Magic Defrag: Vs Diskeeper, et al?, Part 2

Over the weekend I received a handful of interesting comments from Readers concerning the 'controversy' over Ashampoo and Magic Defrag.

Infopackets Reader Thomas W. begins with some findings cited by a well known computer magazine in Germany:

" Here's some interesting news regarding the Magic Defrag 'controversy': the German computer magazine C't -- well known for its objective side-by-side tests -- tested Diskeeper 9 and Norton's Speed Disk versus the Defrag built into Windows XP. The consensus of the article was that Diskeeper does not provide much of an advantage over Windows Defrag. Furthermore, Norton's Speed Disk (v.18) ran for hours and actually made matters worse (Source: C't issue 21, published 10/4/2005, page 178-183). C't did not test Ashampoo Magic Defrag as I do not believe it was released at the time of the writing; however, you now have some vindication for your opinion that big name software does not automatically infer quality software. "

Lockergnome Reader James T. concurs with Thomas:

" If Heriberto was 'in the know' about quality software, then he should have heard of Ashampoo and Magic Defrag! For him to babble on about Magic Defrag being '2nd-rate software' just voids his expertise on the subject. Plain and simple.

As for Magic Defrag: I can tell you first hand that it works flawlessly -- and without bogging down my computer. Prior to Magic Defrag, I was using Symantec's Speed Disk. I found that it not only took over 4 hours to defrag, but (more often than not) it wouldn't get past 25 ~ 30 percent mark of completion -- and even after leaving my computer on all night long! With Magic Defrag, my hard drive is always defragmented down to 6 percent [the 6% accounts for files which are not movable, such as the swap file). Best of all, I don't even notice it running in the background! So, for this I can say a very big thank you, Dennis, for turning me on to Magic Defrag -- a *quality* proven program! "

Steven A. remarks on the 'jist' of defragging:

" The significance of defragging one's hard drive is a debatable issue. Based on my own experience, however, I've found that defragging is only effective if it is done occasionally [Dennis's comment: This makes sense: if the disk is already defragged, you won't gain any performance by defragging it again. It's only when a disk is severely fragmented -- a result of not defragmenting on a regular basis -- that a fragmented hard drive becomes a major performance issue].

The one major issue I had with Diskeeper was that I needed to run CHKDSK (check disk) because it kept reporting that I had a 'dirty disk'. The problem was very hard to circumvent and frustrating at that -- even when I followed the directions to resolve the issue.

And for the record: I didn't find any inexpensive or reliable alternatives for Diskeeper until I read your article on Magic Defrag and tried it for myself. The only weakness I found, however, was that it does not log very much information, and so you don't really know what it's doing. Nonetheless, Magic Defrag gets the job done. "

Infopackets Reader M. Haislip test drove other 'standard' utilities and compared them to Ashampoo. He writes:

" In response to your recently article concerning the validity of Ashampoo: I have purchased many products from Ashampoo through your web site. Based on my experience, I've found that their programs do the job intended and in a simple, straightforward manner.

Comparatively, I've used Diskeeper (free) in the past and later found Magic Defrag to be absolutely wonderful. In the past I've also used Roxio CD Recording and Nero Burning ROM for my CD burning; however, after reading your 'CD Mastering' article, I discovered that Ashampoo CD Recording Suite is a lot easier to use (and it's also fail proof)! CD Recording Suite is -- by far -- my favorite Ashampoo program. Bottom line: you can pay a lot more for various products, but Ashampoo does a similar job and works great! "

And finally, Claudia B. writes:

" Dear Dennis,

I just wanted to say thank you for reviewing less well-known utilities. I work for a non-profit as the network administrator and we have to pinch our pennies pretty hard. I am happy you inform us of 'lesser-known' products that work just as well (if not better than) well-known commercial products. I have found many of the products you have reviewed to be excellent alternatives to 'industry-standard' utilities. In short: thank you for your efforts and keep up the great work! "

Thanks to all who wrote in to share their comments and experiences.

If you missed the review on Magic Defrag (highly recommended), you can read it online our site:

Magic Defrag Review