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Pleonasm

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Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing
Nov 21^st, 2006 at 9:00am

In last year's version of Diskeeper, the company introduced its Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology and it has now been improved in the current Diskeeper 2007 Pro Premier utility. I-FAAST claims to improve disk speed an average of 10% to 20% over and above the performance enhancement gained by defragmentation alone. Well, I was skeptical – but decided to give it a try nonetheless.

Initially, I-FAAST monitors your file system usage and assesses the performance characteristics of your PC's specific hard disk drives for about a week. After the learning period, it then silently and invisibly organizes files for maximum performance. In my case, the tool reports an 18% performance enhancement. Whether the number is exactly correct or not, I can't say – but I can report that I-FAAST does add a quite noticeable and pleasant degree of "zip" back into the PC. It is definitely worth trying, if you're incredulous like me.

To learn how and why I-FAAST is different than other file placement/sequencing strategies available on the market, read: Comparing I-FAAST

For an overview of I-FAAST, see: Inside I-FAAST

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Rad

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Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin
Reply #1 - Nov 21^st, 2006 at 11:23am

what drive are you running your o/s from, pleo?

7200-rpm? 10,000-rpm? sata?

in the past diskkeeper poo-poo'ed speed optimizations, in favor of pure defrags. i remember trading a few emails with them.

placing your most-used files in the faster parts of the disk, and the least-used files in the slowest parts of the disk is something i've always advocated with my partitioning strategies.

http://partition.radified.com/

the only downside i can see to speed optimizations is that it will take longer to "degrag" (since you are doing more than merely defragging).

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NightOwl

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Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin
Reply #2 - Nov 21^st, 2006 at 11:34am

Pleonasm

I think *PerfectDisk* has been doing this for awhile, now:

PerfectDisk Features

Quote:

SMARTPlacement™ -- patented file placement strategy

PerfectDisk's SMARTPlacement™ optimization strategy results in faster subsequent defragmentation runs because many of the files on the drive do not need to be moved at all, since they are placed according to users unique usage patterns. Typical defragmenters waste resources by constantly moving all files around on the drive.

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NightOwl

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	Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin Reply #3 - Nov 21^st, 2006 at 11:48am Pleonasm Hmmm.... Looks like DiskKeeper Pro Primier is over twice as expensive as PerfectDisk Professional !
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Pleonasm

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Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin
Reply #4 - Nov 21^st, 2006 at 12:22pm

NightOwl, I'm running on Seagate Barracuda Ultra ATA/100 drives (7200 RPM).

Concerning the partitioning strategy observation, the use of an I-FAAST (or equivalent) approach ought to be the better avenue, since the organization of files on the volume are customized to the user's specific activity pattern as well as the characteristics of the individual hard disk drive. Additionally, I-FASST (or equivalent) provides a finer degree of granularity of potential optimization, since it does not group all operating system and applications files together but rather differentiates among them based on the user's actual activity pattern. (Perhaps a motivated forum member could conduct a test?)

I have used Diskeeper over the years without the I-FAAST technology, and now see no difference in the total duration of a defragmentation operation (it's very fast). Both the defragmentation as well as I-FAAST run transparently in the background (with no observable impact on the user's experience) using the "InvisiTasking" technology.

I haven't used PerfectDisk, and so can't comment on the similarities and differences (although see Comparing I-FAAST). I was aware that PerfectDisk has something similar to I-FAAST.

Yep, Diskeeper 2007 Pro Premier isn't inexpensive. But, if you purchase the annual maintenance agreement ($26), upgrades to new versions are free.

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	Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin Reply #5 - Nov 21^st, 2006 at 12:29pm Pleonasm Product/Features comparison: Unique Differences Between PerfectDisk v8.0 and DiskKeeper v10.0
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	Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin Reply #6 - Nov 21^st, 2006 at 12:52pm Most of the other defraggers have been doing this (speed optimizations) for a while now. Diskkeeper was the lone hold-out, faik.
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Brian

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Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin
Reply #7 - Nov 21^st, 2006 at 8:38pm

I've been using PerfectDisk 8 for the last 3 weeks. It's the defragger for those who use incremental images.

I've used various versions of Diskeeper on 4 computers over the last few years. Great, fast defragger but it can't do free space consolidation properly. There is always a band of data one or two bars below the main data and this band moves every few day independently of running Diskeeper. When this happens the next incremental image is large, up to 20% of the size of a baseline image.

PerfectDisk really does do free space consolidation properly and runs as fast as Diskeeper. Using Windows, I can't tell if one defragger is better than the other. Not surprising. But, I've never had an incremental image more than 2% of the baseline image size. The average is 1.5%. I'm sure this is because I no longer have that band of intermittently moving data.

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	Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin Reply #8 - Nov 21^st, 2006 at 8:44pm i've been using perfect disk the last few years. i like it, never had a problem: http://www.raxco.com/products/PerfectDisk2k/
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Pleonasm

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Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin
Reply #9 - Nov 22^nd, 2006 at 8:09am

The issue of free space consolidation is a "hot topic" in the world of defragmentation, with very opinionated perspectives on both sides of the argument.

