Didn't realize Perfect Disk is no more. Need a new HDD defragger free

[kitekrazy]

I upgraded an OS drive and now PD won't authorize. It always needed online authorization.  They never released a final version that doesn't require it.  It was my favorite.  Either I got lucky but all of my HDDs lasted a long time with this.

Always looking for a free quality alternative since the available ones are part of a subscription package.

 

 

 

[OutrageProductions]

I've used to use (before going all SSD) the free defrag & registry cleaner from Auslogics (Australia). Beware of the attempt to auto install additional crap, and of course the PopUp ads, but that's the way of the world. It used to work like a champ to defrag and optimize for fast access on my HDD's.
There is also this thing called "Google" where you could find alternatives. 😁

Edited August 15 by OutrageProductions

[reginaldStjohn]

If it is Windows then it has a built in defragmenter. No need to run it independently but I believe you can if you want. Right click on a drive and look for the tools tab. 

Edited August 15 by reginaldStjohn

[mettelus]

+1 to both of the above comments. The embedded Windows defrag is actually sufficient for most instances, but it doesn't have the ability to "consolidate free space" on a drive that I am aware of. That routine is intensive and doesn't need to be run often at all (I run this about once per year), but what it buys you is massive writes (like a "Save As..." on a cwp project) will have enough space to write everything on contiguous tracks. That will cut down on fragmentation issues even occurring, since that is caused by the system filling "holes" that are available. Data management is far better than it used to be, so the system typically finds holes big enough to fit entire files in them when possible, but that doesn't prevent it from scattering associated files all over the place (even if individual files are not fragmented, the seek times will go up due to this).

[kitekrazy]

On 8/15/2024 at 11:53 AM, OutrageProductions said:

I've used to use (before going all SSD) the free defrag & registry cleaner from Auslogics (Australia). Beware of the attempt to auto install additional crap, and of course the PopUp ads, but that's the way of the world. It used to work like a champ to defrag and optimize for fast access on my HDD's.
There is also this thing called "Google" where you could find alternatives. 😁

I view this as nothing but a smartass pointless comment.  I did this and google is becoming more useless as user experience is beneficial.  Educate yourself how google has become less reliable.    "Google it " is the top ***** comment on a forum.   Don't be a "richard".