The Windows Defrag Controversy
Posted on June 12, 2008
Filed Under Microsoft
LONDON, June 12 /PRNewswire/ — Companies rely on an optimal system
health to achieve their objective. Because of today’s larger files size,
high capacity disks and dramatic rate of fragmenting files, one fundamental
thing all Windows users need doing to insure high performance is to defrag
their systems.
Defragmentation physically reorganizes the contents of the disk and
stores the pieces of each file together to keep the systems optimized.
Not only is defragmentation itself necessary, the choice of
defragmentation technology is also crucial.
Microsoft provides an in-built defragmenter. However, many IT
administrators quickly realise that it cannot meet the requirements of
demanding systems on a professional level.
For once, it is extremely time-consuming. The administrator needs to
schedule the defragmentation process on each machine, one by one, when he
could be servicing company employees or taking care of other essential
system maintenance.
The process is awfully slow and extremely resource intensive. All other
activities on the system have to be stopped. Therefore, defragmentation is
often run at night or at week-ends, which inevitably leads to over-time
costs. And to add to the frustration felt by all IT administrators who
would rather be home with their wives and kids, there is no indication of
how long the process will take and when the ordeal will eventually end.
You would think that such a lengthy and painful process will bring
astonishing results, but unfortunately, this is far from true.
The in-built utility does not eliminate all fragments, nor tackles free
space fragmentation. It does not defragment the MFT nor the paging files.
All in all, the results are slightly better but stay superficial.
On the other side, companies who realise that the in-built utility is
not a solution might favour an automatic alternative.
With a truly automatic defragmenter installed on the system - one that
defrags in real time, as it occurs, IT administrators do not need to worry
any longer about this aspect of computer maintenance.
Some automatic software on the market is coupled with a technology
which does not allow the defragmentation process to impact on system
resources. The user will not even notice that the software is running in
the background.
Therefore, if you are serious about having an optimal system health, it
is best to look into an automatic professional upgrade, where/when
scheduling or manual operation is never required and performance constantly
maximized.
SOURCE Max Clarke, Technology Author and IT Journalist
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