Diskeeper 10 User's Manual

User’s Manual 

Diskeeper ® for Windows ® 

May 2006 

This document describes the installation and operation of Diskeeper Corporation’s Diskeeper, The Number One 

Automatic Defragmenter for Microsoft ® Windows. It is intended primarily for Windows system 

administrators and managers. 

Revision/Update Information: 

Software Versions: 

This is a revised manual 

Diskeeper 10.0 Professional Edition 

Diskeeper 10.0 Professional Premier Edition 

Diskeeper 10.0 Server Standard Edition 

Diskeeper 10.0 Server Enterprise Edition 

Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003 

(varies by Diskeeper edition) Windows XP 

Windows 2000 

Windows NT 4.0 (SP 6 or higher) 

Windows Millennium Edition (Me) 

Windows 98 

Diskeeper Corporation, Burbank, California, USA

________________________ 

May 2006 

__________ 

© 2002 – 2006 by Diskeeper Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 

The Software described in this document is owned by Diskeeper Corporation and is protected by United States 

copyright laws and international treaty provisions. Therefore, you must treat the Software like any other 

copyrighted material (e.g. a book or musical recording) except that you may either (a) make one copy of the 

Software solely for backup or archival purposes, or (b) transfer the Software to a single hard disk provided you 

keep the original solely for backup or archival purposes. You may not copy the user documentation provided 

with the Software, except for your own authorized use. 

RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND 

The software and documentation are provided with RESTRICTED RIGHTS. Use, duplication, or disclosure by 

the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data 

and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 or subparagraphs (c)(1) and (2) of the Commercial 

Computer Software-Restricted Rights at 48 CFR 52.227-19 as applicable. Manufacturer is Diskeeper 

Corporation, 7590 North Glenoaks Boulevard, Burbank, California 91504. 

Diskeeper, the Diskeeper Corporation logo, I-FAAST, “I/O Smart”, “Frag Shield”, “Set It and Forget It”, 

“Smart Scheduling”, “Terabyte Volume Engine”, TVE and “The Number One Automatic Defragmenter ” are 

either registered trademarks or trademarks of Diskeeper Corporation in the United States and other countries. 

Microsoft, Active Directory, Windows, Windows NT and Windows Server 2003 are either registered 

trademarks or trademarks owned by Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. 

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contents 

iii 

CONTENTS 

PREFACE 

WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT 

STRUCTURE OF THIS BOOK 

INTRODUCTION 

ABOUT FRAGMENTATION 

WHAT’S NEW IN DISKEEPER 10 

VII 

VII 

VII 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

DISKEEPER INSTALLATION 1 

BEFORE THE INSTALLATION 1 

WINDOWS VERSIONS AND PLATFORMS SUPPORTED 1 

FILE SYSTEMS SUPPORTED 1 

DISKS SUPPORTED 1 

RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS 2 

ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS 2 

INSTALLATION PROCEDURE—THE SHORT VERSION 2 

INSTALLATION PROCEDURE—THE DETAILS 2 

INSTALLATION OVERVIEW 2 

INSTALLATION PROCEDURE 3 

AFTER THE INSTALLATION 4 

REGISTERING DISKEEPER 4 

CHECK FOR PRODUCT UPDATE 4 

ABOUT THE DISKEEPER SERVICE 4 

THE WINDOWS APPLICATION EVENT LOG 4 

EVENT LOGGING UNDER WINDOWS 98/ME 5 

REMOTE INSTALLATION 5 

UNINSTALLING DISKEEPER 5 

GETTING STARTED 7 

INTRODUCTION 7 

THE DISKEEPER CONSOLE 7 

LET’S LOOK AT YOUR HARD DRIVE 8 

LET’S SET IT AND FORGET IT 10 

FOLLOWING UP 10 

MAKING DISKEEPER OPERATION TRANSPARENT 10 

ABOUT DISKEEPER JOBS 11 

OVERVIEW OF DISKEEPER 13 

DISKEEPER FEATURES 13 

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW 14 

EXCLUSION LIST 14 

DEFRAGMENTATION METHODS 15

iv Contents 

PRIORITY 15 

FRAG SHIELD 15 

EVENT LOGGING 15 

COMMAND LINE INTERFACE 15 

GETTING THE MOST FROM DISKEEPER 15 

DISKEEPER OPERATION 17 

THE DISKEEPER INTERFACE 17 

TOOLBAR BUTTONS 17 

QUICK LAUNCH PANE 19 

COMPUTER PANE 19 

TABBED DASHBOARD 20 

VOLUME MAP TAB 20 

WHAT THE COLORS MEAN 20 

JOB REPORT TAB 21 

RECOMMENDATIONS SECTION 21 

VOLUME HEALTH SECTION 21 

I-FAAST STATISTICS SECTION 22 

ACCESS TIME SECTION 22 

STATISTICS SECTION 22 

JOB LOG TAB 26 

HISTORICAL REPORT TAB 27 

SAVING AND PRINTING DASHBOARD INFORMATION 27 

A WORD ABOUT JOB PROPERTIES 27 

MANUAL DEFRAGMENTATION MODE 28 

SET IT AND FORGET IT MODE 29 

SETTING A DEFRAGMENTATION SCHEDULE 30 

SCHEDULING PRIMARY OR SECONDARY DEFRAGMENTATION JOBS 30 

SCHEDULING I-FAAST DEFRAGMENTATION JOBS 31 

SCHEDULING BOOT-TIME DEFRAGMENTATION JOBS 31 

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY JOB SCHEDULING OPTIONS 32 

SMART SCHEDULING 33 

SCREEN SAVER MODE 34 

PRIMARY SCHEDULE / SECONDARY SCHEDULE INTERACTION 35 

I-FAAST DEFRAGMENTATION OVERVIEW 35 

SETTING AN I-FAAST DEFRAGMENTATION JOB SCHEDULE 36 

I-FAAST JOB SCHEDULING OPTIONS 37 

I-FAAST AND THE VOLUME MAP TAB 38 

BOOT-TIME DEFRAGMENTATION OVERVIEW 39 

BOOT-TIME DEFRAGMENTATION OPTIONS 40 

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DEFRAGMENTATION JOB PROPERTIES 42 

TASK LIST OPTIONS 42 

I-FAAST DEFRAGMENTATION JOB PROPERTIES 43 

USING DIFFERENT DEFRAGMENTATION METHODS 43

Contents 

v 

SETTING DISK AND CPU PRIORITY 44 

DISKEEPER CONFIGURATION PROPERTIES 45 

UPDATES AND UPGRADES 45 

FRAG SHIELD 45 

FILE EXCLUSIONS 48 

DISKEEPER INTERNAL EXCLUSION LIST 49 

DATA COLLECTION 49 

EVENT LOGGING 50 

SPECIFYING WHAT GETS LOGGED 50 

DISPLAY BEHAVIORS 52 

POWER MANAGEMENT 52 

PERMISSIONS 53 

TERABYTE VOLUME ENGINE 53 

RUNNING DISKEEPER FROM THE COMMAND PROMPT 54 

PARAMETERS 55 

EXAMPLES 55 

THEORY OF OPERATION 57 

INTRODUCTION 57 

DESIGN GOALS 57 

TABLE OF DISKEEPER EDITIONS 61 

ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 63 

SUPPORT SERVICES 69 

DISKEEPER AND GROUP POLICY 71 

REMOTE INSTALLATION 77 

DISKEEPER DEPLOYMENT WITH DISKEEPER ADMINISTRATOR 77 

PORTS USED BY DISKEEPER ADMINISTRATOR 77 

DISKEEPER ADMINISTRATIVE INSTALLATION 77 

COMMAND LINE INSTALLATION ARGUMENTS 78 

MSIEXEC ARGUMENTS 78 

DISKEEPER-SPECIFIC MSIEXEC ARGUMENTS 78 

PASSING INFORMATION TO THE INSTALLATION 78 

DISKEEPER AS A CLUSTER-AWARE APPLICATION ON A CLUSTER SERVER 81 

REQUIREMENTS 81 

SETTING UP DISKEEPER ON THE CLUSTER 81 

GLOSSARY 83

vi Contents 

INDEX 91

Preface 

vii 

Preface 

What This Book is About 

Welcome to the Diskeeper User’s Manual. We realize software manuals tend to be one of the least-favorite 

pieces of reading material around, so we intend to make this one as painless as possible. This book will first 

help you get Diskeeper quickly installed and running. Next, it describes the various Diskeeper features and how 

to use them. Finally, it defines disk fragmentation and how it affects your Windows systems. 

Structure of This Book 

• Chapter 1 describes how to install Diskeeper. 

• Chapter 2 explains how to start using Diskeeper and how to see the amount of fragmentation on your disk 

volumes. 

• Chapter 3 gives a brief overview of Diskeeper. 

• Chapter 4 explains the various features of Diskeeper in detail. 

• Chapter 5 presents the theory of Diskeeper operation. 

• Appendix A has tables showing the different Diskeeper editions, and the operating systems, features and 

capacities they support. 

• Appendix B provides answers to frequently asked questions. 

• Appendix C explains how to contact your Diskeeper Corporation Customer Service Representative for 

Support Services. 

• Appendix D discusses methods you can use to install Diskeeper network-wide. 

• Appendix E describes using Microsoft Group Policy Editor with Diskeeper. 

• Appendix F explains how to run Diskeeper as a cluster-aware application on a cluster server. 

• The Glossary provides definitions of technical terms used in this manual. 

Introduction 

Diskeeper 10 represents another step forward in defragmentation technology, with refinements to existing 

features and the addition of new options that are the result of Diskeeper Corporation’s ongoing technical and 

market research. 

As in earlier versions, Diskeeper 10 is designed to solve fragmentation problems for everyone, from home users 

to the world’s largest IT departments. 

This User’s Manual describes the operation of these Diskeeper editions: 

• Diskeeper Professional Edition—for desktop systems running: 

— Windows XP Professional 

— Windows XP Professional x64 Edition 

— Windows XP Home Edition 

— Windows 2000 Professional 

— Windows NT® 4.0 Workstation (SP 6 or higher)

viii Preface 

— Windows Millennium Edition (Me) 

— Windows 98 

• Diskeeper Professional Premier Edition— for desktop systems running: 

— Windows XP Professional 

— Windows XP Professional x64 Edition 

— Windows XP Home Edition 

— Windows 2000 Professional 

— Windows NT® 4.0 Workstation (SP 6 or higher) 

— Windows Millennium Edition (Me) 

— Windows 98 

• Diskeeper Server Standard Edition—for systems running: 

— Windows XP (all editions) 

— Windows 2000 (all editions except Datacenter Server) 

— Windows NT 4 (all editions) 

— Windows Server 2003 (all editions except Datacenter Server) 

• Diskeeper Server Enterprise Edition—for systems running: 

— Windows XP (all editions) 

— Windows 2000 (all editions) 

— Windows Server 2003 (all editions) 

In addition to these versions, the Diskeeper family of products also includes Diskeeper Home Edition for home 

users and Diskeeper Administrator Edition, an administrative console for controlling Diskeeper installations 

throughout your network. 

Diskeeper Home Edition incorporates simplified controls, and does not support the network defragmentation 

capabilities available in the other Diskeeper editions. 

Diskeeper Administrator Edition is not a defragmenter, but an application that provides a single point of control 

by which you can control all the Diskeeper version 9 and 10 installations on your network. 

See Appendix A for tables showing all the Diskeeper editions with the features and operating system versions 

they support. 

About Fragmentation 

As used in this manual, the term disk fragmentation means two things: 

• a condition in which pieces of individual files on a disk volume are not contiguous, but rather are broken 

up and scattered around the disk; and 

• a condition in which the free space on a disk volume consists of little pieces of space here and there rather 

than a few large free spaces. 

The effects of excessive fragmentation are twofold as well: 

• file access takes longer because a file must be collected in pieces here and there, requiring several disk 

accesses instead of just one; and 

• file creations take longer because space for the file must be allocated in little pieces here and there instead 

of just one contiguous allocation. 

The bottom line⎯fragmentation slows Windows system performance. The longer you wait to defragment your 

disk volumes, the slower your computer runs.

Preface 

ix 

With Diskeeper, all the volumes in a Windows operating system can be kept defragmented indefinitely. 

Diskeeper cleans them up and keeps them that way. This includes volumes with compressed, encrypted and 

sparse files on NTFS volumes. 

Running either invisibly as a background job or as a manual defragmenter, Diskeeper carefully rearranges files 

and free space on a disk volume so they consist of as few pieces as possible. Because Diskeeper runs online, 

there is no need to lock users off a disk while it is being defragmented. 

Diskeeper is the complete “Set It and Forget It”® solution to the loss in system performance caused by disk 

fragmentation! 

What’s New in Diskeeper 10 

Whether you’ve used Diskeeper before or not, you may already be familiar with some of its features, but 

version 10 represents a milestone in the progression of Diskeeper development. New users will find Diskeeper 

to be easy to use, yet comprehensive in its capabilities. Experienced Diskeeper users will recognize familiar 

features, presented in a new, more streamlined way. This list gives a summary of what’s new in this version. 

• Breakthrough I-FAAST Technology 

Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology (I-FAAST) improves file access and creation 

by up to 80% (average 10%-20%). This is the first industry implementation of “Disk Performance 

Calibration”, the modern evolution of the outdated and inconclusive disk optimization strategies of the 

past. 

When I-FAAST is enabled, Diskeeper runs specially-engineered benchmarks on your disk volumes to 

learn their performance characteristics. Diskeeper then transparently monitors volumes for file access 

frequency on an ongoing basis to determine which files are requested most often. Special analysis 

techniques prevent Diskeeper from being “fooled” by files that have been recently accessed. 

Using newly-developed technology, Diskeeper sequences the files to take best advantage of both the 

logical characteristics and physical characteristics of the volume. The sequencing process is integrated with 

background defragmentation, so it's virtually transparent to you. 

I-FAAST intelligence allows Diskeeper to adapt to changing situations—so if the demands on a given 

system change, Diskeeper automatically adjusts its behavior accordingly. 

This feature is included in Diskeeper Server Enterprise, Diskeeper Server Standard and Diskeeper 

Professional Premier editions. 

• I/O Smart Enhancements 

I/O Smart has been enhanced to completely eliminate performance slows related to disk I/Os incurred by 

defragmentation. 

I/O Smart technology actively “listens” for I/O requests. During a Diskeeper defragmentation job, if 

another application or process needs access to the hard drive, Diskeeper intelligently pauses 

defragmentation until the other program I/O requests are fulfilled. Once that happens, Diskeeper gets the 

go-ahead to resume defragmentation until another request comes along. Combined with its high-speed 

engine, Diskeeper can easily defragment using the “spaces” between I/O requests, even on busy servers. 

This feature is included in all Diskeeper Editions. 

• Core Defragmentation Engine Enhancements 

Improvements to innovative Diskeeper technology provide enhanced defragmentation in low free space 

conditions (even for very large files) and unsurpassed free space consolidation. Further advancements to 

“comprehensive” defragmentation will consolidate a volume’s free space into 1 or a small handful of 

chunks. 

Here is example test comparison between Diskeeper 9 and Diskeeper 10 on a Windows XP Professional 

system:

x Preface 

Windows XP Professional (with severe file and free space fragmentation, and 17% free space) 

Diskeeper 9 Diskeeper 10 

Number of excess fragments 

Number of free space fragments 

Before 129,112 129,112 

After 0 0 

Before 34,432 34,432 

After 8,851 5 

Elapsed CPU time (Hr:Min:Sec) 1:36:11 1:18:06 

Number of Defragmentation Runs 29 2 

Peak Memory Size 5,080 4,768 

Virtual Memory Size 3,384 3,168 

• Terabyte Volume Engine Improvements 

The new Terabyte Volume Engine (TVE) has improvements to consolidate free space more thoroughly. 

The TVE is specially designed for volumes with a large number of files. It is the fastest and most resourceconservative 

defragmentation technology ever developed. Also note the TVE now supports volumes 60 

GB or larger, instead of the 100 GB lower limit in Diskeeper 9. 

Diskeeper users with large volumes benefit from faster defragmentation, lower overhead and dramatically 

reduced total cost of ownership (TCO). 

Here are some sample TVE performance numbers: 

On a terabyte 

(1,000GB) volume 

Standard Engine Time 

Hr:Min:Sec 

TVE Time 

Hr:Min:Sec 

Improvement 

250,000 files 00:29:35 00:10:07 192% 

500,000 files 01:07:11 00:17:52 276% 

1M files 02:30:36 00:33:49 345% 

2M files 06:46:30 01:05:49 518% 

This feature is included in Diskeeper Server Enterprise Edition. 

• Smart Scheduling ® Enhancements 

The improved Smart Scheduling is more proactive and adjusts more quickly to changes in volume 

fragmentation levels. 

Rather than your “best-guesses” as to the optimal frequency of defragmentation for a particular volume, 

Diskeeper Smart Scheduling algorithms are tuned to dynamically adjust automatic defragmentation based 

on a volume-level rate of fragmentation. This gives you proactive defragmentation—before fragmentation 

builds up—preventing system performance issues, and subsequently providing faster defragmentation run 

times.

Preface 

xi 


• New Historical Reports 

Diskeeper now gives you an easy-to-access Historical Report of defragmentation results and cumulative 

fragments eliminated. View fragmentation and defragmentation trends over days weeks or months. 


• Support for 64 bit Windows Operating Systems 

x64 support is included in Diskeeper Professional, Professional Premier, Diskeeper Server Standard and 

Diskeeper Server Enterprise editions. 

• Redesigned User Interface 

The Diskeeper console has been redesigned for both simplified “basic” use and intuitive “advanced” 

product configuration. 

The new console design is included in all Diskeeper Editions, but note that Diskeeper Home Edition does 

not include advanced configuration options. 

• Non-Administrator Access to Diskeeper 

Now you can allow your non-Administrator users to control Diskeeper. 

This feature is included in Diskeeper Professional and Professional Premier editions, and is controlled by a 

System/Network Administrator via Diskeeper Administrator. 

• Group Policy Administrative Templates 

All Diskeeper editions (except Home Edition) include Group Policy templates to manage product settings 

and scheduling via the Group Policy feature included with Windows Active Directory. These templates 

have been updated with new functionality in this version. 

• Improved Reporting 

The new Job Report contains comprehensive data on file fragmentation, drive health and file access times 

for each of your disk volumes. The new Job Log reports on defragmentation activity for each day and 

defragmentation job type. Also, all these reports can now be printed or saved directly from within 

Diskeeper. 

• Efficient Defragmentation of Large Files 

The Diskeeper algorithms used for efficiently defragmenting large files to the point of performance gain 

can now combined with the three specialized defragmentation methods available in Diskeeper—Quick, 

Recommended and Comprehensive. 


• Product Update/Upgrade Improvements 

Diskeeper and Diskeeper Administrator can be configured to automatically check and report on available 

updates and upgrades. Diskeeper clients can now be configured to retain all previous settings and report 

data when updated and upgraded. 

• New Command Line Options 

New command line qualifiers include the ability to display Diskeeper schedules. 

This feature is not available in Diskeeper Home Edition.

Installation 1 

Chapter 1 

Diskeeper Installation 

This chapter provides information you need before, during, and after installing Diskeeper. 

Before the Installation 

Windows Versions and Platforms Supported 

Diskeeper runs on the Intel® x86 platform (including Pentium and compatible CPUs from other 

manufacturers) running Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000 Professional or 

Server, Windows NT 4.0 Workstation or Server, Windows Me, or Windows 98. 

The Windows versions supported varies by Diskeeper edition. See Appendix A for a table showing the different 

Diskeeper editions and the Windows versions they support. 

File Systems Supported 

Operating System 

Windows XP 

Windows 2000 

Windows Server 2003 

Windows NT (SP 6 or higher) 

Windows Me 

Windows 98 

File Systems 

NTFS, FAT16 and FAT32 

NTFS and FAT16 

FAT16 and FAT32 

Note that the 12-bit FAT file system is not supported. (The 12-bit FAT file system is used on FAT volumes 

smaller than 16 megabytes in size, such as floppy disks). In addition, NTFS volumes formatted with a cluster 

size larger than 4 kilobytes are not supported (except on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, which 

support cluster sizes up to 64 KB). 

Disks Supported 

Diskeeper supports a wide range of SCSI, IDE, PATA and SATA disks, including: 

• Primary Partitions 

• Extended Partitions 

• Logical Drives 

• Volume Sets 

• RAID Arrays

2 Installation 

• Mirrored Disks 

• Mounted Volumes (letterless drives) 

Resource Requirements 

The disk space requirements for Diskeeper depend on several factors. On Windows Server 2003, Windows XP 

and Windows 2000 systems, Diskeeper will need about 11 MB. Allow about 10 MB of extra free space for 

temporary files during the installation. If Internet Explorer is not present on your computer, some other needed 

files (hhupd.exe, 50comupd.exe, and wintdist.exe) may be added. Further, your system may require a new or 

updated version of the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), which is less than 6 MB. 

Additional Software Requirements 

On Windows NT 4.0 computers, Service Pack 6 is required for Diskeeper to function properly. Diskeeper will 

not install on Windows NT systems running Service Pack 5 or lower. 

Diskeeper relies on the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). The MMC provides a single point of control 

for system utilities such as Diskeeper. The MMC is used as a central location for a variety of Microsoft and 

third party administrative tools. 

Note: The MMC normally has to be installed separately, except on Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 

Server 2003 systems, where it is already built into the operating system. The Diskeeper setup process will 

automatically install the MMC on your computer if needed. 

Installation Procedure—The Short Version 

The Diskeeper installation is typically fast and simple. Here are the basic steps: 

Note: On Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003, make sure you are logged 

onto an account that is a member of the Administrators group. 

1. Insert the Diskeeper CD-ROM into the appropriate drive on your computer. (If you are installing from a 

downloaded file, double-click the file you downloaded.) 

2. Follow the screens displayed, answering the questions asked as prompted. 

That’s it! It would still be a good idea to read After the Installation on page 4, but you’re done with the 

installation. 

Installation Procedure—The Details 

Installation Overview 

Diskeeper can be installed from a CD-ROM, or it may be downloaded from the Web. This procedure applies to 

both methods. Before you start the installation, please note the following: 

• Windows NT 4.0 computers must have Service Pack 6 or higher installed 

• On Windows NT 4.0 machines, if you have previously installed Diskeeper Lite on your computer, 

Diskeeper Corporation recommends that you uninstall it before proceeding with the installation of 

Diskeeper. If, however, you decide to leave Diskeeper Lite on your system, be aware that uninstalling 

Diskeeper Lite after the installation will remove certain Windows NT registry entries used by Diskeeper,


and you will need to re-install Diskeeper. Use the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel to 

uninstall Diskeeper Lite. 

• On Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 machines, installing Diskeeper will not 

remove the built-in defragmenter, but Diskeeper will automatically become the default defragmenter. (The 

built-in defragmenter will be restored if you uninstall Diskeeper.) 

• To install Diskeeper on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003 systems, 

you must be logged into an account that is a member of the Administrators group. 

• Diskeeper is installed by the SETUP.EXE program supplied on the Diskeeper CD-ROM. The SETUP.EXE 

program: 

• Confirms that you have Administrator privileges (on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and 

Windows Server 2003 systems). 

• Determines which Windows version you are running. 

• Checks for sufficient space on the disk for the installation. 

• Detects and removes any previously installed Diskeeper software. 

• Copies the Diskeeper files to the destination directories, updates the Windows registry, starts the Diskeeper 

service, creates a link in the Windows Start menu for Diskeeper, and creates a desktop shortcut (if you 

choose the option to do so). 

Installation Procedure 

This installation procedure assumes you are installing from CD-ROM. If the Diskeeper software was 

downloaded from the Web, double-click the executable file in the directory into which it was downloaded and 

go directly to step 3. 

1. Insert the Diskeeper CD-ROM into the appropriate drive on your computer. 

2. The Windows AutoPlay feature automatically displays a screen that allows you to install Diskeeper or 

choose from an assortment of trialware versions of Diskeeper Corporation products. 

If you have disabled the AutoPlay feature, simply double-click the Setup.exe file in the root-level folder on 

the CD-ROM and follow the instructions displayed. 

3. Click Next when the welcome message appears. 

4. After you have read and accepted the license agreement, click Next to continue. 

5. As an option, you can change the destination location for the Diskeeper files. By default, Diskeeper is 

installed here: 

\Program Files\Diskeeper Corporation\Diskeeper 

You can choose a different disk volume or directory for the installation as follows: 

a) Click Change. 

b) Make the desired changes to the destination and click OK to accept the new destination. If the 

directory you specify does not exist, a new directory will be created. 

c) Click Next. 

6. If Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher is not installed on your computer, another installation program is started 

and a package of necessary components is installed on your computer. Microsoft Management Console 

(MMC), which is the interface for Diskeeper, requires these components. These components are a small 

subset of Internet Explorer⎯not the complete Internet Explorer product. Installing these components 

(hhupd.exe, 50comupd.exe, and wintdist.exe) will not affect your current web browser. Note that you must 

restart your computer after installing Diskeeper if these components are installed.


7. If the MMC is not installed on your computer, the MMC Setup program is started automatically. After the 

MMC files are installed, the Diskeeper Setup program resumes. 

8. Setup detects and removes any previously installed Diskeeper software. (Any previous Diskeeper settings 

are not saved.) 

9. On a Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 system, after Setup is complete, you can 

immediately start Diskeeper after clicking Finish. On Windows 98/Me and Windows NT systems, you 

may be required to restart your computer before running Diskeeper. 

10. To run Diskeeper, click the Windows Start button, select Programs, and then Diskeeper Corporation 


After the Installation 

Registering Diskeeper 

After the Diskeeper installation is complete, you may be given the option to register your Diskeeper purchase 

online. You can also register Diskeeper by mailing or faxing the registration card that comes with the CD. 

Be sure to register your Diskeeper purchase to receive the free 90 days of technical support included with 


Check for Product Update 

The first time you run Diskeeper, it automatically checks to see if a more recent version of Diskeeper is 

available. If so, you are given the option to download and install the newer version. When the download screen 

is displayed, click Run this program from its current location to begin installing the update. Or, click Save 

this program to disk to save the Diskeeper update installation package on your computer for later installation. 

(To install an update stored on your computer in this manner, simply double-click the file you download and 

follow the instructions displayed.) 

You can check for Diskeeper updates any time you want. Use the Updates and Upgrades option in the 

Diskeeper Configuration Properties to see if a newer version of Diskeeper is available. 

