of Fragmented Files

1339

3

1099

Total Number of Fragments

32919

4

2709

Free Space Fragmentation

93.81%

0.7%

100%

Total Free Space Extents

12,478

17

1163

Largest Piece of Contiguous Free Space

93.81MB

1.3 GB

5.44 MB

Despite the length of time and the amount of resources used, while Diskeeper did succeed in
defragmenting some files, it was not able to consolidate free space. Given the length of time to run,
total CPU usage and disk I/O generated by Diskeeper, the price paid in terms of resources was
unreasonable. Given more time, Diskeeper 2011 might have produced better results than it did, but
at 45 hours we felt that it had been given sufficient time to rival the results generated by PerfectDisk
which completed in less than 2 hours.

Another interesting note is the consolidation of free space. Write performance is negatively
impacted as free space fragmentation builds up. The consolidation of free space is very important
because it restores the write performance of a volume and because failure to eliminate it will result in
file fragmentation that cannot be prevented by any means. For example, if your largest consolidated
free space “chunk” is 500 MB in size, no amount of fragmentation prevention will allow a 1GB file
to be written in anything less than 2 fragments.

Even with optimum resources availability, Diskeeper was very slow to effectively defragment.
Because it took Diskeeper an exhaustive period of time (compared to PerfectDisk) to effectively
defragment the volume, its cumulative resource usage was very high. This demonstrates that while
PerfectDisk also provides resource aware background defragmentation, Raxco Software understands
that getting immediate results is sometimes the only way to get the best result. Automatic
background defragmentation isn’t the solution to every problem as this test demonstrates and this is
why PerfectDisk offers flexibility above all else. Not all data is created equal, just like not all
hardware is created equal – the idea that all environments will benefit equally from automatic
background defragmentation is a fallacy. Unfortunately, when choosing to run a manual pass with
Diskeeper 2011, the product advises that manual passes do not return the best results. We tried
manual passes with Diskeeper 2011 anyway and found that the manual pass returned virtually no
results. The drive image used in this test is derived from actual customer data. Raxco has obtained
permission to distribute the image upon request for the purposes of obtaining independent results
from 3rd parties. All data on the image has been sanitized to protect customer privacy. To obtain a
copy of the image, send an email to [email protected] and reference this white paper in your
request.

Fragmentation Prevention

PerfectDisk 12 introduces, OptiWrite™, a new technology which eliminates fragmentation in real-
time by ensuring that up to 100% of files are written to the file system in a single continuous stream.
In addition to saving the resources normally required to analyze and defragment files, it ensures
maximum sequential write performance for storage devices, effectively eliminating the slow random
write behavior caused by fragmented writes. Diskeeper’s IntelliWrite also prevents fragmentation in
real-time, but does so at the expense of creating free space fragmentation. In addition to negatively
impacting some thin provisioned systems, this behavior can impact the performance of files where
the principle of locality can be applied. The following test results show how the creation of free
space fragmentation will sacrifice fast sequential reads for slow random reads.

With OptiWrite enabled, 10,000 files, each just 4K in size, are programmatically written to a folder
on the volume in question. It is important to note, that at 4K each, the total amount of data written
is just 39MB on disk. An analysis of the volume is performed to determine the amount of
fragmentation created as a result. (Phase 1: Writing Out)

Because both utilities create some free space fragmentation as a side effect of preventing file
fragmentation, the following additional tests are performed and data gathered:
After each run, a diagnostic utility is used to read out each file as fast as possible for 10
iterations in order to determine the average access time of all 10,000 files. The diagnostic
utility shows whether or not the 39MB worth of data can be read back as quickly as is
expected. (Phase 2: Reading In)
Subsequently, the folder in question is copied to the same volume using Windows Explorer.
The process is timed in order to corroborate the findings of the diagnostic utility. (Phase 3:
Copying out)
Defragmentation of the free space on the volume is performed in order to clean up any free
space fragmentation. The time it takes to complete the process is also logged. (Phase 4:
Consolidating Free Space)
After collecting data, the volume is reformatted and the test rerun for a total of 10 times in order to
determine averages.

Effectiveness of Fragmentation Prevention

OptiWrite

IntelliWrite

Phase 1 - Reading in

Fragments prevented

100%

100%

Free space fragments

342

7,894

Phase 2 - Writing out

Average file access time (seconds)

2.39

71.73

Phase 3 - Copying out

Explore copy operation (seconds)

37.233

97.695

Phase 4 - Free space consolidation

Free space consolidation pass (seconds)

23

114

The test results show that the simple act of preventing fragmentation is not enough to justify doing
so if the solution sacrifices fast sequential reads for slow random reads. The prevention solution
must factor in the placement of data and avoid the type of free space fragmentation that impact
sequential read performance. If you simply prevent file fragmentation at the expense of creating free
space fragmentation, a volume will inevitably be forced to fragment files regardless of any
prevention method. Any solution that fails to understand this in its implementation will at best delay
the need to defragment, and at worst, eventually promote the need to do so. A flexible and
customizable solution that can be tailored to one environment or another is much preferred.

There is an additional consideration to be made; thin provisioned systems that use high water
marking are negatively impacted by any form of fragmentation prevention that creates excessive
amounts of free space fragmentation. This is because such solutions artificially push files down the
volume to higher LCN ranges by creating large free space gaps between files. The use of such a
solution will promote the rapid provisioning of a thin provisioned volume and should be avoided.
OptiWrite is designed with these considerations in mind by allowing its behavior to be customized
as needed. Not all data, hardware and workloads are created equal, and so to provide the best
performance, a fragmentation prevention solution must provide sufficient flexibility and
customization to meet the task at hand.

Zero Fill™ for Virtual Storage / Thin SAN

Many storage solutions feature the ability to reclaim thin provisioned storage by a process
commonly known as zero page reclamation. This process is able to detect when both naturally
occurring and artificially created bloat has been zeroed out or made blank. Traditionally, this has
been accomplished via script with the SDELETE utility, however there are a few issues with it that
make its use prohibitive. Raxco Software has developed a virtualization aware, resource throttled
alternative called Zero Fill™. This new optimization provides various benefits over SDELETE
including automation and centralized management.

Whether at the SAN or virtual machine level, maintaining thin provisioning via thin reclamation
methods is now easier with PerfectDisk 12. Via the Raxco central management console, Zero Fill
passes can be centrally executed on any volume in your environment. It can also be set to run
dynamically as part of an optimization regimen or stand-alone scheduled task. Combined with the
ability to execute pre and post tasks, Zero Fill passes can be set to run in conjunction with other
scripts or utilities, including those that initiate zero page reclamation and backups. This capability
allows PerfectDisk to automate a complete solution.

In comparison, Diskeeper 2011 features no Zero Fill capability and thus no true support for thin
provisioned SAN or thin virtual machine storage.

Single Pass Defragmentation
PerfectDisk employs a single-pass defragmentation engine that is designed to immediately address
the issue of file and free space fragmentation – providing the best possible drive performance when
run. This means PerfectDisk will defragment 99-100% of all data files and consolidate free space in
one run regardless of the severity of fragmentation or the amount of free space.

Diskeeper uses a continuous (always running) defragmentation engine that slowly “chips away” at
fragmentation over an unspecified and unknown period of time. Because the engine is multi-pass in
nature, it is best served in running perpetually. The built-in Windows defragmenter works under the
same multi-pass principles for both workstations and servers. Gartner Research published a report
in February 2003 making this observation about multi-pass defragmentation solutions which still
applies today:

“The Windows® built-in defragmentation tool is a multi-pass defragmenter that must be run over
and over to defragment the disk, especially when defragmenting very large disks with heavy
fragmentation and limited free space. As such, multi-pass defragmenters characteristically fragment
the remaining free space on the disk, which accelerates fragmentation later. It is recommended that a
third-party single-pass server defragmentation tool be implemented instead.”

