UltimateDefrag is one of the best (if not best of the best , for me it is the best tool for the person who know what to achieve with their hdd via defragmenting and file placement) defragmenter available on the planet. Here is the guide on how to config it.
How to configure UltimateDefrag properlyI
would ask anyone to first read the included Help file that comes with
UD 2008 before making his own configuration based on my guide written
here, this Help file will give you a far greater understanding about
how HD's operate and what will give an increase/decrease in their
performance. Read the Help file, read my guide, add a little common
sense and there you go: you're own 'perfect' defragmentation job
configuration.Note: Works best with Windows XP, will
work with any version of Windows as many of the files are the same, but
this probably won't be useful for a Mac or Linux PC.Note: This guide is not
to be taken as something that applies to every HD/Computer setup. This
is due to the fact that everyone has a different HD size and some have
more data on it then others do, these differences can affect on how my
proposed settings affect your computer's performance. Something i can
guarantee is that using this guide in combination with UD 2008 will
give you a performance increase, how much? That's up to your
interpretation and how much your HD looks like mine in size and number
of GB's used.
Note: People with 2 HD's should wait, or add a lot
of common sense and own input. Otherwise this guide won't be of much
use to them. This is due to the fact that i don't know how big your
HD's are and that problem is minor when just using one, but when using
2 or more HD's this problem might me much bigger. I also don't know the
'preselection' you guys made, most people have a HD containing Windows,
Program Files and Games and another one with Movies, MP3's and images,
but not all of you do. This makes it even harder to make a universal,
works for everyone guide for 2 HD's. So at this point it might not even
be coming, since i don't even have 2 HD's myself to test it or
something.If anyone has any suggestions, additions or
comments please do post them! Also: There are no dumb questions, so if
you don't understand something don't be afraid to ask 
All
of this is done with the 'Folder/File name' defragmentation
method('Respect high performance', 'Respect archive' and 'Put
directories close to MFT' options selected). If you don't want to spend
half an hour (or more) configuring you defragmentation application you
can leave this and just select the 'Auto' defragmentation method, which
will give you improved performance, but not as much as when you follow
this guide.I will specify which files you should put in
the Archive section and which files you should put in the High
Performance section now (You can get there by pressing
Tools>Options>'Select your HD'(If you have one it is selected by
default) and there you can find Archive(Wildcards, Auto and Custom) and
High Performance(Wildcards, Auto and Custom):
Archive:Wildcards:- *.rar files(Believe it or not, but these files are 'Archives', wonder where they belong...)
- *.zip files(''Same as above'')
-
*.r0?, *.r1? and following up to *.r9? (Don't add these if you don't
use split archives) (* stands for any number of characters and ? stand
for one, UD recognizes this)
- *.00?, *.01? and following up to
*.09? should be enough, but you could also add *.0??, *.1?? up to *.9??
but that would include any file with an extension with a digit at the
start, so i recommend the first methodology (''Same as above, about the
split archives, the * and the ? signs'')
- *.iso files(CD backup files, used to distribute CD content over the net or to backup a CD,
Warning sign:Don't use this option when you have games .iso files which you use to
play those games. If you just used them for installing and applied a
no-CD crack you can use this option though.)
- *.cab files(Same as above, with the difference these are much used as Installer Archives)
-
*.avi(Personal preference, i download A LOT of movies and mostly i just
keep them on my HD until and after i burn them. I've got RW DVD's so i
might delete the some time and have to burn them again or there might
be something wrong with the subtitles, so i always keep the .avi files
until i've watched the movie(s))
- *.mpeg(''Same as above'')
- *.mpg(''Same as above'')
- *.wmv(''Same as above'')
- *.mov(''Same as above'')
-
*.vob(These are special, these are files created when i convert a video
file into a dvd. Most of the time they aren't on my PC for very long
because i watch most movies right after i converted them, but sometimes
they are and then i want them to be out of the way)
- *.mp3(Large
music collections, i only use this option when i run out of space.
Because i listen to my music very much so i don't want it to be slow)
- *.wma(''Same as above'')
- *.aac(I don't use this, but you might)
- *.bak(Backup files, will probably never be used)
- All other Archive files like .rar and .zip you use, i won't list them all since there are too many.
- All other .iso like files (Virtual CD's) you use, i won't list them all since there are too many.
Automatic:I
don't select anything here... Because i might not have used some of my
programs (In Program Files) and they would be placed in the lower
performing areas that way.. Where i don't want to have them
In any case this value would depend on the available and used HD space.
My HD is (naturally, 15 days ago installed) nearly empty so i put it to
0, but when you've installed your system for a few months(3 or more)
you can easily put the value to 40 if your system is getting a bit
full, but if it's not you might as well chose to keep it on 0 or make
it a low value, like 10 or something. As i said, there isn't a 'best'.
If you could give me some more information about your HD capacity and
usage i would be glad to give you some tips on how to set these values
I think it's best to just select all the files you want out of the way in the next step, this'll give you much more control.
Custom:'C' can be any drive letter here.
-
In case you use MS Office, you can select C:/MSOCache/ here, these are
the installer files for MS Office, which you probably won't be needing
any time soon.
- C:/System Volume Information/ (Place where System
Restore information is stored(if activated). You probably never use
this data, and when you do you won't be worrying about speed, believe
me
On smaller systems i recommend setting this option on for once,
creating one restore point, making a .rar file out of this, putting
that somewhere safe and deactivating it. This way you can always
extract the .rar file into the previously mentioned folder and activate
System Restore again)
- C:/Windows/Driver Cache/ (Name says all...