About the Diskeeper Service 

Diskeeper is primarily designed as a “Set It and Forget It” disk defragmenter. In order to accomplish this goal, 

it creates a Windows service. The service allows Diskeeper to run in the background while other applications 

are running. As long as your operating system is up and running, Diskeeper can defragment your disks, whether 

you are logged on or not. 

After installation, the Diskeeper service starts automatically each time your computer is restarted. The 

Diskeeper service runs all the time, whether or not defragmentation is occurring. This service consumes 

negligible system resources, and in most cases will never need to be disabled. 

The Windows Application Event Log 

When running under Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, Diskeeper 

places messages in the Windows Application Event Log. By default, this log is 512 kilobytes in size (except on 

Windows Server 2003), and is set to overwrite events older than 7 days old. Diskeeper can potentially fill the 

log file if these default settings are used, particularly if you choose to log each file movement. To prevent this, 

perform these steps to change the size and overwriting characteristics of the Application Event Log: 

On Windows 2000 and Windows XP 

1. Right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Manage.


2. When the Computer Management Console is displayed, select System Tools, and then Event Viewer. 

3. Expand the Event Viewer (by double-clicking it) and select Application. 

4. Next, click the Action menu and select Properties. 

a) Set the Maximum log size to 2048 KB. 

b) Enable the Overwrite events as needed option. 

c) Click OK. 

Diskeeper allows you to specify what information is written to the Application Event Log. For more 

information, see page 50. 

On Windows NT 4.0 

1. From the Windows NT Start button, choose Programs, then the Administrative Tools Program Group. 

2. In the Administrative Tools Program Group, choose the Event Viewer. 

3. In the Event Viewer, open the Log menu and choose the Log Settings option. 

4. In the Event Log Settings dialog box, perform these steps: 

a) Set the Change Setting to Application Log. 

b) Set the Maximum Log Size to 2048 KB. 

c) Enable the Overwrite Events as Needed option. 

d) Click OK. 

Event Logging under Windows 98/Me 

When running on Windows 98/Me, Diskeeper provides the option of logging Diskeeper events into a text file. 

When Diskeeper logs an event, the event and its message are appended to the Diskeeper log file. These events 

are written as a text file, which can then be viewed with Notepad, or your choice of text editor programs. 

The Diskeeper log file is named DkEventLog.txt and it is stored in the directory folder where Diskeeper is 

installed. The file is limited to 1 MB in size. When it reaches this size, the log is purged completely and the 

event log is started from scratch. 

Remote Installation 

Diskeeper can be installed simultaneously on multiple computers in a network, using Diskeeper Administrator 

Edition. 

Remote installation can be a tremendous time saver for system administrators, especially on large networks, 

where they may have to install Diskeeper on hundreds, or even thousands of computers. 

For more information on remotely installing Diskeeper, see Appendix D. 

Uninstalling Diskeeper 

To uninstall Diskeeper on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 systems, 

you must be logged into an account that is a member of the Administrators group. 

Note that the controls may have slightly different names, depending on your version of Windows. 

Follow these steps to completely remove and uninstall Diskeeper from your computer: 

1. From the Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs. (On Windows 98/Me or Windows NT 

systems, click the Install/Uninstall tab.)


2. Highlight the Diskeeper entry. 

3. Click Remove or Add/Remove (Windows 98/Me and Windows NT). This removes the Diskeeper 

program files from your computer. In most cases, the Diskeeper installation directory will not be removed. 

4. On Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003 systems, the Windows Disk Defragmenter is 

restored to the state it was in before Diskeeper was installed. 

5. Manually delete the Diskeeper installation directory if it exists. 

Note: If the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) has been installed on your computer, it will not be 

removed when Diskeeper is uninstalled.

Getting Started 7 

Chapter 2 

Getting Started 

This chapter explains how to analyze the fragmentation on a disk volume, save the results, defragment the 

volume, and do a “before and after” comparison. 

Introduction 

If you are new to Diskeeper, here are some helpful tips for getting the best results. 

Diskeeper has an entirely new approach to defragmenting when compared to what you may be accustomed to. 

Diskeeper was designed to allow you to automate background defragmentation without impacting the use of 

other programs. This procedure will demonstrate how to set up and use Diskeeper as it is intended to be used— 

for automatic system maintenance. 

The Diskeeper Console 

Before we go too far, here’s a look at the Diskeeper console: 

Menu Bar 

Toolbar 

Quick 

Launch Pane 

Computer 

Pane 

Tabbed 

Dashboard 

Dashboard 

Area 

Status Bar 

Menu Bar⎯The Diskeeper menus provide an alternative way to access the features available from the toolbar 

and Quick Launch pane. 

Toolbar⎯The Diskeeper toolbar gives quick access to commonly-used controls. Note that all the functions on 

the toolbar are available from the Diskeeper menus, and many can also be activated from the menu displayed 

when you right-click on a selected volume in the volume area. See page 17 for more information.

8 Getting Started 

Quick Launch Pane⎯The Quick Launch pane is where you’ll find easy access to the commonly-used 

Diskeeper features, as well as several shortcuts for performing common tasks. See page 19 for more 

information. 

Computer Pane⎯The Computer pane shows all the supported disk volumes detected on your computer, and 

general information about each volume and any schedules that have been established. See page 19 for more 

information. 

Tabbed Controls⎯The tabs in the Dashboard area allow you to easily change between the Volume Map, the 

Job Report, the Job Log, and the Historical Report. See page 20 for more information. 

Dashboard Area⎯This is the main “Operations Center” for Diskeeper. Each tabbed pane shows a different 

aspect of your disks’ condition. See page 20 for more information. 

Status Bar⎯This section of the Diskeeper display shows the progress of any Diskeeper tasks currently 

running. The status bar also shows other useful information, like the folder location and name of the file being 

moved, as well as numbers showing the size of the file chunk being moved and the total size of the file. 

System Tray Icon—The Diskeeper icon in the Windows system status area (or system tray) provides a 

convenient way to see when Diskeeper is defragmenting one or more volumes on your computer. When the 

icon is displayed, you can right-click it to access these options: 

• Diskeeper (opens the Diskeeper console) 

• Stop running engines 

• Delay scheduled defragmentation 

Let’s Look At Your Hard Drive 

The following brief steps will give you a quick and easy demonstration of Diskeeper on your own workstation 

or server, and introduce recommended settings. 

1. In the Computer pane, locate and select one of your system's volumes. 

2. In the Quick Launch pane, expand the Analyze and Defragment Now task. Next, click Analyze to start 

the analysis. Keep in mind the analysis may take a few seconds⎯the larger your volume, the longer this 

will take.


3. The Volume Map tab gives you an at-a-glance view of the condition of your volume. As the legend at the 

bottom of the screen explains, the red areas show the extent of fragmentation on the volume. You can click 

Save at the bottom of the screen to save a bitmap file of the Volume Map. 

4. After the analysis completes click the Job Report tab. The Job Report tab provides fragmentation 

statistics, volume health information, file access times, lists of the most fragmented files on the volume, 

and recommendations for achieving and maintaining optimal performance. Save this particular analysis by 

clicking Save at the bottom of the Diskeeper console. 

5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 above for each volume on your system.

10 Getting Started 

Let’s Set It and Forget It 

Next, navigate to and click Set It and Forget It in the Quick Launch pane. Once open, select Primary 

Defragmentation Job. The Primary Defragmentation Job Properties page is displayed. After highlighting all 

volumes on your system in this window, click the check box to Enable the Primary Defragmentation Job. 

Click OK and you're done! You have set a "Smart Schedule" for each of the volumes on your computer. 

From this point forward Diskeeper will automatically maintain your volumes, working in the background with 

no further intervention from you. 

Following Up 

To check on Diskeeper progress, open Diskeeper the next day (after Diskeeper has executed your 

defragmentation schedule) and re-run the analysis. Repeat steps 1 through 5 above to record analysis data 

(remember to save the results to a different file name than the “before” analysis results). By comparing the 

“before” and “after” reports, you can see the benefit Diskeeper provides to your system’s performance and 

reliability. 

The Historical Report tab is another great way to see the benefits for automatic defragmentation. The Historical 

Report shows graphs indicating the total number of fragments eliminated, the overall fragmentation level, and 

the file performance improvement gained by using Diskeeper. This information is shown for your computer 

overall, as well as on a per-volume basis. As you highlight each volume in the Computer pane, the information 

displayed in the Historical Report changes to reflect the selected volume. 

Each graph in the Historical Report shows "before and after" results. Over time, the Historical Report tab will 

give you a good measure of the benefit Diskeeper provides. 

Making Diskeeper Operation Transparent 

After seeing the benefits of Diskeeper, you can set it up to run as unobtrusively as possible. Doing so ensures 

your disk volumes are kept in top shape, and your computer's performance is not slowed down by the 

defragmentation process itself.


Diskeeper is designed to be run automatically. Doing so ensures the least amount of system resource utilization, 

in part because the Diskeeper console (required for manual operation) is not running, thus saving resources, and 

also because I/O Smart is enabled and the CPU Priority is set to "Lowest" (by default). 

By default, Manual Defragmentation Jobs run at a higher CPU priority, and I/O Smart is not enabled, so 

Manual Defragmentation Jobs can have more of a noticeable impact on your system when the job is running. 

Of course, the Disk and CPU Priority settings are adjustable in the various Defragmentation Job Properties 

dialogs: 

As another way of making Diskeeper "transparent", it is also highly recommended that you use the exclusive 

Smart Scheduling feature in Diskeeper. Smart Scheduling goes beyond the limitations of fixed schedules and 

eliminates fragmented files based on the actual needs of your disks. It defragments your volumes as often as 

needed no more and no less to achieve and maintain peak system speed. Since all systems (and volumes within 

a system) fragment at different and ever-changing rates, this self-learning feature dynamically adjusts to 

changing conditions on a "per-volume" level, eliminating the need for any additional work on your part to 

maintain ideal file system performance and health. 

About Diskeeper Jobs 

As it relates to Diskeeper, the term "job" is a request to have a disk volume defragmented. This can be in the 

form of an immediate request (a Manual Defragmentation Job) or a request to have the defragmentation 

performed at a later time a Set It and Forget It job. 

Depending on your Diskeeper Edition, there are up to four different types of Set It and Forget It jobs you can 

run: 

• Primary Defragmentation Jobs 

• Secondary Defragmentation Jobs (not available in Diskeeper Home Edition) 

• I-FAAST Defragmentation Jobs (available in Diskeeper Professional Premier, Server Standard and 

Server Enterprise editions only) 

• Boot-Time Defragmentation Jobs

12 Getting Started 

You can run one or more of each job type on each of your volumes. For example, you can establish a Primary 

Defragmentation job to run periodically on a volume during the day when the computer is active, and a 

Secondary Defragmentation job running on a different schedule in the off-hours. At the same time, you can 

have an I-FAAST Defragmentation job scheduled to run once a week on the same volume. 

Along with the actual defragmentation operation, there are a number of job “properties” you can apply to each 

job. These properties differ depending on the job type, but they include things like the job schedule (when the 

job will run), the defragmentation method used (Quick, Recommended, or Comprehensive), the priority at 

which the job runs, and other useful “adjustments” to the defragmentation process.

Overview of Diskeeper 13 

Chapter 3 

Overview of Diskeeper 

This chapter provides important general information about Diskeeper. 

Diskeeper Features 

The following list summarizes the most important Diskeeper features: 

Diskeeper Family of Products—The Diskeeper family of products offers specialized automatic 

defragmentation of Windows operating systems ranging from Windows 98 through Windows Server 2003 

Datacenter See the tables in Appendix A for the complete Diskeeper lineup. 

Descriptive Console Interface—The Diskeeper console provides an intuitive and informative defragmentation 

experience. Common commands are grouped together in the Quick Launch pane, and a group of tabbed panes 

show you a wide variety of information. Diskeeper shows you the condition of your disks, and provides 

suggestions for improving or maintaining your disks. 

Performance and Volume Health Analysis—Diskeeper collects and displays data regarding the performance 

and overall health of your volumes in the Job Report tab. This information allows you to be more proactive in 

the management and maintenance of your computers. 

Terabyte Volume Engine—A Diskeeper exclusive, the terabyte volume engine (TVE) is designed to 

efficiently defragment extremely large (larger than 60 GB) volumes. This feature is available in selected 

Diskeeper editions. The table in Appendix A shows the Diskeeper editions with TVE support, and more 

information about the TVE is available on page 53. 

Set It and Forget It Operation—Diskeeper is designed to operate without your intervention. Set a schedule 

for the times you want Diskeeper to run, then sit back and let Diskeeper take care of your disk fragmentation. 

Of course, you can also run Diskeeper manually. (But you probably have better things to do with your time 

that’s what Set It and Forget It is for!) 

Smart Scheduling—This feature allows Diskeeper to automatically determine the optimum defragmentation 

schedule for each disk volume individually, and adjust that schedule as disk usage changes. 

Secondary Schedules—Diskeeper supports secondary defragmentation schedules for each of your volumes. 

This allows you to set one schedule for weekdays, and another for weekends. Or you can run low-priority 

defragmentation jobs during the day when the computer is active, and another, higher-priority job in the offhours. 

Selectable Disk and CPU Priority—You can set the disk and CPU priorities at which Diskeeper 

Defragmentation jobs run. Set the priority independently for all Primary Defragmentation and all Secondary 

Defragmentation Jobs you establish, as well as for all Manual Defragmentation Jobs. 

Frag Shield— One situation that can impair the performance and reliability of your computer is 

fragmentation of the Master File Table (MFT) on NTFS volumes and your paging files. Since the operating 

system relies heavily on the MFT and paging file, the effect of fragmentation is often much greater than when a 

normal file is fragmented. Special measures must be taken to defragment these files, so it is better to prevent 

their fragmentation in the first place. The Frag Shield feature helps you configure these critical system files 

optimally, to help keep them contiguous from the start. 

I-FAAST — Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology (I-FAAST) improves file 

access/creation by up to 80% (average 10%-20%) above and beyond the improvement provided by

14 Overview of Diskeeper 

defragmentation alone. This is the first industry implementation of “Disk Performance Calibration”, the modern 

evolution of the outdated and inconclusive disk optimization strategies of the past. 

Exclusion Lists—Diskeeper exclusion lists allow you to specify files and directories that will not be allowed to 

be processed by Diskeeper. 

Event Logging— Diskeeper records information about its activity in two ways. First, general information 

about previously-run defragmentation job is shown in the Job Log tab within the Diskeeper console. Additional 

information can also be stored in a log file. A wide variety of information can be saved for future reference. 

Simultaneous Analysis or Defragmentation Operations—You can analyze and/or defragment more than one 

disk volume at a time. Different Diskeeper editions support different numbers of simultaneous operations. See 

Appendix A for more information. 

Boot-Time Defragmentation—Defragment files at boot-time that cannot be moved safely when Windows is 

running. 

Group Policy Support—Diskeeper can be configured network-wide with the Group Policy Editor provided 

with Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003. 

Other Things to Know 

• When running Diskeeper in the Set It and Forget It or Manual Defragmentation modes, you can run other 

tasks while defragmentation is occurring. 

• When Diskeeper runs at higher priority levels, performance of other active processes will usually be 

affected. 

• When Diskeeper runs at lower priority levels, defragmentation may take longer, since Diskeeper "backs 

off" for higher-priority processes, including screen savers. 

• With the exception of boot-time operations, Diskeeper runs as a Windows Service and it optionally logs 

useful defragmentation information into either the Windows Application Event Log (under Windows NT, 

Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003) or to a text file (under Windows 98/Me). 

• Diskeeper can be uninstalled in the standard manner using the Add/Remove Programs applet in the 

Windows Control Panel. 

• Due to limits built into the Windows NT/2000 file systems, Diskeeper cannot defragment files on NTFS 

volumes with a cluster size greater than 4KB (4096 bytes), except during Boot-Time Defragmentation. 

This limitation has been removed in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, where Diskeeper can 

defragment NTFS volumes with cluster sizes of up to 64 kilobytes. Note the boot-time defragmentation 

operations are not affected by this limit. 

• You must be logged into an account that is a member of the Administrators group to run Diskeeper on 

Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems. 

• Diskeeper relies on the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), which is available for Windows 98. The 

MMC is built into Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. For more information about 

the MMC, see the Glossary. 

Exclusion List 

In some cases, you may have files or directory folders you do not want to defragment. For example, you may 

not want to defragment temporary files that will soon be deleted. Any files or directories can be excluded from 

Diskeeper processing by adding them to the exclusion list. 

For more information, see page 42.

Defragmentation Methods 

Overview of Diskeeper 15 

Diskeeper allows you to choose the type of defragmentation that best suits your needs. Diskeeper provides 

defragmentation methods that emphasize: 

• Quick defragmentation 

• A balanced (and recommended) combination of file and free space defragmentation 

• Comprehensive defragmentation with additional emphasis on free space defragmentation 

For more information, see page 43. 

Priority 

The default priority for scheduled Set It and Forget It defragmentation jobs is “Lowest.” while manual 

defragmentation jobs run at “Normal” priority. You can change the priority independently for both Set It and 

Forget It and manual defragmentation jobs. If you raise the priority, defragmentation runs tend to complete 

faster, but may also slow down the users on the system. Lowering the priority will have the opposite effect. 


Frag Shield 

One situation that can impair the performance and reliability of your computer is fragmentation of the Master 

File Table (MFT) on NTFS volumes and your paging files. Since the operating system relies heavily on the 

MFT and paging file, the effect of fragmentation is often much greater than when a normal file is fragmented. 

Special measures must be taken to defragment these files, so it is better to prevent their fragmentation in the 

first place. The Frag Shield feature helps you configure these critical system files optimally, to help keep them 

contiguous from the start. 


Event Logging 

Diskeeper allows you to record information about its activity in a log file. You can alternately enable or disable 

the logging of various events to the Diskeeper Event Log. The logging method varies, depending on the version 

of Windows you are using. 


Command Line Interface 

Diskeeper can be run from the Windows command prompt. To defragment your local disk volume C:, for 

example, you would enter this at the command prompt: 

diskeeper C: 

Diskeeper informs you when the defragmentation starts and completes. Press CTRL+C if you want to stop 

Diskeeper before it completes the defragmentation run. The Diskeeper command line interface supports 

optional control parameters. See page 54 for more information about these options. 

Getting the Most from Diskeeper 

Diskeeper provides a variety of features, all of which are designed to help you get the best performance from 

your computer. While there are no “hard and fast” rules governing the use of Diskeeper, here are some general 

guidelines that will help you get the most from Diskeeper.

16 Overview of Diskeeper 

• When you first install Diskeeper, analyze all the disk volumes on your computer. This gives you good 

information about the extent of fragmentation on your computer. 

• After you have analyzed your volumes, establish defragmentation schedules for each of your volumes and 

enable automatic defragmentation. You can even allow Diskeeper to determine the best schedule for each 

of your volumes, based on the fragmentation level and file activity on each individual volume. For more 

information on how to establish a Set It and Forget It schedule, see page30. 

• If the analysis shows fragmentation of the Master File Tables (MFTs) or paging files of your volumes, and 

you are running Diskeeper on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003, you 

should next prepare for Boot-Time defragmentation to defragment MFTs and paging files. Since these 

critical system files cannot be moved while your operating system is up and running, the Boot-Time 

defragmentation operation defragments the paging file and/or MFT on your volumes while your computer 

is booting. After running the Boot-Time operation once, regular online defragmentation by Diskeeper can 

help prevent the MFT and paging file from becoming fragmented again. 

It is recommended you run the Boot-Time defragmentation operation on one disk volume at a time, 

because it can be time consuming and the computer cannot be used for any other purpose while the boottime 

program is running. 

Also, it is important to defragment your volumes before running the Boot-Time defragmentation in order to 

create a contiguous free space for your directories and/or paging files to be moved into. For more 

information about Boot-Time defragmentation, see page 38.

Diskeeper Operation 17 

Chapter 4 

Diskeeper Operation 

This chapter describes how to operate Diskeeper. 

The Diskeeper Interface 

As briefly explained in Chapter 2, the Diskeeper user interface (or console) is made up of several distinct 

components. Of particular note: 

Toolbar 

Quick 

Launch Pane 

Computer 

Pane 

Tabbed 

Dashboard 

Toolbar⎯The Diskeeper toolbar gives quick access to commonly-used controls. Note that all the functions on 

the toolbar are available from the Diskeeper menus, and many can also be activated from the menu displayed 

when you right-click on a selected volume in the volume area. See page 17. 

Quick Launch Pane⎯The Quick Launch pane is where you’ll find easy access to the commonly-used 

Diskeeper features, as well as several shortcuts for performing common tasks. See page 19. 

Computer Pane⎯The Computer pane shows all the supported disk volumes detected on your computer, and 

general information about each volume and any schedules that have been established. See page19. 

Tabbed Dashboard⎯The tabs in the Dashboard area allow you to easily change between the Volume Map, 

the Job Report, the Job Log, and the Historical Report. See page 20. 

Toolbar Buttons 

Diskeeper displays a toolbar of commonly-used controls near the top of the console. 

Note that many of the functions on the toolbar are available from the Action menu, and are also shown as 

options when you right-click on a volume in the Computer pane. 

Analyze Button⎯Click this button in the Diskeeper toolbar, the Analyze option in the Quick Launch 

pane, or the Analyze option on the Action menu to begin the analysis of the selected volume.

18 Diskeeper Operation 

Defragment Button⎯Click this button in the Diskeeper toolbar, the Manually Defragment option in 

the Quick Launch pane, or the Defragment option on the Action menu to start a Manual Defragmentation job 

on the selected volume. 

Pause Button⎯Click this button in the Diskeeper toolbar or the Pause option in the Action menu to 

temporarily pause an analysis or defragmentation job on the selected volume. Note that the Pause button 

changes to the Resume button shown below when a job is paused. 

Resume Button⎯Click this button in the Diskeeper toolbar or the Resume option in the Action menu to 

continue a paused Diskeeper analysis or defragmentation job. 

Stop Button⎯Click this button in the Diskeeper toolbar or the Stop option in the Action menu to stop 

an analysis or the defragmentation of the selected volume. Any file movement in progress will be safely ended 

as Diskeeper stops. 

Manual Defragmentation Job Properties Button⎯Click this button in the Diskeeper toolbar or within 

the Analyze and Defragment Now task in the Quick Launch pane to view and edit the properties applied to all 

Manual Defragmentation jobs. 

Primary Defragmentation Job Properties Button⎯Click this button in the Diskeeper toolbar or 

within the Set It and Forget It task in the Quick Launch pane to enable a Primary Defragmentation job on the 

selected volumes and to view and edit the schedule and other properties applied to that job. 

Secondary Defragmentation Job Properties Button⎯Click this button in the Diskeeper toolbar or 

within the Set It and Forget It task in the Quick Launch pane to enable a Secondary Defragmentation job on 

the selected volumes and to view and edit the schedule and other properties applied to that job. 

I-FAAST Defragmentation Job Properties Button⎯Click this button in the Diskeeper toolbar or 

within the Set It and Forget It task in the Quick Launch pane to enable an I-FAAST Defragmentation job on 


Boot-Time Defragmentation Job Properties Button⎯Click this button in the Diskeeper toolbar or 

within the Set It and Forget It task in the Quick Launch pane to enable a Boot-Time Defragmentation job on 


Diskeeper Configuration Properties Button⎯Click this button in the Diskeeper toolbar or within the 

Configure Diskeeper task in the Quick Launch pane to view and edit properties that determine how Diskeeper 

looks and behaves 

Help Button⎯Click this button in the Diskeeper toolbar or within the Getting Started task in the Quick 

Launch pane to access the Diskeeper help.

Quick Launch Pane 

The Quick Launch pane offers these options: 


Getting Started⎯Use these options to view Help topics intended to help you begin using Diskeeper. 

• Quick Start Guide 

• Diskeeper Overview 

• Frequently Asked Questions 

• Help 

Analyze and Defragment Now⎯Use these options to start the manual analysis or defragmentation of a 

volume, and to review or change the job properties for all Manual Defragmentation jobs. 

• Manual Defragmentation Job Properties 

• Analyze 

• Manually Defragment Now 

Set It and Forget It⎯Use these options to set up and start Set It and Forget It defragmentation jobs, and to 

review or change the job properties for the respective jobs. 

• Primary Defragmentation Job Properties 

• Secondary Defragmentation Job Properties 

• FAAST Defragmentation Job Properties 

• Boot-Time Defragmentation Job Properties 

Configure Diskeeper⎯Use these options to change Diskeeper behaviors, check for more recent versions of 

Diskeeper, or see information about the Diskeeper version installed on your computer. 

• Diskeeper Configuration Properties 

• Updates and Upgrades 

• About Diskeeper 

Computer Pane 

The Computer pane section of the Diskeeper console shows all the supported disks detected on your computer. 

The Computer pane is a quick way to see: 

• Volume letter and name 

• Session status (shows what Diskeeper is doing or has done on the volume) 

• File system on the volume


• Capacity of the volume 

• Percentage of volume size that is free space 

• Information about the type of schedule set for any Primary, Secondary, I-FAAST, and Boot-Time 

Defragmentation jobs 

The Computer Pane also includes buttons for starting, pausing and stopping manual analysis and 

defragmentation jobs. 

Tabbed Dashboard 

The tabbed “pages” in the Diskeeper dashboard allow you to easily change between the Volume Map, the Job 

Report, the Job Log, and the Historical Report. 

Volume Map Tab 

The horizontal bars in the Volume Map give a graphic representation of the fragmentation of your volume. The 

Volume Map displays information for a single volume at a time. The disk highlighted in the Computer pane is 

the disk shown in the Volume Map. 

You can choose between views representing either the degree of fragmentation as it relates to file performance, 

or the file structure on the volume. You can switch between these two views with the Volume Map view: 

option shown at the top of the Volume Map tab. 

The File Performance view shows the fragmentation on your volume with an emphasis on the performance 

impact of that fragmentation. In this view, a file is shown as fragmented only if that fragmentation is affecting 

the performance of your computer. 

The File Structure view shows additional detail, including the paging file (if it exists) and other system files 

like the MFT on NTFS volumes. It also shows all the fragmentation (even fragmented file that are not affecting 

your system’s performance). 

What the Colors Mean 

The group of horizontal bars in the Volume Map gives a graphic representation of the fragmentation of your 

volume. The colors of the display indicate the type and condition of the data on your volume. The colors 

represent different aspects of your volume when you are viewing the two different Volume Map views 

available. 

