A Tutorial on

Disk Defragmentation for Windows

What You Dont Know Can Hurt You
January 2009
Raxco Software White Paper
2 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Fragmentation 101 3
Fragmentation and Performance 4
The Costs of Fragmentation 5
Productivity 5
Backup 6
System Administration/Help Desk 6
Hardware 6
Myths or Misperceptions 7
Myth 1-Our systems are new, we dont need
defragmentation software. 7
Myth 2- We have lots of free space so
fragmentations not an issue. 7
Myth 3-Fragmentation isnt an issue for our
workstations. 7
Myth 4-We use RAID or striping, so we dont
need defragmentation. 8
Myth 5-We are going to use the built-in
Windows defragmentation utility. 8
Myth 6- A file is a file. 9
Myth 7- All defragmentation software is
the same. 9
How Defragmentation Software Products Differ 9
Windows APIs 9
Free Space Consolidation 9
Single Pass Defragmentation 10
Enterprise Manageability 11
Free Space Requirements 11
Optimization 11
Master File Table and System Files 12
Scheduling 12
Boot Time Defragmentation 13
NTFS and FAT Directory Consolidation 13
Page File Defragmentation 13
Command Line Interface 13
Exchange Data Store Defragmentation 13
Very Large, Very Fragmented Partitions 14
Windows XP, Vista and the MFT 15
Evaluating Defragmentation Software 15
Summary 16
3 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
This paper is provided as an
educational instrument that
will: explain how and why disk
fragmentation happens,
explain the costs of
fragmentation, explore some
myths about fragmentation,
and examine the differences in
disk defragmentation solutions.
Introduction
Over the past decade, businesses worldwide have experienced a
tremendous expansion of decentralized, distributed, and
networked information processing. Much of this expansion is
based on enterprise versions of Windows

-based operating
systems like Windows Server

2008. A processing paradigm

where end users have computing power on the desktop, and
reliance on a network and central server to communicate with
colleagues, suppliers, and customers, has substantially changed
the role of the system administrator.
It is not uncommon now for system administrators to have
responsibility for hundreds or thousands of machines, in
geographically disparate locations, running all manner of
applications and sharing information over the network. This
model stresses the ability of organizations system management
resources to stay on top of system and application upgrades and
service packs while performing routine system maintenance and
sustaining adequate service levels. In this environment, system
administrators need all of the proactive, enterprise-enabled
system management assistance they can get.
Raxco Software has more than 30 years experience developing
system management software. Since 1997, Raxco has offered
enterprise-ready system management for Windows platforms
with an emphasis on Windows 2003, Windows XP, Vista and
most recently Windows Server 2008. Raxco, by virtue of its
tenure and track record in this market segment, regards itself as
expert in the area of file fragmentation on the FAT and NT file
system (NTFS) that are part of these operating systems. This
paper is provided as an educational instrument that will: explain
how and why disk fragmentation happens, explain the costs of
fragmentation, explore some myths about fragmentation, and
examine the differences in disk defragmentation solutions.
Fragmentation 101
Fragmentation is a condition where a file on a disk is in more
than one piece. Before we go much further with this we will
address an area that is a little confusing. There are two kinds of
fragmentation. There is logical fragmentation, which is how the
file system sees the disk; and there is physical fragmentation,
which is how the file actually resides on the disk itself.
Lets look at an example. You have a Windows workstation with
a 10GB hard drive. The file system knows the size of the drive
and simply views it as a string of Logical Cluster Numbers
(LCNs) starting at 000000000 and ending at NNNNNNNNN.
When an application creates a file, the file system looks for
somewhere to put the file and makes a file entry in the Master
File Table (MFT). The MFT contains pointers indicating the
starting LCN for the file, and a length. If the file is fragmented,
4 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Fragmentation happens...It is
an unavoidable problem that
affects every workstation and
server using Windows
operating systems.
the MFT has a series of pointers with a starting LCN and a length
for each fragment. The file is then physically written to the disk
by the disk controller. In a simple example like this, the mapping
between the file systems LCN and the Physical Cluster Number
(PCN) is probably a one-to-one relationship. As a disk ages and
develops bad sectors, the mapping between LCN and PCN will
change. Alternative disk configurations like stripe sets and RAID
are discussed in-depth in this paper.
