Diskeeper 2008 Reviewer's Guide Final Rev1 2storage.diskeeper.com/28117/pdf/Diskeeper-2008-Reviewers-Guide.pdf · Reviewer’s Guide: Diskeeper 2008 Page 3 of 23 A Note to Product

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Diskeeper® 2008 Maximizing Performance and Reliability — Automatically™

Reviewer’s Guide

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Table of Contents A Note to Product Reviewers ...................................................................................... 3 Additional Resources .................................................................................................... 3

Supporting Documents .............................................................................................3 Editorial Contacts .......................................................................................................... 4 Product Information Box.............................................................................................. 5 Diskeeper 2008 in Depth ............................................................................................. 6

Diskeeper 2008 Features .........................................................................................6 InvisiTasking™........................................................................................................6 Completely Automatic Operation ........................................................................6 Extreme Conditions Defragmentation ................................................................6 Frag Shield 2.0™ ....................................................................................................6 Volume Snapshot Service (VSS) .........................................................................7 Smarter Defragmentation ....................................................................................7 I-FAAST™ Technology...........................................................................................7 Enhanced User Interface ......................................................................................7 Boot-Time Defragmentation ................................................................................8 Remote Installation................................................................................................8

Hands-On with Diskeeper 2008.................................................................................. 9 Safety First ..............................................................................................................9 Installation...............................................................................................................9

Exploring Diskeeper 2008.......................................................................................... 10 Getting Started .....................................................................................................10 Analyze Volumes ..................................................................................................10

Volume Properties ...................................................................................................14 Automatic Defragmentation ...............................................................................14 I-FAAST ..................................................................................................................17 Boot Time Defragmentation ...............................................................................19 Frag Shield.............................................................................................................20

Configuration Properties.........................................................................................22 Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) ...............................................................22

Testing Considerations ............................................................................................... 23 Advanced testing ......................................................................................................... 23

Reviewer’s Guide: Diskeeper 2008

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A Note to Product Reviewers The goal of this reviewer’s guide is to help you publish a factually accurate and well-informed review. This reviewer’s guide provides you with editorial background information to assist you in writing your review and working with the product. It is not, however, a replacement for the various installation, configuration, and administration manuals that accompany the products; you should use them together with this reviewer’s guide. We hope you’ll find this reviewer’s guide useful. We’d like your feedback on this document and look forward to reading your published review. This reviewer’s guide covers the common elements for each of the following editions.

• Diskeeper 2008 Home • Diskeeper 2008 HomeServer • Diskeeper 2008 Professional • Diskeeper 2008 Pro Premier • Diskeeper 2008 Server • Diskeeper 2008 Enterprise Server • Diskeeper 2008 Administrator

Additional Resources Additional resources, including a list of telephone contacts and Web addresses provided on the following page, are available to assist you with your review. We’ve worked hard to ensure that you have all the facts needed to write an accurate and comprehensive review but occasionally a question may arise that isn’t covered in this guide. We encourage you to call with any question – big or small. Supporting Documents

• Disk Defragmentation Background • Background Multitasking (A Technology Report for IT Professionals) • Press Release • IDC White Paper • Windows It Pro White Paper


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Editorial Contacts As you conduct your review, we encourage you to call with questions.

Not for publication; For editors only

Media/Editorial/Press-relations contact: Colleen Toumayan Diskeeper Corporation (800) 829-6468 [email protected]

Technical support contact: 8:30 am – 5:30 pm Pacific Time (818) 771-1600

Newsroom: www.diskeeper.com/press/newsroom.aspx

For publication

Refer your readers to: Web site: www.diskeeper.com Blog: www.diskeeperblog.com Knowledge Center: www.diskeeper.com/products/documentation/documentation.asp

© 2007 Diskeeper Corporation. 7590 North Glenoaks Boulevard

Burbank, CA 91504 (818) 771-1600 • (818) 252-5514


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Product Information Box The following chart may be helpful in a product info box. Please check the Diskeeper 2008 Product Editions document for specific information about included features and operating system support.

