I would like to find a way to boot CD that I can use to defrag the hard drives including the Windows install drive.
If I could boot to CD outside of Windows on that drive it should get the best defrag possible I think. I hope someone here can know of solutions and tell me how to find or create it.
Thank you for helping.
Some software like diskpeeper can do this without any external CD. Too bad, however, this software is not free 
You can create a bootable windows CD containing a defrag software like Defraggler (that is free) using BartPE or with Windows PE.
Of course you need a regularly registered copy of Windows to use these tools 
Why not just use a portable version of Defraggler, http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1418? Just run it from a flash drive. You won’t gain anything from using a bootable CD.
[QUOTE=Whappo;2464387]Why not just use a portable version of Defraggler, http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1418? Just run it from a flash drive. You won’t gain anything from using a bootable CD.[/QUOTE]
If you run defraggler from the pendrive, some parts of the C: partition will be still locked by windows (because it is still running), so it is better to boot from a live CD. Diskeeper is able to load the defragger module in memory and run it after a reboot (before windows is loaded), but too bat it is not a free software
[QUOTE=geno888;2464393]If you run defraggler from the pendrive, some parts of the C: partition will be still locked by windows (because it is still running), so it is better to boot from a live CD. Diskeeper is able to load the defragger module in memory and run it after a reboot (before windows is loaded), but too bat it is not a free software :([/QUOTE]
I’m not clear as to how much “locked” space is actually in use or if booting from a CD will help with say, the PageFile. I’ve used PageDefrag, part of Sysinternals software, to defrag the PageFile and Registry Hives but haven’t used a commercial defrag program to do this. I suppose I can do a little research to see just how many files and how much space is not defragmented when using a program like UltraDefrag, which can also defrag the Pagefile and other system files and offers boot time defrag. http://ultradefrag.sourceforge.net/
Thanks for the suggestion 
I’ll have a look at the Sysinternal tools 
I have the max RAM on my computer .My page file never increases beyond the minimum I have it set to.which is 16 MB.So I don’t consider fragmentation of it a problem.
If You want to take care of the page file the best way is to: Write down the settings . Disable it . Reboot. Then run your defragmentor. Enable the paging file & reboot.
I have the Diskeeper Home edition tha came with my computer.It seems to do a good job.It doesn’t have any settings that would allow it to work outside of Windows.
For optimizing the registry I use this NTREGOPT combined with CCleaner.
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
Vista doesn’t allow much to be done outside of it.
I haven’t used it for this but I have a software from Paragon that creates a disc that will allow the unused space on the HDD to be erased by various levels of overwriting.Outside of Windows.
I have another program that will do it inside Windows Erase.I usually do this about one a year.It takes several hours to run at a 7 times overwrite.I’ve never tried the 35 overwrite it has.I think that would take at least 24 hours to run.
[QUOTE=geno888;2464393]If you run defraggler from the pendrive, some parts of the C: partition will be still locked by windows (because it is still running), so it is better to boot from a live CD. Diskeeper is able to load the defragger module in memory and run it after a reboot (before windows is loaded), but too bat it is not a free software :([/QUOTE]
Thank you for reply
I think what you have said is what I mean to say. I wish to boot outside of Windows and defrag with Windows drive not active on the hard drive. That should mean defrag will be able to get maximum efficiency with no files locked on the hard drive. I hope to find a way to do that.
Thank you for helping
You’re welcome
A (more complicated) alternative could be to remove the HDD from computer and install it on an external box or on another computer, and then defrag it, but it is a really cumbersome solution 
[QUOTE=cholla;2464586] For optimizing the registry I use this NTREGOPT combined with CCleaner.
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
[/QUOTE]
Thank you for reply
The link to the optimizer program is appreciated. I know of CClean and use it but did not know of the ERUNT. It said I have 15 percent fragmented registry and rebooted and now it says only 1 percent! Nothing seems broken and all the programs work after using it so saving 14 percent seems to have worked.