Fragmentation happens. It is a normal by-product of everyday
computer use and it begins the day you start using your
machine, even with a new operating system. It is an
unavoidable problem that affects every workstation and server
using Windows operating systems. Fragmentation occurs under
several different scenarios. The most obvious occurs when the
file system cannot find sufficient contiguous free space for a file.
One would think that with multi-gigabyte drives, finding
contiguous free space would not be a problem. The Microsoft

file allocation algorithm is proprietary, but simple testing

demonstrates that extreme file fragmentation can occur even
when there is ample contiguous free space on the disk.
File extension is another source of fragmentation. If a file is
extended, and there is no room at the logical end to grow it
contiguously, the file will have to be fragmented. File deletions
are the third contributor to fragmentation. Deletions split the
free space and this in itself can contribute to future
fragmentation. We will discuss the significance of free space
fragmentation later in this document.
Think of fragmentation as a computer virus. If a virus occurred
that split all your files into hundreds of pieces, there would be
an immediate system slowdown and everyone would want
protection against this ever happening again. Yet, that is exactly
what the file system is doing at a slower rate. Increasingly, file
fragmentation erodes system performance, requires more
resources to perform the same task, and increases the total cost
of ownership for the organization. The good news is it is
preventable.
Fragmentation and Performance
As we described above, when an application requests a file, the
file system must go and find it. The MFT is queried and the File
ID is found along with the starting LCN and a length. If the file is
in 2000 fragments, the starting LCN and length of 2000
fragments must be located and passed to the disk controller. In
a server environment, the user has access to the processor for a
brief slice of time (a quantum) to complete this task. If the file is
so fragmented that all the information cannot be delivered
during the time the user has the processor, he waits until it is his
turn to use the processor again, and finishes reading the file.
This wastes system resources and user productivity. If the file
5 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
was contiguous, the file system would only have to pass the
controller a single LCN and length and this would likely complete
during the users initial processor quantum.
Lets look at what this means in terms of system performance.
Over the years, we have encountered systems with some very
severe problems. One site had ten 10GB partitions, each with
about 100,000 files, and many of these had in excess of 11,000
fragments. Another site had a MFT in 25,000 pieces, while a
third had a 339GB RAID partition with 5% free space. While
these cases are extreme, we find that many sites routinely have
files that are in several hundred to several thousand pieces. The
improvement in the time it takes to read a file in several
hundred pieces versus a contiguous file can range from 30-80%.
When you consider the thousands of files being accessed every
day on a busy server, an average 50% performance increase
could come in handy. A simple way to test this at your own site
is done with backup. Perform a full disk backup before
fragmentation and time it to completion. Then defragment the
disk and time the backup again.
If a representative of Western Digital, EMC, or Winchester called
and said there was a new disk drive that was 50% faster than
what you were using today, you would probably be very
interested. Defragmentation software delivers this performance
increase on your current hardware and keeps delivering as the
disk fills up, all at a fraction of the cost of new hardware.
The Costs of Fragmentation
International Data Corporation (IDC), in a white paper entitled
Disk Defragmentation for Windows NT/2000, Hidden Gold for
the Enterprise, estimated that the global cost of fragmentation
is $50 billion annually. There are many factors that contribute to
this cost and some of them are not all that obvious. We will now
examine the components of the costs of fragmentation and how
they affect an organization.
Productivity
Defragmentation improves system performance, resulting in
improved end user productivity. But how can this be measured
and quantified? Most defragmentation software vendors provide
tools that let you measure the time it takes to read a file before
defragmentation and after. Testing has shown that
defragmentation can improve I/O performance by 30-50%. The
IDC report says 30-85%. If you can improve every I/O on a
server by 30%, what is the savings in terms of productivity?
To answer this, lets look at an organization and make some
assumptions. We will first assume defragmentation can improve
I/O by 30%. The organization has 200 users with a loaded
hourly cost of $26. They spend 3 hours a day on their
workstations and half that time is doing I/O to the disk. They
...global cost of
fragmentation is
$50 billion
annually.
6 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
The most common reaction
system managers have to slow
system performance is to
change the hardware
configuration. A bigger disk
does not eliminate the
fragmentation problem.
work 5 days a week, 49 weeks a year. What is the organization
saving in productivity?
