PerfectDisk Free Edition

[Innuendo]

For a limited time (how limited, I do not know), Raxco is offering a feature-reduced version of its defragger PerfectDisk at no cost. While the program requires an email address to run Major Geeks reports they were able to enter a fake email address with no complaints from the program. Check out the program details here:

http://blog.raxco.com/2012/03/29/perfectdisk-free-defrag-beta/#more-710

[Carol Haynes]

Anyone get this download to work? I just get an installer error (there is a missing file after the setup file extracts).

[Innuendo]

I can't install it because I already have PerfectDisk Pro installed, but....here's a direct link to the x64 installer without having to go through the stupid CNet download manager:

http://ftp.raxco.com/pub/download/PDFree/x64/setup.exe

[Steven Avery]

Hi,

My XP SP3 Dell Precision got :

"This installation package is not supported by this processor type" 

It looks like the FTP is the 64 bit installer.

Steven

[Carol Haynes]

There is an x86 installer too. The CNET installer detects your system type and puts the setup file in your downloads folder (ironically on XP it makes a C:/Users/Name/Downloads folder)

Actually I was installing it in a VMWare XP (not SPs or updates) and I think that is why I had problems. Installing On XP SP3 was fine.

The direct link for win32 systems is:

http://ftp.raxco.com/pub/download/PDFree/win32/setup.exe

[Innuendo]

It looks like the FTP is the 64 bit installer.

Yes, Stephen. The link I posted is to the 64-bit installer which is why I typed "here's a direct link to the x64 installer" and the FTP URL even has x64 in the path name.

I couldn't reverse-engineer the path for the x86 executable & I have no x86-based Windows installs to run the CNet installer to let it tell me what the path is.

[Carol Haynes]

It looks like the FTP is the 64 bit installer.

Yes, Stephen. The link I posted is to the 64-bit installer which is why I typed "here's a direct link to the x64 installer" and the FTP URL even has x64 in the path name.

I couldn't reverse-engineer the path for the x86 executable & I have no x86-based Windows installs to run the CNet installer to let it tell me what the path is.

I just posted the 32-bit direct link  Here is is again!

http://ftp.raxco.com/pub/download/PDFree/win32/setup.exe

[IainB]

Yes, Stephen. The link I posted is to the 64-bit installer which is why I typed "here's a direct link to the x64 installer" and the FTP URL even has x64 in the path name.

That's nice.

[IainB]

Thanks for posting re this @Innuendo.
Just thought I'd post some feedback:

• I downloaded and installed PDFE (64bit version) and it seems to work fine.   
• I noticed that it apparently hooks into and uses the Win7 defragger, taking over its scheduled operation.
• The reports it gives are quite informative and with some useful charts, and I like that the reports can be saved/printed.
• I was nervously wondering whether shuffling around my disk data during the defrag process might cause my Hard Disk Sentinel to detect some more bad sectors - back in Oct. 2011 it detected 21 bad sectors on the disk surface - but there hasn't been a murmur from HDS so far, praise be to Magneto!

[Carol Haynes]

You an also right click on the drive and do a Boot time scan which optimises Windows files during the next restart. Makes a big difference.

[IainB]

You an also right click on the drive and do a Boot time scan which optimises Windows files during the next restart. Makes a big difference.

Ah, thanks. I didn't know that feature existed! Shoulda' RTM?
Tried it anyway and will see if I can notice an improved loading speed. Theoretically, it should make things more efficient or have a speed-up effect - same as all housekeeping really (e.g., including cleaning the garbage out of the Registry, defragging the disk, or running cleanmgr).

[Innuendo]

Thanks for posting re this @Innuendo.

Glad you are enjoying the freebie. I hope it encourages you to try out the trial version of the retail product. PerfectDisk is my favorite defragger by far and I've tried them all (and try out every new version their competitors release).

[rjbull]

PerfectDisk is my favorite defragger by far and I've tried them all (and try out every new version their competitors release).

Including Puran Defragmenter, which I've seen good comments on?

[Tinman57]

 I use Piriform Defraggler, it's completely free and works great.  They are also the ones that made CCleaner and Recuva.  http://www.piriform.com/defraggler/download

[Carol Haynes]

Defraggler is fine but it doesn't seem to do much more than Windows Defragger.

PerfectDisk is my preferred defragger because it not only defrags but reorganises your drive to reduce future fragmentation and also has the Boot Time option to optimize windows system files which can never be defragged while windows is running. The Boot time defrag makes a significant difference in older windows installations as years of updates leave system file fragmentation in a really bad state.

[Steven Avery]

Hi,

Perfect Disk does give you a view of the Pagefile, MetaData and MFT in analysis mode.  Thus you can determine if there is any real consequence to the boot time defrag. Both tools are excellent, but I do see myself taking advantage of this freebie and moving towards Perfect Disk.

All the defrags use the internal MS routine for the actual defrag so you don't have much concern that either one is structurally much different (except maybe unless you are doing virtualization, shadow boxing and all that stuff).

Steven

[Carol Haynes]

All the defrags use the internal MS routine for the actual defrag so you don't have much concern that either one is structurally much different

PrefectDisk uses the MS routines to actually move file fragments but they go beyond that with file location optimisation. It also moves critical bits and pieces to faster areas of the partition (eg. folder information and boot files, as well as placing the pagefile in the middle of the partition which reduces seek distances for page writes.

The paid for versions (particularly the Pro version) goes way beyond the free version giving you a degree of control over the file layout and order on the disk.

[Jibz]

I had a license for PD back at version 8, and it was fairly nice albeit a little slow.

One thing I liked was that it was able to defrag a drive that was nearly full unlike most tools.

One thing I did not like was that it kept processes running all the time on my machine .. I wonder if this is true for the free version too?

[wreckedcarzz]

I have to +1 Defraggler as well, having it run daily (overnight) after an automatic CCleaner run works well.

Just to give it a go, I installed PerfectDisk and had it analyse my drive:




That said, though, what does PD do differently than Defraggler/<other defragmentation tool here>? Defraggler does boot-time defrags as well, if you tell it to, of normally-locked Windows files, and it optimizes the drive's free space, and can even do built-in error checking (sometimes the filesystem "loses" freespace somehow during an intensive defrag, and this "reclaims" that space ). It also does SMART monitoring, and tells you in simple terms if your drive is healthy or not. And obviously, it can do just one directory/file/whatever, or just a selection of them. Oh, and a basic scheduling system that uses Task Scheduler. I'm just looking for a comparison I suppose.