Use CTM 2.8, 2.9 beta or wait for CTM 3.0?

[Guest]

[Solarlynx]

Defrag the system partition just before installation of CTM. Then no need to defrag the sys part because if the sys part is severely fragmented then CTM cannot remember all the info - it will ran short of the sys disk space and the system will halt. As for defragging of other unprotected by CTM partitions then it's indifferent for the CTM.

[LisaKelly]

The answer is yes to your questions.

You should not defrag so often, every 6mount is okey. so then CTM is then installed twice a year.
Defragmentation is only need due to the construction of NFTS file-format. On a linux OS that, that uses another than NFTS, does note require defragmentation.

Regards,
            Valentin N

So what are you saying?  Switch to Linux?  But CTM is not needed on Linux.

And are you serious or joking when you say you defrag every 6 months?   Surely a person should defrag at least once per month?

[LisaKelly]

No, for sure it's overkilling. Each 3 or 6 months will be ok.
In my personal experience, the fragmentation using CTM was much less intense than normal using of Windows. My "test" is the following:
1. Defragmentation of the disk.
2. Installation of CTM.
3. Use for a month. Uninstall CTM to the last snapshot (not the baseline).
4. The fragmentation of the last state was minimum.

I'm not sure this is a valid test. But it's my personal experience.

So what else will I stop being able to do in Windows 7 if I install CTM?  I cannot defrag, and what else can I not do?

[wasgij6]

So what else will I stop being able to do in Windows 7 if I install CTM?  I cannot defrag, and what else can I not do?

any type of defragging, windows system restore (which CTM will disable), and any other software that controls the MBR like truecrypt. Razvan (lead dev of CTM) said that CTM 3 will support dual booting linux so idk if any other limitations will be overcome with the new version. we will soon find out.

[wasgij6]

So what are you saying?  Switch to Linux?  But CTM is not needed on Linux.

And are you serious or joking when you say you defrag every 6 months?   Surely a person should defrag at least once per month?

this is a much debated and sought after question with the similar software rollbackRX.
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=1992074#post1992074

RollbackRX and CTM both automatically defrag its snapshots but its hard to say how often your filesystem will need a defrag. There are many factors such as, do you install and uninstall programs a lot, do you move and add files across your hard drive often etc.

Also here is RollbackRX view on defragging.

Hope this helps

[panic]

And are you serious or joking when you say you defrag every 6 months?   Surely a person should defrag at least once per month?

Hey Lisa,

If I can jump into this thread with one question -

What degree of improvement (measured as opposed to perceived) can you get from using a Windows file system defragger on a monthly (or even 6 monthly) basis?

I'm not making light of your position, I'm just curious as to why you feel the need to defrag on a regular basis and would be interested to read any answers to this question.

Years ago (pre-CTM), I used to degrag religiously, but that was back when disk were even more of a performance bottleneck than they are now. Over time, I've taken a more rational (IMHO) position by asking one question that was asked by my 13 year old nephew - "If you take 2 hours to do a full defrag weekly, are you going to recover that 2 hours in a week?" The only logical answer I could come up with was "I guess not".

Defragging the Windows file system will give you a minute improvement in load times, but is this very minor improvement sufficient to compensate for the downtime involved in achieving this improvement?

Once you have CTM installed, CTM optimizes its snapshots according to your settings. It can optimize the snapshots daily if you so desire.

I haven't defragged a drive for over 3 years now and I don't see a performance loss at all.

Cheers,
Ewen :-)

[SiberLynx]

...Surely a person should defrag at least once per month?

Hi LisaKelly,

Regardless of using CTM in conjunction with defragmentation, I may say that I do agree entirely with what panic pointed above
(Well,.. 3 years maybe is too much, but still could be completely true. )

Sending more strong message – defragmentation on a monthly basis – is “must NOT do ever!”
Sure waste of time, sure no performance gain whatsoever,
... but …  another “sure” would be –  you are substantially reducing your hard drive’s life span
Add to monthly defragmentation full deep scanning by AV (some people are using several    at the same time) more frequently than once in a 1-2 months  and  your HD will die pretty much sooner than expected -  “Finito la commedia” Not just "overkill" as some guys already stated, but a real killer!

