O&O Defrag Professional Review

Let me begin with a quick lesson on how files are written to a hard drive.

When you save a file, the operating system (Windows) writes the file to the hard drive. Optimally it would save the file in one chunk on the drive; however, that is not the case. Most of the times it saves it in several smaller pieces spread around the hard drive. When you go to open the file, Windows grabs the chunks and reassembles them into the original.

Since heaps of files are saved and deleted on a daily basis, your hard drive becomes “fragmented” as the file chunks are spread around. This can cause Windows to slow as it tries to reassemble the files as they are read. To combat this, we must defrag the hard drive, bringing the far-flung chunks back together.

For all but the most “hardcore” users, the built-in defrag program in Windows will meet your needs. It only offers a basic defrag, but it is simple to use and reasonably efficient.

However, for the “power users” among us, O&O Defrag Professional offers a handful of more advanced features. The feature that stands out the most in my mind is the ability to reorder the hard drive based on how you access the files (the options include: "stealth", "space", "complete/name", "complete/modified" and "complete/access"). For instance, if you select “complete/access”, O&O will do a complete defrag and reorder your hard drive based on the files you accessed most recently and placing those files on easier/faster to access portions of the hard drive. The next time you go to access one of those files, it should pop up a little faster.

Another great feature of O&O Pro is the ability to defrag your drive in the background. In other words, O&O will continually be defragging your drive as you work - a feature the Windows version is lacking.

The user interface is easy to navigate, but if you do get stuck, there are good help files to give you a hand.