Diskeeper is seeking to accelerate both file reads and new file writes in real time so that the benefits are experienced by the user immediately and continuously – it is the only product that does so. In order to accomplish the objective, Diskeeper "optimizes a large chunk of free space, adjacent to where the frequently accessed files reside, near the front of the volume. That free space chuck is specifically in a location so that new file writes can be accelerated." On my PC, the "large chunk" is about 500 MB, I estimate.

The perspective that Diskeeper adopts on free space consolidation is completely in alignment with the position advocated by Microsoft:
Quote:

There has been some confusion in the past regarding free space defragmentation. Some people in the industry believed that after a defragmentation job free space should be consolidated into one pool. Here at Diskeeper Corporation we have long since maintained that this doesn't make sense (see our whitepaper on this very subject). Moving free space into one consolidated pool is a temporary condition that wastes resources and serves no purpose. Instead

free space should be grouped in a few contiguous pools

.

Source: Microsoft and Diskeeper Agree on Free Space Defrag

To understand the issue more completely, read the brief document: How File Fragmentation Occurs on Windows XP.

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Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin
Reply #10 - Nov 22^nd, 2006 at 9:21am

Pleonasm

Quote:

The issue of free space consolidation is a "hot topic" in the world of defragmentation, with very opinionated perspectives on both sides of the argument.

Based on Brian's documented experience mentioned in reply #7 above--seems like there's something other than *opinion* to consider in the *arguments*!

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Pleonasm

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Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin
Reply #11 - Nov 22^nd, 2006 at 12:25pm

NightOwl, my reading of Brian's post (Reply #7) is that PerfectDisk works better with one specific application (Ghost 9/Ghost 10) under one specific condition (when incremental recovery points are being created). That's a very good insight to know.

However, the observation doesn't speak to the issue of whether there is any general file system read/write performance gain to be secured by consolidating all free space into one segment. Diskeeper and Microsoft agree that such is not the case.

Diskeeper Corporation is a very substantial organization, with over 20 million licenses sold (making it the best selling defragmenter of all time) and with 288 awards and editor accolades earned in 2006 alone. With the resources and expertise available at its disposal, if Diskeeper agreed that the consolidation of free space into one segment was beneficial to the user, then it would (obviously) add that feature into the product! Clearly, the company has chosen not to do so, because it has no benefit to the user.

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Brian

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Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin
Reply #12 - Nov 22^nd, 2006 at 1:26pm

Competing advertising claims! PerfectDisk maintain that Free Space Consolidation is important as it minimizes refragmentation.

Quote:

SMARTPlacement is a patented algorithm of Raxco Software and is used for the best placement of files on your disk to minimize refragmentation. Files are organized by their creation and modified dates. The theory being that files that has not changed recently are less like to change in the future. These older files are grouped together so that once PerfectDisk has SMARTPlaced them, future defragmentation passes are less likely to move them again. This shortens the amount of time needed to keep the drive at peak performance. Also the free space is consolidated next to the newer files since these are more likely to change or be deleted. Consolidating the free space makes the creation of new files contiguous and therefore minimizes refragmentation of your drive.

On a subjective basis, I can't tell any difference except that my computer does take about 5 seconds less to boot now that I'm using PerfectDisk.

I tried I-FAAST earlier this year but Diskeeper said something to the effect of "don't bother, the improvement won't be significant."

They are both great products and if I wasn't creating incremental images I'd be happy to use either.

Pleo wrote:
Quote:

performance gain to be secured by consolidating all free space into one segment

I just should point out that there is no free space segment inside the data area. It is after the data area. That's probably what you were inferring anyway.

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Pleonasm

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Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin
Reply #13 - Nov 22^nd, 2006 at 2:36pm

Brian, concerning the assertion that "Consolidating the free space makes the creation of new files contiguous and therefore minimizes refragmentation of your drive", doesn't this research prove otherwise: How File Fragmentation Occurs on Windows XP?

When you commented, "Diskeeper said something to the effect of 'don't bother, the improvement won't be significant,'" did you mean that the Diskeeper application (or corporation) made the statement? The I-FAAST capability in the application will automatically disable itself in cases in which it determines that no meaningful performance gain will be achieved. Fortunately, that's not the situation with my PC - it delivers a quite pleasant and noticeable benefit.

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Brian

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Re: Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencin
Reply #14 - Nov 22^nd, 2006 at 3:18pm

Pleonasm wrote on Nov 22^nd, 2006 at 2:36pm:

drive", doesn't this research prove otherwise: How File Fragmentation Occurs on Windows XP?

I can't follow their graphics. Graphic 2 is quite different from graphic 1. Is it the same partition?

Quote:

'don't bother, the improvement won't

It was a message I saw on my monitor. The new version may be different.

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