Diskeeper at a glance

In Brief

The core feature of Diskeeper 2008 is InvisiTasking™, a proprietary technology that allows Diskeeper to run transparently in the background. With InvisiTasking, there is no need to schedule defragmentation jobs. Diskeeper’s operations are completely automatic, ensuring that disk performance is always optimized. Diskeeper’s redesigned user interface makes it easier than ever to maintain a healthy hard drive on a single home PC or on the hard drives of corporate workstations and servers scattered across local and wide-area networks. Diskeeper operates silently in the background as a Windows service, supporting an unlimited number of volumes, and individual volume sizes of up to 2 terabytes. (There is no volume size limit in the Enterprise Server edition). Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology (I-FAASTTM) was added to Diskeeper in Version 10 to speed access to the most frequently accessed files. I-FAAST has been enhanced in Diskeeper 2008 to work seamlessly with InvisiTasking and to allow users to specify files for I-FAAST optimization even if they are not frequently accessed. Frag ShieldTM 2.0 automatically prevents fragmentation of the Master File Table (MFT) on NTFS volumes without requiring boot time defragmentation. Diskeeper Administrator supports remote installation and management of Diskeeper client software on workstations and servers across the network.

Editions and Estimated Street Pricing

Home, $29.95; Windows Home Server, $(TBD); Professional, $49.95; Professional Premier, $99.95; Server, $299.95; Enterprise Server, $999.95; Administrator, $249.95

Operations Systems Support

Depending on Diskeeper edition, all versions of Windows XP, all versions of Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Professional and all server editions are supported as well as Windows Vista.

Product Support Registered users receive 90 days of free telephone support and special upgrade pricing. A free Technical Support Web site contains a searchable knowledge base.

Vendor Diskeeper Corporation; Burbank, Calif.

For more information www.diskeeper.com


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Diskeeper 2008 in Depth InvisiTasking automates disk defragmentation for optimal performance Diskeeper 2008 Features InvisiTasking

Diskeeper 2008 includes InvisiTasking, a proprietary technology first introduced in Diskeeper 2007. As one of the underlying core technologies in Diskeeper 2008, InvisiTasking changes the entire paradigm for how users will look at disk defragmentation and system maintenance. Diskeeper 2008 not only eliminates the need to manually defragment volumes, it also eliminates the need to schedule defragmentation. With InvisiTasking, Diskeeper 2008 automatically defragments each volume in the background, invisibly and by default. InvisiTasking’s proprietary techniques minimize the amount of processing done at any given time to ensure quick completion of its activities. The resources Diskeeper 2008 takes from applications and services is so close to zero that it’s virtually undetectable. Manual defragmentation is a thing of the past (although Diskeeper 2008 still allows it).

Completely Automatic Operation

InvisiTasking and I-FAAST 2.0, the key underlying technologies of Diskeeper 2008, allow for complete automatic file system performance enhancement. By default, all volumes are automatically defragmented after installation. For versions that include I-FAAST, it is also automatically enabled for all supported volumes (NTFS). Diskeeper 2008 eliminates the need to schedule defragmentation jobs. No longer do users “set it and forget it” as they did in previous versions. It happens by default. Automatic defragmentation ensures optimal performance without user intervention.

Extreme Conditions Defragmentation Diskeeper 2008 has a new, proprietary core defragmentation engine that ensures complete file and free space defragmentation in the most extreme of conditions. Even on systems with only one or two percent of free disk space or volumes with millions of fragments, Diskeeper 2008 automatically restores performance and reliability - automatically. InvisiTasking ensures that users won’t notice the automatic background operation.

