The following is a comparison of notable file system defragmentation software:
Program | Developer | License | Supported file systems | Supported platforms | GUI | CLI | Script | Scheduler | Boot time | Auto defrag when idle | Stable release |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Auslogics Disk Defrag | Auslogics | Freeware | FAT16, FAT32, NTFS | Windows XP and later | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 10.2.0.1 (Free), 4.11.0.7 (Ultimate) (January 26, 2022 (Free), March 3, 2020 (Ultimate)) [±] | |
AVG PC TuneUp | AVG Technologies | Trialware | 2015 (v15.0.1001.238) (November 30, 2014) | ||||||||
Contig | Microsoft | Freeware | NTFS | Windows XP and later; Windows Server 2003 and later | No [1] | Yes | No | Yes, with Windows Task Scheduler | No | Yes, with Windows Task Scheduler [lower-alpha 1] | 1.8 (July 4, 2016) [1] |
Defraggler | Piriform | Freeware | FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, ReFS [2] | Windows XP and later | Yes | Yes | No | Yes, with Windows Task Scheduler [lower-alpha 2] | Yes | Yes, with Windows Task Scheduler [lower-alpha 1] | 2.22.995 [4] (May 2, 2018) [±] |
Drive Optimizer (formerly Disk Defragmenter) | Microsoft | Bundled with Microsoft Windows | FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, ReFS | Windows 2000 and later; Windows 95 and later | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, with Windows Task Scheduler | No | No | Same as Windows |
Diskeeper | Condusiv Technologies | Discontinued (formerly trialware | FAT16, FAT32, NTFS | Windows XP and later | Yes [5] | Yes [6] | Yes [7] | Yes [lower-alpha 3] | Yes [8] | Yes | 2020 (20.0.1302) (March 23, 2020) [±] |
JkDefrag | Jeroen Kessels | GNU GPL | FAT & NTFS | Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista | Yes | Yes | 3.36.0.2 / August 31, 2008 | ||||
O&O Defrag | O&O Software | Trialware | FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, ReFS | Windows NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8.x, 10, 11. Server 2003, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 27.0.8038 (September 12, 2023) [±] |
PageDefrag | Microsoft | Freeware | FAT16, FAT32, NTFS | Windows 2000, XP | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
PerfectDisk | Raxco | Trialware | FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, ReFS* and CSVFS [9] | Windows XP SP3 or higher (x86, x64), Windows 10, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows Server 2019 [9] | Yes | Enterprise Console edition only | Yes | Yes | Yes | PerfectDisk 14 Build 894(May 2, 2019) [10] | |
UltimateDefrag | DiskTrix | Trialware [11] | FAT32, NTFS | Windows XP and later | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6.1.2.0 (28 July 2021) | ||
UltraDefrag | Dmitri Arkhangelski, Justin Dearing, Sayem Chaklader, Stefan Pendl | Commercial software (8.0+) / GNU GPL (7.1.x) | FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, ReFS [12] | Windows NT 4.0 and later | Yes | Yes | Yes [lower-alpha 4] [13] | Yes, with Windows Task Scheduler | Yes | Yes, with Windows Task Scheduler [lower-alpha 1] | 12.0.0 (March 30, 2024) [±] , Open source version discontinued [14] |
Vopt | GoldenBow (or DataTuna) [15] | Discontinued (formerly freeware) | FAT32, NTFS | Windows 2000 and later | Yes | Yes | 9.21.0001 (November 14, 2010) [±] | ||||
Program | Developer | License | Supported file systems | Supported platforms | GUI | CLI | Script | Scheduler | Boot time | Auto defrag when idle | Stable release |
ext3, or third extended filesystem, is a journaled file system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It used to be the default file system for many popular Linux distributions. Stephen Tweedie first revealed that he was working on extending ext2 in Journaling the Linux ext2fs Filesystem in a 1998 paper, and later in a February 1999 kernel mailing list posting. The filesystem was merged with the mainline Linux kernel in November 2001 from 2.4.15 onward. Its main advantage over ext2 is journaling, which improves reliability and eliminates the need to check the file system after an unclean shutdown. Its successor is ext4.
In the maintenance of file systems, defragmentation is a process that reduces the degree of fragmentation. It does this by physically organizing the contents of the mass storage device used to store files into the smallest number of contiguous regions. It also attempts to create larger regions of free space using compaction to impede the return of fragmentation. Some defragmentation utilities try to keep smaller files within a single directory together, as they are often accessed in sequence.
Windows NT 4.0 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It is the direct successor to Windows NT 3.51, and was released to manufacturing on July 31, 1996, and then to retail in August 24, 1996, with the Server versions released to retail in September 1996.
Norton Utilities is a utility software suite designed to help analyze, configure, optimize and maintain a computer. The latest version of the original series of Norton Utilities is Norton Utilities 16 for Windows XP/Vista/7/8 was released 26 October 2012.
