Keep Vista Running at Top Speed

If you're upgrading systems to Vista, there's yet another troublesome aspect you should be aware of. This one concerns Microsoft's new methodology for optimizing disk space. In fact, shortcomings in Vista's defragmentation (or "defrag" for short) utility has forced some users to start looking for third-party tools.

Help is on the way. In this recipe, I'll explain the rationale behind changes in Vista's built-in defrag. I'll also help you decide whether the utility will do the job for you. Finally, I'll also provide a hard look at the new crop of third-party defrag tools. These can boost Vista's performance across a full range of PCs, from the smallest desktop to commercial server farms.

ALL ABOUT DATA FRAGMENTATION

Let's start off with some background on what data fragmentation is, and how it's impacting Vista's performance.

Who hasn't had this experience: The system that was blisteringly fast on Day One has now been slowed to a crawl, thanks to the clutter created over time by a phenomenon called data fragmentation.

Since Microsoft's first OS, PC owners have been plagued with this progressive and perplexing performance headache. From the very first client's panic call, builders and technicians have had to rely on defrag utilities—usually the default Microsoft tool—to realign data when disks become fragmented and slow. So why does data become fragmented in the first place?

PCs operating systems like Windows XP or Vista organize data on the hard disk in chunks called clusters. On XP, those clusters are roughly 4 Kbytes in size. So to store a file of 4 KB or less, XP needs one cluster on the disk. Even 1 byte over that, and the disk requires another cluster, even if most of the second cluster is empty.

As a result, most files require multiple disk clusters. And here's where it gets tricky: For top performance, a single file's clusters should be located adjacent to each other in one long, unbroken chain. With all of the clusters in a line, files can be read more quickly, since the drive's read-write heads don't need to move too far to find the next cluster of data.

In the real world, however, files are often stored in clusters that are scattered across the drive. That's a result of disk space not being available in contiguous clusters. In fact, the more crowded the disk becomes, the more likely that new data clusters will be scattered as the drive tries to find available space. The result: degraded system performance that only gets worse over time, as files become increasingly fragmented and the system grinds away.

The only way to regain system performance is to reorganize all the clusters. At that point, it's like a Rubik's cube—a big job to set straight.

All operating systems must deal with data fragmentation in one way or another. In Windows XP, Microsoft provided the Disk Defragmenter utility in its System Tools folder. This application could be used to analyze and clean up a badly fragmented disk. But because Disk Defragmenter didn't run automatically, it typically isn't run by users until system performance has become unbearably slow.

WHAT'S NEW WITH VISTA'S DEFRAG?

When Microsoft built Vista, the company did what all successful software companies should do when creating a new product: The company listened to its advanced users.

What Microsoft heard was that Windows users didn't want to worry about defragging disks to keep their systems running at peak performance. Users also complained they didn't like the complicated look-and-feel of the user interface of XP's default defrag utility. So Microsoft responded with a new defrag methodology for Vista, and a new look-and-feel.

According to early user reports, Vista's new built-in defrag does work well for some users—typically, home users. But for others with business and advanced IT requirements, the new defrag appears to be seriously lacking.

In fact, the reaction of many system builders to Vista's new defrag has been anything but positive. Why? For starters, Vista's built-in defrag utility doesn't let the user track the defragger's progress, the way XP's defragger did. This is true across all versions of Vista.

Further, Vista's defragmenter does not provide an estimate of the time required to complete the process or time remaining to complete. Again, this is a feature that XP's defragger did provide.

Without an informative UI, the user has no idea of the actions being performed or progressing in the defrag operation. Worse, some users have been shocked by a message the Vista defragger sends to the screen: "This may take a few minutes to a few hours." I know my clients would not like to hear me utter that phrase!

The screen-shot of the Vista defrag screen, displayed below, shows just how little information you get. There's no progress bar, and no indication of elapsed or remaining time. Further, there's no information on the degree of data fragmentation or which files are fragmented. Finally, the user no longer has the option of excluding specific files from the defragmentation process.

To be fair, Vista's defrag methodology may be helpful to some. That's because the main idea behind the new defrag UI is to completely eliminate the need to be concerned about the inherent complexity of defragging. Vista's defrag runs at low CPU priority and uses low-priority input-output (I/O), which ensures minimal impact and high responsiveness for the rest of the system.

That's a big benefit over XP's defrag, which, by contrast, could make the overall system practically unusable during its operation. Also, Vista's defrag, unlike XP's, is schedulable. Without the user needing to know much about defragging, the program defaults to running on a weekly basis.

Though scheduled defrag may keep some moderate users out of trouble, scheduled disk organization is subject to obvious problems: What should the defragger do if the PC is in shut-down mode during a scheduled run time? Will it wait until the next week (when the PC might be off again), or will it run as one more hefty application at the next start-up?

