O&O Defrag recommendations

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Slerion

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Jaspion what mode would you choose for a Gaming HDD ? ( my system is on a SSD while games that arent dependent on load speed are on HDD )

Like ark survival evolved REALLY benefits on all game areas on a SSD while Robocraft doesnt...

so which mode would you choose ? name ? access ? space ? zones ? if so which one ?

even the O&O couldnt answer that.....
 

Jaspion

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Jun 5, 2013
835
Jaspion what mode would you choose for a Gaming HDD ? ( my system is on a SSD while games that arent dependent on load speed are on HDD )

Like ark survival evolved REALLY benefits on all game areas on a SSD while Robocraft doesnt...

so which mode would you choose ? name ? access ? space ? zones ? if so which one ?

even the O&O couldnt answer that.....

If I can chime in:
Firstly do a "Space",then, followed by a reboot, do a "Name"

Fist I'll comment on @venustus's suggestion: this is not what I would recommend in this case. SPACE will simply defragment files, placing them wherever they fit with no particular order. NAME will then place all files alphabetically; and while this can be good, it can also be really useless. Imagine a folder named "Assorted files", and another one named "Games"; using the NAME method, "Assorted files" will be placed before "Games", and therefore the games folder will be in a slower position, and perhaps "Assorted files" didn't need fast access at all. The point is that while alphabetically sorting files can be very beneficial, it is even more important to place files that need fast access on the outer (faster) parts of the disk, so if you have a folder named "Zuper Game 2000" which you want to be as fast as possible, with the NAME method, it will be possibly the last one, and if the disk is full, that will mean it will be near the inner part of the disk, which is slow.

So that's what zoning is for. SPACE is very useful for a drive that has no programs, only media/backups. NAME is very useful for a media drive containing for example music, or pictures, that will be read alphabetically when reading tags or creating thumbnails. But zoning is the most recommended method for a system drive, or a drive which contains games/programs.

Therefore my recommendation is to use zoning for system or program/game drive. Your drive will be divided into three zones; the first one is the fastest, the third one is the slowest. The default configuration for zoning is good, although you may want to change it a bit. For example, to the first zone you may want to add any game or program folders not already included ("Program Files", for example is already included). You may want to add to the third zone any backup folders too. In each zone you can select the method you want; for zone 1 I recommend sorting by name; for zones 2 and 3 I use a simpler free space consolidation, but you may want to use name sorting for zone 2 depending on what data you have there and how often you use it (as I exemplified before, a large collection of pictures is one thing that could benefit from alphabetical sorting). Another useful setting is the size threshold that will move files automatically to zone 3; default is 500 megabytes, but I use 100 megabytes (the idea is that small files will be read quickly, so your drive's head will benefit from having files close together when reading a specific folder; but larger files will take longer to read, so the time loss for moving the head to a different position is negligible, and they are often in the form of a packed archive, so being in a slower position doesn't hut their performance; plus having the larger files outside the first zones will make the defragmentation of such zones faster, as these large files won't have to be moved often). Also remember to always use the option of using layout.ini in the main settings.

If your game or program drive is not the system drive, still zoning is beneficial. You can for example put your favorite or most HDD-performance sensitive games/programs in zone 1, leave large files for zone 3, and have any extra stuff in zone 2.

Zoning is also beneficial for write speeds, as it leaves gaps between zones, meaning you'll have a nice area of fast free space right after zone 1, which will help with browsers, image editors, or anything that creates temporary files.

I hope this helps. And if I can help with anything else, just let me know.
 

Venustus

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Fist I'll comment on @venustus's suggestion: this is not what I would recommend in this case. SPACE will simply defragment files, placing them wherever they fit with no particular order. NAME will then place all files alphabetically; and while this can be good, it can also be really useless. Imagine a folder named "Assorted files", and another one named "Games"; using the NAME method, "Assorted files" will be placed before "Games", and therefore the games folder will be in a slower position, and perhaps "Assorted files" didn't need fast access at all. The point is that while alphabetically sorting files can be very beneficial, it is even more important to place files that need fast access on the outer (faster) parts of the disk, so if you have a folder named "Zuper Game 2000" which you want to be as fast as possible, with the NAME method, it will be possibly the last one, and if the disk is full, that will mean it will be near the inner part of the disk, which is slow.