When the File Performance view is displayed, the colors available are: 

• Dark blue areas show high-performing files and folders. 

• Red areas show low-performing files and folders. 

• Pink areas show low-performing system files. 

• White areas show free space on the volume. 

• Green/White striped areas (on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 

2003 systems only) show space on the volume reserved for expansion of the MFT. This space is 

reserved when a volume is formatted, and cannot be used by applications, including Diskeeper. 

However, the operating system will write files to this area when the volume becomes extremely full 

and no other free space is available. Windows provides the capability for Diskeeper to move files out 

of this reserved area, but does not allow Diskeeper to move files into it. These areas appear only on 

NTFS volumes. 

When the File Structure view is displayed, the colors available are:


• Dark blue areas show contiguous (non-fragmented) files. 

• Red areas show fragmented files. 

• Yellow areas show the paging file (for Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 

Server 2003) or the swap file (for Windows 98/Me) if it exists on the volume. 

• Green areas show unmovable system files. On Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and 

Windows Server 2003 systems, green areas show the Master File Table (MFT), as well as several 

other unmovable files. These files cannot be moved safely by Diskeeper (or any other defragmenter), 

except at boot-time. Keep in mind, however, although these area are referred to as "system files", these 

are not the files that make up the operating system (which Diskeeper can successfully defragment in 

the Manual or Set It and Forget It defragmentation modes). Instead, they make up the NTFS file 

system. The green areas of the display appear only on NTFS volumes. 

• White areas show free space on the volume. 

• Green/White striped areas (on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 

2003 systems only) show space on the volume reserved for expansion of the MFT. This space is 

reserved when a volume is formatted, and cannot be used by applications, including Diskeeper. 

However, the operating system will write files to this area when the volume becomes extremely full 

and no other free space is available. Windows provides the capability for Diskeeper to move files out 

of this reserved area, but does not allow Diskeeper to move files into it. These areas appear only on 

NTFS volumes. 

• Light blue areas show the directory folders on the volume (and their fragments). 

Note: When the Terabyte Volume Engine (TVE) or I-FAAST are being used to defragment a volume, the 

graphic display usually shown in the Volume Map tab is replaced with numerical data showing the progress of 

the defragmentation operation. This reduction in system resource usage pays off in lower CPU consumption 

and faster defragmentation of very large volumes. (You can optionally disable this resource-saving feature. See 

page 52 for more information.) 

You can also save the Volume Map (as a bitmap file) or print it by using the respective buttons on the Volume 

Map tab. 

Job Report Tab 

The Job Report tab shows detailed information about a volume after it has been analyzed or defragmented. The 

Job Report displays information for a single disk volume at a time. The volume highlighted in the Computer 

pane is the volume reflected in the Job report tab. 

You can also save the Job Report (as a text file) or print it by using the respective buttons on the Job Report tab. 

The Job Report tab includes these sections: 

Recommendations Section 

This section of the Job Report contains recommendations for improving or maintaining the performance of the 

volume. 

Volume Health Section 

This section of the Job Report tab includes an evaluation of the overall health of the volume, the reasons for 

that rating, and recommendations for improving or maintaining the reliability of the volume. 

Diskeeper Corporation has done extensive research into the causes of disk performance and reliability 

problems. This research has shown these factors play a significant role in regards to disk performance and 

reliability⎯the overall health of a disk volume:


• Overall fragmentation 

• MFT fragmentation 

• Paging file fragmentation 

• Available free space 

Diskeeper uses these factors to determine a volume health index each time it analyzes or defragments a volume. 

Volume health is rated into three categories—Healthy, Warning and Critical. 

This table shows the Warning and Critical levels used in determining the reliability index. 

Reliability Factor Warning Level Critical Level 

Overall Fragmentation > 10% fragmentation > 50% fragmentation 

MFT Fragmentation > 250 fragments >2000 fragments 

Paging File Fragmentation > 250 fragments >1500 fragments 

Free Space < 15% free space < 5% free space 

I-FAAST Statistics Section 

Displayed only on Diskeeper editions that include the Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing 

Technology (I-FAAST) feature, this section of the Job Report tab provides statistical information about I- 

FAAST Defragmentation Jobs and the related performance improvement. The values shown in this section are 

based on measurements taken during I-FAAST processing, and they show the potential performance gain you 

can expect from the selected volume, as well as the actual measured throughput rates for the volume. 

The actual performance gain from using I-FAAST will fluctuate depending volume activity, but the statistics 

shown in this section of the Job Report tab give you an indication of the improvement you can expect to see. 

Access Time Section 

This section of the Job Report tab displays a graph illustrating the performance characteristics of the volume, 

based on current read times calculated by Diskeeper—both for all the files on the drive and for only the 

fragmented files on the volume. It also shows the expected optimum read time for all the files and for only the 

fragmented files. This gives you a detailed picture of your performance losses due to fragmentation, and the 

expected improvement you will see after defragmentation. 

Each time you analyze or defragment a disk, Diskeeper calculates the read time of the disk in two ways. First, it 

shows the predicted time to read all the files on the disk. Secondly, it shows the time to read only the 

fragmented files. Additionally, it determines the optimum (fastest) read time potential for the disk. 

It should be noted that by default, the performance analysis is based on pre-determined disk performance values 

measured as a part of disk performance research done by Diskeeper Corporation. To get a more accurate 

performance measurement of your actual disks, Diskeeper must scan your drives to measure their performance. 

Since this measurement can briefly slow down your computer, this scan operation is disabled by default, but 

you can turn it on easily. The Enable volume performance data collection option is described in the 

Diskeeper Configuration Properties section on page 49. 

Statistics Section 

This section of the Job Report tab shows useful information about your volume after either analysis or 

defragmentation. Note that most of the information shown here can also be recorded in the Diskeeper Event 

Log.

Volume Size 


This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the total amount of space on the disk volume. This 

includes files and free space, as well as disk space used by the operating system (such as directory files and the 

Master File Table) but not reported in “Used Space.” 

Cluster Size 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the cluster size for the volume. A disk cluster 

represents a number of disk sectors treated as a single unit. The entire disk is divided into clusters, each one a 

minimum increment of storage. 

Used Space 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the total amount of disk space (in kilobytes) 

currently occupied by files. This does not include zero-length files, or certain files used by the operating 

system, such as directory files and the Master File Table. 

Free Space 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the total amount of free space on the disk volume. 

Percent Free Space 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the percentage of space on the disk volume that is 

free. This includes the free space in the area reserved for the Master File Table (MFT) on NTFS volumes. 

Volume Fragmentation 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the overall percentage of fragmentation on the disk 

volume. 

The Volume fragmentation figure gives you an overall view of the fragmentation on your volume, by taking 

both the file fragmentation level and the free space fragmentation level into account. These two values are 

weighted depending on the ratio of free space to used space on the disk. The formula is: 

Fragmented space on the volume * 100 / Total space on the volume 

Where Fragmented space on the volume is the summed cluster count of all fragmented files times the bytes per 

clusters. 

Data Fragmentation 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the percentage of file fragmentation on the disk 

volume. 

Data fragmentation is calculated like this: 

Volume Fragmentation * Total Space on the Volume / Used Space on the volume 

Note: The calculations are for both Data fragmentation and Volume fragmentation are done based on the 

uncompressed size of the files. If a volume has a large number of fragmented compressed files, these values 

can exceed 100%. This is similar to looking at files in Windows Explorer—if a large number of files are 

compressed, the total size of the data can exceed the volume size. This is why you can compare the volume size 

in Disk Management to the total number of bytes on a volume, and they don’t “add up”. 

Total Directories 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the total number of directories present on the disk 

volume. 

Fragmented Directories 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the number of fragmented directories on the disk 

volume.


Excess Directory Fragments 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the total number of directory fragments on the disk 

volume. Contiguous directories are not counted in this total, but each additional piece of any fragmented 

directory is counted. 

Total Files 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the total number of files on the disk volume. This 

number does not include zero-length files or (in most cases) files less than one cluster in size on NTFS 

volumes. Files less than one cluster in size may be included, depending on the file size and the cluster size. 

Average File Size 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the average size of all the files on the disk volume. 

This number does not include any zero-length files or paging files. 

Total Fragmented Files 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the total number of fragmented files on the disk 

volume. 

Total Excess Fragments 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the total number of file fragments on the disk 

volume. Contiguous files are not counted in this total, but each additional piece of any fragmented file is 

counted. 

Average Fragments per File 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the average number of fragments per file on the disk 

volume. This is a good index of how fragmented the files on the volume are. 

If the average fragment per file figure is 1.00, the files are contiguous. If the figure is 1.10, then 10% of the 

files, on average, are in two pieces. 1.20 means 20%, 1.30 means 30%, etc. A figure of 2.00 means the files 

average two fragments each. 1.00 is the best figure attainable, indicating that all files or nearly all files are 

contiguous. 

Files with Performance Loss 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the number of files for which fragmentation is 

causing a loss in performance. For example, although it is fragmented, a large file in two pieces will not exhibit 

any significant performance loss, so it would not be included in this figure. 

Paging/Swap File Size 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the size of the paging file (or swap file on Windows 

98/Me systems) on the disk volume. This section displays zero when no paging file is present. 

Total Fragments 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the number of fragments the paging file is broken 

into (if it exists on the disk volume). 

Total MFT Size 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the size of the Master File Table (MFT). 

Since the MFT is only used on NTFS volumes, this section is not displayed for FAT volumes in the text 

analysis display, and shows as zeros in the event log. 

MFT Records in Use 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the number of individual file records found in the 

Master File Table (MFT). This figure will not necessarily correspond with the number of files presently on the 

volume, since the file records remain in the MFT, even after a file is deleted.


Since the MFT is only used on NTFS volumes, this section is not displayed on FAT volumes. 

Percent of MFT In Use 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the percentage of the Master File Table (MFT) in 

use. 

The MFT grows as the number of files on the volume increases, but is not reduced in size when files are deleted 

from the volume. 


Total MFT Fragments 

This section of the Job Report tab or event log entry shows the number of fragments the Master File Table 

(MFT) is broken into. 


Most Fragmented Files 

Click the View button in the Most Fragmented Files section of the Job Report tab to see a list of the most 

fragmented files on the volume. For each fragmented file listed, this listing shows: 

Fragments 

Shows the number of fragments associated with the most fragmented files on your disk volume. 

File Size 

Shows the size of the most fragmented files on your disk volume. 

File Name 

Shows the names of the most fragmented files on your volume. 

If these files are ones that users access frequently, the impact to your system performance may be worse than 

indicated by the Average Fragments per File figure. 

In addition to the names of the most fragmented files, the Most Fragmented Files report also shows information 

explaining reasons why certain files were not moved or defragmented. The following “tags” may be added to 

specific filenames in the Most Fragmented Files listing: 

Tag 

[Cannot 

Open] 

Displayed 

After 

Defragmentation 

Only 

File 

System 

NTFS and 

FAT 

Description 

This file cannot be opened (and thus moved) by 

Diskeeper. This is often the result of the access 

controls (permissions) on the file being set to 

prevent Diskeeper from accessing it. File 

permissions must allow SYSTEM to have full 

control of a file in order for Diskeeper to 

defragment it. 

[Excluded] 


Only 

NTFS and 

FAT 

This file is listed on one of the Diskeeper 

exclusion lists. This can be either the userspecified 

exclusion list or the internal exclusion 

list.


[Excess 

Allocation] 

Analysis and 


NTFS Only 

With the NTFS file system, a file can be allocated 

more clusters than its data is actually using. On 

Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000, only the data 

portion of the allocation can be defragmented. As 

a result, even though a file is reported as 

fragmented, the data portion of the file may in fact 

be contiguous. This most commonly occurs with 

registry files and (under Windows 2000) files that 

have been decompressed. In some cases, files of 

this type can be defragmented after a system 

restart 

[Partially 

Defragmente 

d] 


Only 

NTFS and 

FAT 

This file has been partially defragmented. Its 

fragments have been reduced in number, but the 

file is not yet contiguous. 

[Insufficient 

Contiguous 

Free Space] 

Terabyte 

Volume Engine 


Only 

NTFS Only 

There was insufficient free space to defragment 

the file. 

[Move 

refused by 

OS] 

Terabyte 

Volume Engine 


Only 

NTFS Only 

Although Diskeeper requested the file move, the 

operating system denied the request. This can 

happen when free space previously located by 

Diskeeper is overwritten by other file activity, or if 

a file is deleted or extended during the 

defragmentation attempt. 

Job Log Tab 

The Job Log tab shows information about all the defragmentation jobs you have run on each volume. As you 

highlight each volume in the Computer pane, the information displayed in the Job Log changes to reflect the 

selected volume. The Job Log information includes: 

• Job Type⎯This column shows the type of defragmentation job run (Primary, Secondary, I-FAAST, or 

Manual defragmentation) 

• Date⎯This column shows the date each job was run. 

• Volume⎯This column shows volume label for the selected volume. 

• Times Run⎯This column shows the number of times each particular job type has been run on the selected 

volume. 

• Fragments Eliminated⎯This column shows a cumulative total of the number of fragments eliminated for 

each defragmentation job type. 

The Job Log saves up to six months worth of data. New data afterwards will overwrite the oldest data in the Job 

Log. 

You can also save the Job Log (as an HTML file) or print it by using the respective buttons on the Job Log tab.

Historical Report Tab 


The Historical Report tab shows graphs indicating the total number of fragments eliminated, the overall 

fragmentation level, and the file performance improvement gained by using Diskeeper. This information is 

shown for your computer overall, as well as on a per-volume basis. As you highlight each volume in the 

Computer pane, the information displayed in the Historical Report changes to reflect the selected volume. 

Each graph in the Historical Report shows "before and after" results. Over time, the Historical Report tab will 

give you a good measure of the benefit Diskeeper provides. Hover your pointer over each point of the graph to 

see more detailed information about that point. 

Use the controls at the bottom of the display to customize the scale and range of the graphs. You can also save 

the report (as a bitmap file) or print it by using the respective buttons on the Historical Report tab. 

Saving and Printing Dashboard Information 

Click the Save or Print buttons at the bottom of any tab page to save or print the information shown on that 

tab. When you save dashboard information, the file format varies depending on the tab: 

Volume Map — saves as a bitmap (.bmp) file 

Job Report — saves as a text (.txt) file 

Job Log — saves as an HTML (.htm) file 

Historical Report — saves as a bitmap (.bmp) file 

When you click Save, a dialog box is displayed allowing you to specify the name of the report and the location 

where you want to store it. 

Similarly, when you click Print, a dialog box is displayed allowing you to specify the printer and any print 

properties available. 

A Word About Job Properties 

As mentioned earlier, in addition to Manual Defragmentation Jobs there are up to four different types of Set It 

and Forget It Jobs you can run, depending on your Diskeeper Edition: 


• Secondary Defragmentation Jobs (not available in Diskeeper Home Edition) 


Server Enterprise editions only) 

• Boot-Time Defragmentation Jobs 

Each of these different job types have a number of job “properties” you can apply to each job. These properties 

differ depending on the job type, but they include useful things like the job schedule (when the job will run), 

the defragmentation method used (Quick, Recommended, or Comprehensive), the priority at which the job 

runs, and other useful “adjustments” to the defragmentation process. 

Keep in mind that many of the job properties apply to all jobs of a particular type. For example, if you specify 

to use the “Lowest” CPU priority for a Primary Defragmentation Job, all of your Primary Defragmentation Jobs 

will be run at “Lowest” priority. Or if you choose to use the “Quick” defragmentation method for a Manual 

Defragmentation Job, then all your subsequent Manual Defragmentation Jobs will use the same 

defragmentation method. 

The notable exceptions to this are Set It and Forget It defragmentation schedules. Defragmentation schedules 

are applied to one or more disk volumes—whichever volumes you choose when you enable the schedule.


To access the properties for any type of job, click the respective toolbar button, or select the same from the 

Quick Launch pane. This launches a separate dialog, which varies depending on the job type. For example, the 

Job Properties dialog for any of the four Set It and Forget It job types includes a Computer pane, listing the 

volumes available for that particular job type. On the other hand, the Manual Defragmentation Job Properties 

dialog does not show the Computer Pane, since it is only used for job scheduling, and Manual Defragmentation 

Jobs are, by their very nature, not scheduled. In all cases, the Job Properties Dialog contains instructive text 

describing the options available and or other useful information. 

Manual Defragmentation Mode 

Diskeeper is designed to be operated in two ways —the Manual Defragmentation mode and Set It and Forget It 

mode. 

The Manual Defragmentation mode allows you to control Diskeeper operation directly. You have direct control 

over which volumes are defragmented, when defragmentation is started and stopped, and other Manual 

Defragmentation jobs properties. 

There are several ways by which to start Diskeeper manually, but the most direct method is simply to highlight 

the volume you want to defragment, then click the Defragment button below the Computer pane. 

Alternatively, right-click a volume and select Defragment. 

Tip: You can also use the Defragment button 

to start defragmenting the selected 

volume. 

With most editions of Diskeeper, you can run more than one manual defragmentation job at the same time. 

Note that different editions of Diskeeper support different numbers of simultaneous operations. See page 61 for 

a table showing the different Diskeeper editions and the number of simultaneous operations each supports. 

To stop a manual Diskeeper job, first highlight the volume you want to stop defragmenting, then either click the 

Stop button on the Diskeeper toolbar or right-click the volume and select Stop. 

If you exit from Diskeeper (or even log off your computer) while a manual defragmentation job is running, the 

job will continue running until it is complete. 

There are several options available to control how Manual Defragmentation Jobs run. These options are 

available via the Manual Defragmentation Job Properties dialog. To view and edit the Manual Defragmentation 

Job Properties, click the Manual Defragmentation Job Properties button in the toolbar, or click Analyze and 

Defragment Now in the Quick Launch pane and select Manual Defragmentation Job Properties. 

Manual Defragmentation Jobs offer you a choice of two different defragmentation methods—the “Quick” 

defragmentation method and the “Recommended” (default) defragmentation method. Select the method of your 

choice via the Manual Defragmentation Job Properties dialog described above. The method you choose will be 

applied to all Manual Defragmentation Jobs. See page 43 for more information about the defragmentation 

methods available. 

By default, manual defragmentation jobs are run at “Normal” priority, the mid-level Windows priority. Because 

of this, the performance of tasks running on your computer other than the defragmentation job can be affected. 

As an option, you can change the priority at which Diskeeper runs for manual defragmentation jobs via the 

Manual Defragmentation Job Properties dialog described above. Lowering the priority of Diskeeper jobs can 

help speed the performance of other tasks on your system running at the same time, but can cause Diskeeper to 

take longer to defragment your volumes. See page 44 for more information about setting the Diskeeper priority. 

Note: Diskeeper Home Edition does not support changing the defragmentation priority.

Set It and Forget It Mode 


The Set It and Forget It mode allows Diskeeper to run automatically in the background, either after hours or 

while users and other processes are active on the system, according to a predetermined schedule you set. 

This schedule is what sets a Set It and Forget It defragmentation job apart from a Manual defragmentation job. 

Diskeeper Corporation pioneered the concept of “Set It and Forget It” defragmentation many years ago, and it 

remains one of the most useful features in Diskeeper. 

Depending on your Diskeeper Edition, there are up to four different types of Set It and Forget It jobs you can 

run: 

• Primary Defragmentation Jobs—Primary Defragmentation Jobs are the core component of Set It and 

Forget It defragmentation. Establish primary jobs for any volumes you want defragmented on a regular 

basis. 

• Secondary Defragmentation Jobs (not available in Diskeeper Home Edition)—Secondary 

Defragmentation Jobs are essentially a second, independent defragmentation job type you can assign to a 

volume. They have the same, but separate options as Primary Defragmentation Jobs. This allows you to use 

a Primary Defragmentation Job to set one schedule for weekdays, and a Secondary Defragmentation Job 

with another schedule on the same volumes for weekends. Or you can run low-priority defragmentation 

jobs during the day when the computer is active, and another, higher-priority job in the off-hours. 


Server Enterprise editions only)—I-FAAST (Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology) 

Defragmentation Jobs are specialized operations that use intelligent technology to defragment and 

maximize the performance of your most commonly accessed files. Note that I-FAAST Defragmentation 

Jobs are intended to run along with, not instead of, Primary or Secondary Defragmentation Jobs. See page 

35 for more information. 

• Boot-Time Defragmentation Jobs (not available on Windows 98/Me)—Boot-Time Defragmentation Jobs 

are useful for the occasional times when you need to defragment files that cannot be safely moved when 

Windows is running. Boot-Time Defragmentation consists of directory consolidation, paging file 

defragmentation, and Master File Table (MFT) defragmentation. See page 38 for more information. 

To enable Set It and Forget It jobs, open the Set It and Forget It option in the Quick Launch pane, select a job 

type, select one or more volumes, then specify the schedule and other job properties you want applied to the 

selected volumes. 

Tip: Diskeeper includes several preset schedule types for many typical scenarios, pre-configured and 

ready to use. These schedules are available in the Schedule Type. See page 32 for more information. 

You can use the Screen Saver mode to automatically start defragmenting the selected volume(s) any time the 

screen saver starts on your computer. The defragmentation operation is paused whenever keyboard or mouse 

activity is detected on the computer. 

As a further enhancement to Set It and Forget It, Diskeeper includes the Smart Scheduling feature, which will 

schedule defragmentation runs more often when the fragmentation level increases, and less often when it 

decreases. Note that by default, Diskeeper Home Edition enables Smart Scheduling automatically on all your 

volumes. 

After a defragmentation schedule is created for a volume, Diskeeper will follow that schedule until you 

explicitly stop it. The defragmentation job will run as scheduled, whether you are logged onto the computer or 

not. With most Diskeeper editions, multiple Set It and Forget It defragmentation jobs can be run at the same 

time on separate volumes. Note that different editions of Diskeeper support different numbers of simultaneous 

operations. See page 61 for a table showing the different Diskeeper editions and the number of simultaneous 

operations each supports.


To cancel (or clear) a scheduled Set It and Forget It job, select the Properties option for the respective job type 

(Primary, Secondary, I-FAAST, or Boot-Time Defragmentation) from the toolbar or Set It and Forget It task 

list in the Quick Launch pane, and clear the Enable the [job type] Defragmentation Job to run on the 

selected volumes option (where [job type] is either Primary, Secondary or I-FAAST). 

To stop a Set It and Forget It Diskeeper job while it is running, right-click the volume you want to stop 

defragmenting and select Stop. Or, select the volume and click the Stop button in the Diskeeper toolbar or 

select the Stop option from the Action menu. This will stop the currently-running job, but will not disable the 

schedule. A defragmentation job stopped in this way will resume at the next scheduled run time. 

If you exit from Diskeeper (or even log off your computer) while a Set It and Forget It job is running, the job 

will continue running until the current scheduled run is complete. It will then be re-scheduled to run at the next 

specified run time. 

By default, Set It and Forget It defragmentation jobs are run at the lowest Windows priority. Because of this, 

Set It and Forget It jobs should have no impact on other tasks that are running at the same time. As an option, 

you can change the priority at which Diskeeper runs for each Set It and Forget It job. See page 44 for more 

information about setting the Diskeeper priority. 

Setting a Defragmentation Schedule 

Diskeeper is primarily intended as a "Set It and Forget It" solution to your fragmentation problems. When you 

establish a defragmentation schedule, you specify the times of day Diskeeper will or will not run on the 

volumes you select. You can create a Primary Defragmentation Job schedule and a separate, independent 

Secondary Defragmentation Job schedule for each volume. In addition to Primary and Secondary 

Defragmentation Job schedules, you can set a schedule for Boot-Time Defragmentation Jobs and I-FAAST 

(Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology) Defragmentation Jobs in the Diskeeper editions 

that support these job types. 

The steps for setting a defragmentation schedule are the same for either Primary or Secondary Defragmentation 

Jobs. The I-FAAST and Boot-Time Defragmentation Job schedules offer similar, but slightly different options. 

Scheduling Primary or Secondary Defragmentation Jobs 

Follow these steps to enable and schedule a Primary Defragmentation Job on one or more volumes. The steps 

are the same for Secondary Defragmentation Jobs—just select the respective Job Properties option. Note, 

however, that Secondary Defragmentation Jobs offer the “Custom Schedule” option only: 

1. Click Primary Defragmentation Job Properties on the Diskeeper toolbar or select it from the Set 

It and Forget It task list in the Quick Launch Pane. 

2. Select one or more volumes in the dialog displayed and select the Enable the Primary Defragmentation 

Job to run on the selected volumes check box on the General properties page. 

3. Click Job Schedule in the task list to open the Job Schedule page and use the options provided to select a 

schedule type and to specify how often you want the Primary Defragmentation Job to run, and starting and 

ending times for the job. (Two particularly useful options are the Smart Scheduling and Screen Saver 

scheduling modes. There are also several preset schedule types configured for many typical scenarios.) See 

page 32 for more information about the scheduling options. 

4. You can optionally click Defragmentation Methods in the task list to open the Defragmentation Methods 

page and select the defragmentation method you want applies to all Primary Defragmentation Jobs. Note 

that this will apply to all Primary Defragmentation Jobs. See page 43 for more information about the 

different defragmentation methods available. 

5. As another option, you can click Disk and CPU Priorities in the task list to open the Disk and CPU 

Priorities page. Similar to the Defragmentation Methods option, the disk and CPU priority settings you


establish will apply to all Primary Defragmentation Jobs. See page 44 for more information about the Disk 

and CPU Priority options. 

6. Click OK to save the schedule you have set and close the Primary Defragmentation Job Properties dialog 

or click Apply to save the schedule without closing the dialog. Click Cancel to close the dialog without 

saving the schedule. 

Scheduling I-FAAST Defragmentation Jobs 

Follow these steps to enable and schedule an I-FAAST Defragmentation Job on one or more volumes: 

1. Click I-FAAST Defragmentation Job Properties on the Diskeeper toolbar or select it from the Set 


2. Select one or more volumes in the dialog displayed and select the Enable the I-FAAST Defragmentation 

Job to run on the selected volumes check box on the Job Schedule properties page. Note that this option 

may not be available when certain volumes are highlighted. See below for more information. 

3. Use the options provided in the Job Schedule page to specify how often you want the I-FAAST 

Defragmentation Job to run (daily or weekly), and starting and ending times for the job. 

4. Click OK to save the schedule you have set and close the I-FAAST Defragmentation Job Properties dialog 


saving the schedule. 