Free Space Consolidation
PerfectDisk’s Space Restoration Technology™ allows its single pass engine to consolidate free space
in the process of defragmenting files. As the Gartner report states, fragmented free space accelerates
new file fragmentation. It is important to note that as the test results above show that Diskeeper’s
solution for fragmentation prevention, actually increases free space fragmentation.

In spite of claims of improved free space consolidation, testing shows that Diskeeper 2011 still
doesn’t provide effective free space consolidation, resulting in reduced write performance and less
resilience to the refragmentation of data. See the Defragmentation Performance and
Fragmentation Prevention sections of this paper for test results.

Optimization Strategy
PerfectDisk features a patented file placement strategy that operates based on the principle of
locality and which Raxco Software brands as SMARTPlacement. The goal of SMARTPlacement is
identify which files share various access and usage pattern and to place them with respect to their
physical locality to each other. This includes the physical locality of likeminded files based not only
on access pattern, but by modification history and type. Raxco Software understands that not all
data is created equal and that not all data, whether accessed frequently or not, has direct bearing on
performance. SMARTPlacement is designed, not to achieve an attractive or visually appealing drive
map – there is a reason and a purpose to each category and type of data that SMARTPlacement
tracks.

SMARTPlacement is also a configurable technology which allows customers to custom create
strategies based on specific needs. In addition to being highly customizable, PerfectDisk provides
several SMARTPlacement presets for different performance scenarios. Each preset applies the
principle of locality in unique way to achieve various file performance characteristics. The following
present are included in PerfectDisk 12:

Classic Method

The classic method has seen various minor tweaks for over a decade and is the default preset used in
PerfectDisk. It is a time tested solution that balances the performance improvement of all files, and
the prioritization of files critical to OS and application performance as well as boot performance.
The Classic preset also consolidates free space, reduces the rate of file refragmentation and aids the
natural ability of the file system to prevent fragmentation. As a result, the classic method also
dramatically reduces the time it takes to complete subsequent passes in many cases, making it both
the oldest and most popular method in use today.

Performance and Performance Aggressive Methods

Delivering two degrees of aggressive performance, these presets represent the opposite of the
balanced approach offered by the classic method. These methods favor the performance of new file
writes and the performance of active applications over the performance of less frequently used
aspects of programs and the operating system. Thus, these methods take a biased approach to file
system optimization by offering up the fastest physical regions of a disk to those processes which
generate the most significant disk utilization.

Conservative Method

This method applies the principles of locality to maximizing the life of a disk or disk array. It is
designed to reduce the long term electromechanical strain that is produced from day to day use. This
method makes for very fast subsequent passes and although it sacrifices application and boot
performance, it does reduce latency in many cases due to increased electromechanical efficiency.

Although not specifically designed to improve performance, this method does offer the attractive
combination of predictable performance and extended disk life, particularly for disk arrays where
throughput is abundant.

In addition to these presets, each preset can be customized to meet specific needs, or a completely
unique method can be derived to achieve unique performance benefits on a volume by volume
basis.

Diskeeper I-FAAST™
Diskeeper 2011’s I-FAAST™ defragmentation technology places files by access date. When I-
FAAST Defragmentation is enabled on a volume, Diskeeper runs specially-engineered benchmarks
on the selected NTFS volumes to learn their individual performance characteristics (not all disks
have the same characteristics). Drive activity should first be minimized in order for I-FAAST to
properly evaluate a drive. Limiting drive activity poses a problem in a production environment,
where it may not be possible to ensure minimal activity. Failing to ensure minimal drive activity can
result in I-FAAST in-accurately determining if there is even a possibility of performance
improvement and may actually result in I-FAAST making file access performance worse instead of
better. I-FAAST is a multi-pass defragmentation method. According to the Diskeeper online help,
“it can take up to a week or more for the full benefits of I-FAAST to become apparent.”

According to the Diskeeper online help, the average improvement in file access using I-FAAST is
only 10-20%. If you compare the “costs” required for I-FAAST to evaluate the drive (minimize
drive activity – difficult to do in a product environment), constantly monitor file accesses to
determine what files are “hot” and wait for some unknown number of days or weeks for I-FAAST
to place files, you can quickly exceed any potential benefit gained from a marginal improvement in
file access speeds. In addition, Diskeeper’s inability to effectively consolidate free space on the drive
means that any performance benefit that I-FAAST may provide (Diskeeper recognizes that there are
some drives that may not be helped by I-FAAST) is likely negated due to the performance loss
attributed to free space fragmentation. I-FAAST doesn’t allow customization of file placement, and
does not offer any presets.
With the analysis phase of every pass determines the current best file placement based on the preset
or custom SMARTPlacement strategy chosen. The principle of locality is applied up front based on
the strategy chosen, improving performance immediately. You don’t have to wait an unknown
number of days or weeks for drive performance to slowly get better – if ever.

Centralized Management
The ability to centrally manage defragmentation in a network environment is a key to reducing IT
costs. Key requirements to effectively manage includes the ability to deploy defragmentation
software to remote systems, centrally configure for un-attended operation and the ability to alerted
to any fragmentation related issues in the network – either via email alerts or other types of
reporting.

PerfectDisk Enterprise Console
PerfectDisk comes with the PerfectDisk Enterprise Console, a management console that centralizes
the management of defragmentation across the enterprise. The PerfectDisk Enterprise Console can
be used to deploy, configure, schedule, patch, manage, and report. Other capabilities include:
A digital dashboard that provides a visual overview of fragmentation in your enterprise.
Link to an existing Active Directory® OU so that as computers are added or removed from the
OU, the Enterprise Console automatically becomes aware of them.
Custom define groups and only see those computers that are to be managed; if an administrator
only manages 10 computers, the administrator won’t have to see others that are not managed.
Automatic email notification if thresholds are reached, sent as they occur or in a daily summary.
11 user-configurable warnings and alerts for problematic situations across the enterprise.
Remote control via an automatically generated hotlink to the PerfectDisk Client running on a
remote computer
System management ability via an automatically generated hotlink to terminal service/remote
desktop on the remote computer without leaving the PerfectDisk Enterprise Console, saving
troubleshooting time.
Access to PerfectDisk client statistics from the PerfectDisk Enterprise Console, allowing
administrators access to the data for trending and reporting purposes.
Scripting via Windows Script/JavaScript and WMI for additional management and administration.
Native x64 application when running on x64 hardware.

Diskeeper Administrator Edition
Diskeeper offers its Administrator Edition for enterprise management. Administrator Edition
performs remote deployment, configuration and reporting functions but lacks the advanced alerting
and reporting features of the PerfectDisk Enterprise Console. The Diskeeper console has only 4
fragmentation metrics that are monitored and only 1 customizable alert threshold and doesn’t
provide the “at-a-glance” status of any fragmentation issues in the network that the PerfectDisk
Enterprise Console provides. On x64 based systems, Diskeeper Administrator Edition is NOT
available as a native x64 application – it runs in x86 compatibility mode.

Product Activation
You must activate Diskeeper after installation. Activation involves sending hardware identifiers and
license information to Diskeeper Corporation’s product activation system.
PerfectDisk does not use or require activation in order to run – either for home users or for
corporate users.
Automating Defragmentation
The following table shows the options available in both PerfectDisk and Diskeeper for performing
defragmentation on a system.