200 users x $26/hr. x 3hrs. x .50 I/O time x 5 days x 49 weeks
x .30 gain = $573,300
Improving the access time to each file by 30% can improve
server response so that over a half million dollars of payroll can
be utilized more effectively.
Backup
Backup is one of the few operations that actually read an entire
disk. As disks grow in size, the time it takes to perform a full
backup will increase proportionally. Many organizations already
face constraints on the time to perform routine system
maintenance due to limits on system downtime.
Defragmentation can dramatically shorten backup times. Users
are generally locked out of the system during backups. By
cutting backup times by one-third to one-half, system
availability can be improved. If server availability is valued at
$100 per CPU hour and the organization saves 5 hours a week
on backup due to defragmentation, the annual savings are
$26,000. (Make sure your tape system is not the I/O
bottleneck).
System Administration/Help Desk
When users encounter application or system errors, they call the
system administrator or the help desk. System and help desk
personnel are generally highly trained and highly paid technical
resources. These individuals then troubleshoot the problem and
affect a solution.
If we assume that our help desk technician has a loaded hourly
cost of $30 and it takes them four hours to diagnose a
fragmentation related system or application error, the cost of
that error is $120. If our virtual organization has five such
incidents a month, the annual cost is $7,200. These assumptions
are fairly conservative.
Hardware
The most common reaction system managers have to slow
system performance is to change the hardware configuration. A
bigger disk does not eliminate the fragmentation problem. The
cost of upgrading hardware to address I/O related performance
issues greatly exceeds the cost of defragmentation software.
According to IDC, proactive fragmentation management can help
lower the cost of ownership and help you protect your Windows
hardware investment.
7 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
The purpose of this section is
to debunk some common myths
and clear up misperceptions
about defragmentation
software.
Myths or Misperceptions
System administrators face a host of challenges in keeping a
networked Windows environment up and running. They are
expected to know the operating system, the network protocols,
dozens of applications, security, hardware configurations, and a
myriad of other things associated with keeping the enterprises
IT resources going. It is therefore understandable that there
could be some misunderstandings about how defragmentation
software works and what it is doing to your system. The purpose
of this section is to debunk some common myths and clear up
misperceptions about defragmentation software.
Myth 1-Our systems are new, we dont need
defragmentation software.
Fragmentation begins when you start using the system. If you
take a brand new machine and install Windows, Internet
Explorer, Microsoft Office, and PerfectDisk (so you can analyze
the disk) you will find over 300 fragmented files on the system
and all you have done is install software. While fragmentation is
not a problem at this time, it is a condition that will get worse
with time and usage. Just like you go to the dentist to avoid
serious tooth and gum problems, you should proactively manage
fragmentation so it never becomes an issue.
Myth 2- We have lots of free space so fragmentations not
an issue.
The amount of free space on a disk has nothing to do with
fragmentation. If you have 30GB of free space on a 40GB drive,
but you have 10GB of frequently changing files that are in
hundreds or thousands of pieces, your machine performance can
be adversely affected by fragmentation. In most cases, system
administrators have no idea about the condition of the files on
their system.
Myth 3-Fragmentation isnt an issue for our workstations.
There is a belief that defragmentation is not necessary on
workstations. Windows workstations use the same file system as
their counterpart servers, and fragmentation is a function of file
system use. Many organizations have adopted policies requiring
saving all data to the servers. While this ensures data integrity
and protects data, it does not preclude users from saving files
locally. Other file activity, like extension and deletion, also
contribute to fragmentation on the desktop.
Windows XP has some unique features that also contribute to file
fragmentation. The growth of the layout.ini file can challenge the
abilities of the built-in defagmenter. The built-in tool makes no
attempt to clear out free space to ensure defragmentation of the
applications referenced in layout.ini
The System Restore function fragments the free space on the
disk. Since the built-in defragmenter does not consolidate free
8 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
In a Windows XP white paper,
Microsoft contends that
fragmentation is a
performance-robbing problem
and frequent defragmentation
is the only available solution.
space, file fragmentation will occur at a faster rate on
workstations with this feature enabled.
In a Windows XP white paper, Microsoft contends that
fragmentation is a performance-robbing problem and frequent
defragmentation is the only available solution.
