Question Defrag that uses drives cache ??

[Digital~Dreams]

For years I've been using Disktrix Ultimate Defrag 6 and in general love it, even displays a circular impression of a platter. Yet as cache size increases (mine is 512Mb) I notice the software is clearly not using it and no option to do so exists. When moving a large file it uses very small chucks much smaller than the cache and hence makes quite a racket as the head oscillates, never mind being inefficient, wearing on the drive and slow as a result.

I've tried two other popular defag programs (with the usual rectangular array of small squares for the display) but they're the same. I've even tried 'PrimoCache' added on to UltimateDefrag yet this adds a layer of complexity and doesn't seem to speed things up as claimed (though the drive is quieter).

There must be something better out there that properly uses the cache itself, or is the on-board cache unsuitable for defrag purposes somehow ?

 

[kanewolf]

For years I've been using Disktrix Ultimate Defrag 6 and in general love it, even displays a circular impression of a platter. Yet as cache size increases (mine is 512Mb) I notice the software is clearly not using it and no option to do so exists. When moving a large file it uses very small chucks much smaller than the cache and hence makes quite a racket as the head oscillates, never mind being inefficient, wearing on the drive and slow as a result.

I've tried two other popular defag programs (with the usual rectangular array of small squares for the display) but they're the same. I've even tried 'PrimoCache' added on to UltimateDefrag yet this adds a layer of complexity and doesn't seem to speed things up as claimed (though the drive is quieter).

There must be something better out there that properly uses the cache itself, or is the on-board cache unsuitable for defrag purposes somehow ?

Since 90% of PC storage is solid state, I bet VERY few people bother. If you want fast, put it on solid state and the physical location doesn't matter.
Defrag is the buggy whip of PCs today, IMO.

 

[Lutfij]

For the sake of relevance, can you specify what drives you're running defragmentation on?

 

[TerryLaze]

There must be something better out there that properly uses the cache itself, or is the on-board cache unsuitable for defrag purposes somehow ?

It just doesn't make sense to use the cache since the point is to transfer the actual data on the actual sector to put all the data together.
If they transfer a file to cache then nothing on the disk has changed, they can't just format only the parts the file was on to put the file back again because the sectors would still be scattered.
If you want to use cache with defragging you have to use a second drive, freshly format it and copy everything over, that way all files will be defragged.