PerfectDisk

Diskeeper

Automatic

X

X

Screen Saver

X

Single File

X

Batches of Files

X

Manual

X

X

Defined Schedule

X

Users can combine the use of dynamically defined and automatic tasks in any combination of the
following:
One Time defragmentation
Revolving every X days
Revolving on specific days, weeks
Automatically, by Idle resources (CPU and Disk I/O) with definable thresholds
Automatically, by user activity (Screensaver)
Manual with full optimization
Tasks can also be offset X number of days or weeks and multiple tasks can be created for specific
disks using specific strategies.

In addition, PerfectDisk uses task prioritization to allow multiple strategies to be applied on a disk
by disk basis. Of equal importance, PerfectDisk allows the specification of Maximum Run Durations
so that a task can be set to run within your predetermined maintenance windows. Schedules can be
set to run on disks serial or parallel sequence.

PerfectDisk minimizes the impact of fragmentation on system resources by allowing you to run at
a low CPU priority and to throttle Disk I/O usage. This allows PerfectDisk to get access to the
resources that it needs in order to defragment while not imposing a noticeable impact on the system.
For systems with system resource constraints (that typically prevent Diskeeper’s InvisiTasking from
being able to effectively reduce fragmentation), you can also configure PerfectDisk to run at a higher
CPU priority or to not throttle Disk I/O usage to ensure that PerfectDisk gets sufficient access to
system resources in order to defragment.

With Diskeeper, customizable and flexible scheduling is not available. Diskeeper can either be run
manually or it is set to run continually all of the time. If Diskeeper is set to run continuously, it can
result in defragmentation occurring when you don’t want it to. When continuously running, it also
doesn’t allow you the flexibility to control access to CPU or Disk resources in order to dedicate
additional resources to improve defrag performance on must-defrag systems.

PerfectDisk provides maximum flexibility and control so defragmentation occurs on your terms.
While PerfectDisk comes preconfigured and ready to use out of the box, it is of particular note that
PerfectDisk delivers flexibility down to the optimization method per task, per volume – so any
combination of optimization strategy or preset can be applied to a volume. For example, a multirole

server can be set to use automatic optimization using different methods on a per volume basis,
including the use of various strategies on some days or appointed times and not others. This
unprecedented level of customization allows you to apply the use of PerfectDisk based on the
specific needs of your environment and ensures that each volume can be optimized in accordance
with the unique demands of its role. As life would have it, it isn’t always a good idea to consolidate
free space, the principles of locality to not always apply – or in some cases should be ignored.
Competitors typically downplay the importance of this, offering limited options which treat each
volume the same, whether used for SQL, Exchange, File, Print, Virtual or etc. Don’t fall for the trap
of “setting it” and “regretting it” – choose the solution offers you the both the ease of use and
flexibility to best meet the needs of your unique environment, and provides the highest return on
investment.

Free Space Requirement
All defragmenters require some free space to defragment. PerfectDisk needs only a minimum of 1%
available free space.
Users should perform their own testing in low free space conditions to verify results in their own
environment.

Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) Capability Mode
On VSS enabled Windows volumes, defragmentation activity can result in snapshots/shadow copies
being purged (Microsoft KB article 312067). If the drive is formatted with a 16k cluster size (or
multiple of 16k), then VSS can detect defrag activity and minimize the purging of snapshots/shadow
copies. On VSS enabled drives where the cluster size is < 16k, to minimize snapshot/shadow
copies being purged you need to minimize the amount of file movement when defragmenting. By
default, PerfectDisk addresses this issue with our VSS compatibility mode.

Like PerfectDisk, Diskeeper can also perform a VSS Defragmentation method that attempts to
reduce the amount of file movement when defragmenting. With PerfectDisk, VSS Compatible
mode is enabled by default. With Diskeeper, you specifically have to enable it.

Performing a PerfectDisk defrag in VSS compatibility mode or performing a Diskeeper VSS
Defragmentation method can result in slightly less thorough defragmentation of the drive. You may
not get the best drive/file performance but VSS will be less likely to purge snapshots/shadow
copies.

Both Raxco and Diskeeper concur with Microsoft’s recommendation that VSS enabled drives
should have a cluster size of at least 16k.

Online Directory Consolidation
Raxco has always recognized the performance improvement achievable by consolidating directories
on the drive. PerfectDisk has provided automatic online directory consolidation since 2002.
With Diskeeper 2011, directory consolidation is disabled by default and has to specifically be turned
on.

Designed for Disks of Several Terabytes
PerfectDisk was the first defragmenter to support large drives of several terabytes and larger that are
now common. Available with all editions of PerfectDisk including Home Premium ($29.99),
Professional ($39.99) and Server ($99.99), PerfectDisk is designed to defragment these large drives
quickly while using minimal resources.

Diskeeper provides large drive support, but it is only available at premium prices. Large drive
support requires the Terabyte Volume Engine™ (TVE) – which according to the Diskeeper help “is
a specialized defragmentation engine for very large NTFS volumes (60 GB or larger in size). The
TVE is designed to efficiently handle volumes containing millions of files”. TVE is NOT available
in Home or Professional editions – it is only included with Pro Premier ($99.95), Server ($349.95),
Enterprise Server ($599.95) and Home Server ($59.95).
Diskeeper also has the Titan Defrag Engine™ - for drives starting at 4TB of data. This special
defrag engine is only available in Enterprise Server ($599.95)
Because PerfectDisk utilizes a single pass engine, you get the most powerful and advanced defrag
technology in every version without paying a premium price.

MFT Placement
PerfectDisk positions the MFT to the location where Microsoft research has indicated provides a 5-
10% performance improvement. In the Microsoft white paper “NTFS Preinstallation and Windows
XP”, published January 16, 2003 the author’s state:

“In Windows 2000 and earlier versions of Windows NT®, the MFT was typically placed at the start
of the disk space available to the file system. In Windows XP, the NTFS format utilities place the

MFT 3 GB further into the disk space, which has been found to improve system performance by 5
to 10 percent.”
Diskeeper does not specifically position the MFT as recommended.

NTFS Metadata
PerfectDisk defragments all of the NTFS metadata files. These are the files that define the file
system to NTFS. You can see a list of these files in PerfectDisk by clicking on the Excluded Files
tab in the Statistics windows that appears after a partition analysis. PerfectDisk defragments all of
these during the system file (boot time) defrag.
Diskeeper does not defragment these files and will not even report on these files.
Page File Defragmentation
The PerfectDisk System File defrag will completely defrag the page file as long as there is a
minimum of 1% free space available on the partition.
Diskeeper boot time defrag will only defrag the page file if there is contiguous free space equal to or
greater than the size of the page file.

Selected Files Defrag
PerfectDisk allows users to specify one or more individual files to defragment, rather than an entire
drive. This is particularly useful for large database files and high definition content.
Diskeeper has no single file defrag capability.

Consolidate Free Space Defrag
Part of PerfectDisk’s Space Restoration Technology, this method creates the largest pieces of
contiguous free space available. This is useful prior to creating large files or in performing partition
resizing operations. It is also useful prior to compressing a virtual hard drive on a virtual machine, as
a larger amount of disk space will be recaptured from the virtual hard drive.
Diskeeper has no specific consolidate free space defrag capability.

GUI-less Installation
PerfectDisk can be installed without the GUI present on the user’s machine. This feature is made
available for those installations exercising a “locked down”, secured environment. Only the
administrator can schedule or initiate defragmentation.
Diskeeper does not offer this capability.

User-Defined Thresholds
PerfectDisk has thresholds that will skip a defragmentation pass if fragmentation does not exceed a
user-specified percentage. Thresholds can be applied on a partition-by-partition basis.
As Diskeeper is typically running continuously in the background, it does not support fragmentation
thresholds.