Myth 4-We use RAID or striping, so we dont need
defragmentation.
This is one of the most common misperceptions about
defragmentation. As was noted in the Fragmentation 101 section
of this document, there is logical fragmentation and physical
fragmentation. In a RAID environment the file system has to
locate the logical pieces of a file and pass them to the RAID
controller. If the file is in 2000 logical fragments, the file system
will have to pass 2000 separate I/Os to the controller. With
defragmentation, that effort can be reduced to passing a single
logical I/O to the controller. In testing using the ZD Server
Bench and the Intel IOMeter benchmark suites, we have seen
defragmentation double the transaction rate of both reads and
writes to the disk in a RAID environment.
With RAID, a file that is logically contiguous will almost certainly
be physically fragmented. The testing proves that a contiguous
logical disk delivers twice the performance of a fragmented
logical disk, regardless of the condition of the physical disk.
Myth 5-We are going to use the built-in Windows
defragmentation utility.
If you are working at home on a single workstation, this is
probably all you need. The built-in defragmentation utility is
woefully inadequate for enterprise use. Some of the
shortcomings of the built-in utility are:
It cannot be scheduled to run over the network
It can only defragment a single partition at a time
It cannot move certain file types so it never completely
defragments the disk
It requires Admin privileges so you have to physically go to
each machine to run
It may require multiple passes to defragment and does not
consolidate the free space.
Busy administrators simply dont have the time to bother with a
partial solution like the built-in defragmentation tool.
9 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
All defragmentation software is
not the same...This section
identifies some of the criteria
you may want to consider when
evaluating defragmentation
software for your organization.
Myth 6- A file is a file.
Not exactly. With Windows there are a number of different types
of files, and different defragmentation software moves these files
with varying degrees of completeness, depending on the
operating system in use. Under Windows 2000, you need to do a
boot time defragmentation to move the Master File Table (MFT),
the related metadata files, and the page file. With Windows XP/
2008, the MFT can be moved online, but certain metadata files
still need to be moved at boot time only. This is important
because if the MFT, metadata files or other system files are not
defragmented, it is very unlikely you will ever be able to
completely defragment a disk. The unmovable fragments will
cause data files to be split around them.
Myth 7- All defragmentation software is the same.
Different software vendors take different approaches to the
defragmentation problem. Speed versus quality, multi-pass
versus single pass, and interval versus event driven, all affect
the final outcome. As a user, you need to determine which
product best fits your needs and delivers the best results in your
environment. The best way to determine this is to test solutions
head to head, and compare their results and their features. To
help you understand the differences between defragmentation
offerings, the next section compares and contrasts two products
that approach defragmentation differently.
How Defragmentation Software Products Differ
All defragmentation software is not the same. How different
products behave can have a significant effect on your systems.
This section identifies some of the criteria you may want to
consider when evaluating defragmentation software for your
organization. It also describes how two different products
address these criteria. The products compared are Raxco
Softwares PerfectDisk

and Diskeeper Corporations Diskeeper

.
Windows APIs
Safety is a primary concern when you are moving files around a
disk. Protection against data loss or corruption must be
absolute. Microsoft offers a special Application Program Interface
(API) that affords this protection to defragmentation software
vendors. The APIs also guarantee plug-and-play compatibility
with version changes and service packs. The vendors, through
the APIs, implement defragmentation strategies/algorithms that
determine where and when to move files or free space.
PerfectDisk uses the Microsoft developed APIs to perform its
defragmentation.
Diskeeper also uses the APIs for its defragmentation.
Free Space Consolidation
The file system is more efficient if it can find contiguous free
10 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
The file system is more efficient
if it can find contiguous free
space from which it can
allocate space to create files
contiguously.
space from which it can allocate space to create files
contiguously. Free space fragmentation causes file
fragmentation and necessitates running defragmentation
software more often.
PerfectDisks defragmentation algorithms favor consolidating all
the free space into as large a piece as possible. This approach
was taken because the Microsoft APIs under Windows offered
different levels of granularity for a file move. By consolidating
the free space, PerfectDisk can move larger files and get better
file packing. Free space consolidation also reduces the amount
of free space required to completely defragment a disk in a
single pass. The system performance benefit is that if the file
system can find consolidated free space, new files will be
created contiguously, and re-fragmentation will occur at a slower
rate. In 2008, Balder Technology Group performed an
independent study on free space consolidation (Impact of Free
Space Consolidation On Windows File System Performance).
