Using XP's Defragging Software

I've been operating under the assumption that the XP defrag software is pretty much OK and I should just use it, it's tailored to XP (whatever that implies). I was stumbling around on the Web the other day, and buried somewhere in a software review (which I now can't find) was a statement that the XP defragger is really a pile of junk, and totally worthless (I'm paraphrasing here). So now I'm wondering "Which is it? ". I'm not looking for a recommendation here re 3rd party defragging software packages (I have several), but rather I'm asking is the XP defragger OK or not? I would think that the mechanics of defrag are the same for all software, just that the 3rd party packages offer a better user interface. Or is that wrong too?

 

Hello chris,

I was stumbling around on the Web the other day, and buried somewhere in a software review (which I now can't find) was a statement that the XP defragger is really a pile of junk, and totally worthless (I'm paraphrasing here). So now I'm wondering "Which is it? ".

Nonsense. DiskKeeper is the author of XP's defragger. Perfectly adequate for home use. Its another matter if there is heavy use and disk space is always on the "edge ".

The defragger schdeules itself to defrag on a regular basis provided the Task Schedular service is running.

Regards - Charles

 

Pretty much correct. They all use the same (Microsoft) API's.

 

I appreciate the answers, makes me wonder why we have 3rd party software. I would take issue with Steve, since Messenger (and a bunch of other Gates' nonsense) is there too. Since I don't operate on the edge, Chas gives me hope. And Brett, my gut reaction is to agree with you, but other folks seem to think 3rd party is clearly better...and they quote Diskkeeper as an example!

 

Diskeeper makes a pro version that they sell and a light version that is free. Been around since NT4 was young. The pro version has bells and whistles the light version lacks but both do a good job of defragging a drive.

XP uses Diskeeper Light Light (well, not by name but that's the idea). It does a pretty good job of defragging a drive and it's the only app I use on any of my systems since they aren't worked that hard.

If I needed the additional features and for use on XP, I'd certainly need to buy the pro version. Since XP is using a flavor of Diskeeper, the drive is pretty much kept in the order that app thinks is best. Norton uses another approach and both apps see a drive the other has defragged as being rather badly fragmented. Since with XP, you cannot stop the background work it does, using Norton or any other 3rd party tool is counterproductive.

I used Norton Speed Disk for years and until XP, I liked it better than the other options but with XP, it just wasn't a reasonable alternative. The second it finished a speed disk run, Xp would start thrashing the hard drive as the built-in app started putting the drive back in the order it liked.

Who ever wrote the piece you saw trashing the XP defragger was either selling something or else did not really know what he/she was talking about.