Summary
PerfectDisk 11 and Diskeeper 2011 contain many differences in functionality, strategies and
methods. Evaluators of the products are encouraged to use this paper as a guide for their own
testing and analysis. By digging deep into actual functionality and actual results, testers should be in a
better position to make a well-informed decision. While there are numerous features, usability and
pricing issues to consider, these high-level points should be an important part of the decision-
making process:
• For any technology attempting to prevent fragmentation before it happens, it is important to test
and understand the impact on free space fragmentation and resource consumption to ensure these
are not negatively impacted.
• It is important to understand the impact on resource consumption between single-pass
defragmentation and multi-pass defragmentation.
• Free space consolidation is a critical piece of any defragmentation initiative, particularly with
regard to write speed and future fragmentation levels.
• An unattended alert and warning system can be critical to proactive management of
fragmentation.
• Before implementing a defragmentation system, determine the requirements for flexibility in
scheduling across servers and workstations in the enterprise.

Corporate Headquarters
6 Montgomery Village Avenue
Suite 500
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
United States
Phone: 301.527.0803
Toll Free: 1.800.546.9728

PerfectDisk Sales
Direct: 301.527.0803
Toll Free: 1.800.546.9728
[email protected]

About Raxco Software

Raxco Software has been helping large enterprises, small businesses, and consumers with their computer
resource management needs for over 30 years. Its PerfectDisk is Windows® Certified by Microsoft®, and
optimized for Windows 7. The PerfectDisk line has a long award-winning history, most notably its perfect 5-
star review from CNET Download, winner of the Windows IT Pro Readers’ Choice Awards for
Defragmentation Utility and Storage Management Tool, and Redmond Magazine’s Best of the Best Award,
and having won PC Magazine’s Editors Choice award multiple times. In addition to its PerfectDisk line,
Raxco also produces PC optimization software for Windows operating systems and HP’s OpenVMS
operating system. Raxco Software can be found on the Web at www.raxco.com.

Copyright 2011, Raxco Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
PerfectDisk is a registered trademark of Raxco Software, Inc. Windows, Windows Server and Microsoft are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks or trade names are the property
of their respective owners.

It would have been a better thread if OP had shared the source page instead of copy - pasting to text file... :showoff:

Edited October 4, 2013 by slimrock

October 4, 2013

Contents from text File:

