Freeware Portable Defragmenter JkDefrag and its Clones

About JkDefrag

JkDefrag is a disk defragmenter and optimizer for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/2008/X64. Completely automatic and very easy to use, fast, low overhead, with several optimization strategies, and can handle floppies, USB disks, memory sticks, and anything else that looks like a disk to Windows. The presented Windows version is intended for Harddrives only. For defragmentation of floppy disk and removable media you need use command line version that can be downloaded from the author’s website. Add the appropriate drive letter to the end of the command path or else JkDefrag automatically will skip these.

Note: Just a side note that there is no big advantage in defragmenting USB drives due to the random data access. Furthermore, there were several warnings from the USB drives manufacturers, that the defragmentation process might harm the USB drive structure.

Cost

JkDefrag is completely free, no cost, no time limit. The executables are released under the GNU General Public License.

Installation

There is no "setup" or "install" and no configuration file. All you have to do is download the zip and unpack anywhere you like. The program is ready to run and will automatically process all the mounted, writable, fixed volumes on your computer. It is correct - you just start the program, and it will proceed with disks defragmentation even without pressing start button.

Permissions

JkDefrag needs "full control" permissions to all files and disks that it must defragment/optimize. On a default Windows system the "administrator" userid has full permissions to all files and disks. Users with no administrator privileges can also run JkDefrag, but then it can only defragment/optimize the files and disks for which the user has "full control".
Note: On Vista right-click the JkDefrag program and select "run as administrator".

Stopping

JkDefrag can be stopped safely at any time, there is no risk of losing data or corrupting your disk. You can use all the usual ways to stop a Windows program, such as pressing ALT-F4, clicking the ’x’ in the top-right corner, via the pull-down menu in the taskbar, or by killing the program via the task manager or another utility. It may take a bit of time for the program to actually stop, JkDefrag will finish the current file in the background.

Logfile

JkDefrag writes all messages to a logfile called "JkDefrag.log". You can inspect the logfile if you want, it’s a flat-text file. The logfile is automatically cleared when the program starts, it does not grow to infinity.

Tips:

1. Cleanup old junk from your harddisk before running JkDefrag, for example with "Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup", or with some freeware program.

2. Reboot before running JkDefrag. This will release files that are in use, so they can be defragmented. You can also run JkDefrag in Windows safe mode (press F8 while booting) to defrag even more files.

3. Stop your real time virus scanner before running JkDefrag. Virus scanners check all disk activity, making defragmentation and optimization very slow.

4. Move the swap file to another volume, reboot, defragment, and move the swap file back. If you don’t have a second volume then temporarily make the swap file small, for example 100Mb.

5. If an application (for example a database) prevents certain files from being defragmented then stop the application, run JkDefrag for the particular data directory only, and restart the application.

6. Package unused files with any packager. The package-file not only takes less harddisk space, but will also defragment and optimize much faster than the individual files. This does not apply to Windows NTFS compression, which will actually make defragmentation and optimization a lot slower.

7. Buy the biggest harddisk you can afford. Investing in a bigger harddisk gives more speed-per-dollar than investing in a faster CPU or more memory.

8. The first partition on a harddisk is significantly faster than other partitions. Try to use other partitions only for "SpaceHog" data.

9. If you have 2 physical harddisks (of the same speed), then place the pagefile on the first partition of the second harddisk.

Website: http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/

As you might notice, the interface is simple and basic. There are power users, who prefer having more power of using the program, while having the Windows interface instead of command line. For them, I can offer JkDefragGUI freeware utilities.

JkDefragGUI is a Graphical User Interface which allows you to easily select all the features JkDefrag. But is can do a lot more. JkDefragGUI can schedule a defragmentation, install JkDefrag or it’s screensaver but can also do some small maintenance to your computer. It can be used to schedule a defragmentation of your system files like pagefile and registry files. JkDefragGUI also supports CCleaner which can be used instead of the internal cleaning function. It can also erase any information which is left behind on your hard disk after erasing files. JkDefragGUI was created for people who don’t have the skills of an advanced user but still want to use the powerful features JkDefrag has to offer or for those people who like a GUI instead of using the command line. JkDefragGUI is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, U3 capable flash memory and with BartPE pre-installed environment.

