Storage

Review Spotlight: Hard drive defrag applications roundup

By · July 14, 2010, 5:25 AM PST · markwkaelin

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  • A plethora of defrag applications

    Hard drive defrag applications are plentiful. This roundup photo gallery provides a quick glance at the applications TechRepublic has reviewed over the past year or so. However, we are open to reviewing more. Let us know if your favorite defrag tool has been overlooked.

    Detailed reviews with specification details, pricing, and list of features are linked in the descriptions for each of the following images.

  • UltraDefrag Main Screen

    UltraDefrag is for anyone who needs a more powerful, reliable, faster replacement for the standard Windows defragmenting tools as well as the administrator who could use a portable version for on the go troubleshooting.

    For a full review of UltraDefrag, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.

  • Ultradefrag Analysis

    Here are the results of a freshly analyzed hard drive.

    UltraDefrag is a tool that every administrator should use based on one simple need: speed. UltraDefrag is one of the fastest (if not THE fastest) defragging application I (Jack Wallen) have used. And when you are dealing with a large number of machines, speed is crucial.

    For a full review of UltraDefrag, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.

  • Defraggler Main Screen

    Users who really beat up their filesystems will really appreciate Defraggler. People who do a lot of downloads, store large media files, or install and uninstall a lot of software will definitely find it useful.

    For a full review of Defraggler, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Justin James for TechRepublic.

  • Defraggler Analysis

    Defraggler lets you see what an individual file looks like on disk, as well as its fragmentation stats.

    For a full review of Defraggler, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Justin James for TechRepublic.

  • Defraggler Bottom Line

    Defraggler may well be that "smarter product" for you. Its advanced features make it stand out in the defrag market. Workstation users and systems administrators will be happy to know that it can work with RAIDs, and support technicians will appreciate that it can be run from USB disk. Defraggler's extensive configurability will appeal particularly to enthusiasts and others who love to have ultimate control over their systems, as well as those users with special needs.

    For a full review of Defraggler, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Justin James for TechRepublic.

  • Smart Defrag

    Smart Defrag is a bare bones defragmentation application with a simple interface that adds Auto Defrag functionality to the mix.

    For a full review of Smart Defrag, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Justin James for TechRepublic.

  • Smart Defrag Reports

    This is the report you are given after running an analysis on a volume. At the bottom, you can see the recommended action to take.

    For a full review of Smart Defrag, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Justin James for TechRepublic.

  • Smart Defrag Options

    While Microsoft Windows comes with a defragmenter, some people find it confusing or hard to use, particularly the scheduling features. In addition, some systems are performing enough file system changes that fragmentation is occurring constantly. Smart Defrag, particularly with its Auto Defrag feature, is designed to address these scenarios.

    For a full review of Smart Defrag, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Justin James for TechRepublic.

  • Auslogics Software's Disk Defrag 3 Main Screen

    Auslogics' Disk Defrag assists businesses and enterprise organizations by reducing administrative time necessary to optimize disk performance.

    For a full review of Auslogics Software's Disk Defrag 3, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Erik Eckel for TechRepublic.

  • Auslogics Software's Disk Defrag 3 Analysis

    Before performing a defragmentation, Disk Defrag 3 can analyze disks and drives (including flash memory) to determine which files, folders and drives require defragmentation. Here you can see an analysis of two drives is 50% complete. The entire process on these two half-terabyte drives took approximately 20-30 seconds.

    For a full review of Auslogics Software's Disk Defrag 3, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Erik Eckel for TechRepublic.

  • Auslogics Software's Disk Defrag 3 File analysis

    Just as organizations shouldn't want CIOs or IT managers elbow-deep in Windows boxes repairing failed hardware, nor should they waste precious technology resources defragmenting and optimizing hard disk performance on workstations and servers. Auslogics' Disk Defrag 3 eliminates the need for technology professionals to spend time or energy defragmenting hard disks and optimizing disk performance. And should errors occur, defragmented data is easier to recover. Disk Defrag 3 is a no brainer for businesses seeking to improve performance, boost productivity and protect data.

