PerfectDisk defrag and BootVis

[Jeff Malka]

I am running XP Home on a laptop and had an interesting experience:
I defragmented my drive using PerfectDisk 6.0 "SmartPlacement" mode. Then I
ran BootVis and optimized the bootup.

On a hunch, I analyzed the drive again, using Perfect Disk, and noticed that
the file arrangement was no longer as regular and defragmented as it had
been prior to using BootVis. This made me wonder if these two utilities do
not negate each other: PerfectDisk's "SmartPlacement" places the files along
a certain logic which BootVis changes to suit itself and vice-versa. They
apparently do not seem to agree on some file placements and I do not know
which is preferable or how to use them.

Any thoughts?

 

[R. McCarty]

Perfect Disk uses data from the Layout.Ini file, just like the 3-day
Idle time defrag. Perfect Disk replaces that 3-day defrag so that
it handles all the file placement. When you ran BootVis, you just
overwrote what Perfect Disk had done. You would get the same
effect if you used Diskeeper to defrag and then ran Perfect Disk
afterwards. Each has it's own algorithm for file placement, using
data from Layout.Ini.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Jeff,

Have you taken this up with Raxco support yet?
http://www.raxco.com/support/windows/pd60/

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Jeff Malka]

That is precisely what I suspected. So, does it then make it futile to use
an external defragger like PerfectDisk since what it does is overwritten by
the BootVis (or the 3-day defrag) or do the latter just deal with bootup
files?

Actually, I was not aware of the 3-day Windows defrag. Does this utility
defrag all the drives files or only the bootup files (which I assume is what
BootVis does)?

 

[R. McCarty]

Perfect Disk is configurable, as related to positioning Layout.ini
data. Tools, Advanced Configuration. So you can choose how
Layout.Ini data is processed (By PD or Windows internally.)

If you allow Perfect Disk to manage all Layout data, I assume it
"disables" the internal XP 3-day defrag. In my case, I set PD to
handle all Layout files. I've never seen a case where Windows
3-day "mini-defrag" changes Perfect Disk's defragmentation, so
I assume PD turns off the Windows operation or replaces it.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I am running XP Home on a laptop and had an interesting experience:
I defragmented my drive using PerfectDisk 6.0 "SmartPlacement" mode. Then I
ran BootVis and optimized the bootup.

On a hunch, I analyzed the drive again, using Perfect Disk, and noticed that
the file arrangement was no longer as regular and defragmented as it had
been prior to using BootVis.

BootVis rearranges some files, so as to get faster load time for the
system. At later times in the absence of a third party tool, the system
takes this further (through the Prefetch) with a 'mini-defrag every few
days, so as to speed up loading programs as well.

If you have the Pro version of Perfect Disk, and use it to do an
'off-line' defrag, at boot, then one of the settings at Tools - Advanced
Configuration is to 'Let PD manage all the layout.inf files'. that will
do all of this for you, turning off the mini-defrags, and you should
*not* then run BootVis. Indeed in any case BootVis is something to run
only on a newly installed system (or after a really major upgrade like
SP1), not once that system has been in use for a time

 

[Jeff Malka]

Thank you all for the excellent and informative advice.

--
Jeff McPherson
Email address deliberately false to avoid spam
(e-mail address removed)

I am running XP Home on a laptop and had an interesting experience:
I defragmented my drive using PerfectDisk 6.0 "SmartPlacement" mode. Then I
ran BootVis and optimized the bootup.

On a hunch, I analyzed the drive again, using Perfect Disk, and noticed that
the file arrangement was no longer as regular and defragmented as it had
been prior to using BootVis.

BootVis rearranges some files, so as to get faster load time for the
system. At later times in the absence of a third party tool, the system
takes this further (through the Prefetch) with a 'mini-defrag every few
days, so as to speed up loading programs as well.

If you have the Pro version of Perfect Disk, and use it to do an
'off-line' defrag, at boot, then one of the settings at Tools - Advanced
Configuration is to 'Let PD manage all the layout.inf files'. that will
do all of this for you, turning off the mini-defrags, and you should
*not* then run BootVis. Indeed in any case BootVis is something to run
only on a newly installed system (or after a really major upgrade like
SP1), not once that system has been in use for a time

 

[Dwight Stewart]

That is precisely what I suspected. So, does it then
make it futile to use an external defragger like
PerfectDisk since what it does is overwritten by
the BootVis (or the 3-day defrag) or do the latter
just deal with bootup files?

I don't think it is futile. PerfectDisk is going to defragment far more
files than BootVis is going to mess with later. Ideally, defragment programs
would move files to allow fast startup times. But, to do so, they would have
to monitor the boot process in much the same way BootVis does to see which
files are actually used during that process. Instead, those programs just
generally defragment and sort files in a logical manner, assuming that alone
will increase overall speed (including startup). BootVis takes that to the
next level by looking at the specific files used during startup and
rearranging those. Since I doubt any other files are messed with, that
shouldn't hurt anything PerfectDisk has done to all those other files.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/