Place where possibly needed drivers are stored, but you probably won't
need them after you installed your system. (Except for when adding new
hardware of course))
- C:/Windows/Installer/ (Installer database,
used when you uninstall a program. In my case this is an event that
won't happen very often, so it pick these files wink.gif)
- C:/Windows/$...... (Mostly uninstaller backups, all folder in C:/Windows with an $ in it can be put with Archive)
- C:/Windows/pchealth(Help subjects, don't know exactly what this is, something with Help
If you need a lot of 'Help' don't add this...)
- C:/RECYCLER/ (Trashbin...)
- C:/Windows/IE7Updates (Old IE7 update files)
- C:/Windows/ServicePackFiles/ (Old SP installation files)
- C:/Windows/SoftwareDistribution (Used when updating Windows)
- C:/Windows/system32/dllcache/ (Shadow-copy of important system files)
- Any folder named i386 (It can be C:/i386 or C:/Windows/i386 or anything else) can be added to the Archive.
-
If you have a folder in which you store all your downloaded files (such
as installers etc.) select that too, since these files only are used
once (the programs run from another folder in C:/Program Files/ which
is High Performance)
- If you have large photo, video or music collections put them with Archive too.
- Any other files you can think of you will never use...
High Performance:Wildcards:- Outlook and/or Lotus users can select *.pst and/or *.ntf files to boost the performance of their email applications
-
*.exe All .exe files(I have never used this option myself, but UD
recommends it. It is quite logic, all executables should be high
performance)
- *.dll All .dll files(''Same as above'')
Automatic:Same
story as with Archive and Automatic... I use 10 % here, but that's just
because otherwise UD will place some of my selected Archive files
within high performance... Leaving gaps in the inner tracks... So not
recommend for any of you, just so you know. You should decide which
value fits your needs best, i recommend setting it to 5-40 % depending
on the capacity of your HD and how much data is on it. If you pick your
High Performance files very carefully in the next step you don't even
really need this value, but i recommend never putting it under 5%
because you can always miss something.
Custom:- Any
game you play should be High Performance... It'll make a big difference
when you're on a slow computer, but fast computers profit from this too.
-
C:/Windows/Prefetch/ (This folder contains data that will automatically
be loaded into the RAM at boot, programs you use much etc.)
-
C:/Windows/system32/ (You can just select this folder in High
Performance and leave dllcache in Archive as i mentioned in my latest
post (
here), but you can always, just to be sure, select every file and folder within system32 except for dllcache)
- C:/Windows/assembly/ (.NET Reference Assemblies, and no i don't know what that means, but it's important nevertheless...)
- C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/ (Microsoft .NET service)
- C:/Windows/ime/ (Windows text services)
- C:/Windows/inf (Important, has something to do with drivers)
- C:/Windows/system/ (The same ONE WORD here...)
- C:/Windows/WinSxS (Important system files)
- C:/Windows/RegisteredPackages
- C:/Windows/AppPatch/ (Important system files, at least they look important to me)
-
C:/Windows/..... (Don't select the whole folder, but all the important
files in it, like explorer.exe, taskman.exe and such. (These files
should probably be within the 5% i put with Automatic, but just to be
sure select them here))
- C:/Program Files (Program files... More
explanation needed? Go ask your dad or ask the IT people at your school
and laugh at them when they don't know...)
- C:/Documents and
Settings/ (Select all folders here except for the folders that contain
those large video, mp3 or photo collections you want out of the way.
- Any other files you use frequently.
Using the 'Excluded files' optionExcluded
files won't be processed during the defragmentation job. They will be
left alone, no matter to what category(Archive, High Performance or
Other) they belong. This might seem like a useless option to the
untrained eye, but it's not. It might come in very handy some time. For
example: When i've got some files, that UD marks as part of the 5% most
frequently used data i selected for high performance, which is want to
put into the archive region for a very long time because i won't be
using them anymore then i can use this option. First you select the
files in the Archive section and run consolidate deragmentation(in
which you only select the option 'Respect archive', so do not select
'Respect high performance'). Now these files will reside in the Archive
region. After you did this you probably want to optimize the placement
of your High Performance files too, but you can't do that because then
the file you just put inside the Archive region will be replaced to the
High Performance region again... So after you ran a consolidate
defragmentation(in which you only selected the option 'Respect
archive') you just put those files into the 'Excluded files' section
and they will be left alone. Now you can go ahead and run a consolidate
defragmentation with 'Respect high performance' selected too. (Remember
to always have 'Respect archive' selected, otherwise all your archive
files will be consolidated to the outer bands of your HD, and that is
something you don't want because then you'll have to place them back to
the inner bands again, which is a waste of your valuable time.
The use of Put directories close to MFTWhatever
defragmentation job you're running (except for 'Fragmented files only')
always select Put directories close to MFT. I don't know exactly why,
but the MFT and the directories are always accessed at the same time or
right after each other. So they should be close to each other for
improved performance. This way the HD won't have to search this much.
Resource UsageUnless
you're multitasking a lot, I recommend setting it to 100%. When you're
running a defragmentation job overnight or whilst you're away you
should set it to 100% too. If you set it to Auto, it'll use less
resources but will take much longer for the defrag to complete, even
when you're not using your computer.
Special thanks to
spasserfan,
Sonar,
eBait,
Noddy and
deXter (at Softexia) for adding some things i forgot or didn't know about.
Resource : http://www.nsaneforums.com/?showtopic=11480
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