When you first enable an I-FAAST Defragmentation Job on a volume, Diskeeper evaluates the volume to 

determine if the volume will benefit from I-FAAST defragmentation. If the volume will not benefit, a message 

is displayed to explain why, and you are given the choice of enabling I-FAAST Defragmentation or not. 

It should be noted that the I-FAAST evaluation creates a hidden \Diskeeper folder at the root level of each 

volume on which it is run. This folder contains relatively small data files used by I-FAAST and should not be 

deleted when I-FAAST is enabled. 

After the evaluation has been performed, the General properties page of the I-FAAST Defragmentation Job 

Properties dialog shows the potential file acceleration from running I-FAAST on the volume and other useful 

information. 

Scheduling Boot-Time Defragmentation Jobs 

Unlike other defragmentation jobs, Boot-Time Defragmentation Jobs are intended to only be run occasionally, 

and in the case of many volumes it may not be necessary. It is important to understand how Boot-Time 

Defragmentation Jobs differ from other Set It and Forget It jobs. See page 38 for an overview of Boot-Time 

Defragmentation. 

Follow these steps to enable and schedule a Boot-Time Defragmentation Job on one or more volumes. 

Note: Boot-Time defragmentation may take a long time, especially on very large volumes that are severely 

fragmented. Therefore, before running Boot-Time operations, you should schedule the Boot-Time operation to 

occur at a time when the computer is not needed immediately. Diskeeper Corporation also recommends that 

you run a Boot-Time Defragmentation Job on only one volume at a time. 

1. Click Boot-Time Defragmentation Job Properties on the Diskeeper toolbar or select it from the 

Set It and Forget It task list in the Quick Launch Pane. 

2. Select a volume in the dialog displayed. 

3. Specify whether you want the Boot-Time Defragmentation Job to run on the next manual reboot of the 

computer, or specify the time and date you want it to run. Note that if you schedule the Boot-Time


Defragmentation Job to run at a later time, Diskeeper will automatically restart the computer at the 

scheduled time. 

4. Next, select your choice of the Boot-Time Defragmentation options. See below for descriptions of the 

options available. 

5. Click OK to save the schedule and other options you have set and close the Boot-Time Defragmentation 

Job Properties dialog or click Apply to save the schedule without closing the dialog. Click Cancel to close 

the dialog without saving the schedule. 

Primary and Secondary Job Scheduling Options 

When setting a schedule for a Primary or Secondary Defragmentation Job, you are given these options. Note 

that Secondary Defragmentation Jobs offer the “Custom Schedule” Schedule Type only: 

Enable the [job type] Defragmentation Job to run on the selected volumes 

Click this check box to alternately enable and disable the Primary or Secondary Defragmentation Job on the 

volumes you select in the Computer pane displayed in the Defragmentation Job Properties dialog. (Note that 

[job type] will be either Primary, Secondary, or I-FAAST, depending on the type of job you are enabling.) 

Schedule Type 

Use this section of the Job Schedule page to specify a custom schedule or to choose from several preset 

schedules designed for many common scenarios. You can choose any of these schedule types: 

Custom Schedule 

Smart Scheduling (see the description 

of Smart Scheduling later in this 

chapter) 

Screen Saver (see the description of 

Screen Saver mode later in this chapter) 

Smart Scheduling after hours 

Every Night 

Weekends Only 

Frequency 

Use this section of the Job Schedule page to specify how often Diskeeper should run on the selected disk 

volumes. You can specify any of these run frequencies: 

One Time 

Continuously 

Every 2 hours 

Every 4 hours 

Every 8 hours 

Every 12 hours 



Every 72 hours

Days 


Use this section of the Job Schedule page to specify days the Diskeeper job will (or will not) be allowed to run 

on the selected volumes. You can specify any of these time periods to control when Diskeeper is allowed to 

run: 

Everyday 

Weekends 

Weekdays 

Mondays 

Tuesdays 

Wednesdays 

Thursdays 

Fridays 

Saturdays 

Sundays 

Except Everyday 

Except Weekends 

Except Weekdays 

Except Mondays 

Except Tuesdays 

Except Wednesdays 

Except Thursdays 

Except Fridays 

Except Saturdays 

Except Sundays 

Start Time 

Use this section of the Job Schedule page to specify the beginning of a time period the Diskeeper job will (or 

will not) be allowed to run on the selected volumes. You can specify any of these time periods to specify the 

beginning of a Diskeeper schedule period: 

12:00 midnight through 11:00 P.M., in one hour increments 

End Time 

Use this section of the Job Schedule page to specify the end of a time period the Diskeeper job will (or will not) 

be allowed to run on the selected volumes. You can specify any of these time periods to specify the end of a 

time period Diskeeper will (or will not) be allowed to run: 


Description 

The bottom section of the Job Schedule page gives a description of the various scheduling options available. 

The description changes as you select different options. 

Smart Scheduling 

With Smart Scheduling, you no longer have to decide how often to defragment your disks—Diskeeper will 

automatically determine the optimum defragmentation schedule for each of your disk volumes and adjust it 

accordingly. 

The method used to determine how often Diskeeper should run is elegant in its simplicity. When Smart 

Scheduling is enabled, Diskeeper keeps track of the number of files moved every time it runs on each disk 

volume. When the number of fragmented files moved during a defragmentation run increases, Diskeeper is 

automatically scheduled to run more often. When the number of files moved decreases, the time between 

defragmentation runs is increased. 

The Smart Scheduling option is available within the Schedule type: drop-down list in the Job Schedule page of 

the Primary Defragmentation Job Properties dialog


You can also set exclusion times when the Smart Scheduling option will be prevented from scheduling a 

defragmentation run. When Smart Scheduling is selected, the Days drop-down option list will be limited to 

these times: 

Except Everyday 



Except Monday 

Except Tuesday 

Except Wednesday 

Except Thursday 

Except Friday 

Except Saturday 

Except Sunday 

You can use the Start time: and End time: drop down lists to further define times when the scheduling of 

automatic defragmentation runs will not be allowed. For example, a schedule set like this: 

Type of Schedule 

Smart Scheduling 

Start Time 

Which Days 


End Time 

1:00 am 3:00 am 

will allow Diskeeper to automatically determine how often to run, but will also prevent it from running between 

1:00 am and 3:00 am on weekdays (i.e., when your nightly backup is running). 

Screen Saver Mode 

When enabled, Screen Saver mode automatically starts defragmenting the selected volumes any time the screen 

saver starts on your computer. The defragmentation operation is paused whenever keyboard or mouse activity 

is detected on the computer. This option is available under the Schedule type: drop-down list in Job Schedule 

page of the Primary Defragmentation Job Properties dialog. 

If you only have a single volume selected for Screen Saver mode, the defragmentation operation is re-started at 

the logical “beginning” of the volume each time the screen saver re-starts after being interrupted (by keyboard 

activity, for example). 

When more than one volume is selected for Screen Saver mode, the volumes are handled in a round-robin 

manner. If a defragmentation pass is stopped, the operation resumes on the next volume when the screen saver 

starts again. For example, if you select volumes C and D to be schedule with Screen Saver mode, when your 

screen saver starts, Diskeeper begins a defragmentation pass on volume C. If that pass is interrupted, and then 

the screen saver starts again, Diskeeper will begin a pass on volume D. 

If the screen saver has not been interrupted after Diskeeper completes the defragmentation pass on each of the 

selected volumes, Diskeeper is automatically scheduled to re-start the defragmentation operation in one hour. 

Because of the “start and stop” nature of the Screen Saver mode, it is not recommended on volumes that are 

heavily fragmented, unless you expect the computer's screen saver to be on for several hours. In cases where 

your screen saver activity is only for short periods of time, a thorough manual defragmentation or scheduled Set 

It and Forget It defragmentation should be performed before running Diskeeper in Screen Saver mode.


Note: Screen Saver mode is not recommended for servers. Since many servers spend a good deal of time with 

the screen saver active, enabling this option could cause Diskeeper to run more often than necessary. 

Primary schedule / Secondary schedule Interaction 

Diskeeper allows you to set separate schedules for Primary Defragmentation Jobs and Secondary 

Defragmentation Jobs. In the event of overlapping schedule times, Primary schedules override Secondary 

schedules. This diagram illustrates now Primary and Secondary schedules operate together: 

At point A, the primary schedule starts its job. At point B, the secondary schedule should start its job, but is 

preempted by the primary schedule’s job, which is still running. At point C, the primary job is done, either by 

completing the defragmentation, or by having its allotted time elapse. At this point, the secondary schedule’s 

job can start, so it does. The secondary job continues until its originally scheduled time slot is up, or the engine 

completes, whichever is first. 

In a second scenario, the span from points E to G represents a secondary schedule slot, which starts before the 

primary schedule slot at point F. 

The secondary schedule runs from E to F, at which time the primary schedule is scheduled to start a job. At that 

point (F), the primary schedule preempts the secondary schedule and starts its job. The secondary schedule is 

stopped. As part of its normal procedure in stopping, it re-schedules to the next appointed time for that 

schedule, point H (shown by the arrow). 

I-FAAST Defragmentation Overview 

Note: This feature is only available with Diskeeper Server Enterprise, Diskeeper Server Standard and 

Diskeeper Professional Premier Editions, on Windows 2000 and higher systems. 

Also Note: This feature is only available for NTFS volumes. FAT volumes are not supported. 

Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology (I-FAAST) improves file access and creation on 

NTFS volumes by up to 80% (average 10%-20%) above and beyond the improvement provided by 

defragmentation alone. This is the first industry implementation of “Disk Performance Calibration”, the modern 

evolution of the outdated and inconclusive disk optimization strategies of the past. 

When an I-FAAST Defragmentation Job is enabled, Diskeeper runs specially-engineered benchmarks on the 

selected NTFS volumes to learn their performance characteristics. Diskeeper then transparently monitors these


volumes for file access frequency on an ongoing basis in to determine which files are requested most often. 

Special analysis techniques prevent Diskeeper from being “fooled” by files that have been recently accessed. 

Using newly-developed technology, Diskeeper sequences the files to take best advantage of both the logical 

characteristics and physical characteristics of the volume. The sequencing process is integrated with 

background defragmentation, so it’s virtually transparent to you. 

Note that I-FAAST Defragmentation Jobs are intended to be used in conjunction with Primary or Secondary 

Defragmentation Jobs, and these defragmentation jobs will follow rules established by the I-FAAST engine 

based on the I-FAAST evaluation of the volume. 

Also note that since I-FAAST defragmentation is an ongoing process based on conditions and activity patterns 

detected on your specific volumes, it can take up to a week or more for the full benefits of I-FAAST to become 

apparent. 


determine if the volume will benefit from I-FAAST defragmentation. In order to gather the most accurate data 

about your volumes, the I-FAAST evaluation should be done when no other activity is occurring on the 

computer. Any currently-running defragmentation jobs will be stopped before the I-FAAST evaluation is 

performed. Manual Defragmentation Jobs will not be resumed, but Primary or Secondary Defragmentation Jobs 

will resume at their next scheduled starting time. 

After the evaluation has been completed, if any of the selected volumes will not benefit from running I-FAAST, 

a message is displayed to explain why, and you are given the choice of enabling I-FAAST Defragmentation or 

not on those volumes. 

It should be noted that the I-FAAST evaluation creates a hidden \Diskeeper folder at the root level of each 

volume on which it is run. This folder contains data files used by I-FAAST and should not be deleted when I- 

FAAST is enabled. 

After the evaluation, the General properties page of the I-FAAST Defragmentation Job Properties dialog 

shows the potential file acceleration from running I-FAAST on the volume and other useful information. 

I-FAAST intelligence allows Diskeeper to adapt to changing situations—so if the demands on a given system 

change, Diskeeper automatically adjusts its behavior accordingly. 

Setting an I-FAAST Defragmentation Job Schedule 

Keep in mind that I-FAAST (Intelligent File Access Acceleration Technology) Defragmentation Jobs are 

designed to run along with either Primary or Secondary Defragmentation Jobs. I-FAAST Defragmentation Jobs 

are intended to supplement regular scheduled defragmentation jobs, not replace them. As the Primary and 

Secondary Defragmentation Jobs run, they will follow rules established by the I-FAAST engine based on the I- 

FAAST evaluation of the volume. 

Follow these steps to enable and schedule an I-FAAST Defragmentation Job on one or more volumes: 

1. Click I-FAAST Defragmentation Job Properties on the Diskeeper toolbar or select it from the Set 


2. Select one or more volumes in the dialog displayed and enable the Enable I-FAAST to run on the 

selected volumes check box on the Job Schedule properties page. Note that this option may not be 

available when certain volumes are highlighted. See below for more information. 

3. Use the options provided to specify how often you want the I-FAAST Defragmentation Job to run (daily or 

weekly), and starting and ending times for the job. 

4. Click OK to save the schedule you have set and close the I-FAAST Defragmentation Job Properties dialog 


saving the schedule.



determine if the volume will benefit from I-FAAST defragmentation. If the volume will not benefit, a message 

is displayed to explain why, and you are given the choice of enabling I-FAAST Defragmentation or not. 

I-FAAST Job Scheduling Options 

When setting a schedule for an I-FAAST Defragmentation Job, you are given these options: 

Enable the I-FAAST Defragmentation Job to run on the selected volumes 

Click this check box to alternately enable and disable the I-FAAST job on the volumes you select in the 

Computer pane displayed in the I-FAAST Defragmentation Job Properties dialog. 

Schedule Type 

Since I-FAAST defragmentation is a specialized operation, only the “Custom” schedule type is available. 

Frequency 

Use this section of the Job Schedule page to specify how often the I-FAAST Defragmentation Job should run 

on the selected disk volumes. You can choose to run it either Daily or Weekly. The options available under the 

“Days” section of the Job Schedule page (described below) differ, depending on whether you choose Daily or 

Weekly 

Days 

Use this section of the Job Schedule page to specify days the Diskeeper job will (or will not) be allowed to run 

on the selected volumes. 

If you select the Weekly option in the “Frequency” section of the Job Schedule page, these options are 

available: 

Mondays 

Tuesdays 

Wednesdays 

Thursdays 

Fridays 

Saturdays 

Sundays 

If you select the Daily option in the “Frequency” section of the Job Schedule page, these options are available: 

Everyday 


Except Mondays 

Except Tuesdays 

Except Wednesdays 

Except Thursdays 

Except Fridays 

Except Saturdays 

Except Sundays


Start Time 

Use this section of the Job Schedule page to specify the beginning of a time period the Diskeeper job will (or 

will not) be allowed to run on the selected volumes. You can specify any of these time periods to specify the 

beginning of a Diskeeper schedule period: 


End Time 

Use this section of the Job Schedule page to specify the end of a time period the Diskeeper job will (or will not) 

be allowed to run on the selected volumes. You can specify any of these time periods to specify the end of a 

time period Diskeeper will (or will not) be allowed to run: 


Description 

The bottom section of the Job Schedule page gives a description of the various scheduling options available. 

The description changes as you select different options. 

I-FAAST and the Volume Map Tab 

When the I-FAAST engine is defragmenting a volume, the graphic display usually shown in the Volume Map 

tab is replaced with numerical data showing the progress of the defragmentation operation. This reduction in 

system resource usage pays off in lower CPU consumption and faster I-FAAST defragmentation. (You can 

optionally disable this resource-saving feature. See page 52 for more information.) 

Here is a description of the information displayed in the Volume Map tab when the I-FAAST engine is 

defragmenting a volume: 

File record examinations 

This is the number of times a file record (MFT record) was examined and is basically used to show that 

progress is occurring. The number may be larger than the number of file records on the volume if a full job 

runs, because a file record may be examined more than once, or it may be smaller than the number of file 

records on the volume if the job didn't run to completion. 

Fragmented file examinations 

This is the number of the above file record examinations that located fragmented files. Again, a file may be 

examined more than once during a defragmentation job, so this number will not match the number of 

fragmented files reported in the Job Report tab. 

Fragments eliminated 

This is the number of fragments that were eliminated by the TVE. It may not match the number of fragments 

reported in the Job Report tab because the job was only partially completed, or because files became more or 

less fragmented as the result of other processes during the period when the engine runs. 

Contiguous file examinations 

This is the number of the above file record examinations that located contiguous files that could be moved to 

help consolidate free space. Not all files on the volume are candidates for this action, so the number will most 

likely be far less than the number of contiguous files in the Job Report tab. 

Files that could not be processed 

This is the number of times that a file couldn't be moved. The most common reasons for a file not moving are: 

• Diskeeper was denied permission to open the file (the file did not allow the SYSTEM process Full Control) 

• The file was open for exclusive use by another process 

• Free space was no longer available when the move was attempted.


The Windows application event log stores the reason(s) for the first fifty files that could not be processed. 

Boot-Time Defragmentation Overview 

Note: The Boot-Time defragmentation option is only available in Diskeeper when running on Windows NT, 

Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003. 

Boot-Time defragmentation consists of three independent activities: 

• Directory Defragmentation and Consolidation—moves directories to a single location. Windows NT, 

Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 write directories into random locations all over a 

volume. This, in effect, breaks up the free space on the volume. By grouping all the directories into a single 

location on a volume, larger areas of contiguous free space become available. Therefore, new files are 

more likely to be written to the volume in a contiguous manner. This also helps make Diskeeper more 

effective when it is run in either the Set It and Forget It or Manual defragmentation modes. 

Note that on NTFS volumes on Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems, 

directories can be moved and defragmented online, which makes directory consolidation on these volumes 

unnecessary. This is also why directory consolidation is not necessary on Windows 98/Me systems. 

In most cases, you should run Boot-Time directory consolidation shortly after the first time you use 

Diskeeper defragmentation on a volume, or after any operation (such as installing a new application), that 

creates multiple directories. By moving all the directories together, you create more contiguous free space 

for file defragmentation. 

• Master File Table (MFT) Defragmentation—defragments the Master File Table (MFT). The MFT is a 

critical section of Windows NTFS disk volumes. The MFT is used by the NTFS file system to locate files 

on a volume, so fragmentation of the MFT slows the retrieval of files on the disk⎯whether these files 

themselves are fragmented or not. Defragmenting the MFT will improve the overall performance of the 

volume. 

Note that on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems, most, but not all of the Master File Table 

can be defragmented by Diskeeper online during normal Set It and Forget It or manual defragmentation 

operations. The boot-time process is still required to fully defragment the MFT, but it usually does not need 

to occur as often as it does on Windows NT and Windows 2000. 

• Paging File Defragmentation—defragments the paging file. Fragmented paging files can slow Windows 

performance. They can also hurt the effectiveness of Diskeeper, since the unmovable paging file fragments 

break up the free space on the volume. By defragmenting your paging file, you can help maintain peak 

Windows performance, and help Diskeeper run better at the same time. After a paging file has been 

defragmented, it should remain contiguous unless its size is changed. 

Boot-time defragmentation opens up larger areas of contiguous free space for new file creation and 

modification. 

Important: For best results with the Boot-Time defragmentation feature, Diskeeper Corporation strongly 

recommends: 

1. Make sure you have sufficient contiguous free space. Delete unneeded files and perform one or more 

manual defragmentation runs to defragment the volume as much as possible. 

2. Enable the Run the system “CHKDSK” utility before defragmentation option. This will help prevent 

vital files from being moved to bad disk sectors. 

3. Boot-Time defragmentation can take a long time, especially on very large disk volumes that are severely 

fragmented. Therefore, before running Boot-Time operations, you should: 

• Schedule the Boot-Time operation on weekends or other time when the machine is not needed 

immediately.


• Perform the Boot-Time operation on only one disk volume at a time. 

On Windows NT, directory consolidation, MFT defragmentation and paging file defragmentation are done at 

boot-time, because the directories, the MFT, and the paging file cannot be moved safely while Windows NT is 

active. (Note that under Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, directories on NTFS 

volumes can be moved and defragmented online, which makes directory consolidation on these volumes 

unnecessary.) 

Several points about Boot-Time defragmentation: 

• Keep in mind that for maximum efficiency, the Boot-Time defragmentation operation concentrates only on 

files that cannot be defragmented online. It is not intended to defragment all the files on your disk. 

• Boot-Time defragmentation relies on having a contiguous free space into which to move the directories 

and/or paging file on your volume. Therefore, it is beneficial to run Diskeeper in either the Set It and 

Forget It or Manual Defragmentation mode before running Boot-Time defragmentation. 

• Boot-Time defragmentation is a one-time operation. After it runs on a volume, it is not automatically set up 

to run again. You must set it each time you want it to run on a volume. It is usually not necessary to run 

Boot-Time defragmentation repeatedly on a volume. 

• It is safe to restart your computer midway through the Boot-Time defragmentation operation. However, if 

you do so, you should use the Error Checking option in Drive Properties | Tools on the volume that was 

being processed when you restarted your computer, and enable both the fix and the scan options, or (if you 

are running from the Windows Command Prompt) run CHKDSK, using the /F qualifier. This ensures the 

files and free space on the volume are correctly allocated. 

• After running the Boot-Time defragmentation, use the Set It and Forget It option to keep the volume 

defragmented. 

Boot-Time Defragmentation Options 

The following controls are available in the Boot-Time Defragmentation Job Properties dialog: 

Available Volumes 

Use this section of the Boot-Time Defragmentation Properties dialog to specify the volume(s) upon which you 

want to consolidate the directories and/or defragment the paging file and Master File Table (MFT). You can 

select more than one volume at a time, but be aware that the volumes will be processed one at a time, and your 

computer will be restarted automatically after each volume is processed. This will substantially increase the 

time needed to complete the operation. 

Always select at least one volume before choosing any of the other options in the Boot-Time Defragmentation 

Properties dialog. 

Schedule boot-time defragmentation 

Use this section of the Boot-Time Defragmentation Properties dialog to specify when you want the boot-time 

defragmentation operation to occur. You can choose from any one of these options: 

• On next manual reboot—The boot-time operation will take place the next time the computer is rebooted 

• At scheduled time—Use these controls to specify when you want the computer to be automatically 

rebooted. 

About one hour before a scheduled Boot-Time defragmentation is due, a message is broadcast at regular 

intervals to all users logged on to the computer, informing them that a scheduled reboot is about to take 

place and requesting them to log off. If at the scheduled time someone is still logged on and Perform boottime 

defragmentation even if this drive is being used by remote users is cleared, the computer will not 

reboot, but will instead perform the Boot-Time defragmentation the next time the computer is rebooted 

manually. If this option is set, however, the machine will reboot at the scheduled time, regardless of 

whether or not any users are logged on.


• Don’t run boot-time defragmentation—Use this option to clear a previously-scheduled boot-time 

operation. This option is useful for cases where you’ve scheduled a boot-time defragmentation, then 

decided to postpone the operation. 

Put all folders together on the volume 

Check this box to defragment and consolidate the directories of the selected volumes, next time your computer 

starts up. 

Run the system “CHKDSK” utility before defragmentation 

Use this control to specify whether the Windows CHKDSK disk error checking utility is run (using the /F 

qualifier) before the boot-time operation. Running CHKDSK adds time to the Boot-Time defragmentation 

operation, but it can correct disk errors that otherwise would hamper effective directory consolidation. 

Note: Enabling the CHKDSK option will cause CHKDSK to run on each selected volume before the Boot- 

Time defragmentation process. The time increase can be considerable and Diskeeper Corporation therefore 

recommends performing boot-time defragmentation on one volume at a time. 

Also Note: After enabling the CHKDSK option, you will not be able to run either Set It and Forget It or manual 

defragmentation on the disk until you reboot. For this reason, Diskeeper Corporation recommends waiting to 

enable this option until just before you are ready to reboot your computer. 

Defragment the paging file 

Check this box to defragment the paging file of the selected volume the next time your computer starts up. 

Defragment the Master File Table (MFT) 

Check this box to defragment the MFT of the selected volume the next time your computer starts up. 

Pause to view screen after defragmentation 

When enabled, this option causes the Boot-Time operation to pause after completion. It remains in this paused 

state until you manually restart your computer (by either pressing the Reset button or turning off the power 

switch). If this option is not enabled, the Boot-Time defragmentation operation pauses a short 15 seconds (to 

allow you to read any messages on the monitor screen), then automatically restarts your computer. 

Produce a summary log file 

Use this option to cause a text file to be written that summarizes the Boot-Time defragmentation operation. 

When this option is enabled, a default volume letter, directory, and file name are shown in the dialog box 

similar to this: 

By default, the summary file is written to your floppy drive (A:). This dialog box can be edited to specify 

another volume, directory path, and filename. However, the summary file cannot be written to the volume upon 

which you are running Boot-Time defragmentation. Also note that the filename should not contain any spaces. 

Note: Some computers read the floppy drive at boot-time. We therefore recommend not writing the summary 

file to the A: drive, unless no other volumes are available. 

Perform Boot-Time Defragmentation Job even if this drive is being used by 

remote users 

When this option is set, the computer will force a reboot at the scheduled date and time, if the At scheduled 

time option has been selected, regardless of whether or not anyone is logged on to the machine. Users who are 

logged on will be notified at regular intervals, starting one hour before the scheduled reboot, to give them an 

opportunity to log off.


If this option is cleared, a scheduled reboot will not occur at the scheduled date and time if one or more users 

are still logged on when the reboot due. In that case, the Boot-Time defragmentation run will occur the next 

time the machine is rebooted manually. 

OK 

Click OK to schedule Boot-Time defragmentation of one or more selected volumes and close the Boot-Time 

Defragmentation Properties dialog. Boot-Time defragmentation will be run as scheduled on any volumes that 

are set. 

Apply 

Click Apply to schedule Boot-Time defragmentation of one or more selected volumes without closing the 

Boot-Time Defragmentation Properties dialog. When a volume has been scheduled, it will be noted in the 

Available Volumes box. Also, use the Apply button to change the characteristics of a previously set Boot-Time 

defragmentation (such as enabling/disabling the Summary File option). 

Boot-Time defragmentation will be run as scheduled on any volumes that are set. 

Cancel 

Click Cancel to close the Boot-Time defragmentation dialog box without making any changes. 

Primary and Secondary Defragmentation Job 

Properties 

Primary Defragmentation Jobs and Secondary Defragmentation Jobs are controlled via separate Properties 

dialogs for each of the two defragmentation job types. Although these dialog are separate, they offer the same 

set of options. See page 35 for more information about how Primary and Secondary Defragmentation Jobs 

work together. 

Click Primary Defragmentation Job Properties 

or Secondary Defragmentation Job Properties 

in the Diskeeper toolbar or the Set It and Forget It task group in the Quick Launch pane to display the 

respective Job Properties dialog. 