So that's what zoning is for. SPACE is very useful for a drive that has no programs, only media/backups. NAME is very useful for a media drive containing for example music, or pictures, that will be read alphabetically when reading tags or creating thumbnails. But zoning is the most recommended method for a system drive, or a drive which contains games/programs.

Therefore my recommendation is to use zoning for system or program/game drive. Your drive will be divided into three zones; the first one is the fastest, the third one is the slowest. The default configuration for zoning is good, although you may want to change it a bit. For example, to the first zone you may want to add any game or program folders not already included ("Program Files", for example is already included). You may want to add to the third zone any backup folders too. In each zone you can select the method you want; for zone 1 I recommend sorting by name; for zones 2 and 3 I use a simpler free space consolidation, but you may want to use name sorting for zone 2 depending on what data you have there and how often you use it (as I exemplified before, a large collection of pictures is one thing that could benefit from alphabetical sorting). Another useful setting is the size threshold that will move files automatically to zone 3; default is 500 megabytes, but I use 100 megabytes (the idea is that small files will be read quickly, so your drive's head will benefit from having files close together when reading a specific folder; but larger files will take longer to read, so the time loss for moving the head to a different position is negligible, and they are often in the form of a packed archive, so being in a slower position doesn't hut their performance; plus having the larger files outside the first zones will make the defragmentation of such zones faster, as these large files won't have to be moved often). Also remember to always use the option of using layout.ini in the main settings.

If your game or program drive is not the system drive, still zoning is beneficial. You can for example put your favorite or most HDD-performance sensitive games/programs in zone 1, leave large files for zone 3, and have any extra stuff in zone 2.

Zoning is also beneficial for write speeds, as it leaves gaps between zones, meaning you'll have a nice area of fast free space right after zone 1, which will help with browsers, image editors, or anything that creates temporary files.

I hope this helps. And if I can help with anything else, just let me know.
Hi @Jaspion ,I was referring specifically to the game folder/s not the whole drive itself
Just wanted to clarify:)
 
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Jaspion

Level 17
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Jun 5, 2013
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Hi @Jaspion ,I was referring specifically to the game folder/s not the whole drive itself
Just wanted to clarify:)

Hi! Alright, I see. However, I don't think this is possible for a single folder, except if using the zoning; in which case it's better to configure the whole drive already.
 
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Slerion

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So i should put all my Games in zone 1 name but if i use the 100mb + files in zone 3 Alot of game files will end there in zone 3 wont that hurt performance ? ( of the games)

( and very big thanks for the help ! )

Sadly under Zone rules it shows only my "user" folders aka download , documents and stuff no HDD .... for whatever reason started it as admin and reinstalled same bug...


do you recommend any other defrag ?

Smart defrag . raxco perfect disk. defraggler or another one ?

Auslogics defrag pro with zones ?
 
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Jaspion

Level 17
Verified
Jun 5, 2013
835
So i should put all my Games in zone 1 name but if i use the 100mb + files in zone 3 Alot of game files will end there in zone 3 wont that hurt performance ? ( of the games)

( and very big thanks for the help ! )

Sadly under Zone rules it shows only my "user" folders aka download , documents and stuff no HDD .... for whatever reason started it as admin and reinstalled same bug...


do you recommend any other defrag ?

Smart defrag . raxco perfect disk. defraggler or another one ?

Auslogics defrag pro with zones ?

Sure mate, glad to help.

Larger files ending up in zone 3 may or may not hurt performance, but usually they don't. That is because the speed of such files is usually more dependent on CPU processing (for packed archives, for example) than on actual file read speed. And, as I said, leaving them in zone 3 will also speed up defragmentation. But if you feel like turning off this option, or increasing the size threshold, it's up to you.

I do not recommend any other defragmenters. Maybe Auslogics Defrag Pro, using zones, could be a good choice. But I haven't seen it in action to vouch for it.

