Executive Diskeeper 5.0 The Windows NT Defragmentation Tool Stefan Assmann
When Microsoft released Windows NT 3.1 a couple of years ago, it touted the new native file system, NTFS, as being "superior" to that of "normal" Windows versions. This file system was (and still is) capable of supporting very large hard disks (up to 2 terabytes) and producing small cluster sizes on large disk drives. They also claimed that the file system fragmentation-proof.
However, one man in particular didn't believe this. Who? Craig Jensen, Chairman and CEO of Executive Software. He founded his company in 1981 with the purpose of helping corporate customers with computer performance problems. The company put its name on the marquee in 1986 when it released a very effective defragmentation product for the VAX/VMS system, winning several awards.
Since Mr. Jensen didn't believe a word of Microsoft's marketing hype, his company started working on a fragmentation analysis utility, that can still be downloaded from the company, Web site as part of Diskeeper 1.0 for NT 3.5x.
Version 1 of Diskeeper, only for Windows NT 3.5x, was released with huge success. Finally, NT users were able to defragment their NTFS and FAT drives. It supported NT on all platforms, worked entirely in the background and separate versions were available for Workstation and Server. However, version 1 had one drawback: in order for Diskeeper to perform its magic, it had to replace a number of NT's system files. Each time Microsoft released a new service pack, Diskeeper had to be uninstalled, the service pack installed, and Diskeeper reinstalled.
In September 1996, Executive Software released an NT 4.0-only version of Diskeeper. This version added a graphical display, a far better user interface, much faster operation and a fleshed out "set it and forget it" theme (you could defragment more than one drive simultaneously). Because Microsoft and Executive Software worked closely together on both NT 4.0 and Diskeeper 2.0, uninstalling and reinstalling Diskeeper was no longer necessary when Microsoft released a service pack.
The huge success of Diskeeper was closely watched by a number of people at Symantec, arguably the largest utility vendor for the PC. Also wanting a piece of the defragmentation pie, Symantec released their own utility, Speed Disk, as part of Norton Utilities 2.0 for NT 4.0. However, as Executive Software already had much more experience in the field, Symantec’s offering wasn’t that successful.
Symantec, however, like Microsoft, is a slow starter but a quick learner. To keep ahead in the field, Executive Software released Diskeeper 5.0. This version builds on earlier versions in terms of speed and usability, and adds an exclusive in NT defragmentation: directory consolidation. Normally NT can’t defragment your directories because they’re always in exclusive use (just as the swap file and MFT). However, Executive Software has found a way around this: your directories are defragmented at boot time. While this may take a LOT of time (particularly on large partitions), your disk(s) will perform as never before!
If you’re a Windows NT 4.0 user, we strongly recommend you buy or upgrade to this version of Diskeeper. While it may not solve all of your problems, at least you won’t have to worry about fragmentation anymore. If you’re doubtful, Executive Software has posted a 30-day trial version of Diskeeper 5.0 on its Web site for your convenience. Try it; you won't be disappointed!
