Dangers of using MyDefrag

[steve4king]

I see looking at the bug list, that there was a problem with Microsoft's defrag API which could cause corruption.

I understand that this problem existed on JKdefrag as well.
Has anyone actually run into this problem? Is it a very unique environment that causes it?

Are there any reasons MyDefrag should be considered potentially dangerous if used on a system with critical data?

Thanks,

[jonib]

Are there any reasons MyDefrag should be considered potentially dangerous if used on a system with critical data?

I don't know about the bug, but just booting up the computer can be potentially dangerous(hardware failure) so a current backup is the only way to be safe, especially with critical data.

jonib

[steve4king]

Here is the bug to which I alluded:
http://www.mydefrag.com/Manual-KnownProblems.html

Some data on an NTFS partition may become corrupted after you restart a Windows XP-based computer that uses a SATA hard disk drive. This is not a MyDefrag bug but a Microsoft defragmentation API bug. Microsoft has fixed this in XP service pack 3. Also see: *  Bugfix 941715

[jonib]

It looks like problem if you are defragging while Windows is shutting down, a timing problem, seems unlikely to affect most people.

I like this from the Microsoft text about the problem:

Code:

Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

So basically you need to corrupt some files before they want you to apply the fix.

jonib

[jeroen]

Has anyone actually run into this problem? Is it a very unique environment that causes it?

In the early history of JkDefrag there have been a few people who have run into it, the postings must still be here on the forum. As far as I can remember nobody lost any serious data, only Windows data and no user data, and they all managed to repair their disk with checkdisk.

Are there any reasons MyDefrag should be considered potentially dangerous if used on a system with critical data?

In all the years that JkDefrag and MyDefrag have been in use there have been precious few reports about corrupted data. As far as I know these cases were all caused by other circumstances, usually a hardware problem. The Microsoft defragmentation API (and JkDefrag and MyDefrag) has proven to be extremely reliable. But just like Jonib says, it's always a good idea to backup, especially with critical data.

[poutnik]

AFAIK, defragmenting software of any kind advise to backup data.
Also, critical data have at least one backup, unless they are not critical data.

Joking: Any disk operation is potentially dangerous and one should avoid it.