O&O Defrag

O&O Defrag defragments your hard disks and thereby optimizes the speed with which they can be accessed. With every write process, the file system splits files into multiple pieces and then scatters them across free sectors of the hard disk. Because of this, accessing these files requires that they be found and then merged. Searching for them requires physical movement of the read-write head and this costs time. Once files are combined and organized in consecutive order, the time needed for accessing them is reduced dramatically. This speeds up not only the read-write processes but saves wear on the hard disk’s mechanics.

Installation

In order for use O&O Defrag, the current version will have to be installed on the target system. If this is not already the case, O&O Syspectr provides a fully automatic installation. Confirm when you want to use it and wait a moment until installation is completed. Once that’s done, you’ll see a preview of your drives and you can then carry out any desired actions.

Actions

Analysis

Analysis will examine partitions on the target computer and provide an overview of their current level of fragmentation as well as the distribution of files on each partition. Red blocks symbolize fragmented files, blue blocks defragmented.

Defragment

After you start defragmentation for a partition, you’ll receive status updates at regular intervals and so be able to follow how much progress the defragmentation is making.

Stop

You can use the “Stop“ feature to stop an analysis or defragmentation. In just a few seconds, the action will be ended.

Tasks (Premium modules exclusive)

Partitions

Select the partition (s) for which you want to create a defragmentation job.

Execution

Set whether the task should be carried out once on a specific date or whether it should be done weekly on one or more / all days of the week. Here you can also specify whether the job should be carried out on the next possible date if a start was not possible on the scheduled date (e.g. because the computer was switched off).

Settings

Automatic defragmentation

  • Automatic defragmentation in the background - This option allows O&O Defrag itself to select the best methods and times for defragmenting, depending on various system parameters that are regularly determined automatically. The O&O ActivityMonitor regularly determines the system’s level of capacity. It controls O&O Defrag’s power requirement during defragmentation and adjusts it to the computer’s current status. This enables you to continue working undisturbed while defragmentation is being run in the background.
  • Optimize when the user is away (when the screensaver is active) - Here’s where you can set O&O Defrag to always start when the computer is not being used and the screensaver is active.

Additional automatic optimizations

  • Optimize SSDs regularly using TRIM - O&O Defrag can optimize Solid State Drives (SSDs) of any make, even under Windows XP and Vista. As a result, write accesses on SSDs are measurably faster and premature effects of wearout avoided.
  • Regularly delete free space on hard disks - Deleted files can be restored using very simple methods. If you wish to avoid this, let O&O Defrag delete free space in addition to defragmenting so that recovery of data is made impossible.
  • Regular Thin Provisioning optimization - Using this feature on virtual hard disks/systems results in their regaining unused space for improved memory capacity.