The Job Properties dialog consists of three sections, somewhat similar to the main Diskeeper console: 

Computer Pane—The upper section of the Job Properties dialog shows a listing of the volumes on your 

computer, the scheduling status, the date and time of the next scheduled defragmentation job of this type 

(Primary or Secondary), the schedule type and other retails about any schedules set. 

Task List—The left side of the Job Properties dialog contains a list of optional tasks you can use to customize 

the way Primary or Secondary Defragmentation Jobs behave. See below for additional details about the options 

available. 

Dashboard Area—The main “body” of the Job Properties dialog displays information and options available 

for each different task you select from the Task List. The information shown in the dashboard area is intended 

to help you understand the options available and answer most questions that may arise. 

Of particular interest, the Job Schedule page of the Job Properties dialog contains a check box that alternately 

enables and disables a Primary or Secondary Defragmentation Job on the volumes selected in the Computer 

pane. When this check box is enabled, a Primary or Secondary Defragmentation Job will be run on the selected 

volumes, using the schedule, defragmentation methods, and disk and CPU priorities specified within the other 

properties pages. 

Task List Options 

The Task List in the Job Properties dialog includes these options:


• Job Schedule — See page 32 for more information 

• Defragmentation Method — See page 43 for more information 

• Disk and CPU Priorities — See page 44 for more information 

• General — For each selected volume in the Computer pane of the Job Properties dialog, the General page 

of the Job Properties dialog shows when the Primary or Secondary Defragmentation Job last ran, the 

number of fragments eliminated today, and the cumulative total of all fragments eliminated. 

I-FAAST Defragmentation Job Properties 

Since I-FAAST Defragmentation Jobs are a specialized operation, the only “Property” available is the job 

scheduling option described on page 31. 

Click I-FAAST Defragmentation Job Properties in the Diskeeper toolbar or the Set It and Forget It 

task group in the Quick Launch pane to display the I-FAAST Job Properties dialog. 

As with Primary and Secondary Defragmentation Jobs, the I-FAAST Job Properties dialog consists of three 

sections, somewhat similar to the main Diskeeper console: 

Computer Pane—The upper section of the Job Properties dialog shows a listing of the volumes on your 

computer, the scheduling status, the date and time of the next scheduled defragmentation job of this type (I- 

FAAST), the schedule type and other retails about any schedules set. 

Task List—Due to the unique nature of I-FAAST Defragmentation Jobs, the left side of the Job Properties 

dialog only contains two options: The Job Schedule option and the General option. The Job Schedule option, as 

the name implies, is used to enable I-FAAST Defragmentation schedules. The General option shows details 

about the potential performance gains for the selected volume from I-FAAST, and details about when it last ran 

on the volume and the number of fragments eliminated. 

Dashboard Area—The main “body” of the Job Properties dialog displays information and options available 

for each different task you select from the Task List. The information shown in the dashboard area is intended 

to help you understand the options available and answer most questions that may arise. 

Of particular interest, the Job Schedule page of the Job Properties dialog contains a check box that alternately 

enables and disables an I-FAAST Defragmentation Job on the volumes selected in the Computer pane. When 

this check box is enabled, an I-FAAST Defragmentation Job will be run on the selected volumes, using the 

schedule specified within the Job Schedule page. 

Using Different Defragmentation Methods 

Diskeeper allows you to choose the type of defragmentation that best suits your needs. You can specify 

different defragmentation methods for each Primary and Secondary defragmentation job you establish. 

Diskeeper provides these defragmentation methods: 

• Quick Defragmentation — This method provides the fastest defragmentation. It reduces the 

defragmentation time by placing the emphasis on defragmenting the fragmented files, rather than free 

space consolidation, since this returns the greatest system performance gain. This defragmentation method 

will complete faster and use fewer resources, but note that the free space consolidation will not be as 

thorough as the other methods. 

• Recommended Defragmentation — This is the default, proven and balanced mix of file defragmentation 

and free space consolidation. It is designed to gain the best disk performance without using excessive 

system resources. 

• Comprehensive Defragmentation — This defragmentation method performs additional free space 

consolidation. This method performs a normal Diskeeper defragmentation, but then additionally performs


extra processing to further improve free space consolidation. It is important to note this method requires 

additional processing and time, and free space consolidation improvement will be gradual as the option is 

used over time. Since the Comprehensive Defragmentation method is best suited for scheduled 

defragmentation jobs, it is not available for Manual Defragmentation Jobs. 

In addition to these options, you can specify how Diskeeper handles large files. When the Efficiently 

defragment large files option is enabled, Diskeeper defragments large files only to the point where access time 

is improved and further defragmentation will not return a significant improvement. This can save considerable 

system resources and can significantly reduce the time to run a job. 

The Defragmentation Methods options are available within the Primary and Secondary Job Properties options 

described on page 43. 

To change the defragmentation method for Manual Defragmentation Jobs, click Manual Defragmentation Job 

Properties in the toolbar, then select Defragmentation Methods. Note the defragmentation method you 

set for Manual Defragmentation jobs will apply to all manual defragmentation jobs on all your volumes. 

To change the defragmentation method for Primary or Secondary defragmentation jobs, click Primary 

Defragmentation Job Properties or Secondary Defragmentation Job Properties in the 

toolbar,, select one or more volumes, then select Defragmentation Method. 

Note that the defragmentation method you set for Primary or Secondary defragmentation jobs will apply to all 

jobs of that type. For example, you can use the “Quick Defragmentation” method for all Primary 

Defragmentation Jobs, and use the “Comprehensive Defragmentation” method for your Secondary 

Defragmentation Jobs. 

Setting Disk and CPU Priority 

You can control the amount of disk input/output (I/O) and CPU resources used by Diskeeper for Manual, 

Primary and Secondary defragmentation jobs. For each of these job types, the Properties option allows you to 

control the disk and CPU priority. 

Running at the lowest CPU priority minimizes the system performance impact when Diskeeper is 

defragmenting a volume. However, defragmentation jobs running at the lowest priority can take substantially 

longer to complete than those running at higher priorities, since Diskeeper "backs off" for any process running 

at a higher priority (even screen savers). For this reason, you may have occasions where you want to run 

Diskeeper at a higher CPU priority. Keep in mind, though, that your system performance may be impaired 

when Diskeeper is run at higher priorities. 

In addition to the different levels of CPU priorities to choose from, Diskeeper also offers I/O Smart. This option 

takes the concept of run priorities one step farther by “throttling” (suspending) the defragmentation process 

whenever disk I/O activity is detected on a disk while it is being defragmented. This ensures the 

defragmentation process will be transparent to users, no matter how active the disk. 

To change the priority for Manual Defragmentation Jobs, click Manual Defragmentation Job Properties 

in the toolbar, then select Disk and CPU Priority. Note the disk and CPU priority properties you set for 

Manual Defragmentation jobs will apply to all manual defragmentation jobs on all your volumes. 

To change the priority for Primary or Secondary defragmentation jobs, click Primary Defragmentation Job 

Properties or Secondary Defragmentation Job Properties in the toolbar, select one or more 

volumes, then select Disk and CPU Priority. 

Note that the Disk and CPU Priority properties you set for Primary or Secondary defragmentation jobs will 

apply to all jobs of that type. For example, you can set the priority for all Primary Defragmentation Jobs to run


at the Lowest Windows priority, and have all Secondary Defragmentation Jobs run at the Normal Windows 

priority. 

Diskeeper Configuration Properties 

Click Diskeeper Configuration Properties in the Diskeeper toolbar or the Configure Diskeeper task 

group in the Quick Launch pane to display the Diskeeper Configuration Properties dialog. 

The Diskeeper Configuration Properties dialog allows you to view and edit properties that determine how 

Diskeeper looks and behaves. The different options in the task pane on the left side of the Diskeeper 

Configuration Properties dialog give you quick access to these options: 

• General—See version, copyright and customer support information about your copy of Diskeeper. 

• Updates and Upgrades—Check for newer versions of Diskeeper. More information 

• Frag Shield (Paging File and MFT Settings)—Assistance for configuring your paging files and Master 

File Tables (MFTs) to help prevent them from fragmenting in the first place. See page 45 for more 

information. 

• File Exclusions—Specify files and folders that you do not want Diskeeper to process. See page 48 for 

more information. 

• Data Collection—Specify the type of data Diskeeper collects for its performance and historical reports. 

See page 49 for more information. 

• Event Logging—Specify the information Diskeeper writes to the Event Log. See page 50 for more 

information. 

• Display Behaviors—Specify how different parts of the Diskeeper console are displayed. See page 52 for 

more information. 

• Power Management—Specify how Diskeeper operates when your computer is running on battery power. 

See page 52 for more information. 

Updates and Upgrades 


group in the Quick Launch pane, then select the Updates and Upgrades option. The Updates and Upgrades 

page offers these options: 

• Check Now—Use this option to check immediately for a more recent version of Diskeeper. 

If a newer version of Diskeeper is available, you are given the option of downloading it. When the 

download screen is displayed, click Run this program from its current location to begin installing the 

update. 

Otherwise, click Save this program to disk to save the Diskeeper update installation package on your 

computer for later installation. (To install an update stored on your computer in this manner, simply 

double-click the file you download and follow the instructions displayed.) 

• Check Automatically—Use this option to allow Diskeeper to automatically check for newer versions on a 

periodic basis. 

Frag Shield


Note: This feature is only available when Diskeeper is running on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows 

XP, and Windows Server 2003. 


group in the Quick Launch pane, then select the Frag Shield (Paging File and MFT Settings) option. Use the 

Frag Shield option to configure the Master File Tables (MFTs) and paging files on your volumes, and help 

prevent them from becoming fragmented. Click Edit to open the Frag Shield dialog, which guides you through 

configuring your MFTs and paging files. 

Frag Shield helps you configure your MFTs and paging files as recommended in published Microsoft 

guidelines. Following these recommendations will help keep these critical system files contiguous. 

Frag Shield is comprised of two components: the MFT configuration tool and the paging file configuration tool. 

These tools allow you to set up your paging files and MFTs such that fragmentation will be very unlikely to 

occur in the future. 

After running Frag Shield once, data gathered by Diskeeper during future analysis and defragmentation jobs as 

well as data gathered periodically on paging file usage is used to determine if either configuration tool should 

be run again. Should the need arise to run either tool again, you are given a recommendation and are provided a 

link to easily access the appropriate tool. In most cases, once these tools are run they will not be needed again. 

Note that any scheduled defragmentation jobs are temporarily suspended when the Frag Shield dialog is 

opened. Also note that any running Diskeeper defragmentation engines will be automatically stopped before 

Frag Shield makes any changes to your computer configuration. 

Configuring the MFT 

The Master File Table (MFT) is, in a sense, a file containing records about each file on an NTFS volume. In 

general terms, one file record exists in the MFT for each file on the volume. (There are exceptions to this. For 

example, a highly-fragmented file can require multiple file records in the MFT to store the information about 

the many fragments that make up the file.) When an NTFS volume is first created, Windows reserves a portion 

of the volume for the MFT. As files are added to the volume, the MFT grows as additional file records are 

added to it. As the disk fills, it is possible for the MFT to outgrow the space originally reserved for it. When 

this happens, additional new space is reserved for the MFT, but this new space is usually not adjacent to the 

original MFT zone. This is the cause of MFT fragmentation. 

Also, when free space becomes too low, files get written into the space reserved for the MFT, thus causing the 

MFT to eventually expand around these files in a fragmented manner. This is another common cause of MFT 

fragmentation. 

The MFT configuration tool helps pre-extend the MFT in a contiguous manner, so future growth of the MFT 

will not result in fragmented extensions of the file. Approximately one spare file record is needed for each file 

that will occupy the volume in the future. The number of file records to add is determined in one of two ways: 

• Frag Shield recommends the size increase based on the estimated number of files that could occupy the 

volume. This estimate is based on the current average file size and amount of available free space. 

• You can enter in how many files you estimate will potentially occupy the volume. 

Tip: Pre-extending the MFT can be beneficial in the early stages of setting up a computer system, 

including cases where you are creating “images” of the system to deploy to other computers. 

Once the number of file records to add has been determined, Frag Shield ensures it is safe to add these records. 

In other words, there must be adequate free space in the volume (20% after the MFT has been expanded) and if 

adding the records would fragment the MFT, or the MFT is already too fragmented, then the MFT is 

defragmented and/or files are moved to allow the MFT to extend continuously. (Windows NT and Windows 

2000 require MFT defragmentation be done at boot-time.)


On an ongoing basis, whenever analysis and defragmentation of the volume is done, the percentage of free 

MFT space is checked and if it is beyond a certain percentage of use, the Reliability pane shows this 

information, recommends the MFT configuration tool be run again, and provides a link to run the tool. 

Note: Once the MFT is extended, it cannot be reduced in size without reformatting the volume. 

Configuring Paging Files 

The paging file is an area of a disk set aside to temporarily hold data intended to reside in computer memory. 

As the operating system needs physical memory (RAM), it temporarily moves less-used data from the RAM to 

the hard disk. Data is copied back and forth between the paging file and the system memory as needed. This is 

known as “paging” or “swapping”. 

When Windows is first installed, a paging file is initially created based on the amount of physical memory 

(RAM) detected on your computer. Windows establishes both an initial and a maximum size for the paging file. 

Over time, this default paging file can become too small, so Windows extends the file, often in a noncontiguous 

manner. When the paging file becomes fragmented, it takes the operating system longer to move 

data into and out of the paging file, thus slowing the computer. 

The Frag Shield paging file configuration tool helps you set the paging file size correctly and handles any 

fragmentation incurred during the process. By specifying a correct size for the paging file, you allow it to 

handle all the memory needs of the system without needing for it to grow and potentially fragment as a result. 

Since the paging file can only be defragmented when the computer boots, it is especially beneficial to prevent it 

from fragmenting. 

One possible solution to paging file fragmentation is to choose a size for the paging file that is large enough to 

accommodate current and future memory needs in such a way that it would never grow, then set the initial and 

the maximum paging file sizes to this value. The main disadvantage to this approach is that it could increase the 

paging file size unnecessarily, thus robbing you of disk space. 

Microsoft recommends the following method to determine the appropriate size of a paging file 1 : 

“You can also determine the appropriate size of a paging file by multiplying the Paging File\% Usage 

Peak counter value by the size of Pagefile.sys. The % Usage Peak counter indicates how much of the 

paging file is being used. Consider expanding the page file whenever either this counter reaches 70 

percent of the total size in bytes of all paging files or the Memory\% Committed Bytes In Use counter 

reaches 85 percent, whichever occurs first.” 

Frag Shield monitors these counters to periodically compute the appropriate size of the paging file. When you 

open Frag Shield, and whenever a defragmentation or analysis is done, Frag Shield uses the collected paging 

file usage data to make a recommendation as to whether the paging file minimum size and maximum size 

should be expanded, and by how much. You are given other basic statistical data regarding your memory usage 

and can elect to use the recommendation or choose different values for the initial and maximum paging file 

sizes. 

When you choose to make size changes to the paging file, the paging file configuration tool determines if a 

reboot or defragmentation is needed and takes the necessary actions. 

As a note, you might occasionally open a very large file or open many files at once, which will expand the 

paging file. Later, the operating system will reduce the page file in size. Thus, in this case it is beneficial to 

have a different initial and maximum paging file size, as it allows it to only take up space on the disk as needed. 

If expanding the page file under these circumstances would fragment it, when it is reduced in size again the 

extra fragments would be eliminated due to the size reduction. Therefore, some expansion and contraction is 

useful and does not cause any long term fragmentation. 

On an ongoing basis, whenever analysis and defragmentation of the volume is done, the calculated optimum 

page file size is checked against the current page file size. If the current size is determined inadequate, the 

1 Windows 2000 Professional Resource Kit, Chapter 28 – Evaluating Memory and Cache Usage


Reliability pane shows this information, recommends the page file configuration tool be run again, and provides 

a link to run it. 

File Exclusions 

Diskeeper exclusion lists allow you to specify files and directories that will not be allowed to be processed by 

Diskeeper in the Set It and Forget It or Manual defragmentation modes. For example, you might not want to 

defragment temporary files that will soon be deleted. 

Keep in mind that fragmented files that are excluded from defragmentation can "skew" the analysis results 

displayed in the Job Report tab. 

Diskeeper uses two lists one that you specify, and second "internal" list that you cannot modify. The exclusion 

list that you create is described below. See page 49 for more information about the Diskeeper Internal 

Exclusion List. 


group in the Quick Launch pane, then select the File Exclusions option. Within this page, you can specify the 

files, folders and volumes you want to be excluded from Diskeeper processing. 

The following controls are available in the File Exclusions page: 

Note: Wildcard file specifications such as * or ? are allowed. 

Files 

Use this section of the File Exclusions page to choose specific files (by name) to be excluded from 

defragmentation. Highlight the file(s) to be excluded, and then click Add Files to add the file to the exclusion 

list. 

Path 

Use this section of the File Exclusions page to choose specific directories to be excluded from defragmentation. 

Select a directory by highlighting it, and then click Add Folder to add the directory to the exclusion list. 

When a directory folder is added to the exclusion list, any subdirectories below the directory in the tree are also 

excluded. 

Volumes 

Use this section of the File Exclusions page to choose the volume from which you want to exclude files or 

directories from defragmentation. 

Add Files Button 

Click Add Files to add the selected file(s) to the Diskeeper exclusion list. 

Add Folder Button 

Click Add Folder to add the selected directory path to the Diskeeper exclusion list. 

Exclusion List Box 

This box shows the files, directories, and volumes that will be excluded from defragmentation. 

Remove Button 

Click Remove to remove specific files, directories, or volumes from the Diskeeper exclusion list. To remove 

one or more items from the list, highlight the items in the Exclusion List Box and click Remove. 

Save Button 

Click Save to save the exclusion list and return to Diskeeper.

Cancel Button 


Click Cancel to cancel any changes you have made to the Diskeeper exclusion list and return to the main 

Diskeeper display. 

Diskeeper Internal Exclusion List 

There are certain files that should not be moved under any circumstances. These files may be system files or 

files related to specific applications. Moving these specific files can cause system or application failure. As a 

result, Diskeeper uses an “internal” exclusion list to ensure these files are always excluded from Diskeeper 

processing. This list is fixed in memory and cannot be modified. These are the files that are currently in the 

Diskeeper internal exclusion list: 

• bootsect.dos 

• hiberfil.sys 

• memory.dmp 

• safeboot.fs 

• safeboot.csv 

• safeboot.rsv 

Note that these files are not displayed in the Diskeeper user-defined exclusion list. See Diskeeper won't move 

some files no matter what I do. Is there a problem with Diskeeper? on page 63 for more information about the 

Diskeeper internal exclusion list. 

Data Collection 

Diskeeper can provide useful information about file performance loss on your volumes, and also historical data 

about the fragmentation levels on your volumes. 


group in the Quick Launch pane, then select the Data Collection option. Within the Data Collection page, you 

are presented with these options: 

Enable volume performance data collection 

By default, Diskeeper uses pre-determined disk performance values when calculating your performance loss 

due to fragmentation. To get a more accurate picture of the performance of your volumes, Diskeeper can 

perform a performance data scan of all your hard drives. 

Use the Enable volume performance data collection option to enable or disable the scanning of your volumes 

to gather volume performance data. 

Diskeeper uses the data gathered during the performance data scan to measure the performance of each of your 

volumes. It uses this information to determine how much performance you are losing due to fragmentation, and 

shows the results in the Job Report tab when you run an analysis or defragmentation. 

Allowing this scan to take place improves the accuracy of the performance data displayed by Diskeeper after 

the analysis or defragmentation of a disk. When this option is disabled, Diskeeper uses default disk 

performance values when calculating your performance loss due to fragmentation. 

This performance scan may take several minutes to complete and may temporarily slow down your computer, 

but only while the scan is running. 

Enable volume fragmentation data collection 

In order to provide accurate information in the Historical Report tab, and the Job Log tab, Diskeeper must 

analyze your volumes daily and save that data to a data file.


Use the Enable volume fragmentation data collection option to enable or disable the daily analysis of your 

volumes to gather fragmentation data. 

Event Logging 

Diskeeper allows you to record information about its activity in a log file. 


group in the Quick Launch pane, then select the Event Logging option. Within this page, you can alternately 

enable and disable the logging of various events to the Diskeeper Event Log. The logging method varies, 

depending on the version of Windows you are using. 

See below for information about specifying what gets logged. 

Under Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 

A log of Diskeeper activity is stored in the Windows Application Event Log file. 

When Diskeeper logs an event, the event and its message are appended to the Windows Application Event Log 

file, along with the date, time, user, and other identifying information. These events can then be viewed with 

the Windows Event Viewer by choosing the Application option in the Event Viewer Log menu. 

The Event Viewer is found in the Windows Administrative Tools group. 

Note: Left in its default configuration, the Windows Application Event log on Windows NT, Windows 2000 

and Windows XP can fill up quickly. See page 4 for information on how to set up the Application Event Log 

under these operating systems to avoid this situation. 

Under Windows 98/Me 

A log of Diskeeper activity is stored in a text file. 

When Diskeeper logs an event, the event and its message are appended to the Diskeeper log file. These events 

are written as a text file, which can then be viewed with Notepad, or your choice of text editor programs. 

The Diskeeper log file is named DkEventLog.txt and it is stored by default in the directory folder where 

Diskeeper was installed. The file is limited to 1 MB in size. Once it reaches this size, the log file is purged 

completely and the event log is started from scratch. 

Specifying What Gets Logged 

Note: Left in it default configuration, the Windows Application Event log on Windows NT, Windows 2000, 

and Windows XP can fill up quickly. See page 4 for information on how to set up the Application Event Log 

under these operating systems to avoid this situation. 

Also Note: Since Windows 98 and Windows Me do not have an Application Event Log, Diskeeper events are 

written to a text file named DkEventLog.txt and it is stored by default in the directory folder where Diskeeper 

was installed. 


group in the Quick Launch pane, then select the Event Logging option to access the Event Logging page. 

The Event Logging page displays a list of events for which logging can be enabled or disabled. Use the check 

boxes for the following options to alternately enable or disable each option: 

Service start and stop


When this option is enabled, an entry is made to the Event Log each time the Diskeeper service starts or stops. 

This option is enabled by default. 

Defragmentation start and stop 

When this option is enabled, an entry is made to the Event Log whenever a defragmentation run starts or stops. 

The Event Log entry for this option also includes information about files that cannot be moved, either because 

the files are on a Diskeeper exclusion list, or the files cannot be opened. Common causes preventing a file from 

being opened include access controls or permissions on the file being set to prevent Diskeeper from accessing 

it. File permissions must allow SYSTEM to have full control of a file in order for Diskeeper to defragment it. 

See page 66 for more information about setting access permissions. 

This option is enabled by default. 

Defragmented files 

When this option is enabled, an entry is made to the Event Log listing each file that is defragmented by 

Diskeeper. Note that enabling this option can cause the Event Log to fill rather quickly, especially if Diskeeper 

defragments a high number of fragmented files. (This will be particularly likely when Diskeeper is first run on a 

volume, since Diskeeper will probably be defragmenting a large number of files.) 

This option is not enabled by default. 

Moved files 

When this option is enabled, an entry is made to the Event Log each time a file is moved for reasons other than 

to defragment the file. This would include cases where files are moved in order to create more contiguous free 

space. This option also notes when files could not be moved, such as files that are on a Diskeeper exclusion list 

or files that cannot be opened. Common causes preventing a file from being opened include access controls or 

permissions on the file being set to prevent Diskeeper from accessing it. As mentioned previously, file 

permissions must allow SYSTEM to have full control of a file in order for Diskeeper to defragment it. See page 

66 for more information about setting access permissions. 

Here again, enabling this option can cause the Event Log to fill quickly. This option is not enabled by default. 

Disk information 

On Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003: When this option is enabled, 

an entry is made to the Application Event Log at the end of each defragmentation run showing general 

information about the volume that was defragmented. This appears in the Windows Event Viewer as Diskeeper 

Event 15. This option is not enabled by default. 

On Windows 98/Me: When this option is enabled, an entry is made in the Diskeeper EventLog.txt file 

containing information as described above. This option is not enabled by default. 

For a description of information contained in the Description box, see page 22. 

File information 


an entry is made to the Event Log at the end of each defragmentation run showing information about the files 

on the volume that was defragmented. This appears in the Windows Event Viewer as Diskeeper Event 16. This 

option is not enabled by default. 


containing information described above. This option is not enabled by default. 


Paging File information 


an entry is made to the Event Log at the end of each defragmentation run showing information about the paging


file on the volume that was defragmented (if it exists on the volume). This appears in the Windows Event 

Viewer as Diskeeper Event 17. This option is not enabled by default. 




Directory information 


an entry is made to the Event Log at the end of each defragmentation run showing information about the 

directories on the volume that was defragmented. This appears in the Windows Event Viewer as Diskeeper 

Event 18. This option is not enabled by default. 




MFT information 


an entry is made to the Event Log at the end of each defragmentation run showing information about the Master 

File Table (MFT) on the volume that was defragmented. (Keep in mind, since only NTFS volumes have an 

MFT, this information will only apply to NTFS volumes.) The entry appears in the Windows Event Viewer as 

Diskeeper Event 19. This option is not enabled by default. 

This option does not exist on Windows 98/Me machines, as MFT files are unique to Windows NT through 

Windows Server 2003. 


Display Behaviors 


group in the Quick Launch pane, then select the Display Behaviors option to control the following option: 

TVE Display 

Enable this option to have Diskeeper display “before and after” volume maps when defragmenting volumes 

with the Terabyte Volume Engine (TVE). Because of the additional system overhead required to gather and 

display the volume map information, enabling this display can significantly increase the time required to 

complete a defragmentation job. (Note this option is only available in Diskeeper editions that support the TVE.) 

Power Management 


group in the Quick Launch pane, then select the Power Management option to control the how Diskeeper 

operates on computers running on battery power. 

When this option is enabled and the computer is running on battery power, any scheduled defragmentation jobs 

are postponed, and a message noting this is written to the Windows Application Event Log. If you start a 

Manual Defragmentation Job when this option is enabled (and the computer is running on battery power), a 

message is displayed asking if you want to continue, even though running Diskeeper on battery power may 

reduce the available battery time. 

When this option is enabled and the computer switches from normal power to battery power, any ongoing 

scheduled analysis or defragmentation jobs are safely stopped and a message noting this is written to the


Windows Application Event Log. If you are running Diskeeper manually and the computer switches to battery 

power when this option is enabled, a message is displayed informing you that Diskeeper has stopped running. 