Even if O&O is not configured properly by default, you can do it manually with ease. If you can send me a screenshot with the zoning configuration, I should be able to help with that.
 

Slerion

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Feb 24, 2016
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Sure mate, glad to help.

Larger files ending up in zone 3 may or may not hurt performance, but usually they don't. That is because the speed of such files is usually more dependent on CPU processing (for packed archives, for example) than on actual file read speed. And, as I said, leaving them in zone 3 will also speed up defragmentation. But if you feel like turning off this option, or increasing the size threshold, it's up to you.

I do not recommend any other defragmenters. Maybe Auslogics Defrag Pro, using zones, could be a good choice. But I haven't seen it in action to vouch for it.

Even if O&O is not configured properly by default, you can do it manually with ease. If you can send me a screenshot with the zoning configuration, I should be able to help with that.

heres a screenshot just reinstalled fresh .... admin acc and all here doesnt work...

it lets me only add folder of "user" had this happen on a older version some years ago... dont know what it fixed but some months later it worked....
 

Jaspion

Level 17
Verified
Jun 5, 2013
835
heres a screenshot just reinstalled fresh .... admin acc and all here doesnt work...

it lets me only add folder of "user" had this happen on a older version some years ago... dont know what it fixed but some months later it worked....

I see. I'm facing the same bug here, actually; hadn't noticed before. The good news is I just tested the program and the folders you program into each zone will work appropriately; you'll just have to do it manually.
 
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Slerion

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Soo thats my new Config
 

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Jaspion

Level 17
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Jun 5, 2013
835
Soo thats my new Config
Seems ok, except I would remove the D: drive from zone 3. This way, it will automatically be included in zone 2, since everything that is not in zone 1 will end up there, except for the larger files that are set to go to zone 3.
 

Slerion

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Feb 24, 2016
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for whatever reason.... it seems to defrag all with name....

defragged all night ( like 10 hour + ) still looks like this

i think its bugged atm.
 

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Jaspion

Level 17
Verified
Jun 5, 2013
835
for whatever reason.... it seems to defrag all with name....

defragged all night ( like 10 hour + ) still looks like this

i think its bugged atm.

The initial defragmentation may take a long time, that's normal. In fact I would recommend you use sort by name for zones 1 and 2, and only consolidation for zone 3, which will take longer than using name sorting in just zone 1. But this should give you some performance gain.

Now, maybe it is really taking longer than it should. If so, you might want to check whether any other programs are slowing things down; things such as Process Lasso, or an antivirus may be slowing down the defragmentation. You should exclude O&O from such programs.
 

Slerion

Level 5
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Feb 24, 2016
238
The initial defragmentation may take a long time, that's normal. In fact I would recommend you use sort by name for zones 1 and 2, and only consolidation for zone 3, which will take longer than using name sorting in just zone 1. But this should give you some performance gain.

Now, maybe it is really taking longer than it should. If so, you might want to check whether any other programs are slowing things down; things such as Process Lasso, or an antivirus may be slowing down the defragmentation. You should exclude O&O from such programs.
one last questions ... it still wont move stuff into zone 3 ? any idea why ? nothing above 100mb neither the set paths....

NVM just started to work for whatever reason....
 

Jaspion

Level 17
Verified
Jun 5, 2013
835
one last questions ... it still wont move stuff into zone 3 ? any idea why ? nothing above 100mb neither the set paths....

NVM just started to work for whatever reason....
The complete mode is really slow in the first run. It places every single file alphabetically, and this can take a very long time because first you have to make room for such files, and only then move them - one by one. It is a lengthy process indeed. But as I said, after you're done with it, you won't have to do it often. Using the optimize or the quick methods more frequently will yield results that are just as good in a fraction of the time the complete mode takes. You can use the complete mode every year or every 6 or so months, or when you install/uninstall a lot of data; the optimize method is recommended for weekly, daily, or even idle-time use (during screensaver); while the quick method can be used daily or in idle-time.

About zone 3 not getting populated properly, it's like I said: the first time it organizes the drive can be lengthy, plus it may take more than one run to get everything in its place. After that, it's just maintenance.
 
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