Unique Differences Between PerfectDisk 12 and Diskeeper 2011
This paper gives an overview of the differences between PerfectDisk 12 and Diskeeper 2011 disk
defragmentation software based on key areas of functionality and defragmentation methods.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary......................................................................................................................................................... 3
Defragmentation Performance .................................................................................................................................... 3
Effectiveness of Defragmentation .............................................................................................................................. 4
Fragmentation Prevention............................................................................................................................................. 5
Effectiveness of Fragmentation Prevention ............................................................................................................. 6
Zero Fill™ for Virtual Storage / Thin SAN ............................................................................................................. 7
Single Pass Defragmentation ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Free Space Consolidation .............................................................................................................................................. 8
Optimization Strategy ..................................................................................................................................................... 8
Diskeeper I-FAASTTM .................................................................................................................................................. 10
Centralized Management ............................................................................................................................................ 11
PerfectDisk Enterprise Console ................................................................................................................................ 11
Diskeeper Administrator Edition .............................................................................................................................. 12
Product Activation ......................................................................................................................................................... 12
Automating Defragmentation .................................................................................................................................... 12
Free Space Requirement .............................................................................................................................................. 14
Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) Capability Mode ...................................................................................... 14
Online Directory Consolidation ................................................................................................................................ 15
Designed for Disks of Several Terabytes ................................................................................................................ 15
MFT Placement .............................................................................................................................................................. 15
NTFS Metadata .............................................................................................................................................................. 16
Page File Defragmentation ......................................................................................................................................... 16
Selected Files Defrag .................................................................................................................................................... 16
Consolidate Free Space Defrag.................................................................................................................................. 16
GUI-less Installation ..................................................................................................................................................... 17
User Defined Thresholds ............................................................................................................................................. 17
Summary ........................................................................................................................................................................... 17
Executive Summary
This paper provides an overview of the differences between PerfectDisk® 12 and Diskeeper® 2011
based on key areas of functionality and defragmentation methods. The process of comparing two
utilities that perform a similar function (i.e. disk defragmentation and fragmentation prevention) is
not necessarily a case of comparing “apples to apples,” as the two products’ philosophies and
strategies, and most importantly results, differ substantially.
To assert that “all defragmenters are the same” is a gross oversimplification of the issues
surrounding disk defragmentation. Sure, data files need to be defragmented; but equally important is
the treatment of the remaining free space. System files and metadata files that can’t be moved online
are also significant since their location will affect data file defragmentation. Disk optimizing file
placement strategies can also make a difference in overall performance.
The goal of this paper is to discuss these key areas of functionality and compare the named products
and their approaches to the problem. Users can use this paper as guidance in their own product
evaluations and testing.
Defragmentation Performance
The most popular way to compare any two defragmentation solutions is to pit them head to head
against the same drive image to determine which product returns the best results. Defragmenters
must successfully defragment as many files and consolidate free space, with as little resource impact
as possible.
The following test was performed to compare the ability to eliminate file and free space
fragmentation. It was performed on a Server 2008 R2 x64 system with a Quad Core CPU, 8GB of
RAM and a 93.1GB drive partition which contained 1,915 files and 32,919 file fragments. Total file
fragmentation was at 78.4% and total free space fragmentation was at 100%. While total free space
was 1.51 GB (1%), the largest piece of contiguous free space was only 2.05MB.
A duplicate image of the drive partition was created and restored between tests. The partition was
hosted by two Seagate 1TB Hard Drives (ST31000340AS) in a RAID 0 configuration.
Per the help documentation, in order to get the “best results”, Diskeeper was set to use automatic
defrag, which was allowed to run for 45 hours before being disabled. PerfectDisk performed a single
SMARTPlacement defragmentation pass.
This test was designed to measure defragmentation effectiveness on an existing fragmented volume
and was not designed to measure fragmentation prevention (see Fragmentation Prevention for
those results). The test is also designed to measure the ability to eliminate free space fragmentation
against marketing claims. The results show that while both offerings claim to eliminate free space
fragmentation, only PerfectDisk demonstrates the ability to do so effectively.
Effectiveness of Defragmentation
Prior to
Defragmenting
PerfectDisk 12
Diskeeper 2011
Total Elapsed Processing Time
1 Hours 43 Minutes
45 hours
File Fragmentation
76.20%
0.2%
56.1%
Directory Fragmentation
23.10%
0%
0%
Number of Fragmented Files
1339
3
1099
Total Number of Fragments
32919
4
2709
Free Space Fragmentation
93.81%
0.7%
100%
Total Free Space Extents
12,478
17
1163
Largest Piece of Contiguous Free Space
93.81MB
1.3 GB
5.44 MB
Despite the length of time and the amount of resources used, while Diskeeper did succeed in
defragmenting some files, it was not able to consolidate free space. Given the length of time to run,
total CPU usage and disk I/O generated by Diskeeper, the price paid in terms of resources was
unreasonable. Given more time, Diskeeper 2011 might have produced better results than it did, but
at 45 hours we felt that it had been given sufficient time to rival the results generated by PerfectDisk
which completed in less than 2 hours.
Another interesting note is the consolidation of free space. Write performance is negatively
impacted as free space fragmentation builds up. The consolidation of free space is very important
because it restores the write performance of a volume and because failure to eliminate it will result in
file fragmentation that cannot be prevented by any means. For example, if your largest consolidated
free space “chunk” is 500 MB in size, no amount of fragmentation prevention will allow a 1GB file
to be written in anything less than 2 fragments.
Even with optimum resources availability, Diskeeper was very slow to effectively defragment.
Because it took Diskeeper an exhaustive period of time (compared to PerfectDisk) to effectively
defragment the volume, its cumulative resource usage was very high. This demonstrates that while
PerfectDisk also provides resource aware background defragmentation, Raxco Software understands
that getting immediate results is sometimes the only way to get the best result. Automatic
background defragmentation isn’t the solution to every problem as this test demonstrates and this is
why PerfectDisk offers flexibility above all else. Not all data is created equal, just like not all
hardware is created equal – the idea that all environments will benefit equally from automatic
background defragmentation is a fallacy. Unfortunately, when choosing to run a manual pass with
Diskeeper 2011, the product advises that manual passes do not return the best results. We tried
manual passes with Diskeeper 2011 anyway and found that the manual pass returned virtually no
results. The drive image used in this test is derived from actual customer data. Raxco has obtained
permission to distribute the image upon request for the purposes of obtaining independent results
from 3rd parties. All data on the image has been sanitized to protect customer privacy. To obtain a
copy of the image, send an email to [email protected] and reference this white paper in your
request.
Fragmentation Prevention
PerfectDisk 12 introduces, OptiWrite™, a new technology which eliminates fragmentation in real-
time by ensuring that up to 100% of files are written to the file system in a single continuous stream.
In addition to saving the resources normally required to analyze and defragment files, it ensures
maximum sequential write performance for storage devices, effectively eliminating the slow random
write behavior caused by fragmented writes. Diskeeper’s IntelliWrite also prevents fragmentation in
real-time, but does so at the expense of creating free space fragmentation. In addition to negatively
impacting some thin provisioned systems, this behavior can impact the performance of files where
the principle of locality can be applied. The following test results show how the creation of free
space fragmentation will sacrifice fast sequential reads for slow random reads.
With OptiWrite enabled, 10,000 files, each just 4K in size, are programmatically written to a folder
on the volume in question. It is important to note, that at 4K each, the total amount of data written
is just 39MB on disk. An analysis of the volume is performed to determine the amount of
fragmentation created as a result. (Phase 1: Writing Out)
Because both utilities create some free space fragmentation as a side effect of preventing file
fragmentation, the following additional tests are performed and data gathered:
After each run, a diagnostic utility is used to read out each file as fast as possible for 10
iterations in order to determine the average access time of all 10,000 files. The diagnostic
utility shows whether or not the 39MB worth of data can be read back as quickly as is
expected. (Phase 2: Reading In)
Subsequently, the folder in question is copied to the same volume using Windows Explorer.
The process is timed in order to corroborate the findings of the diagnostic utility. (Phase 3:
Copying out)
Defragmentation of the free space on the volume is performed in order to clean up any free
space fragmentation. The time it takes to complete the process is also logged. (Phase 4:
Consolidating Free Space)
After collecting data, the volume is reformatted and the test rerun for a total of 10 times in order to
determine averages.
Effectiveness of Fragmentation Prevention
OptiWrite
IntelliWrite
Phase 1 - Reading in
Fragments prevented
100%
100%
Free space fragments
342
7,894
Phase 2 - Writing out