Using Power Management on Windows Server 2003 

The Diskeeper Power Management option under Windows Server 2003 differs somewhat than on other 

platforms. This is due to the VSS Volume Shadowing functionality available in the Windows Server 2003 

operating system. 

The Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) provides the ability to create snapshots, or point-in-time 

(PIT) copies, of shares and volumes. These snapshots are images of the data on the disk as it looks at a 

particular point in time. By keeping these images of data, you can quickly recover individual files or entire 

volumes directly from the disk as they appeared when the snapshot was taken. 

Important Note: On volumes with a cluster allocation unit of less than 16 KB, VSS will see file movement 

done by the defragmentation process as "changed data" and take a point-in-time snapshot, even though only the 

location of the data has changed. Defragmentation on volumes with cluster sizes greater than 16 KB is correctly 

recognized by VSS and defragmentation jobs will not cause these unnecessary snapshots. Unnecessary 

snapshots will cause the VSS storage area to increases in size, possibly resulting in the deletion of earlier VSS 

snapshots. For this reason, Diskeeper gives you options to control the defragmentation process on systems with 

VSS enabled. 

See Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 312067 Shadow copies may be lost when you defragment a volume 

for more information. Diskeeper Corporation concurs with the Microsoft recommendation to use 16 KB or 

larger clusters on volumes on which you plan to both defragment and employ VSS. 

In addition to the basic option to stop defragmentation when running on battery power (as described above), 

you will also see these options when using the Power Management option on Windows Server 2003: 

• Defragment even if changes to the volume due to defragmentation are saved by VSS Shadow Copy 

Enabling this option can cause the VSS storage area to increase in size, potentially deleting earlier 

snapshots. 

• Show pop-up message when scheduled defragmentation cannot be started because of VSS Shadow Copy 

This option alerts you to cases where the defragmentation process cannot be started due to VSS activity. 

Permissions 

Note: This option is only available in Diskeeper Professional and Professional Premier editions, and is not 

supported on Windows 98/Me or Windows NT 4.0. 


group in the Quick Launch pane, then select the Permissions option to specify whether users with non- 

Administrator accounts can access and run Diskeeper. 

In keeping with published Microsoft guidelines, by default, Diskeeper only allows users who are members of 

the Administrators group to analyze and defragment volumes. This option can be used to override that default. 

When this option is enabled, all users can access and run Diskeeper. When it is not enabled, only those users 

who are members of the Administrators group can access and run Diskeeper. 

Terabyte Volume Engine 

Diskeeper Server Enterprise edition includes the Terabyte Volume Engine (TVE), which is a specialized 

defragmentation engine for very large NTFS volumes (60 GB or larger in size). The TVE is designed to 

efficiently handle volumes containing millions of files. Note that the TVE is only used on NTFS volumes.


The TVE operates differently from the standard Diskeeper defragmentation engines since it is designed 

specifically for very large volumes. For example, when the TVE is defragmenting a volume, the graphic display 

usually shown in the Volume Map tab is replaced with numerical data showing the progress of the 

defragmentation operation. This reduction in system resource usage pays off in lower CPU consumption and 

faster defragmentation of very large volumes. (You can optionally disable this resource-saving feature. See 

page 52 for more information.) 

Also, the TVE may or may not examine the whole volume in a single process. This saves system memory 

resources. 

Here is a description of the information displayed in the Volume Map tab when the TVE is defragmenting a 

volume: 

File record examinations 

This is the number of times a file record (MFT record) was examined and is basically used to show that 

progress is occurring. The number may be larger than the number of file records on the volume if a full job 

runs, because a file record may be examined more than once, or it may be smaller than the number of file 

records on the volume if the job didn't run to completion. 

Fragmented file examinations 

This is the number of the above file record examinations that located fragmented files. Again, a file may be 

examined more than once during a defragmentation job, so this number will not match the number of 

fragmented files reported in the Job Report tab. 

Fragments eliminated 

This is the number of fragments that were eliminated by the TVE. It may not match the number of fragments 

reported in the Job Report tab because the job was only partially completed, or because files became more or 

less fragmented as the result of other processes during the period when the engine runs. 

Contiguous file examinations 

This is the number of the above file record examinations that located contiguous files that could be moved to 

help consolidate free space. Not all files on the volume are candidates for this action, so the number will most 

likely be far less than the number of contiguous files in the Job Report tab. 

Files that could not be processed 

This is the number of times that a file couldn't be moved. The most common reasons for a file not moving are: 

• Diskeeper was denied permission to open the file (the file did not allow the SYSTEM process Full Control) 

• The file was open for exclusive use by another process 

• Free space was no longer available when the move was attempted. 

The Windows application event log stores the reason(s) for the first fifty files that could not be processed. 

Running Diskeeper From the Command Prompt 

In addition to its Graphical User Interface (GUI), Diskeeper supports commands from the Windows command 

prompt. This provides an alternative method of defragmenting disk volumes. The single command supports 

several optional command qualifiers. 

To use this command, follow these steps: 

1. Open the Windows command prompt window. 

2. Type Diskeeper at the command prompt, followed by a drive letter and any of the optional command 

parameters. 

The Diskeeper command defragments the files of the selected volume. Use the command in this form:


Diskeeper [/b] [/?] 

Parameters 

 

This is a required parameter that will accept any valid drive letter. A colon after the drive letter is not required. 

/b 

Boot—On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems, this option causes specific files that are critical to 

booting your system to be moved adjacent to each other into a contiguous piece of free space, and defragments 

them if necessary. Using this option can decrease the time needed to boot your computer. 

/? 

Help—Displays the command prompt Help text. 

/f 

Not Used—This switch is only used for compatibility with the built-in defragmenter and is ignored by 


Examples 

Diskeeper D 

Defragments volume D. 

Diskeeper D /b 

Defragments volume D and performs a boot optimization. 

Diskeeper /? 

Displays the following Help text: 

Copyright (c) 2004 by Diskeeper Corporation 

Diskeeper [ /b ] [ /? ] [/f] 

is a required parameter that will accept a valid drive 

letter. 

The switches are: 

/b Boot – Performs the Windows XP boot optimization process, if 

needed. Ignored on other platforms. 

/? Help - Displays this help message. 

/f – This switch is only used for compatibility with the built-in 

defragmenter and is ignored by Diskeeper.

Theory of Operation 57 

Chapter 5 

Theory of Operation 

This chapter describes the Diskeeper design goals and how those goals were met. 

Introduction 

As described in the introduction of this manual, the term disk fragmentation means two things: 

• a condition in which pieces of individual files on a disk are not contiguous, but rather are broken up and 

scattered around the disk volume; and 

• a condition in which the free space on a disk volume consists of little pieces of space here and there rather 

than a few large free spaces. 

The effects of excessive fragmentation are twofold as well: 

• file access takes longer because a file must be collected in pieces here and there, requiring several disk 

accesses instead of just one; and 

• file creation takes longer because space for the file must be allocated in little pieces here and there instead 

of just one contiguous allocation. 

Before the introduction of Diskeeper, there was no method for completely correcting the problems of file and 

free space fragmentation on Windows NT computers or in a mixed Windows network. 

Design Goals 

In designing Diskeeper for Windows, the following goals were established: 

• The product must be completely safe to use. 

• It must improve Windows system performance. It is not designed to make the disk look “pretty”—it is 

designed to improve disk performance and, as a result, overall system performance. 

• It should process live disks without interfering with user access to files. 

• It should run without operator intervention. 

• It must defragment all possible files and consolidate free space into the smallest possible number of large 

spaces. 

Diskeeper defragments files and free space on a disk, allowing access to the files on the disk at any time while 

Diskeeper is running. 

Safety 

Diskeeper is designed with safety as the highest priority. 

To ensure the safe movement of files on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 

2003 systems, Diskeeper uses mechanisms built into the operating system that were developed and 

implemented by Diskeeper Corporation (then known as Executive Software), and fully incorporated into 

Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 by Microsoft. On Windows 98 and 

Windows Me systems, Diskeeper uses similar mechanisms used by Microsoft and others. 

By using these built-in mechanisms, Diskeeper maintains cache coherency, file security and permissions 

information, and file content integrity no matter how fragmented the files on the disk are.

58 Theory of Operation 

The foremost design goal for Diskeeper is to make sure that no data is ever lost. To accomplish this goal 

Diskeeper uses the following criteria for accessing files: 

• the contents of data files are never modified under any circumstances 

• only one file is processed at a time, not the whole disk 

• each processing pass is independent of the other passes 

• no information is stored on any other device or in a “scratch space” 

• Diskeeper accesses a file in such a way that no user access can conflict with Diskeeper during the critical 

portion of the relocation process 

• file relocation is aborted if any error is encountered, leaving the file in its original state 

Diskeeper was designed to err on the side of caution. In other words, it only moves a file on the volume when it 

is absolutely certain that no data will be lost, including file attributes. The only change to file attribute-type 

information is the physical location of the file on the volume. None of the file dates are changed and no other 

fields in the file record header are used to store Diskeeper information. 

Diskeeper never defragments or moves files that are specifically stored at a specific physical location on the 

volume. 

If anything causes your computer to crash while Diskeeper is running, or if you abort the Diskeeper 

defragmentation run in the middle of the file relocation process, no data is ever at risk. 

Windows 98/Me Note: Stopping or pausing a Diskeeper job through its menus or toolbars is completely safe. 

Note, however, that in the event of a system crash or other non-standard termination of the Diskeeper process 

while it is running, it is possible for free space and file information to be stored incorrectly. Diskeeper 

Corporation strongly recommends running the Windows Scandisk error checking utility immediately when 

Diskeeper is stopped abnormally. Scandisk will correct any potential file errors. 

Performance 

When running in the “Set It and Forget It” mode, Diskeeper is designed to run in the background, without 

adversely affecting performance of your Windows computer. Steps have been taken to assure that, by default, 

Diskeeper overhead has the lowest possible impact on system performance. Diskeeper can be run at the lowest 

possible Windows priority, using only otherwise unused CPU cycles. Diskeeper was designed in such a way to 

ensure it will not interfere with other processes on your Windows computer. 

However, for cases where you want to defragment disks more quickly, Diskeeper allows you to increase the 

defragmentation priority. For more information, see page 44. 

Process Live Disks 

It is not acceptable to force users off the disk while performing routine defragmentation. To do so would be a 

case of the cure being worse than the disease. Access to fragmented files is better than no access at all. 

The best solution is to defragment online with users active on the same disk volume. Diskeeper was designed 

with this in mind. During most of the time Diskeeper is processing a file, it shares the file with any other users 

that may access the same file. The last step of processing the file, however, involves locking the file for a very 

brief period, a matter of milliseconds. If another user requests a file that Diskeeper has locked, that request is 

suspended for the brief period until Diskeeper releases the file. Then the request is serviced. There is never an 

interruption of either process as a result of this delay. 

This solution allows Diskeeper to defragment open files safely, regardless of whether they are open for read 

operations or for write operations. 

Note: Due to the Windows NT 4.0 design, directories, MFT and paging files cannot be moved safely on live 

disks. (NTFS directories can be moved on Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.) 

Therefore, Diskeeper performs these operations at the only safe time, while the computer is starting up.

Theory of Operation 59 

No Operator Intervention 

In keeping with the design goals, after Diskeeper has been started in the “Set It and Forget It” mode, it runs 

automatically in the background, without the need for operator intervention. It runs indefinitely, unless told 

otherwise by you.

Diskeeper Editions 61 

Appendix A 

Table of Diskeeper Editions 

The table below shows the different editions of Diskeeper available, as well as the features and capabilities of 

each:

62 Diskeeper Editions 

This table shows the different Diskeeper editions available and the Windows operating systems they support:

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions 63 

Appendix B 

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions 

Does Diskeeper work with Windows XP Service Pack 2? 

Yes. However, if you are installing or running Diskeeper on a computer running Windows XP Service Pack 2 

(SP2), be sure to visit www.diskeeper.com/sp2 for the latest information about running Diskeeper with SP2. 

Note that this information also applies to Windows Server 2003 SP1. 

Why won’t my volume defragment completely? 

This can be the result of several situations. If your volume is extremely full, there may not be sufficient free 

space to defragment the files completely. In that case, we recommend temporarily moving some of the files off 

the volume, particularly large files. This temporary measure often allows Diskeeper the “working room” it 

needs to complete the defragmentation process. It also allows Diskeeper to defragment the free space on the 

volume, increasing the possibility that the temporarily-moved files can be moved back to the volume in a 

contiguous or less fragmented condition. 

Another cause of incomplete defragmentation is a fragmented paging file. For more information, see Can 

Diskeeper defragment paging files? on page 64. 

A volume that, at some time, has been filled to capacity may have a severely fragmented Master File Table 

(MFT). Volumes that have been converted from FAT to NTFS often also have a fragmented MFT. A White 

Paper describing the causes and effects of MFT fragmentation is available from the Diskeeper Corporation 

website at www.diskeeper.com/products/documentation/documentation.asp. Use the Boot-Time 

defragmentation option to defragment a fragmented MFT. For more information, see page 38. 

Another situation that can prevent complete defragmentation of a volume is the existence of a large number of 

directories on the volume. For more information, see Can Diskeeper move directories? on page 64. 

Yet another cause for incomplete defragmentation on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and 

Windows Server 2003 systems can be a security access situation. Both SYSTEM and ADMINISTRATOR must 

have full control over a file (or the directory folder it is in) in order for Diskeeper to have access to move the 

file. This is because the Diskeeper service runs under the Administrator account, and System access is 

necessary to defragment files safely. This security feature is governed by the Windows NT, Windows 2000, 

Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 C2 security requirements. Included with Diskeeper is a batch file that 

sets the access permissions on a disk volume to allow Diskeeper to run properly. See page 66 for information 

about using this batch procedure. 

Diskeeper won't move some files no matter what I do. Is there a problem with 

Diskeeper? 

Diskeeper has a built-in list of files that it will not move under any circumstances. This list is referred to as the 

Diskeeper internal exclusion list. 

The most common reason for a file existing on the Diskeeper internal exclusion list is safety. The file cannot or 

should not be moved in order to maintain the integrity of your system. 

For example, the file memory.dmp is on the Diskeeper internal exclusion list. This file is on the exclusion list 

because the disk locations where this file is stored are loaded by the kernel when the system boots and stored in 

memory. These disk locations are then used to write the dump file should it need writing. If Diskeeper were to 

move this file, then the system failed, the dump file would be written over other files or in space considered to 

be free space. This could result in a very corrupted disk.

64 Answers to Frequently Asked Questions 

The same situation applies to hiberfil.sys. When your system goes into hibernation mode, the pre-fetched disk 

locations are overwritten with the hibernation data. If Diskeeper moved hiberfil.sys out and moved other files 

into those disk locations, then disk corruption would occur. 

Why doesn't Diskeeper move all of the files into one place on the volume? 

Our primary philosophy with Diskeeper is improving and maintaining the performance of your computer. The 

disk drives are the primary bottleneck in your computer's performance. Diskeeper restores the disks to top 

speed by eliminating fragmentation. 

It is a common misconception that a defragmented disk should look very neat and tidy in the Volume Map tab, 

with solid blue bars all the way across the screen (representing fragmentation-free files) and the rest white 

space (representing consolidated space). 

Clearly, the speed of the volume (meaning how fast you can access the data on it) is more important than the 

prettiness of the display or the consolidation of all the free space into one place. Free space consolidation might 

be important if the next file that you plan to create needs to be one gigantic contiguous file, but it has no effect 

on performance. In fact, the operating system may or may not write the next file into a contiguous location 

even if there is a large enough space. 

Because of this, when using the “Quick” or “Recommended” defragmentation methods, Diskeeper uses 

algorithms that achieve the highest speed from your volumes regardless of the arrangement of the free spaces 

on the disk and on the screen—and it does so without wasting time on excessive consolidation of free space. 

We simply go for the fastest possible file access times and then stop. 

Even so, you might ask why we don't continue and rearrange the files further to get a neat display? Because it 

takes computer power to do so. We long ago decided that it would be wrong for Diskeeper to consume more of 

your computer's performance than it gives back. So Diskeeper defragments until the disk is in top shape 

performance-wise and then stops. 

Now this might not be important to you if you like to sit and watch the display as Diskeeper defragments your 

drive, but it is a very big deal to large corporate data centers and people who depend on their computers for 

their work. They need all the performance they can get and can't hold up production while the defragmenter 

works to enhance the "look" of the disk but not improve its performance. This is why Diskeeper is designed to 

run in the background at the lowest possible priority, giving way to any other program that needs to run. And it 

is also why Diskeeper stops defragmenting when maximum performance has been achieved. 

Of course, for those who want to expend the additional computer resources, the “Comprehensive” 

defragmentation method is also available. This defragmentation method performs additional processing to 

further consolidate the free space on your volumes. 

Can Diskeeper move directories? 

Windows NT 4.0 does not allow directories to be moved, because of data integrity issues related to how 

Windows NT maintains directory information. Since Diskeeper runs while other processes are active on the 

system, it does not attempt to move directories online. 

However, directories on Windows NT 4.0 volumes can be moved safely while your computer is being started— 

a time when Windows has not yet taken complete control of the files and directories on your disk. For more 

information on how to consolidate Windows NT 4.0 directories, see page 38. 

On Windows 98/Me computers, and NTFS volumes on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 

2003 systems, Diskeeper can safely move and defragment directories, which makes consolidation unnecessary. 

Can Diskeeper defragment paging files? 

Diskeeper does not defragment active paging files, since paging files must be open for exclusive use by 

Windows at all times. However, Diskeeper can defragment paging files safely when your computer is being 

started—a time when the operating system has not yet taken full control of the files and directories on your 

disk. For more information about defragmenting paging files, see page 38.

Can Diskeeper defragment the Master File Table? 


The Master File Table (MFT) is the area on an NTFS disk volume where Windows NT, Windows 2000, 

Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 keep the necessary information for retrieving files from the disk 

volume. The MFT also contains information such as file creation, modification, and backup dates and times. 

Because the MFT is held open for exclusive use by Windows, Diskeeper does not move any pieces of this 

critical system file while Windows is running, but can do so safely at boot-time. For more information, see page 

38. 

Why doesn’t Diskeeper completely consolidate the free space on my volume? 

Several factors can prevent the free space on a volume from being defragmented: 

• A fragmented paging file. For more information, see page 38. 

• A large number of directories on the volume. For more information, see “Can Diskeeper move 

directories?” on page 64. 

On NTFS volumes, a portion of the free space on the volume is reserved by Windows for the Master File Table 

(MFT). For more information, see Why don’t my files get moved to the beginning of the volume? on page 65. 

Note that you can specify the “Comprehensive” defragmentation method, which emphasizes free space 

consolidation. See page 43 for more information about the different defragmentation methods available. 

It is important to know that having all of the free space in a single, contiguous piece provides very little (if any) 

performance benefit. Free space fragmented into hundreds of pieces will impact disk performance, but free 

space that’s in a few pieces should not have any effect on the performance of your disk. 

Why don’t my files get moved to the beginning of the volume? 

On NTFS volumes, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 reserve a portion 

of the free space on a disk volume for the Master File Table (MFT). This free space is usually most noticeable 

at the physical “beginning” of the volume (easily seen using Volume Map tab), but space is also reserved for 

use by the MFT in other areas of the volume. 

Since this space is reserved for exclusive use, Diskeeper will not move files into these areas of the volume, but 

will move them out of these areas. 

Why don't all of my NTFS volumes appear in the Diskeeper Volume List? 

Both SYSTEM and ADMINISTRATOR must have full control over a file (or the directory folder it is in) in 

order for Diskeeper to have access to move the file. This is because the Diskeeper service runs under the 

Administrator account, and System access is necessary to defragment files safely. This is a security feature 

governed by the Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 C2 security 

requirements. 

If the root-level directory folder does not have SYSTEM and ADMINISTRATOR set for full control (as seen 

in the Permissions section under the Security tab in the Properties dialog box) Diskeeper will not display the 

disk volume in the Volume list under some circumstances. 

How do I determine how often to run Diskeeper on my volume? 

This depends on many factors, including the level of file activity, the sizes and types of files used, and the 

amount of free space available on the volume. While there are no set rules on how often to defragment your 

disk volumes, here are some guidelines. 

• Of course, the first suggestion is to let the Diskeeper Smart Scheduling feature automatically and 

dynamically determine the optimum run frequency for your particular disk volumes. Smart Scheduling 

monitors the fragmentation levels of your volumes and adjusts the defragmentation schedule to best fit 

your needs, even as those needs change. See Smart Scheduling on page 33. 

• Disk volumes on busy file servers should be defragmented more often than those on single-user 

workstations. You may need to run Diskeeper on a server volume as often as every two to four hours to


maintain optimum system performance, while on a workstation, you may only need to run Diskeeper once 

a day or less. As a general rule, the busier the disk—the more often it will need to be defragmented. 

• To determine how often to run Diskeeper on your disk volumes, you can use the logging function of 

Diskeeper to monitor the number of files moved during each Diskeeper run. For information about how 

files that are moved by Diskeeper are logged, see page 50. In general, if Diskeeper moves fewer than 50 

files per run, you are running Diskeeper frequently enough to maintain the performance of your Windows 

system at an optimum level. If the number of files moved during each run is greater, or is increasing, 

schedule Diskeeper to run more frequently. (Here again, you can automate this by letting the Diskeeper 

Smart Scheduling feature control when to run Diskeeper.) 

How do I set access permissions to allow Diskeeper to defragment my files? 

In order for Diskeeper to have access to move files on NTFS volumes, both SYSTEM and ADMINISTRATOR 

must have full control over a file (or the directory folder it is in). This version of Diskeeper includes a batch file 

that sets the access permissions on a disk volume to allow Diskeeper to run properly. This batch file is called 

setdkacls.bat, and it is located in the directory folder where Diskeeper is installed. 

If you find you have made files inaccessible to Diskeeper, or that you have some files inaccessible to 

Diskeeper, open a command-prompt window, change directory to the Diskeeper installation directory, and type: 

setdkacls x: 

where x: is the letter name of the disk volume on which you want to change access permissions. 

The setdkacls.bat procedure automates the following sequence of commands: 

cd /d x: 

cd \ 

cacls * /e /t /c /g Administrators:F System:F 

For more information about the cacls command, type cacls /? at a command prompt. 

This batch procedure will only work if the account you are logged onto has been granted access to the file(s) 

you are wanting to defragment. 

Why don’t my defragmentation jobs all start at the same time? 

Most editions of Diskeeper allow you to defragment more than one disk volume at a time. However, when the 

defragmentation of two or more disks is scheduled to begin at the same time, Diskeeper will start each job 

separately, in one-minute intervals. For this reason, you will notice the start times for each Diskeeper job run in 

the Application Event Log can vary by several minutes. This is no cause for alarm. 

Why doesn’t the free space reported by the post-analysis (or postdefragmentation) 

summary pop-up screen match what the Diskeeper 

Fragmentation pane shows? 

Several post-analysis and post-defragmentation summary screens include information about the amount of free 

space available on the volume for defragmentation. This figure is based on the space available to Diskeeper, 

which may be less than the total free space on an NTFS volume. NTFS volumes reserve a percentage of the 

total volume for the Master File Table (MFT), which Diskeeper cannot use for defragmenting files. Because of 

this, the figure shown in the Diskeeper post-analysis and post-defragmentation summaries on NTFS volumes 

will not match the total free space figure displayed in the Diskeeper Fragmentation pane (or other utilities like 

Disk Properties in Windows Explorer). 

Should I use Diskeeper on RAID arrays? 

Yes—Diskeeper supports all levels of software- and hardware-based RAID arrays. RAID arrays are often used 

to increase system performance. In a RAID array of four disk drives, for example, a file can be accessed up to 

four times as fast as on a single drive. This is because the file is spread between the four drives, and all four 

drives can be accessed at the same time, so the file can be retrieved much faster. However, like the files on a 

single disk drive, these file parts can become fragmented on the individual drives, which reduces the speed


advantage of RAID. In fact, the effects of fragmentation can be more obvious in a RAID array than in a single 

disk drive. 

Diskeeper defragments RAID arrays just as it does single disk drives. Diskeeper improves the speed and 

performance of a RAID environment by eliminating wasteful and unnecessary I/Os from being issued by the 

file system. In our four-drive array example, it would defragment the pieces of the file on each separate drive as 

though they were separate files, and as directed by the RAID controller. 

Why do I get an incorrect excess fragment count after defragmenting an NTFS 

drive under Windows 2000? 

Under Windows 2000, NTFS files that have been compressed, then decompressed, accumulate excess space 

allocations that Diskeeper cannot move. (The defragmentation APIs can only move actual data, not unused 

allocated space in the file.) 

Microsoft states in knowledge base article Q228198 "Disk Defragmenter Analysis Shows More File Fragments 

Than File Size Suggests" that the "excess allocation" is released when the file is closed. Experiments performed 

in our labs show that this is not the case. The disk must be dismounted and remounted (or the system rebooted) 

followed by an open and a close of the file for the excess allocation to be released. 

Therefore, when this condition exists on an NTFS volume, Diskeeper moves the data portion of a file, and if the 

file has an excess allocation, it can actually fragment the file—one piece being the data just moved, the other 

piece being the excess allocation “left behind”. Diskeeper notes this properly in its statistics. However, 

sometime after the file movement is completed and the file is closed, the excess allocation is released by 

Windows 2000. Thus, a subsequent analysis shows the fragmentation figures reported at the end of the 

defragmentation run to be wildly wrong. 

This excess allocation phenomena was introduced in Windows 2000, but is not present in Windows XP or 

Windows Server 2003. 

Diskeeper engineers are working on a solution for this inconsistency. Until it is found, you can (1) avoid using 

NTFS disk compression or (2) perform a subsequent disk analysis to get the correct information. 

Does Diskeeper support Windows clustering? 

Diskeeper is certified for Windows clustering. To run Diskeeper in a clustered environment, perform the 

following steps: 

1. On the system that has control of the clustered disk(s), install Diskeeper and schedule it. 

2. Fail the clustered disks over to the other system, install Diskeeper and schedule it. 

After you perform these steps, Diskeeper will run on the clustered system that remains in operation after the 

other clustered system has experienced a system failure. Diskeeper will also run on the clustered disk/partition 

in an active-active cluster, defragmenting the clustered disk/partition on the system that currently has control of 

the disk/partition. 

Note: the Diskeeper Boot-Time Defragmentation will not run on clustered partitions. 