Frag Shield 2.0™ Part of enhancing file system performance automatically is preventing fragmentation in key system files. Fragmentation of the Master File Table (MFT) on NTFS volumes and paging files can seriously impair system performance and reliability. Since the Windows operating system relies heavily on these files, the effect of their fragmentation on system performance is often much greater than when a normal file is fragmented. Since special measures must be taken to


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defragment these files, it is better to prevent their fragmentation in the first place. Frag Shield 2.0 optimally configures these critical system files, helping to keep them contiguous from the start.

Volume Snapshot Service (VSS) For Windows operating systems that support Volume Snapshot Service (VSS) (also called Volume Shadow Copy Service) including Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista, Diskeeper 2008 introduces a new feature to provide optimal defragmentation of VSS volumes without filling the space allocated to snapshots. This option only appears if you are running a supported operating system and have VSS enabled on one or more volumes.

Smarter Defragmentation Diskeeper 2008‘s core logic controller has undergone major enhancements to better analyze fragmentation conditions and select appropriate algorithms to improve volume performance. Selecting from numerous solutions such as “free space consolidation”, “boot optimization”, “partial defragmentation”, and many others, Diskeeper 2008 delivers faster and more effective total defragmentation.

I-FAAST Technology Diskeeper 2008 includes Version 2.0 of I-FAAST (Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology). First introduced in Diskeeper 10, I-FAAST improves file access performance beyond the improvements provided by ordinary file defragmentation by an average of 10 percent to 20 percent, and by as much as 80 percent. I-FAAST is the only file system performance enhancement technology that benchmarks volumes to determine their performance characteristics and then continually monitors these volumes to determine which files are requested most often. Using the collected monitoring information, Diskeeper sequences files to take best advantage of both the logical characteristics and physical characteristics of the volume. Diskeeper 2008 integrates Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology (I-FAAST) with InvisiTasking to make I-FAAST operation transparent. The enhanced version of I-FAAST in Diskeeper 2008 also allows users to specify which files, in addition to those determined by I-FAAST analysis, should be sequenced and optimized by IFAAST.

User Interface Diskeeper 2008‘s user interface is the result of extensive usability testing. Its simplified design provides a clean, intuitive user experience. Icons in the tool bar give the user one click access to key functions. The Quick Launch pane on the left side of the screen provides a logical grouping of Diskeeper 2008’s functions. The Dashboard tab, first introduced in Diskeeper 2007displays the Automatic Defragmentation Timeline (default 24/7) for each volume. This timeline defines the periods when Diskeeper can automatically defragment volumes. In addition, there is a graph of Real Time Resource Usage showing idle time used by Diskeeper, a list of most recently defragmented files, I-FAAST performance gains and Throughput Rates. It also summarizes Volume Health and presents Recommendations.


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Boot-Time Defragmentation

This feature defragments files at boot-time that cannot be moved safely when Windows is running. It also defragments or consolidates directories which, depending on the version of Windows and your file system, cannot be moved during on-line defragmentation.

Remote Installation

Diskeeper 2008 Administrator edition allows administrators to install Diskeeper simultaneously on multiple computers across a network. Remote installation can be a huge time saver for system administrators, especially on large networks that service hundreds or thousands of systems.

Menu Bar

Toolbar

Quick Launch Pane

Dashboard Area

Tabbed Dashboard

Volume Properties Quick

Launch Pane

Real time Resource Usage


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Hands-On with Diskeeper 2008 This section explores several key features. It tells you how to configure boot time defragmentation, I-FAAST, and Frag shield. For additional details, refer to the Diskeeper 2008 User’s Manual. Safety First Caution has guided the design of Diskeeper from its inception. Like its predecessors, Diskeeper 2008 moves a file only when it is absolutely certain that no data will be lost; this includes file attributes. In defragging any file, the only change to file attribute-type information is the physical location of the file on the volume. File dates are never changed and no other fields in the file record header are used to store Diskeeper information. Diskeeper assures this by using the Windows “Movefile API” to safely move files while the operating system is active. This essential API was developed jointly by Diskeeper Corporation and Microsoft and has been maintained through generations of Diskeeper. In Diskeeper 2008, as in earlier versions, data is never at risk, even if the computer crashes while Diskeeper is running, or if the user aborts the Diskeeper defragmentation run in the middle of the file relocation process. Installation Diskeeper 2008 installs from a software download (or CD-ROM) in just a few minutes. Refer to the Diskeeper 2008 User’s Manual for detailed installation instructions. However, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• The installation wizard checks for previous versions of Diskeeper and will remove previous versions before installing Diskeeper 2008.