Average file access time (seconds)
2.39
71.73
Phase 3 - Copying out
Explore copy operation (seconds)
37.233
97.695
Phase 4 - Free space consolidation
Free space consolidation pass (seconds)
23
114
The test results show that the simple act of preventing fragmentation is not enough to justify doing
so if the solution sacrifices fast sequential reads for slow random reads. The prevention solution
must factor in the placement of data and avoid the type of free space fragmentation that impact
sequential read performance. If you simply prevent file fragmentation at the expense of creating free
space fragmentation, a volume will inevitably be forced to fragment files regardless of any
prevention method. Any solution that fails to understand this in its implementation will at best delay
the need to defragment, and at worst, eventually promote the need to do so. A flexible and
customizable solution that can be tailored to one environment or another is much preferred.
There is an additional consideration to be made; thin provisioned systems that use high water
marking are negatively impacted by any form of fragmentation prevention that creates excessive
amounts of free space fragmentation. This is because such solutions artificially push files down the
volume to higher LCN ranges by creating large free space gaps between files. The use of such a
solution will promote the rapid provisioning of a thin provisioned volume and should be avoided.
OptiWrite is designed with these considerations in mind by allowing its behavior to be customized
as needed. Not all data, hardware and workloads are created equal, and so to provide the best
performance, a fragmentation prevention solution must provide sufficient flexibility and
customization to meet the task at hand.
Zero Fill™ for Virtual Storage / Thin SAN
Many storage solutions feature the ability to reclaim thin provisioned storage by a process
commonly known as zero page reclamation. This process is able to detect when both naturally
occurring and artificially created bloat has been zeroed out or made blank. Traditionally, this has
been accomplished via script with the SDELETE utility, however there are a few issues with it that
make its use prohibitive. Raxco Software has developed a virtualization aware, resource throttled
alternative called Zero Fill™. This new optimization provides various benefits over SDELETE
including automation and centralized management.
Whether at the SAN or virtual machine level, maintaining thin provisioning via thin reclamation
methods is now easier with PerfectDisk 12. Via the Raxco central management console, Zero Fill
passes can be centrally executed on any volume in your environment. It can also be set to run
dynamically as part of an optimization regimen or stand-alone scheduled task. Combined with the
ability to execute pre and post tasks, Zero Fill passes can be set to run in conjunction with other
scripts or utilities, including those that initiate zero page reclamation and backups. This capability
allows PerfectDisk to automate a complete solution.
In comparison, Diskeeper 2011 features no Zero Fill capability and thus no true support for thin
provisioned SAN or thin virtual machine storage.
Single Pass Defragmentation
PerfectDisk employs a single-pass defragmentation engine that is designed to immediately address
the issue of file and free space fragmentation – providing the best possible drive performance when
run. This means PerfectDisk will defragment 99-100% of all data files and consolidate free space in
one run regardless of the severity of fragmentation or the amount of free space.
Diskeeper uses a continuous (always running) defragmentation engine that slowly “chips away” at
fragmentation over an unspecified and unknown period of time. Because the engine is multi-pass in
nature, it is best served in running perpetually. The built-in Windows defragmenter works under the
same multi-pass principles for both workstations and servers. Gartner Research published a report
in February 2003 making this observation about multi-pass defragmentation solutions which still
applies today:
“The Windows® built-in defragmentation tool is a multi-pass defragmenter that must be run over
and over to defragment the disk, especially when defragmenting very large disks with heavy
fragmentation and limited free space. As such, multi-pass defragmenters characteristically fragment
the remaining free space on the disk, which accelerates fragmentation later. It is recommended that a
third-party single-pass server defragmentation tool be implemented instead.”
Free Space Consolidation
PerfectDisk’s Space Restoration Technology™ allows its single pass engine to consolidate free space
in the process of defragmenting files. As the Gartner report states, fragmented free space accelerates
new file fragmentation. It is important to note that as the test results above show that Diskeeper’s
solution for fragmentation prevention, actually increases free space fragmentation.
In spite of claims of improved free space consolidation, testing shows that Diskeeper 2011 still
doesn’t provide effective free space consolidation, resulting in reduced write performance and less
resilience to the refragmentation of data. See the Defragmentation Performance and
Fragmentation Prevention sections of this paper for test results.
Optimization Strategy
PerfectDisk features a patented file placement strategy that operates based on the principle of
locality and which Raxco Software brands as SMARTPlacement. The goal of SMARTPlacement is
identify which files share various access and usage pattern and to place them with respect to their
physical locality to each other. This includes the physical locality of likeminded files based not only
on access pattern, but by modification history and type. Raxco Software understands that not all
data is created equal and that not all data, whether accessed frequently or not, has direct bearing on
performance. SMARTPlacement is designed, not to achieve an attractive or visually appealing drive
map – there is a reason and a purpose to each category and type of data that SMARTPlacement
tracks.
SMARTPlacement is also a configurable technology which allows customers to custom create
strategies based on specific needs. In addition to being highly customizable, PerfectDisk provides
several SMARTPlacement presets for different performance scenarios. Each preset applies the
principle of locality in unique way to achieve various file performance characteristics. The following
present are included in PerfectDisk 12:
Classic Method
The classic method has seen various minor tweaks for over a decade and is the default preset used in
PerfectDisk. It is a time tested solution that balances the performance improvement of all files, and
the prioritization of files critical to OS and application performance as well as boot performance.
The Classic preset also consolidates free space, reduces the rate of file refragmentation and aids the
natural ability of the file system to prevent fragmentation. As a result, the classic method also
dramatically reduces the time it takes to complete subsequent passes in many cases, making it both
the oldest and most popular method in use today.
Performance and Performance Aggressive Methods
Delivering two degrees of aggressive performance, these presets represent the opposite of the
balanced approach offered by the classic method. These methods favor the performance of new file
writes and the performance of active applications over the performance of less frequently used
aspects of programs and the operating system. Thus, these methods take a biased approach to file
system optimization by offering up the fastest physical regions of a disk to those processes which
generate the most significant disk utilization.
Conservative Method
This method applies the principles of locality to maximizing the life of a disk or disk array. It is
designed to reduce the long term electromechanical strain that is produced from day to day use. This
method makes for very fast subsequent passes and although it sacrifices application and boot
performance, it does reduce latency in many cases due to increased electromechanical efficiency.
Although not specifically designed to improve performance, this method does offer the attractive
combination of predictable performance and extended disk life, particularly for disk arrays where
throughput is abundant.
In addition to these presets, each preset can be customized to meet specific needs, or a completely
unique method can be derived to achieve unique performance benefits on a volume by volume
basis.
Diskeeper I-FAAST™
Diskeeper 2011’s I-FAAST™ defragmentation technology places files by access date. When I-
FAAST Defragmentation is enabled on a volume, Diskeeper runs specially-engineered benchmarks
on the selected NTFS volumes to learn their individual performance characteristics (not all disks
have the same characteristics). Drive activity should first be minimized in order for I-FAAST to
properly evaluate a drive. Limiting drive activity poses a problem in a production environment,
where it may not be possible to ensure minimal activity. Failing to ensure minimal drive activity can
result in I-FAAST in-accurately determining if there is even a possibility of performance
improvement and may actually result in I-FAAST making file access performance worse instead of
better. I-FAAST is a multi-pass defragmentation method. According to the Diskeeper online help,
“it can take up to a week or more for the full benefits of I-FAAST to become apparent.”
According to the Diskeeper online help, the average improvement in file access using I-FAAST is
only 10-20%. If you compare the “costs” required for I-FAAST to evaluate the drive (minimize
drive activity – difficult to do in a product environment), constantly monitor file accesses to
determine what files are “hot” and wait for some unknown number of days or weeks for I-FAAST
to place files, you can quickly exceed any potential benefit gained from a marginal improvement in
file access speeds. In addition, Diskeeper’s inability to effectively consolidate free space on the drive
means that any performance benefit that I-FAAST may provide (Diskeeper recognizes that there are
some drives that may not be helped by I-FAAST) is likely negated due to the performance loss
attributed to free space fragmentation. I-FAAST doesn’t allow customization of file placement, and
does not offer any presets.
With the analysis phase of every pass determines the current best file placement based on the preset
or custom SMARTPlacement strategy chosen. The principle of locality is applied up front based on
the strategy chosen, improving performance immediately. You don’t have to wait an unknown
number of days or weeks for drive performance to slowly get better – if ever.
Centralized Management
The ability to centrally manage defragmentation in a network environment is a key to reducing IT
costs. Key requirements to effectively manage includes the ability to deploy defragmentation
software to remote systems, centrally configure for un-attended operation and the ability to alerted
to any fragmentation related issues in the network – either via email alerts or other types of
reporting.
PerfectDisk Enterprise Console
PerfectDisk comes with the PerfectDisk Enterprise Console, a management console that centralizes
the management of defragmentation across the enterprise. The PerfectDisk Enterprise Console can
be used to deploy, configure, schedule, patch, manage, and report. Other capabilities include:
A digital dashboard that provides a visual overview of fragmentation in your enterprise.
Link to an existing Active Directory® OU so that as computers are added or removed from the
OU, the Enterprise Console automatically becomes aware of them.
Custom define groups and only see those computers that are to be managed; if an administrator
only manages 10 computers, the administrator won’t have to see others that are not managed.
Automatic email notification if thresholds are reached, sent as they occur or in a daily summary.
11 user-configurable warnings and alerts for problematic situations across the enterprise.
Remote control via an automatically generated hotlink to the PerfectDisk Client running on a
remote computer
System management ability via an automatically generated hotlink to terminal service/remote
desktop on the remote computer without leaving the PerfectDisk Enterprise Console, saving
troubleshooting time.
Access to PerfectDisk client statistics from the PerfectDisk Enterprise Console, allowing
administrators access to the data for trending and reporting purposes.
Scripting via Windows Script/JavaScript and WMI for additional management and administration.
Native x64 application when running on x64 hardware.
Diskeeper Administrator Edition
Diskeeper offers its Administrator Edition for enterprise management. Administrator Edition