Balder Technology Group stated that free space consolidation is
a critical aspect of disk defragmentation and is as important as
defragmentation of files for a disk defragmenter.
Diskeepers algorithms appear to favor file defragmentation over
free space consolidation in its default mode and in its Quick
Defragmentation mode. While this approach seems to provide a
slight speed advantage, it fragments the free space. Depending
on the version of the APIs in use, many of these free space
fragments are not usable by the API, so eventually Diskeeper
runs out of usable free space and the only alternative is to quit
and start over, or manually create additional free space by
removing files. This is the idea behind the multi-pass
defragmentation approach.
Alternatively, Diskeeper offers a comprehensive defragmentation
mode, which performs additional free space consolidation, but it
can only be run in the scheduled mode and it incrementally
consolidates a few clusters of free space with each run. It
appears that the slow rate of free space consolidation will never
overcome the rate of new fragmentation on the partition. In any
case, single pass free space consolidation is not available.
Single Pass Defragmentation
Many sites have a limited window of time for system
maintenance. Running a defragmenter several times to get an
acceptable result is not an option. The Microsoft APIs support
the ability to complete defragmentation of files and free space in
a single pass.
PerfectDisk defragments 99-100% of the data files on a partition
in a single pass, even in low free space conditions.
Diskeeper will defragment in a single pass provided the files or
the free space are not too fragmented, and there is ample free
11 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
space (>20%). If the files or free space are too fragmented,
Diskeeper will employ a multi-pass approach. If the file or free
space fragmentation are very severe, or the free space too
limited, Diskeeper may never completely defragment the
partition.
The time PerfectDisk requires to do a single pass
defragmentation and consolidate the free space is less than the
aggregate time Diskeeper requires to perform a similar quality
job.
Enterprise Manageability
As more organizations move the entire enterprise to Windows
2008, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Vista, the
manageability of applications across hundreds or thousands of
machines is increasingly a problem. PerfectDisk eases
manageability and offers flexibility to the system administrator
through the PerfectDisk Enterprise Console. The PerfectDisk
Enterprise Console provides full deployment, scheduling,
configuration, management, and reporting capabilities.
PerfectDisk also integrates fully with Active Directory and its
Group Policies. PerfectDisk can be deployed and launched from
within Active Directory. Through Group Policy integration, new
users to a group can automatically inherit PerfectDisk schedules,
and system administrators can toggle almost every PerfectDisk
feature at the group or user level.
Free Space Requirements
All defragmentation software requires some free space to
operate. With todays large partitions, a small percentage of free
space can be a significant amount of storage. While it is not
advisable to fill disks to capacity, defragmentation can be
performed on very full partitions. In fact, these are likely to be
the partitions that need defragmentation the most.
PerfectDisk will defragment a partition with as little as 5% free
space outside the Master File Table reserved zone (prior to XP,
defrag software could not use the MFT reserved space).
Diskeeper recommends a minimum 20% free space (outside the
reserved zone) to run. If there is less than 20%, Diskeeper
issues a message suggesting you remove files from the disk to
free up space, and then run Diskeeper again.
Optimization
Where files are located on a disk can make a difference in
performance. A Microsoft white paper addresses how
performance is affected by where the Master File Table is on a
partition. This is referenced later in this section.
PerfectDisk employs a patented disk optimization strategy that
intelligently positions files according to their usage. The strategy
suggests that if files that are not changing are defragmented
and grouped together, they do not need to be moved on
12 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
subsequent defragmentation runs. This means subsequent
defragmentation passes take less time and resources. Free space
consolidation is also part of the optimization scheme.
Diskeeper file placement is purely random and the free space is
fragmented all over the disk. The random placement means a lot
of files must be moved to defragment the files that changed
since the last defragmentation pass.
PerfectDisk defragments files, consolidates free space, and
optimizes the disk in less time than Diskeeper only defragments.
Master File Table and System Files
Under Windows, the MFT, its associated metadata files, and
certain system files need to be defragmented offline by a boot
time defragmentation. If these files are not defragmented, data
files may need to be split around them making a complete
online defragmentation impossible. With Windows XP, a boot
time defragmentation is only needed to handle the page file,
hibernate file, non-MFT metadata files, and directories on FATxx
partitions.