• Diskeeper 2008 can be started immediately after installation on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2003.

• During installation, the installation wizard will display the following screen:


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Diskeeper recommends accepting the defaults to enable automatic defragmentation of all volumes and automatically activate the product.

Exploring Diskeeper 2008 Getting Started The Diskeeper 2008 Quick Launch menu has a “Getting Started” selection. Click on the triangle to open the Getting Started menu. There you will find selections for the Quick Start Guide, Diskeeper Overview, Frequently Asked Questions, and a comprehensive, searchable Help guide.

Start your tour by clicking on the Quick Start Guide. Analyze Volumes

Diskeeper 2008 automatically defragments all volumes by default. However, you may want to view a baseline measurement of fragmentation and look at Diskeeper’s recommendations for each volume. There are multiple ways to analyze volumes on your system:

o Select the volume to be analyzed. If there is more than one volume, hold down the Ctrl key and click on each additional volume to be analyzed. Then click on the Analyze button.

Click to Open Click to Launch Quick Start Guide

Analyze


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o Alternatively, with the volume(s) selected, click on the Analyze icon in the toolbar.

Results for each selected volume will appear in separate pop-up windows. Each window has two tabs: Volume Map and Job Report. The volume map tab provides a color coded graphical representation of the analyzed volume. Using the drop down box, you can change between the File Structure view and the File Performance view. This view shows File Structure.

At the bottom of the screen, there are descriptions for each color used in the graph. There are also options for saving the report, printing the report and for getting help.

Tabbed Interface

Change view drop down box

Color Coded Analysis

Color Keys


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The view below shows file performance of the same volume that is illustrated above. Diskeeper’s primary concern is performance, not creating a pretty disk map. Diskeeper will not defragment a file just for the sake of a nice-looking file structure graph with all files tightly packed together. Diskeeper arranges a volume’s files for the best possible disk performance. In this example, even though some large files were fragmented, there were no low performing files or folders on the volume.


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Clicking on the Job Report tab displays a comprehensive statistical report on the analyzed volume, along with recommendations for performance improvement and a volume health report. Diskeeper 2008 will also display a list of the most fragmented files if you click on the “View” icon at the bottom of the screen.

Recommendations

Health & Warnings

Access Time

Statistics

View Fragmented Files


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Volume Properties

The second tab in the quick launch panel allows you to set volume properties for each volume. There are four choices in this menu: Automatic Defragmentation, I-Faast, Boot Time Defragmentation and Frag Shield

Automatic Defragmentation

By default, Diskeeper 2008 configures all volumes for automatic defragmentation. Automatic defragmentation is powered by the InvisiTasking™ technology introduced in Diskeeper 2007. User selection of Diskeeper priorities (e.g. CPU) is no longer necessary. InvisiTasking allows defragmentation of files on the fly as fragmentation occurs. This eliminates the need for both scheduling and manual defragmentation. Automatic defragmentation also intelligently executes the proper defragmentation algorithms to quickly defragment files and consolidate free space. User selection of defragmentation methods is no longer necessary. By default, automatic defragmentation is enabled on all volumes--seven days a week, 24 hours a day. As compared to scheduling when defragmentation can occur as was done in earlier versions, Diskeeper 2008 provides the ability to define time periods to exclude from automatic defragmentation. To exclude periods and prevent the Diskeeper engine from running, either click on Automatic Defragmentation under volume properties, or click on the Automatic Defragmentation icon in the tool bar.