performs remote deployment, configuration and reporting functions but lacks the advanced alerting
and reporting features of the PerfectDisk Enterprise Console. The Diskeeper console has only 4
fragmentation metrics that are monitored and only 1 customizable alert threshold and doesn’t
provide the “at-a-glance” status of any fragmentation issues in the network that the PerfectDisk
Enterprise Console provides. On x64 based systems, Diskeeper Administrator Edition is NOT
available as a native x64 application – it runs in x86 compatibility mode.
Product Activation
You must activate Diskeeper after installation. Activation involves sending hardware identifiers and
license information to Diskeeper Corporation’s product activation system.
PerfectDisk does not use or require activation in order to run – either for home users or for
corporate users.
Automating Defragmentation
The following table shows the options available in both PerfectDisk and Diskeeper for performing
defragmentation on a system.
PerfectDisk
Diskeeper
Automatic
X
X
Screen Saver
X
Single File
X
Batches of Files
X
Manual
X
X
Defined Schedule
X
Users can combine the use of dynamically defined and automatic tasks in any combination of the
following:
One Time defragmentation
Revolving every X days
Revolving on specific days, weeks
Automatically, by Idle resources (CPU and Disk I/O) with definable thresholds
Automatically, by user activity (Screensaver)
Manual with full optimization
Tasks can also be offset X number of days or weeks and multiple tasks can be created for specific
disks using specific strategies.
In addition, PerfectDisk uses task prioritization to allow multiple strategies to be applied on a disk
by disk basis. Of equal importance, PerfectDisk allows the specification of Maximum Run Durations
so that a task can be set to run within your predetermined maintenance windows. Schedules can be
set to run on disks serial or parallel sequence.
PerfectDisk minimizes the impact of fragmentation on system resources by allowing you to run at
a low CPU priority and to throttle Disk I/O usage. This allows PerfectDisk to get access to the
resources that it needs in order to defragment while not imposing a noticeable impact on the system.
For systems with system resource constraints (that typically prevent Diskeeper’s InvisiTasking from
being able to effectively reduce fragmentation), you can also configure PerfectDisk to run at a higher
CPU priority or to not throttle Disk I/O usage to ensure that PerfectDisk gets sufficient access to
system resources in order to defragment.
With Diskeeper, customizable and flexible scheduling is not available. Diskeeper can either be run
manually or it is set to run continually all of the time. If Diskeeper is set to run continuously, it can
result in defragmentation occurring when you don’t want it to. When continuously running, it also
doesn’t allow you the flexibility to control access to CPU or Disk resources in order to dedicate
additional resources to improve defrag performance on must-defrag systems.
PerfectDisk provides maximum flexibility and control so defragmentation occurs on your terms.
While PerfectDisk comes preconfigured and ready to use out of the box, it is of particular note that
PerfectDisk delivers flexibility down to the optimization method per task, per volume – so any
combination of optimization strategy or preset can be applied to a volume. For example, a multirole
server can be set to use automatic optimization using different methods on a per volume basis,
including the use of various strategies on some days or appointed times and not others. This
unprecedented level of customization allows you to apply the use of PerfectDisk based on the
specific needs of your environment and ensures that each volume can be optimized in accordance
with the unique demands of its role. As life would have it, it isn’t always a good idea to consolidate
free space, the principles of locality to not always apply – or in some cases should be ignored.
Competitors typically downplay the importance of this, offering limited options which treat each
volume the same, whether used for SQL, Exchange, File, Print, Virtual or etc. Don’t fall for the trap
of “setting it” and “regretting it” – choose the solution offers you the both the ease of use and
flexibility to best meet the needs of your unique environment, and provides the highest return on
investment.
Free Space Requirement
All defragmenters require some free space to defragment. PerfectDisk needs only a minimum of 1%
available free space.
Users should perform their own testing in low free space conditions to verify results in their own
environment.
Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) Capability Mode
On VSS enabled Windows volumes, defragmentation activity can result in snapshots/shadow copies
being purged (Microsoft KB article 312067). If the drive is formatted with a 16k cluster size (or
multiple of 16k), then VSS can detect defrag activity and minimize the purging of snapshots/shadow
copies. On VSS enabled drives where the cluster size is < 16k, to minimize snapshot/shadow
copies being purged you need to minimize the amount of file movement when defragmenting. By
default, PerfectDisk addresses this issue with our VSS compatibility mode.
Like PerfectDisk, Diskeeper can also perform a VSS Defragmentation method that attempts to
reduce the amount of file movement when defragmenting. With PerfectDisk, VSS Compatible
mode is enabled by default. With Diskeeper, you specifically have to enable it.
Performing a PerfectDisk defrag in VSS compatibility mode or performing a Diskeeper VSS
Defragmentation method can result in slightly less thorough defragmentation of the drive. You may
not get the best drive/file performance but VSS will be less likely to purge snapshots/shadow
copies.
Both Raxco and Diskeeper concur with Microsoft’s recommendation that VSS enabled drives
should have a cluster size of at least 16k.
Online Directory Consolidation
Raxco has always recognized the performance improvement achievable by consolidating directories
on the drive. PerfectDisk has provided automatic online directory consolidation since 2002.
With Diskeeper 2011, directory consolidation is disabled by default and has to specifically be turned
on.
Designed for Disks of Several Terabytes
PerfectDisk was the first defragmenter to support large drives of several terabytes and larger that are
now common. Available with all editions of PerfectDisk including Home Premium ($29.99),
Professional ($39.99) and Server ($99.99), PerfectDisk is designed to defragment these large drives
quickly while using minimal resources.
Diskeeper provides large drive support, but it is only available at premium prices. Large drive
support requires the Terabyte Volume Engine™ (TVE) – which according to the Diskeeper help “is
a specialized defragmentation engine for very large NTFS volumes (60 GB or larger in size). The
TVE is designed to efficiently handle volumes containing millions of files”. TVE is NOT available
in Home or Professional editions – it is only included with Pro Premier ($99.95), Server ($349.95),
Enterprise Server ($599.95) and Home Server ($59.95).
Diskeeper also has the Titan Defrag Engine™ - for drives starting at 4TB of data. This special
defrag engine is only available in Enterprise Server ($599.95)
Because PerfectDisk utilizes a single pass engine, you get the most powerful and advanced defrag
technology in every version without paying a premium price.
MFT Placement
PerfectDisk positions the MFT to the location where Microsoft research has indicated provides a 5-
10% performance improvement. In the Microsoft white paper “NTFS Preinstallation and Windows
XP”, published January 16, 2003 the author’s state:
“In Windows 2000 and earlier versions of Windows NT®, the MFT was typically placed at the start
of the disk space available to the file system. In Windows XP, the NTFS format utilities place the
MFT 3 GB further into the disk space, which has been found to improve system performance by 5
to 10 percent.”
Diskeeper does not specifically position the MFT as recommended.
NTFS Metadata
PerfectDisk defragments all of the NTFS metadata files. These are the files that define the file
system to NTFS. You can see a list of these files in PerfectDisk by clicking on the Excluded Files
tab in the Statistics windows that appears after a partition analysis. PerfectDisk defragments all of
these during the system file (boot time) defrag.
Diskeeper does not defragment these files and will not even report on these files.
Page File Defragmentation
The PerfectDisk System File defrag will completely defrag the page file as long as there is a
minimum of 1% free space available on the partition.
Diskeeper boot time defrag will only defrag the page file if there is contiguous free space equal to or
greater than the size of the page file.
Selected Files Defrag
PerfectDisk allows users to specify one or more individual files to defragment, rather than an entire
drive. This is particularly useful for large database files and high definition content.
Diskeeper has no single file defrag capability.
Consolidate Free Space Defrag
Part of PerfectDisk’s Space Restoration Technology, this method creates the largest pieces of
contiguous free space available. This is useful prior to creating large files or in performing partition
resizing operations. It is also useful prior to compressing a virtual hard drive on a virtual machine, as
a larger amount of disk space will be recaptured from the virtual hard drive.
Diskeeper has no specific consolidate free space defrag capability.
GUI-less Installation
PerfectDisk can be installed without the GUI present on the user’s machine. This feature is made
available for those installations exercising a “locked down”, secured environment. Only the
administrator can schedule or initiate defragmentation.
Diskeeper does not offer this capability.
User-Defined Thresholds
PerfectDisk has thresholds that will skip a defragmentation pass if fragmentation does not exceed a
user-specified percentage. Thresholds can be applied on a partition-by-partition basis.
As Diskeeper is typically running continuously in the background, it does not support fragmentation
thresholds.
Summary
PerfectDisk 11 and Diskeeper 2011 contain many differences in functionality, strategies and
methods. Evaluators of the products are encouraged to use this paper as a guide for their own
testing and analysis. By digging deep into actual functionality and actual results, testers should be in a
better position to make a well-informed decision. While there are numerous features, usability and
pricing issues to consider, these high-level points should be an important part of the decision-
making process:
• For any technology attempting to prevent fragmentation before it happens, it is important to test
and understand the impact on free space fragmentation and resource consumption to ensure these
are not negatively impacted.
• It is important to understand the impact on resource consumption between single-pass
defragmentation and multi-pass defragmentation.
• Free space consolidation is a critical piece of any defragmentation initiative, particularly with
regard to write speed and future fragmentation levels.
• An unattended alert and warning system can be critical to proactive management of
fragmentation.
• Before implementing a defragmentation system, determine the requirements for flexibility in
scheduling across servers and workstations in the enterprise.
Corporate Headquarters
6 Montgomery Village Avenue
Suite 500
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
United States
Phone: 301.527.0803
Toll Free: 1.800.546.9728
PerfectDisk Sales
Direct: 301.527.0803
Toll Free: 1.800.546.9728
[email protected]
About Raxco Software
Raxco Software has been helping large enterprises, small businesses, and consumers with their computer
resource management needs for over 30 years. Its PerfectDisk is Windows® Certified by Microsoft®, and
optimized for Windows 7. The PerfectDisk line has a long award-winning history, most notably its perfect 5-
star review from CNET Download, winner of the Windows IT Pro Readers’ Choice Awards for
Defragmentation Utility and Storage Management Tool, and Redmond Magazine’s Best of the Best Award,
and having won PC Magazine’s Editors Choice award multiple times. In addition to its PerfectDisk line,
Raxco also produces PC optimization software for Windows operating systems and HP’s OpenVMS
operating system. Raxco Software can be found on the Web at www.raxco.com.
Copyright 2011, Raxco Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
PerfectDisk is a registered trademark of Raxco Software, Inc. Windows, Windows Server and Microsoft are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks or trade names are the property
of their respective owners.