PerfectDisk completely defragments the MFT, all the metadata
files, and the system files. It also reports accurate status of
these files in its statistics.
Diskeeper does not defragment all the metadata files and it does
not report on their status. If metadata files are fragmented,
Diskeeper does not report it. In some cases, Diskeeper does not
completely defragment the MFT.
Scheduling
An administrator will want a wide-range of scheduling options,
as flexible as possible to meet any changing requirements. The
administrator should be able to control all scheduling options
and see all of them from a central location. The ability to quickly
access this information gives the administrator a quick response
mechanism to changing requirements and the ability to balance
resources.
PerfectDisk provides scheduling flexibility through its AutoPilot
Scheduling and StealthPatrol. AutoPilot Scheduling lets
administrators control all aspects of scheduling for the enterprise
from the PerfectDisk Enterprise Console. Schedules can be
established daily, weekly, or on particular days of the week.
StealthPatrol performs automatic, unattended background
defragmentation. PerfectDisks intelligent Screen Saver Mode
allows an administrator to determine the number of days from
the previous defrag before initiating a defrag run when the
systems screen saver is on.
Diskeeper requires that network schedules be viewed or
cancelled only from the machine on which the original schedule
was set.
An administrator will want a
wide-range of scheduling
options, as flexible as possible
to meet any changing
requirements.
13 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Boot Time Defragmentation
As we noted above, a boot time defragmentation is required
under Windows to defragment the MFT, metadata, and system
files. Enterprise defragmentation should support the ability to
perform boot time defragmentation on remote machines from
one or more schedules.
PerfectDisk can schedule a boot time defragmentation pass on
multiple systems at the same time. Under Windows, PerfectDisk
uses the boot time option to explicitly position the MFT
according to Microsofts recommendation. On data partitions,
PerfectDisk does not require a reboot if it can get an exclusive
lock on the partition. System partitions always require a reboot.
Diskeepers boot time defragmentation can only be scheduled on
a single system at a time. Diskeeper requires a boot time
defragmentation on both system and data partitions.
NTFS and FAT Directory Consolidation
Directory defragmentation and consolidation moves these files
and their fragments out of the way so the online
defragmentation engine can do the best possible job of
defragmenting the partition and avoid splitting data files.
PerfectDisk defragments and consolidates directories on NTFS
and FAT partitions.
Diskeeper does not consolidate directories on NTFS.
Page File Defragmentation
PerfectDisk can defragment the page file regardless of the
amount of free space on the partition.
Diskeeper requires free space equal to the size of the page file.
Command Line Interface
A Command Line Interface (CLI) eases the integration of the
defragmentation process and scheduling with other system
maintenance job streams like backup.
PerfectDisk has a full-featured Command Line Interface
supporting the integration of both local and network
defragmentation commands in your own scripts. PerfectDisk can
run the CLI and the GUI at the same time.
Diskeeper provides a limited CLI with only local defragmentation
support. If you are running the Diskeeper CLI, you cannot run
the GUI, and vice versa.
Exchange Data Store Defragmentation
Microsoft recommends the periodic offline compaction/
defragmentation of Exchange data stores. This activity improves
Exchange performance by re-indexing the data stores and
A Command Line Interface
(CLI) eases the integration of
the defragmentation process
and scheduling with other
system maintenance job
streams like backup.
14 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
reclaiming disk space. Exchange defragmentation is generally a
manual, time-consuming, and cumbersome task.
PerfectDisk has an additional module that automates the offline
compaction/defragmentation of Exchange data stores on
Exchange 2007, Exchange 2003, Exchange 2000, and Exchange
5.5.
Diskeeper has no Exchange compaction/defragmentation
support.
Very Large, Very Fragmented Partitions
Defragmenting very large, very fragmented partitions is a
special problem and one particularly related to enterprise
configurations. The primary issue is performing the task with a
minimal impact on resources and within an acceptable
timeframe. The number of files, number of fragments, and the
amount of free space can all impact the time it takes to
defragment a large partition.