How can I run Diskeeper from an account that is not a member of the 

Administrators group? 

If the account you are using is not a member of the Administrators group, you will not be able to install or 

operate Diskeeper. We recommend that you simply use the Set and Forget It feature to set a schedule to allow 

Diskeeper to run in the background on all systems. Since the Set It and Forget It operation runs under the 

SYSTEM process, there is no need for an administrator to be logged in when it is running. 

Do I need to have the Diskeeper service running all the time? 

Yes. DkService is the program that actually runs Diskeeper defragmentation jobs. It monitors the Diskeeper 

schedule file and starts defragmentation jobs when they are needed. If the Diskeeper service is disabled or not 

present, you will not be able to run Diskeeper at all.


That said, if you look at the DkService process using Task Manager, you will see that it uses only a few 

seconds of CPU time each week. The fact that it is running all the time is not going to use up system resources, 

or cause any problems. 

Since installing Diskeeper, the number of disk errors I get has increased. Why 

is that? 

Diskeeper tends to increase disk activity, and just by running, it can make weak points in the system break. In 

this case, you have some disk error, most likely in the free space where the Windows disk error checking utility 

(CHKDSK) cannot find it. This by no means indicates a problem with Diskeeper. 

Run CHKDSK/R on your operating system volume at least, preferably on all volumes. That should correct any 

errors. (CHKDSK/F may not correct this issue.) 

If CHKDSK itself aborts when it reaches the bad block, it indicates a disk problem which CHKDSK can't 

handle, and which will likely cause more trouble in the future. You should back up the volume and reformat 

(or replace) it to prevent the possibility of data loss due to drive failure. 

If you are running Windows 98/ME, run Scandisk Thorough instead of CHKDSK. 

How can I find which version of Diskeeper I have installed? 

Open Diskeeper, click the Action menu, then select About. This tells you which Diskeeper edition, version 

and build is installed.

Support Services 69 

Appendix C 

Support Services 

U.S., Asian and Latin American Support Services 

Registered users are entitled to 90 days of free technical support, as well as special upgrade pricing, from 

Diskeeper Corporation. If you have not yet registered your Diskeeper purchase, register your purchase online 

via our website at: 

diskeeper.com/register 

Technical support questions can be answered from the Technical Support section of our website at: 

diskeeper.com/support 

If you are a home user, you should contact our technical support team at: 

homesupport@diskeeper.com 

You can also contact our technical support team by submitting e-mail to them directly from within our website 

at: 

diskeeper.com/supportrequest 

Or via fax at: 

818-252-5514 

If you are within your 90-day free support period, or have purchased telephone support, you can call: 

818-771-1600 

When your 90-day free support period has expired, you can purchase the support plan which best suits your 

needs. Diskeeper Corporation offers 24-hour, 7-day support plans. Contact Diskeeper Corporation to find out 

which support options suit you best. 

Diskeeper Corporation's address is: 

Diskeeper Corporation 

7590 North Glenoaks Boulevard 

Burbank, California, USA 91504

70 Support Services 

European Support Services 

Registered users are entitled to 90 days of free technical support, as well as special upgrade pricing, from 

Diskeeper Corporation. Our free European technical support is available Monday through Friday during the 

first 90 days from 8:30 to 17:30. If you have not yet registered your Diskeeper purchase, register your purchase 

online via our website at: 

diskeepereurope.com/register.htm 

Technical support questions can be answered from the Support section of our website at: 

diskeepereurope.com 

You can also contact our technical support team via e-mail at: 

tech.support@diskeeper.co.uk 

Or via fax at: 

+44 (0) 1342-327390 

If you are within your 90-day free support period, or have purchased telephone support, you can call: 

+44 (0) 1342-327477 

When your 90-day free support period has expired, you can purchase the support plan that best suits your 

needs. Diskeeper Corporation offers 24-hour, 7-day support plans. Contact Diskeeper Corporation to find out 

which support options suit you best. 

Diskeeper Corporation's address is: 

Diskeeper Corporation 

Kings House, Cantelupe Road 

East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 3BE 

England

Diskeeper and Group Policy 71 

Appendix D 

Diskeeper and Group Policy 

Diskeeper can be administered network-wide via several different methods. The primary network 

administration tool for Diskeeper is Diskeeper Administrator Edition, a single point of control for all your 

Diskeeper administration needs. However, sites using Microsoft Group Policy can use the Diskeeper.adm 

administrative template file available from Diskeeper Corporation to control many aspects of Diskeeper 

operation through Group Policy. The Diskeeper.adm template file is available free of charge from the 

Diskeeper Corporation website at www.diskeeper.com/diskeeper/grouppolicy.asp. 

The Group Policy Editor is the desktop tool used to administer Group Policy on your network. When the 

Diskeeper template is installed, the Group Policy Editor allows you to configure Diskeeper options such as 

scheduling, defragmentation methods and defragmentation priority. 

Note: This section assumes you have a certain level of experience using the Group Policy Editor. Refer to the 

Microsoft Group Policy documentation for complete information about using the Group Policy Editor. 

Follow these steps to add the Diskeeper.adm file to the Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates 

group: 

1. Open the Group Policy Editor for your site, domain, or organizational unit. (Start | Run | gpedit.msc) 

2. Right-click Administrative Templates in the tree view. 

3. Select Add/Remove Templates. 

4. Click Add… in the Add/Remove Templates dialog that is displayed. 

5. Navigate to and select the Diskeeper.adm file in the File Open window. This file will be in the location 

you specified when you downloaded it from the Diskeeper Corporation website. 

6. Click Close in the Add/Remove Templates dialog box. 

After the Diskeeper.adm template has been added, you will see a new entry for Diskeeper 10.0 in the 

Administrative Templates section of the Computer Configuration group. 

These options are available for Diskeeper within the Group Policy Editor: 

Allow Local Override 

This policy makes it possible for the administrator at the local machine to have local settings override the 

Group Policy settings. 

When this policy is enabled, Group Policy will take precedence over user preferences. When this policy is 

either disabled or not configured, local Diskeeper preferences will take precedence over Group Policy settings. 

Defragmentation Priority Levels 

These settings determine the degree of CPU usage the defragmentation engine will use. 

When this policy is enabled, the priorities defined here will apply to all computers. When this policy is either 

disabled or not configured, the priorities established locally will be followed. 

By default, scheduled, Set It and Forget It Defragmentation Jobs run at the lowest possible Windows priority. 

Also by default, Manual Defragmentation Jobs run at the normal Windows priority. The priority for either type 

of defragmentation job can be changed with this policy.

72 Diskeeper and Group Policy 

Running at the lowest priority minimizes the system performance impact when Diskeeper is defragmenting a 

disk volume. However, defragmentation jobs running at the lowest priority can take substantially longer to 

complete than those running at higher priorities, since Diskeeper “backs off’ for any process running at a higher 

priority (even screen savers). 

Defragmentation Method 

These settings determine the type of defragmentation to perform for each of these defragmentation job types: 


• Secondary Defragmentation Jobs 

• Manual Defragmentation Jobs 

When this policy is enabled, the method defined here will apply to all computers. When this policy is either 

disabled or not configured, the defragmentation method established locally will be followed. These 

defragmentation methods are available: 

Quick Defragmentation — This method provides the fastest defragmentation. It reduces the defragmentation 

time by placing the emphasis on defragmenting the fragmented files, rather than free space consolidation, since 

this returns the greatest system performance gain. This defragmentation method will complete faster and use 

fewer resources, but note that the free space consolidation will not be as thorough as the other methods. 

Recommended Defragmentation — This is the default, proven and balanced mix of file defragmentation and 

free space consolidation. It is designed to gain the best disk performance without using excessive system 

resources. 

Comprehensive Defragmentation — This defragmentation method performs additional free space 

consolidation. This method performs a normal Diskeeper defragmentation, but then additionally performs extra 

processing to further improve free space consolidation. It is important to note this method requires additional 

processing and time, and free space consolidation improvement will be gradual as the option is used over time. 

Since the Comprehensive Defragmentation method is best suited for scheduled defragmentation jobs, it is not 

available for Manual Defragmentation Jobs. 

In addition to each of these defragmentation methods, you can alternately enable and disable the Efficiently 

defragment large files option for each job type. 

Power Management 

This option is intended primarily for laptop and portable computers. 

When this option is enabled and the computer is running on battery power, any scheduled defragmentation jobs 

are postponed, and a message noting this is written to the Windows Application Event Log. If a 

defragmentation job is started manually when this option is enabled (and the computer is running on battery 

power), a message is displayed asking if you want to continue, even though running Diskeeper on battery 

power may reduce the available battery time. 

When this option is enabled and the computer switches from normal power to battery power, any ongoing 

scheduled analysis or defragmentation jobs are safely stopped and a message noting this is written to the 

Windows Application Event Log. If Diskeeper is running manually and the computer switches to battery power 

when this option is enabled, a message is displayed informing you that Diskeeper has stopped running. 

When this policy is enabled, the Power Management feature will be turned on for all computers. When this 

policy is not configured, the setting established locally will be followed. 

When this policy is disabled, the Power Management feature will be turned off for all computers. 

System Tray Defragmentation Delay 

This policy allows non-administrative users to use the Diskeeper icon in the system status area (also known as 

the system tray) to postpone defragmentation operations.


When this policy is enabled, users who are not members of the Administrators group can right-click the 

Diskeeper system tray icon to delay a currently-running defragmentation operation. When this policy is 

disabled, only users who are members of the Administrators group can use the Diskeeper icon in the system 

tray to control Diskeeper operations. 

I/O Smart 

This policy takes the concept of run priorities one step further by “throttling” (suspending) the defragmentation 

process whenever disk I/O activity is detected on a disk while it is being defragmented. This ensures the 

defragmentation process will be transparent to users, no matter how active the disk. 

When this policy is enabled, defragmentation will only proceed when there are no other processes requesting 

disk I/O operations from the volume currently being defragmented. When this policy is disabled, Diskeeper 

shares disk I/O bandwidth with requests from other processes. 

Event Logging 

These settings determine what Diskeeper events and other related information is saved in the Windows 

Application Event Log. 

When this policy is enabled, the event logging settings here will apply to all computers. When this policy is 

either disabled or not configured, the event logging settings established locally will be followed. These events 

are available for logging: 

• Service start and stop 

• Defragmentation start and stop 

• Defragmented files 

• Moved files 

• Disk information 

• File information 

• Directory information 

• Paging file information 

• MFT information 

Smart Schedule All Volumes 

This policy allows you to set Smart Scheduling for all volumes on all computers affected. 

When this policy is enabled, the schedule defined here will apply to all computers. When this policy is either 

disabled or not configured, the schedule established locally will be followed. 

With Smart Scheduling, you no longer have to decide how often to defragment your disk volumes—Diskeeper 

will automatically determine the optimum defragmentation schedule for each volume and adjust it accordingly. 

When Smart Scheduling is enabled, Diskeeper keeps track of the number of files moved every time it runs on 

each volume. When the number of fragmented files moved during a defragmentation run increases, Diskeeper 

is automatically scheduled to run more often. When the number of files moved decreases, the time between 

defragmentation runs is increased. 

You can use the “starting” and “ending” time drop down lists to further define times when the scheduling of 

automatic defragmentation runs will not be allowed. 

Smart Schedule for Volume Group 1 

Smart Schedule for Volume Group 2 

Smart Schedule for Volume Group 3

74 Diskeeper and Group Policy 

These three policies allow you to set Smart Scheduling for three separate groups of volumes on all the 

computers affected by the policy. Each group can include up to three specified volumes on the affected 

computers. 

When this policy is enabled, the schedule defined will apply to all computers. When this policy is either 


Set Custom Schedule for All Volumes 

This policy allows you to set a custom schedule to be applied to all volumes on all computers affected. 


disabled or not configured, the defragmentation schedule established locally will be followed. 

Set Custom Schedule for Volume Group 1 



These three policies allow you to set a custom schedule for three separate groups of volumes on all the 


computers. 



Set Screen Saver Schedule for All Volumes 

This policy allows you to set Screen Saver Scheduling for all volumes on all computers affected. 



When enabled, Screen Saver mode automatically starts defragmenting the selected volumes any time the screen 

saver starts on your computer. The defragmentation operation is paused whenever keyboard or mouse activity 

is detected on the computer. 

Set Screen Saver Schedule for Volume Group 1 



These three policies allow you to set a Screen Saver schedule for three separate groups of volumes on all the 


computers. 



Set I-FAAST Schedule for All Volumes 

This policy allows you to schedule I-FAAST Defragmentation Jobs for all volumes on all computers affected. 



When enabled, Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology (I-FAAST) improves file access 

and creation on NTFS volumes by up to 80% (average 10%-20%) above and beyond the improvement provided 

by defragmentation alone. 

Note that I-FAAST Defragmentation Jobs are intended to be used in conjunction with Primary or Secondary 

Defragmentation Jobs, and these defragmentation jobs will follow rules established by the I-FAAST engine 

based on the I-FAAST evaluation of the volume.

Set I-FAAST Schedule for Volume Group 1 




These three policies allow you to schedule I-FAAST Defragmentation Jobs for three separate groups of 

volumes on all the computers affected by the policy. Each group can include up to three specified volumes on 

the affected computers. 


disabled or not configured, the schedule established locally will be followed.

Remote Installation 77 

Appendix E 

Remote Installation 

Here are some methods for installing Diskeeper on multiple computers in a network. 

Diskeeper Deployment with Diskeeper Administrator 

The preferred method for installing Diskeeper on computers across your network is the PushInstall feature, 

available in Diskeeper Administrator Edition. Using the Push Install feature, Diskeeper Administrator Edition 

can install Diskeeper Professional Edition or Diskeeper Server Standard Edition simultaneously to multiple 

computers on a network from a single machine acting as an administrative console. Diskeeper PushInstall can 

save you a tremendous amount of time and effort, especially on large networks, where the same software needs 

to be installed on hundreds, or even thousands of computers. 

To make use of the PushInstall feature, you must install Diskeeper Administrator Edition on a computer that 

will act as the administrative console for all your Diskeeper installations network-wide. You must also be 

logged into a domain administrator account. The receiving computers must be running a Windows version 

supported by Diskeeper Professional Edition or Diskeeper Server Standard Edition. 

Refer to the Diskeeper Administrator Edition User’s Manual or Help system for detailed instructions on using 

the PushInstall feature. 

Ports Used by Diskeeper Administrator 

In order to deploy Diskeeper and remotely control Diskeeper computers with Diskeeper Administrator, the 

computers running Diskeeper must be configured to allow Diskeeper Administrator to communicate via these 

ports: 

• Diskeeper Administrator PushInstall port: 31029 — Diskeeper Administrator uses this port to deploy 

Diskeeper to remote computers. 

• Diskeeper Administrator server port: 31037 — The Diskeeper Administrator service receives data from 

remote Diskeeper computers via this port. 

• Diskeeper Administrator console port: 31036 — The Diskeeper Administrator remote control console 

receives data from remote Diskeeper computers via this port. 

• Spare Diskeeper Administrator console ports: 31056, 31076, 31096, 31116, 31136, 31156, 31176, 31196, 

and 31216 — Diskeeper Administrator will use these ports if the default ports are unavailable. 

• Diskeeper Administrator SQL port: 1434 — Diskeeper Administrator uses this port if the SQL database is 

located on a remote computer. 

Diskeeper Administrative Installation 

Diskeeper can be installed via various tools and procedures besides the PushInstall feature in Diskeeper 

Administrator Edition. 

The complete Diskeeper installation package is contained in a single Setup.exe file that can be sent to remote 

machines and executed. The following qualifiers are available for this type of administrative installation: 

/a

78 Remote Installation 

Administrative installation—The /a switch causes Setup.exe to perform an administrative installation. An 

administrative installation copies (and uncompresses) all the Diskeeper files to a directory specified by you, but 

it does not create shortcuts or fully register Diskeeper for use. This “exposes” the .msi file and is useful when 

applying a transform to modify a base MSI package. (See the Microsoft Windows Installer documentation for 

more information about applying a transform.) 

/s 

Silent installation—The /s switch causes Setup.exe to install Diskeeper without displaying any information on 

the target machine. Note that the /s switch must be used together with the /qn switch described in the MSIEXE 

Arguments section below. 

/x 

Uninstall mode—The /x switch causes Setup.exe to uninstall a previously installed version of Diskeeper. 

Command Line Installation Arguments 

You can pass arguments (or switches) via command line or batch procedure to the various components that 

perform the Diskeeper installation. 

The Microsoft Windows Installer executable, MSIEXEC.exe, accepts qualifiers from the command line. Also, 

there are Diskeeper-specific arguments that can be passed to MSIEXEC as well. 

MSIEXEC Arguments 

The MSIEXEC Windows Installer executable accepts a number of arguments in the command line. Here are 

two that are useful with Diskeeper. Refer to the Microsoft Windows Installer documentation on the Microsoft 

website for more information about Windows Installer arguments. 

/v 

The /v switch passes arguments to the MSIEXEC installation executable. The /v argument is used to pass 

Windows Installer command line switches and values of public properties through to MSIEXEC.exe. 

/qn 

The /qn switch causes MSIEXEC to run silently, with no information displayed on the target computer. 

Diskeeper-Specific MSIEXEC Arguments 

The following MSIEXEC arguments apply only to Diskeeper installations. 

SMART=”YES” 

This argument causes Diskeeper Smart Scheduling to be set up for every disk volume on the target computer. 

CREATEDESKTOPSHORTCUT=1 

This argument causes a desktop shortcut for running Diskeeper to be created on the target computer. 

Passing Information to the Installation 

Here is an example of an installation command line, using several Windows Installer arguments. This command 

line will install Diskeeper with Smart Scheduling set for all drives, all day everyday: 

Setup.exe /v"SMART=\"YES\" " 

For a more complex example, to perform a silent install while setting Smart Scheduling all day, use this 

command line:

Remote Installation 79 

Setup.exe /s /v"/qn SMART=\"YES\" CREATEDESKTOPSHORTCUT=1 " 

Note that /s makes Setup.exe run silently, /v says pass all the subsequent information to MSIEXEC.exe, and /qn 

causes MSIEXEC to run silently. SMART="YES" means that Smart Scheduling should be set for all drives and 

CREATEDESKTOPSHORTCUT=1 creates a Diskeeper icon on the desktop of the target computer.

Diskeeper as a Cluster-Aware Application 81 

Appendix F 

Diskeeper as a Cluster-Aware Application 

on a Cluster Server 

Diskeeper can be run as a cluster-aware application in a clustered server environment. 

A server cluster is a group of independent servers working collectively and running the Microsoft Cluster 

Service (MSCS). Server clusters provide high availability, failback, scalability, and manageability for resources 

and applications 2 . 

Running Diskeeper on a server cluster allows scheduled defragmentation to continue automatically when the 

primary cluster node fails. 

Requirements 

Note: This feature is only available on Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 systems. 

Diskeeper must be installed on all the nodes of the cluster upon which you want to run Diskeeper, under the 

same drive names and directories. 

Setting Up Diskeeper on the Cluster 

Follow these steps to set up the Diskeeper cluster resource and bring it online: 

1. Install Diskeeper on both the primary and failover nodes of the cluster and set defragmentation schedules 

on each. Keep in mind that you may want to use a different defragmentation schedule when the cluster is in 

failover mode. 

2. Set up a cluster group in the Cluster Administrator named Diskeeper and use the failover parameters you 

need for the specific use. Here are two suggestions: 

• Set Threshold to 0 (fails over immediately), or decide what value is wanted here. (The threshold value 

is the number of times the application will return to the same computer before it fails over to the next 

computer.) 

• Set Period to 1000. (Period is the time interval in seconds, during which the threshold count is 

tracked. After that time has elapsed, the threshold count starts over.) 

There are no dependencies or registry replication to specify. 

3. Take the group offline. 

4. Create a cluster resource. 

5. Name the newly-created resource. 

6. Make the new resource generic. 

7. Right-click the Diskeeper group in the right-hand pane, select Properties, then select the Parameters tab. 

2 Ref: Microsoft TechNet Article Guide to Creating and Configuring a Server Cluster under Windows Server 

2003

82 Diskeeper as a Cluster-Aware Application 

8. In the Command Line field, type this command, using the directory path appropriate to your system: 

C:\winnt\system32\mmc.exe "C:\Program Files\Diskeeper 

Corporation\Diskeeper\Diskeeper.msc" 

9. In the Current Directory field, type this command, again substituting the directory path as necessary: 

C:\Program Files\Diskeeper Corporation\Diskeeper 

10. Select the Allow application to interact with the desktop checkbox. 

11. Bring the group online, and you’re done.

Glossary 83 

Glossary 

access: To store data on, or retrieve data from, a disk drive or other peripheral device. See also file. 

administrator: See system administrator. 

applet: A small application program that is usually built into an operating system or a larger application 

program. For example, the built-in writing and drawing programs that come with Windows are sometimes 

called “applets.” 

application: A computer program, which causes a computer system to perform some useful work for the user. 

ATA: Advanced Technology Attachment. One of several standard types of interfaces used to connect a disk 

drive and a computer. See also PATA and SATA. 

AutoPlay: A feature of some Windows applications on CD-ROM that causes the program to start automatically 

when the CD-ROM is placed in the drive. 

background processing: The execution of certain operations during momentary lulls in the primary 

(foreground) process. An example of a background process is printing while a word processor is waiting for 

keystrokes. 

binary: From Latin “bini,” meaning two by two and “ary,” meaning of, or pertaining to. Computers use the 

binary number system, which is a way of counting in which only two digits (0 and 1) are used. Contrast with 

the familiar decimal number system, in which we count with 10 digits (0 through 9). 

bit: Short for binary digit. The smallest unit of information handled by a computer. Like a light switch, a bit is 

either on or off, which corresponds to a numerical value of one or zero. Larger numbers are expressed by 

groups of bits. See also byte. 

boot: Refers to the initial start-up of a computer, such as when you turn on the computer’s power. From the 

word “bootstrap,” indicating the computer “lifts itself by the bootstraps;” that is, it gets itself going. 

boot-time: The time during which a computer boots; that is, the computer is starting up and the operating 

system has not yet taken over control of the computer. 

browser: A software program, such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, designed to locate and view Web pages 

on the Internet. In addition to displaying text, modern browsers also can display pictures and play sounds. 

byte: A group of eight bits, which can represent a number from zero through 255, a letter of the alphabet, or a 

variety of other things. 

cache: From the French word cacher, meaning “to hide.” A temporary storage facility designed to speed things 

up by providing information to software that would otherwise have to be obtained from a slower medium. 

Caches exist for Web browsers, disk drives and CPUs. See also cache memory. 

cache coherency: A condition where the data contained in the cache memories in a computer with multiple 

processors is kept consistent at all times. 

cache memory: In computers, a cache is a small amount of very fast memory that is placed close to (or inside) 

the CPU chip, in order to improve performance. The cache memory holds copies of recently accessed data. 

Because computer programs often run the same instructions repeatedly, many times the CPU will find the data 

it needs in the cache and therefore will run faster because it does not need to access the computer’s main 

memory. 

CD-ROM: Compact Disk Read-Only Memory. A stiff plastic disk commonly used by software manufacturers 

to distribute software to customers. As the name implies, the original contents of a CD-ROM cannot be 

changed.

84 Glossary 

central processing unit (CPU): The part of the computer hardware that controls the computer’s overall 

operation and performs computations. Most modern CPUs are built into a single integrated circuit or chip. See 

also Pentium, x86. 

chip: See integrated circuit. 

CHKDSK: A program (supplied with Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 

2003) that checks the integrity of a disk and corrects disk errors such as lost clusters. See also scandisk. 

client: In a computer network, a computer that uses the services of another computer, called a server. For 

example, a client can “ask” a server to provide it with needed data, or to print a file for the client. See also 

server, workstation. 

cluster: Smallest addressable unit of space on a disk. A one-byte file will actually use a cluster of disk space. 

The minimum size of a cluster depends on the size of the disk volume. The FAT file system allows a maximum 

of 65,536 clusters per volume, which means that the cluster size on a 64-megabyte disk volume is one kilobyte, 

while a 128-megabyte volume uses two-kilobyte clusters. Thus, the FAT file system can be very wasteful of 

disk space on large volumes. The NTFS file system does not suffer from this limitation. 

COM: Acronym for Component Object Model, a specification developed by Microsoft for building software 

components that can be made into programs or add functionality to existing programs running on Microsoft 

Windows platforms. 

component: A small modular program that performs a specific function and is designed to work interactively 

with other components and applications. See also applet, COM. 

contiguous: Adjacent; placed one after the other. A contiguous file is not fragmented; that is, it takes up a 

single “chunk” of disk space. See also fragmentation, defragmentation. 

control file: A file (Diskeep.ctl) used by Diskeeper to keep track of and control scheduled defragmentation of 

disk volumes. See also Set It and Forget It. 

controller: A specialized electronic circuit, which serves as an interface between a device, such as a disk drive, 

and a computer. See also IDE, SCSI. 

CPU: see central processing unit. 

data: Information, as processed by a computer. Plural of the Latin word datum, meaning an item of 

information. 

database: A collection of related information about a subject, organized in a useful manner that provides a base 

or foundation for procedures such as retrieving information, drawing conclusions, and making decisions. 

datum: Singular of data. 

defragmentation: The reduction or elimination of fragmentation, by making files and/or free disk space more 

contiguous. 

device: A machine, such as a printer or a disk drive. 

digit: From Latin “digitus,” meaning finger. Any of the numbers 0 through 9 in the decimal number system, 

called a digit because people originally used their fingers for counting. Computers use a binary number system 

with only two digits (0 and 1). 

directory: A file that contains a catalog of files and other directories stored on a disk, which allows you to 

organize your files into groups, making them easier to find. 

directory consolidation: A Diskeeper feature which, at boot-time, gathers (almost) all directory entries on a 

disk volume into a single area on the disk, instead of scattered in many places. Directory consolidation makes 

defragmentation more effective than it would otherwise be. Directory consolidation requires sufficient 

contiguous free disk space into which the directories can be moved. 

disk drive: A device containing one or more disks, treated as a unit by a computer.