Despite those concerns, there is some additional good news. Vista power users who would like detailed information and more options for defrag can still use the command line tool, defrag.exe. But as with previous Microsoft operating systems, serious users and technicians will want more. For them, third-party solutions will be the answer. ONE-PASS VS. CONTINUOUS DEFRAGMENTATION

Defragging a disk has traditionally been a one-pass operation. That is, you start a program that begins to hunt for scattered clusters. It uses smart algorithms to track, move and rewrite clusters into a more efficient order for the disk to read.

Once this intense operation gets going on a PC, the machine's not good for much else. In fact, you should consider the system down for maintenance. Also, the bigger the disk and the more fragmentation it has, the longer the PC will be out of action. It's no wonder technicians are peeved at Microsoft for dumbing down the GUI in Vista's defrag. Users still want to know, "How long will this take?"

As a result, a hot debate has erupted around the question of whether it's better to effectively shut down the machine for some time as defrag reorganizes the data, or to reorganize as you go. Meanwhile, inventive third-party software companies have noticed that Microsoft has left the door open for better defrag solutions.

BETTER TOOLS TO DEFRAG VISTA

Two award-winning software solutions that systems builders should know about are Diskeeper and PerfectDisk 8. Both are extraordinary software utilities that provide continuous, one-pass defragmentation of data while consolidating free space. Both also go well beyond the basic abilities of Vista's defrag. They deserve your serious consideration, not only as utilities to reorganize disks, but also as general performance-enhancing software tools.

Both your idea of a good utility and your clients' needs will determine which is the best fit. Chances are good you'll want one or both of these tools to augment Vista's very basic defrag tool.

Diskeeper (from the company of the same name) is better than a scheduled defrag. In fact, it's automatic. Once installed, Diskeeper operates efficiently and transparently 24x7 to fix disk fragmentation on the fly. Using a technology called InvisiTasking, Diskeeper makes virtually no demands on the system. Instead, it uses only idle CPU, memory, disk I/O and network resources. Unlike Microsoft's defrag, this program can operate across the network to handle even multiple terabyte volumes at once, not to mention storage area network (SAN) and network-attached storage (NAS) volumes.

Diskeeper has rich reporting features, including statistics, graphs and logs. These let an administrator investigate the underlying causes of fragmentation, as well as to calculate performance improvements. Diskeeper is also considerably faster than Vista's native defrag. What's more, this program will also defrag a system's Paging File, which is critical to good performance—and sadly, a file left untouched by Vista's defrag.

Here's a look at the Diskeeper dashboard:

Diskeeper also includes a performance tool called I-FAAST. This benchmarks the hard drive to find the fastest performing parts of the disk, monitors which files are accessed most frequently, and then places those files in the disk's fastest-performing sectors. This simple relocation can net improvements of up to 80 percent—and that's in addition to "normal" defrag gains.

Beside the obvious benefit of offering essentially seamless, continuous defragging, this process saves on system downtime. It may also save wear and tear of disks that can labor heavily for hours, even days, while traditional defragging methods struggle to get them back to a more efficient state.

Diskeeper's Home, Professional and Pro Premier editions retail for roughly $30, $50 and $100, respectively. Taking it to the next level, Diskeeper Small Business Edition sells for approximately $400 to $500, depending on the number of licenses required. To help you determine which version best suits your needs, the company offers this Feature Comparison Chart (PDF).

ONE-PASS DISK MAINTENANCE FROM PERFECTDISK 8

Next up is Raxco Software's PerfectDisk 8.0, which prides itself on being Microsoft's Certified third-party defrag tool. This tool also sports a familiar look-and-feel in its Command Center management console.

While incorporating a large amount of proprietary technology, PerfectDisk 8.0's operation is similar to that of defrag tools of days past. Its focus, as a one-pass tool, is essentially to defrag once and be done with it. In addition, this software can provide system builders with a wide range of statistics and trending information to help debug and repair fragmented disks. It can even repair drives that have as little at 5 percent of their space free remaining.

PerfectDisk's Command Center dashboard provides a single-glance summary of file and free-space fragmentation, including color-coded alerts. It also lets you use as many as 12 site-configurable thresholds to avert potential problems. Like Diskeeper—and unlike Vista's defrag utility—PerfectDIsk lets client computers be easily managed and reported on. You can even remotely access other servers and PCs where the utility is running to troubleshoot systems.

Here's a look at the PerfectDisk 8.0 interface:

Like Vista's defrag tool, PerfectDisk 8.0 includes a scheduler, called AutoPilot. PerfectDisk can also defrag single files one at a time, another task Vista's tool can't do. This is useful for clients who deal with large files, such as those used for videos and databases.

PerfectDisk 8.0 prices range from roughly $40 all the way up to nearly $1,500, depending on the version and the number of licenses. To help you select the right version, Raxco offers this product and price list.

With Vista, Microsoft has attempted to help users keep their data better organized and their systems running at top speed. But for now, I still recommend these third-party software tools. They can help system builders keep Vista PCs running as fast as the day the OS was first installed.

ANDY MCDONOUGH is a freelance writer, photographer and engineer happily writing and consulting in New Jersey.