PageDefrag is a program, developed by Sysinternals, for Microsoft Windows that runs at start-up to defragment the virtual memory page file, the registry files and the Event Viewer's logs.
Diskeeper is a discontinued defragmentation app, designed for Microsoft Windows. It was developed by Executive Software International, Inc., which later changed its name to Diskeeper Corporation, and is now called Condusiv Technologies. The final version of Diskeeper was released in March 2020. All of Diskeeper's features and functionality are now included in Condusiv's data performance software DymaxIO.
The Prefetcher is a component of Microsoft Windows which was introduced in Windows XP. It is a component of the Memory Manager that can speed up the Windows boot process and shorten the amount of time it takes to start up programs. It accomplishes this by caching files that are needed by an application to RAM as the application is launched, thus consolidating disk reads and reducing disk seeks. This feature was covered by US patent 6,633,968.
Microsoft Drive Optimizer is a utility in Microsoft Windows designed to increase data access speed by rearranging files stored on a disk to occupy contiguous storage locations, a technique called defragmentation. Microsoft Drive Optimizer was first officially shipped with Windows XP.
Contig is a command line defragmentation utility for Windows developed by Microsoft as part of the Sysinternals Suite.
Windows Vista contains a range of new technologies and features that are intended to help network administrators and power users better manage their systems. Notable changes include a complete replacement of both the Windows Setup and the Windows startup processes, completely rewritten deployment mechanisms, new diagnostic and health monitoring tools such as random access memory diagnostic program, support for per-application Remote Desktop sessions, a completely new Task Scheduler, and a range of new Group Policy settings covering many of the features new to Windows Vista. Subsystem for UNIX Applications, which provides a POSIX-compatible environment is also introduced.
Condusiv Technologies is an American software company based in Burbank, California. The company was formerly known as Diskeeper Corporation, a name derived from its flagship product, Diskeeper, a file-system defragmentation software package for Microsoft Windows and OpenVMS. Before adopting the Diskeeper name, the company was known as Executive Software International, Inc.
CCleaner, developed by Piriform Software, is a utility used to clean potentially unwanted files and invalid Windows Registry entries from a computer. It is one of the longest-established system cleaners, first launched in 2004. It was originally developed for Microsoft Windows only, but in 2012, a macOS version was released. An Android version was released in 2014.
O&O Defrag is a Windows defragmentation utility sold by German software developer O&O Software. It has won several awards by PC journals and magazines, and is certified by Microsoft for all its current NTFS-based operating systems, including NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11, Server 2003, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, 2019 and 2022.
Vopt is a Windows defragmentation utility sold by Golden Bow Systems. It is one of the oldest defragmentation products, and has supported MS-DOS and all versions of Microsoft Windows. The convenience of quick processing time is offset by less optimal performance, but when used in conjunction with the built-in optimization of the Windows prefetch folder, system performance is maintained without major reorganization of all the files on the drive.
Defraggler is a freemium defragmentation utility developed by Piriform Software, which can defragment individual files or groups of files on computer memory systems. Defraggler runs on Microsoft Windows; it has support for all versions since Windows XP. It includes support for both IA-32 and x64 versions of these operating systems.
UltraDefrag is a disk defragmentation utility for Microsoft Windows. Prior to version 8.0.0 it was released under the GNU General Public License. The only other Windows-based defragmentation utility licensed under the GNU GPL was JkDefrag, discontinued in 2008.
JkDefrag is a free open-source disk defragmenting utility computer program for Windows. It was developed by Jeroen Kessels beginning in 2004 and was released under the GNU General Public License. Since version 4 of 2008, much changed from previous versions, JkDefrag was renamed MyDefrag by its developer; earlier JkDefrag versions continued to be available. MyDefrag, which was closed source freeware, was discontinued, with the last version being v4.3.1, file date 21 May 2010; for several years the MyDefrag website has been a redirect to the still-existing JkDefrag site, but links to downloadable JKdefrag files are dead. JkDefrag source code is still available from 3rd party websites
UltimateDefrag is a retail file-system defragmentation utility made by DiskTrix. An older version of the program is available as the UltimateDefrag Freeware Edition.
AVG TuneUp, previously called AVG PC Tuneup, and TuneUp Utilities, is a utility software suite for Microsoft Windows designed to help manage, maintain, optimize, configure, and troubleshoot a computer system. It was produced and developed by TuneUp Software GmbH. TuneUp Software was headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, and co-founded by Tibor Schiemann and Christoph Laumann in 1997. In 2011, AVG Technologies acquired TuneUp Software. AVG was then acquired by Avast in 2016 and became a part of larger company Gen Digital in 2022.
PerfectDisk is a defragmentation software product for Windows developed by Raxco.