Website: http://www.emro.nl/freeware/

Author: Emiel Wieldraaijer

There is one more utility with the same name JkDefragGUI, resolving the task to bring more visibility to multiple options of the basic JkDefrag. This utility is portable as well and supports many languages. Standard package include 10 languages, but you can download extra multi-language packages for additional 40 languages.

Website: http://jkdefrag.8qm.de/english.php#1

Author: Markus Hörl

And for the users, who are in favor of the AIO (all-in-one) bundles, there is another utility, combining all vital system management utilities under one roof. ScanDefrag is a small windows application that configures Microsoft’s, Norton’s, or JKessel’s disk utilities as part of the next Windows’ startup process. This can result in less restarts and cleaner runs of these programs. ScanDefrag Standard allows performing scheduled system maintenance using:

• Microsoft’s Disk Cleanup
• Microsoft’s ScanDisk/ChkDsk or Norton’s Disk Doctor
• Microsoft’s Defragmenter, Norton’s SpeedDisk, or Jeoren Kessels’ Defragmenter

Note that this software is not portable, and requires installation on your PC. However, it is packed with several utilities, which are considered the best in their categories, so for many users it might be considered as comprehensive preferable solution.

Website: http://www.blueorbsoft.com/scandefrag/

Hard Drive Maintenance Basics

Hard drive maintenance is an easy way to improve computer performance and keep its productivity in the acceptable range long after it was purchased. Hard drive performance can be impacted by the volume of information stored on the drive.


An easy explanation is to consider for every instance of a file the operating system indexes the entry. As well if your drive is close to being full this leaves limited space for caching by the operating system. Caching is how the operating system stores files that may be needed but are not necessary at the moment. Files that are needed are stored into RAM. Without this free space your operating system will not function optimally and consider if there is no space for the drive to use caching the operating system will not boot. The general rule is that the hard drive should not be occupied by the data for more than 70% of its overall capacity, does not matter how big is it.


Knowing the effects of a full drive, you can see the necessity for maintenance. On of the easiest ways to maintain drive space is to control the data on the drive. Uninstalling nonessential programs can greatly impact the amount of free space on a hard drive. You can review the programs installed by opening the control panel and selecting "Add and Remove Programs" (Windows XP and 2000) or "Programs and Features" (Windows Vista). Here you can review the programs installed and each is labeled with a notation of how often the program has been used. If there are programs you no longer require you may want to remove them to add to your free drive space.


Another option you may consider if you do not already have a second drive or partition is to use either an external or internal drive to use as storage. A secondary drive can be used to store your documents, back up files, and even programs. This is ideal as the C:’ is the only drive that requires this critical space. Storing files on a secondary drive will not affect performance. As the master Hard Drive has higher chances to get corrupted, storing essential data on Slave gives more security to the information. If the primary drive crashed, you can use the secondary drive the same way you used it before, without any system modifications needs.


Cleaning your drive of temp files and other unnecessary files is a quick way of freeing additional space. There are many ways to complete this task but using "Disk Cleanup" is the easiest option. To use disk cleanup go to Start>All programs>Accessories>System Tools and select the "Disk Cleanup" option. Once the interface opens review all file types which can be reviewed and make your selections accordingly.


The last step to better drive performance is to perform a hard drive defrag. Defrag (short for defragmentation) organizes the files on a drive in a consecutive pattern which allows the operating system to access the files faster. Running defrag will as well lessen the load on drive indexing options. To perform defragmentation of the hard drive once again browse to Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools and select "Disk Defragmenter" option. Note that a drive must have at least 15 percent free space for Disk Defragmenter to completely and adequately defragment it. Disk Defragmenter uses this space as a sorting area for file fragments. If a volume has less than 15 percent free space, Disk Defragmenter will only partially defragment it. To increase the free space on a volume, delete unneeded files or move them to another disk.


Once All steps in this series have been completed you should notice a difference in performance. Ideally you should complete this list once every month to maintain system performance.


While Windows OS is equipped by default with all the system applications, mentioned in the review, the standard programs are far from being the best on the market in their categories. There are multiple alternative software utilities on the market, and there are indeed many good programs to consider. Review the free software section of the site to pick the programs for your ongoing operations. And you can extend the lifetime of your Hard Drive and preserve the high performance results.




Sources and Additional Reading:
http://www.pcregistrycleaner.com/blog/drive-maintenance/
http://billmullins.wordpress.com/2008/02/21/hard-drive-maintenancefree-diagnostic-applications/