Buzzsaw - free background HD defragmenter

[nowshining]

Now I tried the updated version of this from the website, but no it didn't detect my drive C:\ but this version does  this thing is lightweight, slow especially if you have a huge harddrive as it takes its little ol' time..but hey its free and reallly does the job...

http://www.download....524.html?tag=lst-0-1


dowload.com's Editor review:
Buzzsaw truly is a do-it-yourself defragmenter for those who require no interface and who like to work in DOS. The program consists of two executables, one that runs in Windows and monitors your system in the background as you work, defragging whenever it detects a change. The other, which runs only from the DOS command-line prompt, does defragging based on parameters selected by the user. In our tests, defragging results were decent but did not noticeably improve system performance. The included help file is basic and may not answer all questions. The most worthwhile part of this program is the component that monitors your system--the user-unfriendliness of the on-demand defragger suggests that you use Windows' built-in utility instead.


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Description from Company:

Publisher--Mind Array Technology
Publisher's Website--- Mind Array Technology

Buzzsaw.exe defrags files while you work, keeping your drive undefragmented in the background. Dirms.exe is a command-line defragmenter that will even partially defrag large files when instructed to do so.

[allen]

I've been using defrag, and its sister application dirms, for several years.  First thing I do on a new system is defrag with dirms and then install buzzsaw, which I run as a process rather than an application.  While the difference was more noticable on older, naturally slower, machines, I still keep it running.  It keeps the system defragged really well.

There is now a non-free GUI for dirms, which is a non-realtime defrag utility -- basically a replacement for windows disk defrag.  I'll admit, I don't know enough about different defrag utilities to say whether or not it's better than windows defrag -- I just take the author's word on it   The real-time defrag, on the other hand, is without a doubt something windows does not do.

[f0dder]

The best I've come around is PerfectDisk, which really *does* make a difference. O&O Defrag and "that other popular commercial defragger I can't remember the name of" don't make much a difference compared to windows own utility, in my experience.

The best defragger I've ever seen was the one from Nuts & Bolts for win9x. It did a lot of planning beforehand, so it didn't have to shuffle data around as much as other defraggers do - it was much more intelligent, thus doing a quicker job even though it was as least as thorough as the others.

[allen]

The advantage to buzzsaw is that it defrags as files are edited -- realtime defrag. I'd be interested to see how dirms stacks up against other non-realtime defrag utilities -- I don't know enough to draw conclusions, myself.

[scruffdaddy]

I've got to agree with f0dder on this one.  I've tested Dirms+Buzzsaw combo just to see if it worked as well as PerfectDisk, since it was opensource, free and at that time I hadn't yet bought PD.

After running it through it's paces for about a week, my computer seemed a little slower and response time was not what I was used to, but I kept it on for awhile, keeping other aspects of my machine clean and organized (crapcleaner, TuneUp utilities, etc).  It wasn't that my computer was slow, I just noticed a difference.  So I decided to put PerfectDisk back on and whoa!, speedy again. So long story short, I can recommend PerfectDisk (WinXP).  Oh by the way f0dder, I think that other defragger program you were thinking of is Diskeeper maybe.  Hope this semi-review helps someone.

-scruff

[f0dder]

Yeah, it was DisKeeper, which seems to be highly overrated.

It would be interesting to do before-and-after shots of the fragmentation map and most-fragmented-files overview in PerfectDisk after running dirms/buzzaw (starting with a PD 100% defragged volume, of course).

Fragmap is a good overview, and filefrag gives pretty nice "hard data"

[dpierron]

The advantage to buzzsaw is that it defrags as files are edited -- realtime defrag.

-allen (March 22, 2006, 07:12 PM)

That's precisely what I dislike in this program... let me explain :

I read your post and I thought "cool, a realtime defrag tool ... my HDD will never get fragmented again!"
Then I tried and install Buzzsaw along with Dirms, and found out that it was a good set of tools (and free, moreover)

However, there is a price to pay : with a real-time defragmenter, the defragmentation time is paid by the user, in the form of slower access to its files, slower copy, etc... With a "classic" defrag tool (e.g. DiskKeeper, Norton, MS defrag), the defrag time can be setup to happen after hours (at night, or during lunch).
I configure DK to run in "screensaver mode", and it's been quite efficient (although I think a better defrag tool could do a better job, my laptop seems a bit slow).

Anyway, this was just my two cents : Dirms and Buzzsaw are great program nonetheless ;o)

[f0dder]

DiskKeeper isn't that great - check out PerfectDisk instead.

[skywalka]

I emailed DiskKeeper a couple years ago & suggested they add an option to defrag when the screensaver is active.

I never received a reply but when the next version of DiskKeeper came out (Surprise, Surprise!) my suggestion had be incorporated.  I think that's a bit rude!