Glossary 85 

Diskeeper: A software product that increases system performance through disk defragmentation. It eliminates 

resource-wasting file fragmentation safely, by consolidating fragmented files and free space. 

diskette: See floppy disk. 

domain: In Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, a group of workstations and 

servers, defined by an administrator, that share a common directory database and allow a user to log onto any 

resource in the domain with a single user ID and password. Each domain in a network has a unique name. 

drive: See disk drive. 

drive letter: In Windows and MS-DOS operating systems, the naming convention for disk drives, consisting of 

a letter, followed by a colon. Drives A: and B: are normally reserved for floppy disk drives and C: typically 

indicates the first hard drive. See also volume. 

encrypted file: A file that has been scrambled and made unrecognizable by anyone who does not have the 

proper “key” to decode it. The Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Encrypting File 

System (EFS) allows users to encrypt files and folders on an NTFS volume to prevent access by unauthorized 

individuals. 

event logging: The process of recording audit information when certain events occur, such as services starting 

and stopping, users logging on and off and accessing resources. When running Diskeeper on Windows NT, 

Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 systems, logged events can be viewed with the Event 

Viewer utility (in Administrative Tools.) When run on Windows 98/Me systems, Diskeeper logs events to a text 

file that can be viewed with a variety of text editor programs such as Notepad. 

Event Viewer: A utility available on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, 

which permits the viewing of logged events. See also event logging. 

extended partition: A type of partition that permits the limitation of four partitions per disk drive to be 

overcome. A disk drive may be partitioned into a maximum of four primary partitions, or three primary 

partitions plus an extended partition. One or more logical drives may be created within an extended partition. 

FAT: See file allocation table. 

FAT file system: The file system used by MS-DOS and adapted for Windows to store information on disks, 

which makes use of a file allocation table. There are three types of FAT file system. The FAT12 (12-bit) is 

used on FAT volumes smaller than 16 megabytes in size, such as floppy disks—it is not supported by 

Diskeeper. FAT16 can be found on all versions of Windows from Windows 95 through Windows Server 2003. 

Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows 98, and the later OSR 2 version of Windows 

95 also support FAT32; Windows NT does not. 

field: A subdivision of a record in a file. For example, a record in a customer file may contain a name field, an 

address field and a phone number field. 

file: A complete, named collection of data, such as a program, a set of data used by a program, or a usercreated 

document. See also record, field. 

file allocation table (FAT): A table or list maintained by some operating systems, to keep track of how files 

are stored on a disk. 

file system: The method used by an operating system, of naming, accessing and organizing files and directories 

on a disk. See also NTFS, FAT file system. 

floppy disk: A removable storage medium, consisting of a small magnetic disk made of flexible plastic, housed 

in a square protective envelope or cartridge. Originally, floppy disks really were “floppy,” because they were 

enclosed in a paper envelope. Also called a diskette, which is a better name for the more recent design that uses 

a stiff plastic cartridge. Contrast with hard disk. 

formatting: A method of preparing a disk surface for use by placing certain magnetic patterns on it, which are 

used by the file system in storing and retrieving data.

86 Glossary 

fragmentation: The word fragmentation means “the state of being fragmented.” The word fragment means “a 

detached, isolated or incomplete part.” It is derived from the Latin “fragmentum,” which in turn is derived from 

“frangere,” meaning “break.” So, fragmentation means that something is broken into parts that are detached, 

isolated or incomplete. 

gigabyte: A measure of computer storage capacity equal to approximately a billion bytes. A gigabyte is two to 

the 30th power, or 1,073,741,824 bytes. 

graphical user interface (GUI): Pronounced “gooey.” A user interface, as used in the Windows operating 

systems, which uses a mouse and graphic displays to interact with the user, with the purpose to make the 

computer system easier to use than other operating systems, such as MS-DOS. 

GUI: See graphical user interface. 

hard disk: One or more rigid metal platters, coated with magnetic material. Contrast with floppy disk, or 

diskette, which is made of plastic. Also used to refer to the physical unit that makes up a disk drive. 

hardware: The physical parts of a computer system, including devices such as printers and disk drives. 

Contrast with software. 

I-FAAST: A Diskeeper exclusive, Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology (I-FAAST) 

improves file access and creation on NTFS volumes by up to 80% (average 10%-20%) above and beyond the 

improvement provided by defragmentation alone. This is the first industry implementation of “Disk 

Performance Calibration”, the modern evolution of the outdated and inconclusive disk optimization strategies 

of the past. 

I/O Smart: The Diskeeper I/O Smart feature intelligently monitors drive access during defragmentation to 

ensure top system speed. When this option is selected, Diskeeper will temporarily suspend defragmentation 

whenever other disk activity needs to occur (I/O throttling). This proprietary technology detects whether or not 

the disk is busy with other I/O requests and pauses defragmentation to eliminate any potential interference with 

user or system needs at the “disk” level. 

IDE: Integrated Device Electronics. One of several types of interfaces between a disk drive and a computer, 

where the controller is built into the disk drive, which eliminates the need for a separate controller card in the 

computer. See also ATA and SCSI. 

integrated circuit: Also called a chip. A collection of electronic parts with a specific purpose, built into a 

single physical package. See also central processing unit. 

Intel: Manufacturer of processor chips, known especially for the Pentium and x86 processors. 

interface: The connection and interaction between hardware, software and/or the user. For example, a disk 

controller provides a physical interface between a computer and a disk drive. The keyboard, mouse and display 

are an interface between a computer and the user. 

Internet: A global network that links millions of computers. One popular section of the Internet is the World 

Wide Web, which allows computer users to view text and pictures with the aid of a browser, such as Internet 

Explorer. E-mail (electronic mail) is another popular part of the Internet, which allows computer users to send 

and receive written messages. 

Internet Explorer: A software package developed by Microsoft for browsing the Internet, but increasingly 

used with other applications. 

job: A request to have the computer or its peripherals perform some activity. In relation to Diskeeper, it is a 

request to have a disk defragmented. 

log file: A file that keeps track of certain events as they occur. The Windows NT/2000/XP operating system 

maintains several log files that can be viewed with the Event Viewer. On Windows 98/Me systems, Diskeeper 

uses a specially created text file for the same purpose. See also Event Logging.

Glossary 87 

logical drive: That portion of the space on a disk drive that is considered by the software to be a single unit. In 

this context, logical means “conceptual.” because there is no direct relationship between the name and a 

physical object. See also partition, volume. 

long filenames: In the DOS operating system, filenames were limited to a maximum of eight characters, 

followed by a period and up to three characters to indicate the type of file. This is also referred to as the 8.3 file 

naming convention. The Windows 98/Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 

2003 operating systems allow filenames that are over 200 characters long. In addition, these filenames may 

contain a mixture of upper- and lowercase characters and embedded spaces. 

master file table (MFT): On an NTFS volume, the master file table is a file, which contains information about 

all other files in that volume. This includes the name of each file, its physical location on the disk, and other 

information. 

media: A collective word for the physical material on which computer-based information is stored, such as a 

CD-ROM or floppy disk. Media is the plural of medium, but like data is often used in the singular form. 

medium: See media. 

memory: The computer’s temporary working storage, where program instructions and data are kept, 

permitting the CPU to process the instructions. 

MFT: See master file table. 

Microsoft: A computer software company, with its head office in the state of Washington; creators of the MS- 

DOS and Windows operating systems. 

MMC: Microsoft Management Console. MMC can be used to create, save and open administrative tools 

(called snap-ins), such as Diskeeper. MMC provides a common user interface for system tools, as well as a 

system for managing hardware, software and network components. 

MS-DOS: Microsoft Disk Operating System. An operating system designed for a small computer with a single 

user running one application program at a time. 

multitasking: A feature of an operating system, where the computer can work on more than one task at a time. 

See also background processing. 

network: A group of computers that are connected together and capable of exchanging data with each other. 

See also server, client. 

NTFS: New Technology File System. A file system designed specifically for use with Windows NT, Windows 

2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. 

OEM: Acronym for original equipment manufacturer. The term is misleading, because an OEM typically buys 

computers from another manufacturer, customizes them for a particular application, and then sells them under 

the OEM’s own brand name. 

operating system: A collection of programs, which perform system functions and control the running of 

application programs and the allocation of resources. 

OSR 2: Acronym for OEM Service Release 2, a version of Windows 95 released in late 1996, which features an 

improved file system, called FAT32, while the original version of Windows 95 used FAT16. 

page file or paging file: An area of a disk that is set aside to hold data intended to reside in the computer’s 

memory. Portions of the paging file are copied to memory as needed. This mechanism requires a much smaller 

amount of physical memory than would be required if the entire program were to be loaded into memory all at 

once. See also swap file. 

partition: A subdivision of the space on a disk drive that is treated as though it were a separate physical unit. A 

computer with only one hard disk drive can have a single partition, often called drive C:, or it can have several 

partitions, such as drive C:, drive D:, and drive E:. See also volume, drive letter, primary partition, extended 

partition, logical drive.

88 Glossary 

PATA: Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment. Originally called ATA, but retroactively renamed PATA 

with the introduction of Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) interfaces. One of several methods 

of interfacing disk drives and other devices to computers. See also ATA, IDE, SATA and SCSI. 

Pentium: The name of a type of processor, introduced by Intel in 1993. It is the successor to the 80486 and 

equivalent to the 80586 chip in the x86 series. 

peripheral device: (Related to periphery, roughly meaning “on the outside.”) A device, such as a disk drive, 

printer, keyboard or mouse, connected to and used by a computer. 

permission: The ability of a user on a computer system to access or modify files, especially those that he or she 

did not create. Permissions exist for security reasons, to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information. 

The system administrator assigns permissions, or “who has access to what.” 

platform: The environment, in which a computer system operates, either based on the computer’s CPU or its 

operating system. For example: the x86 platform, or the Windows Server 2003 platform. 

platter: A disk drive consists of one or more platters, each of which can receive magnetic recordings on both 

sides. The platter spins like a phonograph record on a turntable. 

primary partition: In Windows and MS-DOS operating systems, the disk space on a disk drive may be divided 

into a maximum of four primary partitions; or three primary partitions plus an extended partition, which in turn 

can contain one or more logical drives. 

priority: On a Windows system, several programs can appear to be running at once, even though the CPU can 

only process one instruction at a time. With the help of the operating system, the CPU processes a few 

instructions from one program, then a few instructions of the next program, and so on, over and over. Without 

priority assignments, each program would be given about the same amount of time in each “time slot.” but by 

assigning priorities, the more important programs can be given longer time intervals than the less important 

ones, allowing them to complete faster. 

process: A program, along with the system resources the program requires to run. A process represents a unit 

of resource ownership and work to be done. The operating system creates processes to keep track of resources 

and to ensure the proper scheduling of tasks. 

processor: See central processing unit. 

program: A set of instructions that tell a computer what to do. Synonym: software. 

RAID: Redundant Array of Independent Disks. A method of combining several disk drives to make one large 

volume. Typically used on a network file server to achieve faster access, greater protection against disk failure, 

or both. 

record: A collection of related data items, treated as a unit. For example, in a file containing information about 

a company’s customers, one record would consist of the particulars (name, address, phone number, etc.) of one 

customer. See also field. 

registry: A database that contains information about current hardware settings, installed software, user 

preferences and associations between file types, and applications that access those files. 

resource: Any part of a computer system, such as a disk drive, printer, or memory, which can be used by a 

program. 

scandisk: A program (supplied with Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me) that checks the integrity of 

a disk and corrects disk errors such as lost clusters. See also CHKDSK. 

SCSI: Small Computer System Interface. One of several methods of interfacing disk drives and other devices to 

computers. See also ATA, IDE, PATA, and SATAI. 

SATA: Serial Advanced Technology Attachment. A successor to ATA (which was later renamed PATA). One 

of several methods of interfacing disk drives and other devices to computers. See also ATA, IDE, PATA and 

SCSI.

Glossary 89 

server: On a computer network, a computer that makes resources available to other computers (clients or 

workstations.) For example, all the computers on a network can be set up to share a single high-speed printer, 

which is connected to the server. Usually, the server is faster and more powerful than the client computers 

connected to it. 

service: A process that performs a specific system function and often provides an application programming 

interface (API) for other processes to call. Diskeeper uses a Windows service, which allows Diskeeper to run in 

the background while other applications are running. 

Service Pack: A collection of software used to issue corrections and updates to software between major 

releases. Usually refers to compilations of corrections and updates to a Windows operating system. 

Set It and Forget It: A term that was created by Diskeeper Corporation, which is a registered trademark and 

hallmark of the company. A “Set It and Forget It” product can operate transparently (unseen by the user) and in 

the background (concurrent with other applications). After a schedule is set up for its operation, it thereafter 

performs its functions at predetermined times, without further intervention or attention from the user or 

administrator. 

Smart Scheduling: A feature, introduced with Diskeeper 6.0, which has a built-in mechanism to determine 

how frequently a disk volume needs to be defragmented. With Smart Scheduling, Diskeeper automatically 

schedules defragmentation runs to occur more often when a disk volume becomes more fragmented, or less 

often when it becomes less fragmented. 

SMS: System Management Server. A software product from Microsoft, which permits the system administrator 

on a Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 network to do such things as install and run new 

software on different computers on the network, all from a single location. 

snap-in: A program, such as Diskeeper, that can be used with the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). For 

more information, see the MMC Help facility. 

software: A generic term for computer programs, taken collectively. Contrast with hardware. Software can be 

categorized into application software and system software. 

sparse files: A method of storing large files—that contain mostly empty space and not much data—in a way 

that uses much less disk space than would otherwise be used. Sparse file support allows an application to create 

very large files without committing disk space for every byte. 

swap file: A file on a disk drive that Windows 98/Me uses to hold temporary data that will not fit into memory. 

When needed, the operating system moves data from the swap file to memory. See also paging file. 

system: The collection of one or more computers and peripheral devices. Sometimes used as a synonym for 

operating system, or the combination of hardware and software, as a logical unit. 

system administrator: The person in charge of maintaining a multi-user computer system. 

system file: In general, a file that is part of, or accessed by, the operating system. The Diskeeper Drive Map 

display shows certain system files in green, particularly the master file table (MFT) and several other files that 

cannot be moved safely by Diskeeper (or any other defragmenter). These are not the files that make up the 

Windows operating system, but the files that make up the NTFS file system. 

task: A program or portion thereof that is run as an independent entity. 

terabyte: A measure of computer storage capacity equal to 2 to the 40th power or approximately a thousand 

billion bytes (or a thousand gigabytes). 

trialware: A free software package from Diskeeper Corporation, such as Diskeeper, that has the same 

functionality as the official version of the software, but which works for a limited time period, after which it 

expires. Trialware allows you to try the software before making a buying decision. 

utility: A program that provides basic services or functions. 

volume: A subdivision of the space on a disk drive that is treated as though it were a separate physical unit, or a 

combination of physical disks treated as a single unit. A computer with only one hard disk drive can have a

90 Glossary 

single volume, often called drive C:, or it can have several volumes, such as drive C:, drive D:, and drive E:. 

See also drive letter, logical drive, partition. 

volume set: In Windows, a single logical drive, which is composed of up to 32 areas of free space on one or 

more disk drives. Volume sets can be used to combine small areas of free space on one or more disk drives into 

a larger logical drive, or to create a single large logical drive out of two or more small disks. 

Windows: A family of operating systems, first introduced by Microsoft in 1983, with a graphical user 

interface and which ran on MS-DOS based computers. See also Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, 

Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. 

Windows 2000: Originally named Windows NT 5.0, Windows 2000 is a family of operating systems for 

desktop computers and network servers, announced by Microsoft in 1998. Windows 2000 resembled Windows 

NT 4.0 and Windows 98, but had many enhancements and new features. Windows 2000 is available in several 

editions, ranging from Windows 2000 Professional to Windows 2000 Advanced Server. 

Windows 95: A version of Windows released in 1995. New features in Windows 95 with regard to its 

predecessor, Windows 3.1, included a new user interface and support for 32-bit applications. See also OSR 2. 

Windows 98: Successor to the Windows 95 operating system, Windows 98 featured support for the FAT32 file 

system, greater Internet integration, and support for the latest (at the time) hardware developments. 

Windows Me: Short for Windows Millennium Edition, an operating system released by Microsoft in 

September 2000. Successor to Windows 98 and designed for home use, Windows Me offers enhancements in 

the areas of digital media, user interface, home networking, and the Internet. 

Windows NT: An operating system released by Microsoft in 1993 (NT stands for New Technology.) It has a 

similar graphical user interface to Windows, but it does not run over MS-DOS and was designed specifically 

for computer network environments. 

Windows Server 2003: An operating system released by Microsoft in 2003 as the follow-up version to 

Windows 2000 Server. Like its predecessor, it has a similar graphical user interface to Windows, but it does not 

run over MS-DOS and has been designed specifically for computer network environments. Windows Server 

2003 is available in Standard, Web, Enterprise, and Datacenter editions. 

Windows XP: An operating system released by Microsoft in 2001 as the follow-up version to Windows 2000. 

Like its predecessor, it has a similar graphical user interface to other Windows versions, but it does not run 

over MS-DOS and has been designed specifically for computer network environments. Windows XP is 

available in several editions for different uses, such as Windows XP Professional for corporate use, or 

Windows XP Home Edition for home users. 

workgroup: In Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003, a workgroup consists of 

one or more computers that do not participate in a domain and are therefore responsible for their own security 

and administration. 

workstation: A computer that has been set up for use by an individual typically connected to a network. The 

term is also used to indicate a client computer, in contrast with a server. 

x86: Symbol to represent a series of CPUs, manufactured by Intel and others, including model numbers 8086, 

80286, 80386, 80486 and 80586 (Pentium). All of the CPUs in this series have certain characteristics in 

common, which permits software to be written that will run on any of them.

Index 91 

Index 

A 

About the Diskeeper Service.......................................... 4 

Access permissions 

setting ...................................................................... 66 

Access Time Section.................................................... 22 

Additional software requirements .................................. 2 

Administrative installation........................................... 77 

Analyze button............................................................. 17 

AutoPlay ........................................................................ 3 

Average File Size......................................................... 24 

Average Fragments per File......................................... 24 

B 

Background process ................................................. 4, 58 

Before the Installation.................................................... 1 

Boot-Time defragmentation......................................... 16 

Directory consolidation ........................................... 39 

Master File Table defragmentation.......................... 39 

overview .................................................................. 39 

Paging File defragmentation.................................... 39 

Paging File Defragmentation................................... 64 

Boot-Time Defragmentation 

options ..................................................................... 40 

scheduling................................................................ 31 

Boot-Time Defragmentation job Properties button...... 18 

C 

cache coherency........................................................... 57 

CD-ROM ....................................................................... 3 

Check for product update............................................... 4 

CHKDSK program....................................................... 40 

Cluster Server............................................................... 81 

Cluster Size .................................................................. 23 

Command line installation 

arguments ................................................................ 78 

Command Line Interface ............................................. 15 

Command prompt operation ........................................ 54 

Computer pane............................................................. 19 

Configuring paging files .............................................. 47 

Configuring the MFT................................................... 46 

Console .......................................................................... 7 

Consolidating free space .............................................. 65 

CPU priority................................................................. 44 

D 

Dashboard, tabbed........................................................ 20 

Data collection ............................................................. 49 

Data Fragmentation ......................................................23 

Days........................................................................ 33, 37 

Defragment button........................................................18 


and the Master File Table.........................................65 

files not moved to beginning of disk........................65 

free space consolidation...........................................65 

how often to run.......................................................65 

incomplete................................................................63 

jobs not starting at the same time.............................66 

methods....................................................................43 

scheduling ................................................................30 

scheduling I-FAAST jobs ........................................31 

scheduling primary or secondary jobs......................30 

using different methods............................................15 

Design Goals ................................................................57 

Disk priority .................................................................44 

Disk space required ........................................................2 

Diskeeper 

configuration properties ...........................................45 

console .......................................................................7 

deployment...............................................................77 

design goals..............................................................57 

directories not moved...............................................64 

features.....................................................................13 

getting started.............................................................7 

getting the most from ...............................................15 

how often to run.......................................................65 

installation..................................................................1 

interface ...................................................................17 

overview...................................................................13 

priority .....................................................................15 

program group............................................................3 

properties .................................................................45 

remote installation....................................................77 

running from the prompt operation ..........................54 

service ........................................................................4 

uninstalling.................................................................5 

updates and upgrades ...............................................45 

Diskeeper Administrator ..............................................77 

ports used .................................................................77 

Diskeeper Configuration Properties button ..................18 

Diskeeper Lite ................................................................2 

Disks supported ..............................................................1 

Display Behaviors ........................................................52 

DkEventLog.txt ..............................................................5 

E 

End time ................................................................. 33, 38 

Event Log 

setting up the..............................................................4 

Event Logging ..............................................................50 

Excess Directory Fragments.........................................24 

Exclusion List...............................................................14

92 Index 

internal............................................................... 49, 63 

setting ...................................................................... 48 

Extended partitions ........................................................ 1 

F 

File exclusions ............................................................. 48 

File record examinations........................................ 38, 54 

File Systems Supported.................................................. 1 

Files not moved to beginning of disk........................... 65 

Files with Performance Loss........................................ 24 

Frag Shield............................................................. 15, 45 

Fragmentation 

definition of ...................................................... viii, 57 

effects of........................................................... viii, 57 

Fragmented Directories................................................ 23 

Fragmented file examinations................................ 38, 54 

Fragments eliminated............................................. 38, 54 

Free Size ...................................................................... 23 

Free Space 

consolidation............................................................ 65 

mismatch in reporting.............................................. 66 

Frequency............................................................... 32, 37 

G 

Getting Started ............................................................... 7 

Getting the most from Diskeeper ................................. 15 

Glossary ....................................................................... 83 

H 

Help button .................................................................. 18 

Historical Report Tab................................................... 27 

I 

I-FAAST 

schedule ................................................................... 36 

I-FAAST 

overview .................................................................. 35 

scheduling................................................................ 31 

I-FAAST 

and the Volume Map tab.......................................... 38 

I-FAAST Defragmentation job Properties button ........ 18 

I-FAAST Statistics Section.......................................... 22 

Installation 

administrative .......................................................... 77 

before the................................................................... 1 

details......................................................................... 2 

overview .................................................................... 3 

passing information to the ....................................... 78 

remote........................................................................ 5 

short version .............................................................. 2 

Interface ......................................................................... 7 

user .......................................................................... 17 

J 

Job Log Tab ................................................................. 26 

Job properties ...............................................................27 

Job Report Tab .............................................................21 

L 

Logging 

Application Event Log................................... 4, 15, 66 

on Windows 98/Me....................................................5 

Logical drives.................................................................1 

M 

Manual defragmentation...............................................28 

Manual Defragmentation Job Properties button ...........18 

Master File Table (MFT)..............................................65 

Master File Table Defragmentation..............................39 

MFT 

configuring the.........................................................46 

MFT Records in Use ....................................................24 

MMC ..........................................................................2, 4 

Most Fragmented Files.................................................25 

MSIEXEC arguments...................................................78 

N 

NTFS .............................................................ix, 1, 24, 63 

P 

Paging File Defragmentation.................................. 39, 64 

Paging files 

configuring the.........................................................47 

Paging/Swap File Size..................................................24 

Partitions 

extended.....................................................................1 

primary.......................................................................1 

Pause button .................................................................18 

Pentium processor ..........................................................1 

Percent Free Space .......................................................23 

Percent of MFT in Use .................................................25 

Performance .................................................................58 

Permissions...................................................................53 

Platforms supported........................................................1 

Ports 

used by Diskeeper Administrator.............................77 

Power Management......................................................52 

Preface..........................................................................vii 

Primary / Secondary schedule ......................................35 

Primary Defragmentation 

scheduling ................................................................30 

Primary Defragmentation job Properties button...........18 

Primary partitions...........................................................1 

Printing dashboard information ....................................27 

Priority..........................................................................15 

setting the.................................................................44 

Process Live Disks .......................................................58 

Properties 

Diskeeper configuration...........................................45 

I-FAAST Job............................................................43 

job ............................................................................27 

Primary and Secondary Job......................................42

Index 93 

PushInstall.................................................................... 77 

Q 

Quick Launch pane ...................................................... 19 

R 

RAID arrays................................................................... 2 

Recommendations Section........................................... 21 

Registering Diskeeper.................................................... 4 

Registry...................................................................... 2, 3 

Remote Installation ...................................................... 77 

Requirements, additional software................................. 2 

Resource requirements............................................... 2, 4 

Resume button ............................................................. 18 

S 

Safety ........................................................................... 57 

Saving dashboard information ..................................... 27 

Schedule 

I-FAAST............................................................ 36, 37 

primary and secondary....................................... 32, 35 

setting a.................................................................... 30 

Schedule type......................................................... 32, 37 

Scheduling 

Boot-Time defragmentation..................................... 31 

Screen Saver mode .................................................. 34 

Smart Scheduling..................................................... 33 

Scheduling options....................................................... 32 

I-FAAST.................................................................. 37 

Screen Saver mode....................................................... 34 

Secondary Defragmentation 

scheduling................................................................ 30 

Secondary Defragmentation job Properties button....... 18 

Service Pack............................................................... 2, 3 

Service, Diskeeper ......................................................... 4 

Set It and Forget It Defragmentation............................ 29 

Setting a schedule ........................................................ 30 

Setting up the Application Event Log............................ 4 

SETUP.EXE................................................................... 3 

Smart Scheduling ......................................................... 33 

Software, additional requirements.................................. 2 

Start time................................................................ 33, 38 

Statistics Section .......................................................... 22 

Stop button................................................................... 18 

Support Services 

Europe ..................................................................... 70 

U.S........................................................................... 69 

T 

Tabbed Dashboard........................................................20 

Terabyte Volume Engine..............................................53 

Theory of Operation .....................................................57 

Total Directories...........................................................23 

Total Excess Fragments................................................24 

Total Files.....................................................................24 

Total Fragmented Files.................................................24 

Total Fragments............................................................24 

Total MFT Fragments...................................................25 

Total MFT Size ............................................................24 

TVE..............................................................................53 

U 

Uninstalling Diskeeper ...................................................5 

Updates 

checking for ...............................................................4 

Updates and Upgrades..................................................45 

Used Space ...................................................................23 

User Interface ...............................................................17 

V 

Versions supported .........................................................1 

Volume Fragmentation.................................................23 

Volume Health Section.................................................21 

Volume Map Tab..........................................................20 

Volume sets ....................................................................1 

Volume Size .................................................................23 

W 

Windows 

disks supported...........................................................1 

file systems supported................................................1 

priority .....................................................................15 

registry ...................................................................2, 3 

resource requirements ................................................2 

versions and platforms supported...............................1 

Windows 98/Me 

Event Logging............................................................5 

X 

X86 processor family .....................................................1

Diskeeper 10 User's Manual

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