    For a full review of Auslogics Software's Disk Defrag 3, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Erik Eckel for TechRepublic.

  • MyDefrag 4.2.6 Main Screen

    MyDefrag is for those users and administrators looking for a better defragmenter than Windows Disk Defragmenter. MyDefrag is ideal if you are looking for a defragmenter that is thorough, highly customizable and free. However, if you are looking for a fast defragmenter, then MyDefrag probably isn't for you.

    For a full review of MyDefrag, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Alan Norton for TechRepublic.

  • MyDefrag 4.2.6 Diskmap

    J.C. Kessels calls the display that graphically shows the files and file segments on the disk a diskmap.

    For a full review of MyDefrag, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Alan Norton for TechRepublic.

  • MyDefrag 4.2.6 Analysis

    If you are looking for both thorough and free in a defragmenter then look no further than MyDefrag. However, you may not need or want the level of defragmentation and optimization that MyDefrag performs. If this is the case, then you might want to look at other faster defragmenters like Auslogics Disk Defrag.

    For a full review of MyDefrag, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Alan Norton for TechRepublic.

  • Diskeeper Professional Main Screen

    In general, disk defragmentation tools appeal to both enterprise IT departments and enthusiasts, power users, etc. Diskeeper, however, is very focused on the enterprise market, and the features that it has above and beyond its defragging capabilities will most likely not be interesting to non-professional users.

    For a full review of Diskeeper, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Justin James for TechRepublic.

  • Diskeeper Professional Analysis

    The analysis provides a useful view of what files are poorly performing.

    For a full review of Diskeeper, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Justin James for TechRepublic.

  • Diskeeper Professional Charts

    Diskeeper Professional really stands out in the world of defrag tools. It has some pretty intense enterprise-class features as far as workstation utilities go. But one has to wonder, "why?" and "is it really worth $59.95?"

    For a full review of Diskeeper, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Justin James for TechRepublic.

  • PerfectDisk 11 Professional Main Screen

    PerfectDisk 11 Professional markets itself towards IT departments. There is a home version without some of the high end features such as duplicate file removal, and server-oriented products in the lineup as well. That being said, the Professional edition combines many of the features that hobbyists and enthusiasts often use a variety of other products for, so it may be worth a look for them as well.

    For a full review of PerfectDisk 11 Professional, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Justin James for TechRepublic.

  • PerfectDisk 11 Professional Drivemap

    After analyzing a disk, PerfectDisk presents the kind of drive map that you would expect.

    For a full review of PerfectDisk 11 Professional, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Justin James for TechRepublic.

  • PerfectDisk 11 Professional SMARTPlacement

    Overall, PerfectDisk Professional is a great product for those looking for ultimate defragging tuning and performance, and is definitely the best product that I have seen so far from that perspective. IT professionals in a high-performance situation (such as workstation users) will probably like it a lot. For typical defragging, you are probably better off with a less expensive option, unless you require central management, in which case Diskeeper is your only real choice.

    For a full review of PerfectDisk 11 Professional, check out the TechRepublic Product Spotlight Blog.

    Image created by Justin James for TechRepublic.

A plethora of defrag applications

Hard drive defrag applications are plentiful. This roundup photo gallery provides a quick glance at the applications TechRepublic has reviewed over the past year or so. However, we are open to reviewing more. Let us know if your favorite defrag tool has been overlooked.

Detailed reviews with specification details, pricing, and list of features are linked in the descriptions for each of the following images.
Related Topics:
Storage Hardware Data Centers Networking Innovation Big Data Analytics Security

By Mark Kaelin

Mark W. Kaelin has been writing and editing stories about the IT industry, gadgets, finance, accounting, and tech-life for more than 25 years. Most recently, he has been a regular contributor to BreakingModern.com, aNewDomain.net, and TechRepublic.

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