Speaking of defrags – you may consider such Software as Defraggler and alike, which gives you an ability to see fragmentation on a files level.  If you find very often used files (no matter whether those are executables or data files)  that have hundreds or thousands fragments – defragment those ones only on  more regular basis …. otherwise – once a year  (once in 6 months )  of a whole drive(s) is more than sufficient

*** Added ***  Sorry, I forgot to mention the following earlier
You did not state any info about your OS (neither in signature nor in any post I've seen - correct me if I'm wrong, but the Signature would be preferred method )
So in addition to the above, please search for, say: "do i need to defrag windows 7"
In most cases you'll find similar conclusion -

Best practices for using defragmentation in Windows 7 are simple – you do not need to do anything!

Cheers!

[LisaKelly]

any type of defragging, windows system restore (which CTM will disable), and any other software that controls the MBR like truecrypt. Razvan (lead dev of CTM) said that CTM 3 will support dual booting linux so idk if any other limitations will be overcome with the new version. we will soon find out.

I run a TrueCrypt travelers virtual drive that I load once W7 loads, will CTM 3 work with that?

[LisaKelly]

Hey Lisa,

If I can jump into this thread with one question -

What degree of improvement (measured as opposed to perceived) can you get from using a Windows file system defragger on a monthly (or even 6 monthly) basis?

I'm not making light of your position, I'm just curious as to why you feel the need to defrag on a regular basis and would be interested to read any answers to this question....

Ewan, because I always thought I should.  That's the only reason.  But I am learning through this thread that I may not need to defrag so often.

[Valentin N]

So what are you saying?  Switch to Linux?  But CTM is not needed on Linux.

And are you serious or joking when you say you defrag every 6 months?   Surely a person should defrag at least once per month?

I never said you should switch but I used Linux OS as Windows OS and Linux OS uses two different system format to explain why defragmentation is needed, nothing else.

I am not joking, I am defragging every 6 mounth; I don't install, reinstall or uninstall so defraging is not necessary and defraging also come with some risk of losing data so it might do more damage than being useful if it's used to frequent. From I can say is that defragmentation is needed if data  frequently is written or ereased from the disk, in real life that would by installing, uninstalling software, adding or deleting data in from of pics, docs and such. I'm only talking from my experience. It's up to you to decide what's best for you.

[panic]

Ewan, because I always thought I should.  That's the only reason.  But I am learning through this thread that I may not need to defrag so often.

There's an old saying, Lisa - History makes a great teacher, but a lousy master.

In the bad old days when disks were slow and file systems were less efficient, defragging was a good way of getting a bit of speed back. Advances in both disk specifications and file systems has greatly reduced the potential benefits of defragging.

In fact, if you have a solid state disk (SSD) it is particularly recommended to NOT defrag, as there is a finite limit on the number of times that each storage it can be written to.

CTM's inbuilt snapshot optimization is, IMHO, a more than adequate replacement for defragging, particularly as the snapshot contains the actual data, not the windows file system.

Cheers,
Ewen :-)
 

[wasgij6]

I run a TrueCrypt travelers virtual drive that I load once W7 loads, will CTM 3 work with that?

yes thats fine only thing that would not be compatible is encrypting the whole drive which requires truecrypt to change the MBR.

[Tech]

I run a TrueCrypt travelers virtual drive that I load once W7 loads, will CTM 3 work with that?

File containers from TrueCrypt are compatible.
Whole drive encryption doesn't.

[KoPRoSKyLo]

So what are you saying?  Switch to Linux?  But CTM is not needed on Linux.

And are you serious or joking when you say you defrag every 6 months?   Surely a person should defrag at least once per month?

Hi Lisa, I'm afraid your dillema is not a dillema at all and your concerns are typical of relatively new users (no disrespect meant here of course).  Most modern hard disks require very little defragmentation if any at all - only once every 6 months at the most and that is with normal computer usage.  You'll find that any speed benefits are practically non-existent when you defrag every month - unless of course you constantly install and uninstall software on a daily basis.  Under normal usage conditions defraging very frequently is a bit of a placebo, it just makes the user feel better and in the long run you'll be shortening the lifespan of your drive if you defrag frequently.  There are no real-life speed benefits to it, at least none that can be perceived by a human and without the use of benchmarks.

With solid state disks defraging is not needed at all and the Windows automatic defragmation schedule for the SSD should be turned off altogether.  Again you will just end up wearing the drive down and reducing its lifespan for no good reason.  Windows 7 normally detects without any user intervention if an SSD is installed, and disables auto defrag for the SSD.

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