Thank you for helping also
[QUOTE=Whappo;2464414]I’m not clear as to how much “locked” space is actually in use or if booting from a CD will help with say, the PageFile. I’ve used PageDefrag, part of Sysinternals software, to defrag the PageFile and Registry Hives but haven’t used a commercial defrag program to do this. I suppose I can do a little research to see just how many files and how much space is not defragmented when using a program like UltraDefrag, which can also defrag the Pagefile and other system files and offers boot time defrag. http://ultradefrag.sourceforge.net/[/QUOTE]
Thank you for reply
I will download and try Ultradefrag
Can you please enlighten me as to why you would give preference to defrag at boot up instead of when the OS loads to the Desktop?
Most premium defraggers already has the boot time defrag for those who require this option.
I would be more concerned about file placement based on performance, more so than boot time defrag.
Thank you for reply
If you boot to PE Builder or other disc and not into the Windows install on the hard drive, you should be able to defrag every file on the hard drive to maximum possible because no files on the hard drive are in use.
If I were able to find a defrag that is running from a boot CD instead of on the hard drive, I would get the best results.
Boot CD is supported in most bios chips but not all USB functions for USB 2 booting.
So I wish to boot CD and run a Defrag from there.
Your welcome SubZero ,
NTREGOPT is the registry optimizer. ERUNT is the part of the software that makes a backup of the registry.
ERUNT registry backup has saved me more than once from a complete reinstall.
NTREGOPT has worked with no problems I can detect .
[QUOTE=SubZero;2464768]Thank you for reply
If you boot to PE Builder or other disc and not into the Windows install on the hard drive, you should be able to defrag every file on the hard drive to maximum possible because no files on the hard drive are in use.
If I were able to find a defrag that is running from a boot CD instead of on the hard drive, I would get the best results.
Boot CD is supported in most bios chips but not all USB functions for USB 2 booting.
So I wish to boot CD and run a Defrag from there.[/QUOTE]
A boot time defrag initiated from within Windows, simply loads all the commands into the memory so they can be executed at boot up.
All files on the hard drive is then susceptible to defrag including Paging Files, Master File Table, Metadata and Hibernation files.
The end results are the same but without the extra efforts.
@SubZero; Giveaway of the day has the Paragon Total Defrag 2010 Special Edition today. 11/19/2009.
It says it will create a bootable CD for defragging before Windows Start.
You might want to give it a try.
I’m downloading it & will install sometime today.
Like all their giveaways it’s only for today.
[QUOTE=cholla;2466755]@SubZero; Giveaway of the day has the Paragon Total Defrag 2010 Special Edition today. 11/19/2009.
It says it will create a bootable CD for defragging before Windows Start.
You might want to give it a try.
I’m downloading it & will install sometime today.
Like all their giveaways it’s only for today.
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/[/QUOTE]
Thank you for reply
It says this on the download page:
“Run Paragon Total Defrag without installation. Create a bootable CD or DVD and boot the system and defragment all the available disks directly from it.”
It would sound to be what I was hoping for it to be. I will download and try.
Thank you for helping and for pointing out something that matched my request for information. I am thankful for the attention to detail when helping.
Just a bit of a review on Paragon Total Defrag 2010 Special Edition .
I gave it a try .After downloading & installing I created a bootable CD.
It is called “Recovery Media Builer” by the software.
It has some other functions but will also go to a defrag GUI outside of Windows.
It is not dependant on the software being installed on the computer after the disc is created. I tested this by using the CD on a different computer that didn’t have the software installed.It defragged it.
My main complaint is it is slow.It appears you have to let it complete the defrag once it is started or data may be lost. I would run this one overnight when I was sleeping.
I do what cholla said above and it defrag off the cd very well.
I will do some test analysis to determine effectiveness of the defrag.
Thank you and I will post more when done with analysis