While defragmenting large partitions is a challenge,
defragmenting large files also poses a challenge. With an
increase in multi-media presentations, animation, and the
built-in digital video editing capabilities in Windows XP, files over
1GB will not be uncommon. The viewing of digital video or
multi-media presentations can be adversely affected if
fragmentation interrupts the streaming of the file to the
processor.
PerfectDisk has been specifically designed to efficiently
defragment partitions of up to several terabytes. The design
delivers quick file movement, low memory footprint, and less
CPU usage than other products. While single pass
defragmentation is still the preferred approach, some sites may
have specific situations where a large partition cannot be
defragmented in the time allotted. PerfectDisk provides better
stop/restart capability that lets defragmentation benefits accrue,
even when the defragmentation task is interrupted.
During the development of PerfectDisk, we ran a stress test on
an IDE controlled 300GB partition with 1,000,000 files,
4,500,000 fragments, and 12% available free space. The
machine had a 1 Ghz processor with 512MB of RAM. The disk
had no MFT or system file fragmentation. This is not your
average partition. PerfectDisk defragmented this partition in 42
hours elapsed time and used 4 hours of CPU.
Our only experience with Diskeeper was on this same partition.
Diskeeper defragmented the partition in 107 hours elapsed and
used 52 hours of CPU. The Microsoft newsgroups are a good
alternative source of information for other user experiences with
large, fragmented environments.
Defragmenting very large, very
fragmented partitions is a
special problem and one
particularly related to
enterprise RAID
configurations...PerfectDisk
has been specifically designed
to efficiently defragment
partitions up to serveral
terabytes.
15 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Windows XP, Vista and the MFT
With Windows XP, Microsoft documented a finding that states
that locating the Master File Table approximately one-third of the
way down a volume delivers a 5-10% performance increase.
Only PerfectDisk explicitly positions the MFT in this location on
Windows platforms.
Evaluating Defragmentation Software
The best way to determine which defragmentation solution is the
best for your environment is to evaluate them on your systems.
The first thing you need to do is ensure that you run both
products against exactly the same disk. To do this, you will need
a disk-imaging tool like Nortons Ghost

or Symantecs Drive
Image. These tools ensure that you have at least two disks that
are sector-by-sector copies.
Install the defragmentation software you want to evaluate. Run
the Analysis phase of one of the products against the disk you
want to defragment and note the total number of files and the
number of fragmented files. Identify the Most Fragmented Files
and note how badly fragmented are the worst files. Also note
the condition of the free space on the disk. Is it fragmented or
contiguous? Disk defragmentation software is only as good as
your worst disk. Choose a disk that has badly fragmented files
and/or limited free space. You want to make sure the product
you select can defragment just about anything.
Once you understand how bad the problem is on your target
disk, run one of the defragmentation products and time it to
completion. Vendors make suggestions on the running order of
the boot time and online defragmentation. Follow the suggestion
of the product vendor. Run the second product on the cloned
disk and do the same. When the products are finished, review
the reported statistics by looking at the same information you
evaluated before the defragmentation. Things you will want to
look for are:
Did the boot time defragmentation completely defragment the
MFT, metadata, and system files?
Did the online defragmentation completely defragment the data
files?
Is the free space fragmented or consolidated?
Was the time to complete acceptable?
An interesting exercise to validate your results is to cross check
the statistics with both products. For example: if you defragment
a disk with product A, view the results with both product A and
product B interfaces. There may be some disparity in file counts
16 Tutorial on Disk Defragmentation Copyright 2009 Raxco Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
The right product is the one
that reliably and consistently
delivers the best results under
the worst conditions.
due to how each vendor counts directories and subdirectories,
but between the two sets of statistics you will get a very good
idea of the quality of the job done.
Summary
While enterprise disk defragmentation sounds relatively simple,
it is clear that ones choice of technology can have a profound
impact on user productivity and system performance, as well as
ongoing system administration and support costs. The right
product is the one that reliably and consistently delivers the best
results under the worst conditions. Proactive defragmentation
protects the users investment in the platform, lowers the total
cost of ownership, and delivers customer satisfaction.
PerfectDisk, StealthPatrol, and AutoPilot Scheduling are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Raxco Software, Inc.
Diskeeper is a trademark or registered trademark of Diskeeper
Corporation. Microsoft, Windows, NT, Vista and XP are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
All other trademarks or trade names are the property of their
respective owners.