It would have been a better thread if OP had shared the source page instead of copy - pasting to text file... :showoff:

Looks more like a marketing spiel to me....

Next week Diskeeper will put out their own article showing how its better than PerfectDisk, and the week after that, well you see where im going with this....

Having finally seen it no wonder it wasnt posted in full, it would have probably been reported as an ad....

October 4, 2013

Mind telling us whats in the zip file and why we have to download it instead of reading online?
its just a text file m8

What a complete and utter waste of time!

Why on earth would you link to a text inside and archive on a file hosting site on a forum instead of just posting the text files contents on the actual post?

Edited October 4, 2013 by GRiM

October 4, 2013

It is just marketing

October 4, 2013

Mind telling us whats in the zip file and why we have to download it instead of reading online?

In the zip its a simple text file made from original pdf ;-)

October 4, 2013

Ok Ok ..relax...Its from original source...I post the link

Think this is how it should be..But I posted at 2 o clock in the night so sry ;-)

here we go:http://www.raxco.com/user_data/white_papers/unique_differences_between_perfectdisk_12_and_diskeeper_6_8_2011.pdf

Edited October 4, 2013 by Blackchildcx

October 4, 2013

I just thought might begood infos to know for some .

and you have do download the pdf...for those not using acrobat pro and so on...and think txt file is enough... ;)

..If I screwed some people up...than :lol:

Edited October 4, 2013 by Blackchildcx

October 4, 2013

Check out how the two best defrag softwares are stickin up!
unique_differences_between_perfectdisk_12_and_diskeeper_6_8_2011.zip (13kB)
here: https://anonfiles.com/file/ab1965656b4321b0839610a35b7277bc
Thx for the info just downloaded gonna have a look through now.Funny thing is i just uninstalled raxco :( cause the key didnt work for me.So now im using frontpaged o&o.oh well we will see :)

the keys for raxco dont work 4 you? You used the pro business edition?

October 4, 2013

Mind telling us whats in the zip file and why we have to download it instead of reading online?
its just a text file m8
What a complete and utter waste of time!
Why on earth would you link to a text inside and archive on a file hosting site on a forum instead of just posting the text files contents on the actual post?

because the post whould be 18 sites big!

Edited October 4, 2013 by Blackchildcx

October 4, 2013

heres my exp- for XP diskeeper (older ver) 4.80 i think was the best before they re-wrote the prog.

it had a comprehensive boot-time defrag that i really liked.

when vista came out, the re-wrote it, and made it run all the time, which i did not like...

now- i use Auslogic Defrag Pro ( for both XP and Win7 and even Win8)) its the best it beats both new diskeeper and perfect disk by a mile, its not even a contest.

diskeeper for Win7 wants to run in the background almost constantly, which in my opinion is bad, bacause it makes your HDD run all the time.

perfect disk has an interesting way of organising files on disk and is the only one i ever saw that would allow you to put various file ext. formats on different locations on the disk, and is an interesting way of re-thinking how you organise data on your disk.

however, PD takes forever to run because of all the above, i think its far too intensive for the avg user who just wants a defrag

thus Auslogic wins hands down because it is so thorough, (freespace reduction mode is what i use),

i like it the best. and it doesn't run all the time in the bkgd.

just my 2 cents. :) thanks for posting the info

Edited October 4, 2013 by jackieo

October 4, 2013

Mind telling us whats in the zip file and why we have to download it instead of reading online?
its just a text file m8
What a complete and utter waste of time!
Why on earth would you link to a text inside and archive on a file hosting site on a forum instead of just posting the text files contents on the actual post?
because the post whould be 18 sites big!

Then why didnt you just post the direct link to PDF in first place??

October 4, 2013

sry..done!

October 5, 2013

Check out how the two best defrag softwares are stickin up!
unique_differences_between_perfectdisk_12_and_diskeeper_6_8_2011.zip (13kB)
here: https://anonfiles.com/file/ab1965656b4321b0839610a35b7277bc
Thx for the info just downloaded gonna have a look through now.Funny thing is i just uninstalled raxco :( cause the key didnt work for me.So now im using frontpaged o&o.oh well we will see :)
the keys for raxco dont work 4 you? You used the pro business edition?

Ye man i used raxco before for ages liked it.However ive recently just reformated and re-installed win 8.And now any editition i tried it says key is correct but to install pro i think.But the same message appears in any addition?Am i doing something wrong cheers.cause i would prefer raxco :)

October 5, 2013

Check out how the two best defrag softwares are stickin up!
unique_differences_between_perfectdisk_12_and_diskeeper_6_8_2011.zip (13kB)
here: https://anonfiles.com/file/ab1965656b4321b0839610a35b7277bc
Thx for the info just downloaded gonna have a look through now.Funny thing is i just uninstalled raxco :( cause the key didnt work for me.So now im using frontpaged o&o.oh well we will see :)
the keys for raxco dont work 4 you? You used the pro business edition?
Ye man i used raxco before for ages liked it.However ive recently just reformated and re-installed win 8.And now any editition i tried it says key is correct but to install pro i think.But the same message appears in any addition?Am i doing something wrong cheers.cause i would prefer raxco :)

try to use the PD 12.5 Pro "BUSINESS"-Edition! The keys are for Business...

If not PM me,We fix that!!

October 5, 2013

Check out how the two best defrag softwares are stickin up!
unique_differences_between_perfectdisk_12_and_diskeeper_6_8_2011.zip (13kB)
here: https://anonfiles.com/file/ab1965656b4321b0839610a35b7277bc
Thx for the info just downloaded gonna have a look through now.Funny thing is i just uninstalled raxco :( cause the key didnt work for me.So now im using frontpaged o&o.oh well we will see :)
the keys for raxco dont work 4 you? You used the pro business edition?
Ye man i used raxco before for ages liked it.However ive recently just reformated and re-installed win 8.And now any editition i tried it says key is correct but to install pro i think.But the same message appears in any addition?Am i doing something wrong cheers.cause i would prefer raxco :)
try to use the PD 12.5 Pro "BUSINESS"-Edition! The keys are for Business...
If not PM me,We fix that!!

Hey man thankyou it worked great.dont no what i was doing wrong maybe to much :chug: lol.Anyways thx again peace ;)

October 9, 2013

great :D

Sign In

Unique Differences Between PerfectDisk 12 and Diskeeper 2011

Recommended Posts

Blackchildcx

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Reefa

Link to comment

Share on other sites

stylemessiah

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Reefa

Link to comment

Share on other sites

stylemessiah

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Reefa

Link to comment

Share on other sites

SlimRock

Link to comment

Share on other sites

stylemessiah

Link to comment

Share on other sites

GRiM

Link to comment

Share on other sites

avmad

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Blackchildcx

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Blackchildcx

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Blackchildcx

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Blackchildcx

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Blackchildcx

Link to comment

Share on other sites

jackieo

Link to comment

Share on other sites

GRiM

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Blackchildcx

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Reefa

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Blackchildcx

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Reefa

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Blackchildcx

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Join the conversation

Recently Browsing 0 members

nsane.down

News

Browse

Activity