Today in West-Germany...

Where is West Germany?

Yep, good points.

It might be nice if MyDefrag could use multiple physical disks, if available, when reading and writing large files when vacating space.

I recently saw MyDefrag move some large (2 GB) space hogs from the start of the disk up to close to the end of the disk, rearrange the files in the middle of the disk, and then move the space hog files back down to the end of the newly shuffled files.  It would have been quicker to temporarily move the large space hogs to my second physical drive (space allowing), so that one drive is reading while the other is writing, and then finally move the files back to their final locations on the first drive.

I found my problem - I hadn't uninstalled 4.2.7, but installed 4.2.8 over the top of it, into the same directory (C:\Program Files\MyDefrag).  My screen saver was still set to MyDefragScreenSaver.scr, which I see has now changed to MyDefragScreenSaver v4.2.8.scr.  Once I changed to the new screen saver, it worked OK.

I think it would be better not to put the version number into the installation directory name and the screen saver name.  That way, you can just install a new version over the top of the old one without these kinds of conflicts.  If the user wants to keep an old version, let them manage that themselves.

Thanks for the update!

I have the MyDefrag screen saver to run "OptimizeDaily.myD", and then to run the Windows XP screen saver. Don't run if last completed run was less than 0 hours ago.
Full status bar.

But when the screen saver kicks in, the screen goes black except for an empty grey status bar at the top, it remains that way for a second or two, and then the Windows XP screen saver kicks in.  If I run the OptimizeDaily.myD script directly, it works as normal.

Is it somehow ignoring the "less than 0 hours ago" setting and not running the defrag?

So now I want to modify the Weekly and Daily scripts to "Exclude" a TrueCrypt file that I don't want touched (because it is open).

Out of interest, why do you want to exclude the TC file?  I defrag with an open TC file mounted and it doesn't seem to upset anything.

The way the program represents the disk map could well be important to "hook" people in to using the program.  I know I'm not alone in enjoying watching the almost hypnotic dance of the moving files leaving behind a nice clean disk, and it is one of the things I like about MyDefrag (after the control the program gives, of course).  If you implement more options for diskmaps you are more likely to make the program appealing to more people.

It is difficult to satisfy every user. But I think automatic zoom could be very annoying.
A Key wich can do the job If you can not see where the defragger is working will be enough, I hope.

I think this is a very good idea and is a feature that I would find useful.

I'd like to understand a bit better how FastFill works, in particular how it chooses what files to move down to fill a gap. If a FileSelect zone only selects files within a directory, say, then when you run FastFill in that zone does it only move files in that same directory down to fill gaps in the zone?  Or does it choose any file above the gap that will fit?  Won't this then "pollute" the zone with files from outside those selected in the FileSelect?

4.1.2 had problem with the WithShuffling option, usually marking all files behind gaps as unmovable.
Try it with 4.2.0.

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

A script I have used many, many times, decided to go into an infinite loop today, halting the defrag.

My script has:

  FileSelect
    ImportListFromBootOptimize()
  FileActions
    Defragment(Fast)
    FastFill(WithShuffling)
    AddGap(UntilPercentageOfVolumeMultiple(1))
  FileEnd

In my debug log, I see:

     Starting FileActions.
11:04:32     Defragment
11:04:32     FastFill
11:04:32     Starting FastFill.
11:04:35         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:35           The item above the gap is unmovable.
11:04:35         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:35           The item above the gap is unmovable.
11:04:35         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:35           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:35         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:35           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:35         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:35           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:35         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:35           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:36         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:36           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:36         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:36           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:36         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:36           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:36         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:36           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:36         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:36           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:36         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:36           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:37         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:37           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:37         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:37           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:37         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:37           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:37         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:37           Could not find the item above the gap.
11:04:37         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:37           Offset=0 Size=1
11:04:37           Unsuccesful in moving the item above the gap.
11:04:38         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:38           The end of the gap is above the end of the zone.
11:04:38         Trying to move away the item above the gap.
11:04:38           The end of the gap is above the end of the zone.

which then goes on for ever and ever until I kill MyDefrag (v4.1.2).

Taking off the "WithShuffling" option from the FastFill allowed the defrag to proceed.

Where on the disk does Windows place a new file that gets created?

I don't know how Windows decides where to place new files. I'm sure there is some kind of optimization there, for example the closest gap to wherever the harddisk heads happen to be, or whatever. But new files can basically be placed anywhere.

then there's not much point in leaving a gap after the zone, is there?

If a disk were perfectly optimized and there were no gaps at all, so the only free space is at the end behind all the other data, then all temporary files would have to be placed behind all the other data. That's the slowest part of the disk, and the harddisk heads will have to travel very far. MyDefrag makes gaps in various places to give Windows a chance to place temporary files at a faster part of the disk.

Thanks - makes sense!

Where on the disk does Windows place a new file that gets created?  I.e.  what gap does it choose?  Does it always find an appropriately sized gap as close as possible to the start of the disk?

What I'm really wondering about is when you create a gap after a zone, there's no guarantee that new files that would belong in that zone are created there, is there?  Is the gap only for edited files growing in size?  So if files in a zone are relatively static - i.e. not edited - then there's not much point in leaving a gap after the zone, is there?

Windows might decide to place new files in your gap after a zone, I guess, which would clutter up the zone in any case.

Just trying to understand gaps after zones...