OK, thank you all for the help! 
Well, I think I’ve decided for PerfectDisk. I will download the trial first. And some more questions, please help me again.
Do you recommend me to let it run in the background and defragment all the time? Or is it better for the hard disk to defragment it once or twice a month?
Does PerfectDisk have to install any other Windows tool or program or anything external at all? Any problems with Windows XP firewall? Do I have to update PerfectDisk later on? Are updates free?
Thank you!
Nope no conflicts, nothing extra required for installing(at least that i am aware) and yes you can update it for free for the minor builds(say v10 build 44 to v10 build 61). It will let you know when a new version is out. When a major update is released though like from v10 to v11 you’ll need to buy another license to upgrade but you’ll get a discount. But it’s not like an AV software so you don’t have to upgrade every year when a major new version comes out.
I recommend you set it up to defrag every week or if that is too much for you then twice or once a month should do it. Why i don’t like the contionous background defragmenting i already explained to you.
lp
Miha
EDIT: I also suggest you to check out the PerfectDisk blog, some nice info there. http://blog.perfectdisk.com/
OK, thanx, and one last question (hopefully ;D): is PerfectDisk 100% a safe program to use? Check this out please: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=245448
Again - thank you!
Well since you don’t have a RAID array i don’t see how this could affect you. And no i never had this problem with the boot defrag, this is the first i hear of it.
But maybe you should read that whole thread, it appears it was some problem with build 110.
with the newest 114 update the problem no longer exists
BTW the newest build is 119 and brings better Win 7 support…
Mikey,
Doesn’t windows 7 clean up (defrag) the HD automatically as part of it’s maintenance ???
Not sure what you mean Bob. Disk Cleanup doesn’t defrag but by default windows defrag IS scheduled to run on a weekly basis in both Vista and 7. Is that what you meant ?
Correct.
Perhaps we should also give a little bit more info about windows 7 defrag which has been improved over the one in Vista. It’s actually pretty darn good if you ask me ! If you want to learn more, i found a nice blog on msdn that explains more about it. Quite an informative read.
I say that Io Bit Smart defrag is better than windows defragment tool
Its a good read with a final observation
Best practices for using defragmentation in Windows 7 are simple – you do not need to do anything! Defragmentation is scheduled to automatically run periodically and in the background with minimal impact to foreground activity. This ensures that data on your hard disk drives is efficiently placed so the system can provide optimal responsiveness and I can continue to enjoy glitch free listening to the Eagles :-).
Hm, another thing about PerfectDisk: I would like to use it as I did the built-in Defrag in Windows XP, meaning I don’t want to use background defrag, scheduler, screen-saver etc. I just want to manually defrag - start the program and run it for the time needed to get the job done. Once a month or so. Is that OK or it maybe isn’t good for my hard-disk to do so? Thank you again.
Yeah it’s ok.
I found something weird:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=188680&hl=perfectdisk
What do you think, is PerfectDisk safe for a newbie user like me? I really don’t want to damage my hard-disk and lose data.
And another thing I read: “While defragmenting you should not use the pc, you should disable screensavers, disconnect from net and siable firewall/antivirus.”
Is that true?
Thank you for help!
I’m sorry to say this to you but you are massively overdoing it with the paranoia buddy. I have no idea what that user was doing with his partitions but clearly he was experimenting a bit too much with something he doesn’t understand hence his strange problems(his partition is way too small btw which would explain alot). His biggest problem is himself and his lack of knowledge.
PD is very stable(especially on XP) and shouldn’t cause any problems so yes i would call it safe. And no you don’t need to disable any of that stuff or disconnect from the internet, if some files are in use they’ll just be locked by the os and therefore ignored by the defrag(it won’t move them).
Paranoid…
Yeah, I admit that I’m a little paranoid, but I don’t want to lose any data. So the stuff about no work, no screensaver, being offline etc. while defraging is not true? OK.
So, I guess I should use PerfectDisk with the default options then? If I mess up with more advanced stuff I can damage my HD?
Sorry, but I’m curious. Thank you!
Rejzor’s power dragmentor with contig does a great job!
Yes the defaults are fine. Don’t play with your partitions and you’ll be fine. PD doesn’t change your partitions cause it’s not a partition manager, it’s a defrag program, that guy used something else to do that and mess up his partitions. PD was not his problem there it was something else.
Allright, thank you for so much help, I really appreciate it. Thanx!