Automatic Defragmentation


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By default Diskeeper is always on, but the Automatic Defragmentation Timeline feature allows users to exclude times that Diskeeper runs. Individual automatic defragmentation exclusion periods can be set for each volume by selecting a volume, selecting blocks of time on the Automatic Defragmentation Timeline, and clicking the apply button.

Exclude Times

Select Volume(s)


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Recommended testing:

Because InvisiTasking works in the background, it makes defragmentation hassle free for end users. That being said, Diskeeper 2008 is more difficult to test than traditional manual defragmenters. There are, however, a number of things you can check to witness the effects of its performance: o If possible, start with a volume that is heavily fragmented, or one that has

not been defragmented for a long period of time. o Run a volume analysis on each volume as shown in the analyze volumes

section above. o Save the results for each volume for comparison. o Let Diskeeper 2008 run for a day or two. Every day, Diskeeper updates

historical statistics in the history tab of the dashboard. Check the volume history for each volume every couple of days to see performance and number of files defragmented.

Dashboard History Tab Volume

History Graph


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o The dashboard displays real time details about the operation of Diskeeper

2008. Click on the dashboard tab and scroll down to Idle Resources used by Diskeeper. You’ll see, in real time, that Diskeeper 2008 uses only a negligible amount of resources.

I-FAAST Not all disks will benefit from I-FAAST. When the feature is enabled on a volume [default], measurements are taken to determine whether I-FAAST will improve the performance of the volume. If there is no appreciable improvement available for a particular volume, the feature will, by default, not be enabled for that volume, unless selected.

I-FAAST 2.0 now uses InvisiTasking to ensure invisible background operation. In addition, I-FAAST 2.0 now supports user-selection of files for speed optimization. This might come in handy on files that you might want to be accessed quickly but which may not be frequently used. An example might include the CEO’s files on the file server.

Notes:

• I-FAAST 2.0 is available only for NTFS Volumes running on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Server 2003.

• I-FAAST 2.0 is a feature of Pro Premier, Server and Enterprise Server editions. • In order to take advantage of I-FAAST 2.0, automatic defragmentation must be

enabled. To configure I-FAAST options, either click on I-FAAST in the Quick Launch Volume Properties menu, or click on the I-FAAST icon in the toolbar.

I-FAAST 2.0


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By default, Diskeeper 2008 is configured to automatically determine the best I-FAAST configuration. To override the default, click on either Always Enable or Always Disable I-FAAST. To specify individual files for I-FAAST treatment, check the box that says, “I want to specify files to accelerate…..” Expand the directory tree, select files and click on the Include button.

Recommended testing: o Allow automatic defragmentation to run as much as possible (set no or minimal

exclusion periods.) o After a day (it may take a few days) return to the Diskeeper product and view the I-

FAAST performance numbers in the Dashboard display.

I-FAAST is unavailable for FAT 32

Volumes

Performance

Performance

Included files


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Boot Time Defragmentation This feature defragments files at boot-time that cannot be moved safely when Windows is running. It also defragments or consolidates directories which, depending on the version of Windows, cannot be moved during on-line defragmentation. Boot time defragmentation is not enabled by default. Generally, it only needs to be enabled if recommended after running a volume analysis. To configure Boot Time Defragmentation, either click on Boot Time Defragmentation in the Quick Launch Volume Properties menu, or click on the Boot Time Defragmentation icon in the toolbar.

o Select a volume for Boot Time Defragmentation o Click on Enable Boot Time Defragmentation o Choose to defragment on either the next boot, or on a specified schedule o Select options for Boot Time Defragmentation. Note: only options

appropriate for the volume selected are available for selection. Defragment Master File Table is only available for NTFS volumes.

