I finally purchased DiskTrix Ult defrag and read the manual but am looking for some more tipsI have my 2 physical HDD's36 GB raptor250GB WD Caviar se16raptor is for windows xp pro250gb is partitioned as follows:outer tracks - FS9/FSX/BF2rest are apps, then dataI defrag my FS parition by putting the scenery and texture folders on the outermost tracks of the hdd (high performance 80%) then defrag by Folder/NameThe other partitions I just defrag by folder/name without any high perf filesThe Windows partition I defrag by recency - should I be doing it another way?What is the preferred way to defrag the rest of my programs etc (other than my FS partition) to make them load the absolute fastest?Thanks for any help!

I have seen your thread for a couple of days and I am surprised no one else answered.I don't know the answer to your question, but your thread deserves to not get buried.I do the same as you... SCENERY and FSX on the outer edge. Everything else is just "in there wherever". UltimateDefrag appears to move things as far out as possible even if you don't specify, so your other progs are still pretty far out there.I don't think it matters in any significant way because of that. (?)RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

I agree with Rhett. I put FS at the outer edge and let the rest fall wherever it may. But, on the other hand, I'm probably not a good example as I only use my PC for FS, surfing the net, and a quick game of Freecell every now and then. Hey, is there a Freecell forum here? R-

Yes...Textures (all those BMPs)Scenery (all those BGLs)*the rest of FSX...is my ordering

Ok as I read in the manual, if you have partitions, the next partition will go on the outer area, but won't be the outermost (of course cause the 1st partition is already there)Basically, I have both my FS9 scenery and texture folders AND FSXscenery and FSXtexture placed for high performance (80%) and the rest just goes in alpha order.What about windows on the raptor? Recommend recency? I can't really think of what to put under high performance, I guess the most recent files to go outer tracks?

>Ok as I read in the manual, if you have partitions, the next>partition will go on the outer area, but won't be the>outermost (of course cause the 1st partition is already>there)Correct - Putting it in other terms...A partition will always place itself as close as it can to the outermost edge.A single-partition drive will take (obviously) the outermost edge all the way to the inside.If you create a multiple partition drive, the FIRST partition you create will take the outermost edge inward to it's size limit. The SECOND partiton will take from the end of the first, inward to it's size limit, and on an on. Partitions will always fill the drive from the outer edge, inward. If you fly any one sim more than the other, I'd move it's files to the outermost edge. (FSX vs. FS9). If they are equal, I'd probably put the FSX files in the highest priority, given FSX's increased number of files. At this point though, you're probably looking at small improvements in performance, so time spent re-ordering things now may not be worth it. >What about windows on the raptor? Recommend recency?It depends entirely on your computer use. My backup software ruins the ability for me to use the recency system, so I do a consolidate defrag that puts everything outboard without any special ordering. Works fine for me!

>>What about windows on the raptor? Recommend recency? I can't>really think of what to put under high performance, I guess>the most recent files to go outer tracks?I don't use recency at all.I think (can't remember offhand) I may have my file timestamping disabled, which means you can't use recency, anyway.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

So folder/Name it is then...

Could you tell me what the 'recency' facility does please?

Well I was under the impression that it looks at the files/folders you viewed most recently and you have the option to put those files on the outermost tracks of the HDD. The older they get the more inward they go on the platters

Yes, that's what it does. If you only fly in the same area all the time it might be a useful selection for FS, as the folder/name option will simply follow the alpha format of the files in the FS folders, and sooner or later you are always gonig to find a .bgl next door to a neighbour thats referring to Tonga, not Texas.The operation of UD is simple enough if you just set the main FS folder to High Priority in the options menu then use the Recency defragmentation for the first defrag run. After that just use Consolidate.One thing to watch out for is that NO .cab files are allowed to be archived or treated as archive storage. Same goes for sound files. It's a good idea to exclude the gauges and sound folder if you allow for automatic selection on the options.Allcott