Diskeeper 10 Professional Premier

[Rob Williams]

Diskeeper is back with their top notch Defragmentation software. The new version takes a lot of features that have helped make the software so great, and made them even better. You now will even have the capability of defragging computers on your network. Let's take a look at the latest version and see if it's worth your hard earned money.

Discuss the full review here!

 

[Phragmites]

thanks for the helpful review. did you do any benchmarks before and after to see if the claims made for performance were accurate and to quantify the real-world difference it made? and how does diskeeper 10 compare to other professional defragmenting software?

- P

 

[Rob Williams]

I don't believe that benchmarking would be that realistic, as it could vary between systems. Overall though, it's well know that a good defragging application will help aide in smoother computer performance.

As for other defragging software, that's an idea for an article that we will try in the future. Personally, I have used O&O Defrag, which is 'prettier' than Diskeeper. After trying out DK 10 though, I will be sticking to it. I love having so many options available to me, and it plain out works great.

 

[Phragmites]

thanks for that. i look forward to your review article.

- P

 

[madmat]

I've actually beeen a Diskeeper fan for quite a while now and I've never tried anything else (aside from iolos defrag in Sys Mech) so I think a shootout with benchmarks would be interesting.

One thing to remember though is that a commercial disk benchmark isn't going to use the files on your drive to test the drives performance. It will create a custom file for testing writing and reading so the fragmentation really won't much of an issue. The most reliable benchmark is to install some apps, (on a defragged HDD) benchmark the amount of time for each app to open then defrag the HDD and open each app again and compare the time needed to open compared to the unoptimized disk. Then uninstall the apps completely and reinstall them in the same order and try the other defrag software and run the same testing over again.

The one big problem is that if the defragger replaces the Windows defrag (as DK does) then the defragger will have to be uninstalled as well so that can skew results since the HDD will have to optimized before installing the apps each time rather than just pulling them off the drive.

The best method would be to create a partition and do a fresh windows install on it then after it's all patched and all the drivers are installed to defrag with Windows defrag then Ghost an image of that partition to another disk or partition and after each test to Ghost the newly installed Windows install back onto the test partition. This way each time the tested defragger can be installed then the apps installed then benched as to the time needed to open each, then defragged with the tested defragging software and then then benched again.

 

[Wonderboy]

Hi,
Its a pretty decent, albeit a very subjective and a biased one I must say. I have used Diskepeer (9 and 10), O&O Defrag, Norton and PerfectDisk. Of all of the above PefectDisk is the most hasslefree, low CPU usage and the best singleshot defragger I've used. Benches and CPU usages are necessary in any review, Madmat's idea is perfectly feasible one. Honestly, it feels like you got paid to do this review.

 

[Rob Williams]

Matt,

I was thinking of that idea also, but would Ghost actually preserve the fragmented portions, or copy it all back over as plain data. I am just unsure how benchmarking after defrags would work. It would have to be all disc oriented, and likely with huge files.

I guess I never gave it as much thought as I should have.

 

[NuBee]

Well I was also a O&ODefrag fan untill I found out that under OC conditions O&O loosed data and I had to reinstall my system. I use Perfekt Disk now and I'm pleased with it. Can anyone compare them? Has anyone experience with both of them (PD vs. DK 10).

 

[madmat]

Hi,
Its a pretty decent, albeit a very subjective and a biased one I must say. I have used Diskepeer (9 and 10), O&O Defrag, Norton and PerfectDisk. Of all of the above PefectDisk is the most hasslefree, low CPU usage and the best singleshot defragger I've used. Benches and CPU usages are necessary in any review, Madmat's idea is perfectly feasible one. Honestly, it feels like you got paid to do this review.

First, Wonderboy:

I've been using this software for roughly 3 weeks and I've used DK 8 for close to 3 years and DK 10 is a quantum leap from DK 8 and lightyears removed from windows defragger. With either Windows defrag engine or DK 8 my pc would freeze and stop responding to input for minutes at a time, with DK 10 I don't see any of that, period. Now, as to benches, how do you propose I bench the software? CPU usage on my system hovers around 35% but how much of that is drive sub-system overhead and how much is DK? Any sort of benchmarks I make for length of time to defrag are purely subjective, there's no way to ensure that the level of fragmentation will be the same on my system from one day to the next. What might look to be bad in terms of fragments could be minor. Small files that are fragmented generally take less time than large files that are fragmented.

Besides, to benchmark I need something current to benchmark against and as it stands I don't have anything current to pit against aside from Sys Mech 6 and I can tell you now that that would be a slaughter. Sys Mech's defrager is slow at best, think Windows stock defragger then half that speed and that's for the "quick" defrag. The deep version can take 24hrs or more for a badly fragmented drive.

I'd also like to thank you for your high estimation of my integrity...did it never occur to you that I was genuinely impressed with the software? No I was not reimbursed for my review other than the benefit of getting the software to use in the first place. The fact is that DK 10 does what it's designed to do does it well and is smartly laid out and intuitive. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to use it but if you are you still won't be disapointed.

Try it for yourself and see, I raved to Rob about it and he was an O&O fanboi and even he was impressed. Try it yourself, weigh it's good points against O&O and see how you like it.

Well I was also a O&ODefrag fan untill I found out that under OC conditions O&O loosed data and I had to reinstall my system. I use Perfekt Disk now and I'm pleased with it. Can anyone compare them? Has anyone experience with both of them (PD vs. DK 10).

Next, NuBee:

I've never lost any data with DK 10, I'm running a 34% OC and it's fine. I've never tried Perfekt Disk so I can't say how they compare. I need to get my hands on some more defraggers and broaden my horizons some.

Matt,

I was thinking of that idea also, but would Ghost actually preserve the fragmented portions, or copy it all back over as plain data. I am just unsure how benchmarking after defrags would work. It would have to be all disc oriented, and likely with huge files.

I guess I never gave it as much thought as I should have.

I saved the best for last, Rob:

Ghost copies a partition (or disk) bit for bit so any fragmentation on that disk will be preserved.

Thing is what I'm talking about is a new install, freshly done with patches, drivers and nothing else. After everything is done defrag it with the integrated defragger (factory software) then Ghost it to another hidden, unmounted partition. For each piece of defragging software tested the image would be Ghosted to the boot drive, the defragging software installed then several games, apps & utilities and assorted files of varying sizes would be installed in a specific order that is repeated for each run. then boot time would be measured, access time of the files (music, rar, zip, all different sizes) measured and access time of each app measured. After all the measurement times are done the defragger would be run and all tests repeated.

Trouble is (and this is my take on chaos theory) I'm of the opinion that the base numbers (unoptimized) will vary no matter how hard I strive to do everything the same each time. It's the nature of the beast.

I'm game to give it a go though. I'll have to get another drive for testing so that'll put a kink in things.