o Click Apply

Boot Time Defragmentation

Select Volume

Enable Boot Time Defragmentation

Choose Options


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Recommended testing:

o Run an analysis on each volume and save the results. o Note fragmented directories (for FAT32 volumes) and paging files and

fragmented MFT (for NTFS volumes) o Save the results. o Configure Boot Time Defragmention as described above to run on the

next reboot. o Reboot system o After restarting windows, run an analysis on each volume and compare

with your saved results. Frag Shield

Microsoft has published specific configuration guidelines for two system files that are critical for the efficient operation of Windows. These two files are: The Paging file which provides additional memory support for your computer, and the Master File Table (MFT) which is a “table of contents” for NTFS volumes. When these files become fragmented, the effect is often much greater than if a normal file gets fragmented. Since these files have to be defragmented at boot time and can’t be defragmented while the system is operating, it is much better if fragmentation doesn’t happen in the first place. Frag Shield prevents fragmentation of these critical system files. To configure Frag Shield, click on the new Frag Shield icon in the toolbar.

Frag Shield


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o Scroll down the Properties list on the left and click on Frag Shield o Click on Enable Frag Shield if it’s not already selected. Frag Shield 2.0 in

Diskeeper 2008 automatically monitors your paging files and MFT if enabled.

Frag Shield


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Configuration Properties Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)

To configure defragmentation options for VSS, click on the configuration properties in the toolbar.

On the left panel, click on Volume Shadow Copy Service and select the VSS defragmentation options for both manual and automatic defragmentation of VSS volumes. Note: The Diskeeper 2008 VSS dialog box is only available on system that have VSS functionality (e.g. Windows Server 2003).

Configuration Properties


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Testing Considerations Diskeeper 2008 with InvisiTasking technology is designed to be an automatic defragmenter. While Diskeeper still allows manual defragmentation, this is not the way the product is intended to be used, nor the way our customers will typically use it. To best understand the advantages of fully automatic operation, Diskeeper 2008 should be installed and allowed to run in its default configuration for at least several days. Here are a few additional tips:

• You will achieve the most dramatic results if you test on a system that has not been defragmented for an extended period of time. For operating systems prior to Windows Vista, Windows’ built-in disk defragmenter could only be run manually, so Diskeeper 2008 will yield dramatic results. (On Windows Vista, you can schedule the Windows Disk Defragmenter.)

• After installing Diskeeper 2008, analyze each test volume and save the results to establish a baseline.

• Run a Boot Time Defragmentation on each test volume to defragment the paging files. Note: On previous versions of Diskeeper, Boot Time Defragmentation was required to also defragment the Master File Table (MFT). On Windows XP and later, Frag Shield 2.0, new in Diskeeper 2008, automatically defragments the MFT online without the need to run a boot time defragmentation.

• Allow Diskeeper 2008 to run for several days on an actively used system. Invisi-tasking ensures that you won’t notice that Diskeeper is operating in the background. Each day, check the Dashboard to review the job logs and the graphs in the history tab.

• File performance is far more important than File Structure. A pretty drive map doesn’t necessarily correspond to maximum performance in all cases.

Advanced testing It requires more work to test a product that is designed to operate transparently in the background. However, due to the pioneering nature of the InvisiTasking technology, the results of background testing will be extremely interesting to many readers. Real world testing scenarios that show Diskeeper running invisibly could include:

• Launch applications with Diskeeper running in automatic mode and without Diskeeper running.

• Burn CDs with Diskeeper running in automatic mode and without Diskeeper running.

• Perform benchmark tests using commercially available benchmarking software with Diskeeper running in automatic mode and without Diskeeper running.

It might be of interest to run these tests on a fragmented drive, where Diskeeper would be actively eliminating fragmentation, and then run them on a freshly defragmented system where the tested operations themselves do not access any fragmented files. These tests would illustrate that when Diskeeper is running, a system always runs as fast as or faster than when Diskeeper is disabled.