Jim and Mike, take this private.

Yes, we've had our say, thank you. Now ... I want to make something clear to the readership:There's nothing wrong with reviewers accepting free copies of software for review purposes. It's ethical and it's moral. However, it's not "me". By not accepting freebies I'm able to avoid even the hint of bias, and that's how I like things to be.The one exception is the situation I noted above, PerfectDisk. I accepted the freebie and I use it today. However, even though it keeps offering to upgrade itself I never allow it to.

Hello,This is interesting for Vista users .http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/archive/2...ag-is-cool.aspxhttp://blogs.technet.com/filecab/articles/440717.aspxRegards.Gus.

What settings do I use to place the FS files on the outside of the drive via ultimate defrag?

What settings do I use to place the FS files on the outside of the drive via ultimate defrag?

I have a series of pdf tutorials they sent me to do this, specifically for FS. I'll send them to you if you want - just PM me your e-mail address.

Hey Mike,Thanks for the heads up on PerfectDisk. Seems like a good addition to my system!

Hey Mike,Thanks for the heads up on PerfectDisk. Seems like a good addition to my system!

You're welcome. However, be advised that PerfectDisk will not do an alphanumeric sort of the files on the drive, which is why I use O&O in conjunction with PerfectDisk. The alphanumeric sort speeds FS's search through its own scenery indexes, tending to reduce (but not necessarily eliminate) scenery stutters.So again, I use PerfectDisk for the offline stuff and O&O Defrag for the online stuff (SPACE followed by NAME). But again, if I could only choose one it would be O&O.

Hello,Defragging or notWhat are the gains .. etc ..It's a old debate ...It's many defrag softwares (freewares and paywares)My question is what they give me as gains for FS2004?My own experience show pratically no gains at all :)You will see a gain if you defrag a disk who have more than 50% fragmentation. !!For FS2004 it's will be a little little more speed when loading the game.Game performances will be not affected (no gains)Defragging the Pagefile is useless (at least under WinXP .. my OS)After a offline defrag of the pagefile and a reboot .. you will seen your pagefile is already fragmented again more than 50 % (pagefile managed by Windows XP)One must think about the writing-reading speed of the actuals HD heads .. and put this in balance with defragging.The performaces gains of defrag are only mesureables with benchmark softwares .. cause they are very thin.Regards.Gus.

Hello,Defragging or notWhat are the gains .. etc ..It's a old debate ...It's many defrag softwares (freewares and paywares)My question is what they give me as gains for FS2004?My own experience show pratically no gains at all :)You will see a gain if you defrag a disk who have more than 50% fragmentation. !!For FS2004 it's will be a little little more speed when loading the game.Game performances will be not affected (no gains)Defragging the Pagefile is useless (at least under WinXP .. my OS)After a offline defrag of the pagefile and a reboot .. you will seen your pagefile is already fragmented again more than 50 % (pagefile managed by Windows XP)One must think about the writing-reading speed of the actuals HD heads .. and put this in balance with defragging.The performaces gains of defrag are only mesureables with benchmark softwares .. cause they are very thin.Regards.Gus.

Don't let XP manage the pagefile size. What I do is set it to manually controlled, maximum size, and then defrag it offline using PerfectDisk. With it having been defragged, and with its size never changing, it will not re-fragment.Defragging by itself may not show much performance improvement in the usual sense but if you do the alphanumeric sort I recommended then you should see an improvement in scenery stuttering.If you don't want to do any of this, that's fine too. It's not really a system integrity issue.

Hello,

manually controlled

Again .. this is a old debate.One must think about when a program will begin to use the pagefile ? (for run .. not for start .. as some programs need absolutely a presence of a pagefile // BTW FS2004 don't need a pagefile for start or run)The answer is generally when it's a lack of RAM And when using the pagefile .. if it's a game .. you can be sure it will run like a slideshow.

scenery stuttering

I have not scenery stuttering at all.Of course I don't fly big airports with full AI and online real weather.I fly with settings and in locations corresponding to my hardware setup.You can't make the same full speed with a VW Beatle than a Ferrari.Anyways .. you can always adapt the game to your hardware ... or adapt the hardware to your game .. this will avoid frustrations.Regards.Gus.

Hello,Again .. this is a old debate.One must think about when a program will begin to use the pagefile ? (for run .. not for start .. as some programs need absolutely a presence of a pagefile // BTW FS2004 don't need a pagefile for start or run)The answer is generally when it's a lack of RAM And when using the pagefile .. if it's a game .. you can be sure it will run like a slideshow.I have not scenery stuttering at all.Of course I don't fly big airports with full AI and online real weather.I fly with settings and in locations corresponding to my hardware setup.You can't make the same full speed with a VW Beatle than a Ferrari.Anyways .. you can always adapt the game to your hardware ... or adapt the hardware to your game .. this will avoid frustrations.Regards.Gus.

If you're happy with the performance of your computer when running FS, and if you're happy with the number of applications you're able to have open at any moment, who am I to disagree?

Hello,

If you're happy with the performance of your computer when running FS, and if you're happy with the number of applications you're able to have open at any moment, who am I to disagree?

That's made sens indeed.BTW many people are posting about problems ... and when you see their specifications you understand they want beat the Ferrari with their VW Beatle :)Regards.Gus.

Don't let XP manage the pagefile size. What I do is set it to manually controlled, maximum size, and then defrag it offline using PerfectDisk. With it having been defragged, and with its size never changing, it will not re-fragment.Defragging by itself may not show much performance improvement in the usual sense but if you do the alphanumeric sort I recommended then you should see an improvement in scenery stuttering.If you don't want to do any of this, that's fine too. It's not really a system integrity issue.

Okay, I have to ask, what do you mean when you say defraging "online" vs "offline"?

Okay, I have to ask, what do you mean when you say defraging "online" vs "offline"?

Certain system files can't be defragged while the system is in use, the swap file (pagefile.sys) being one of them, and the master file table (MFT) being another. To change their structure while the operating system is running -- which is what happens when they are defragged -- would wreck the operating system.Therefore to defrag them a free-standing utility program must be used. Many defraggers will let you say "The next time I reboot I want you to defrag those system files. By the way, I want you to reboot right now." The offline utility would get control at boot time, do its thing, and then boot the operating system.If I've not explained things well enough, kindly say so and I'll take another run at it.

Mike,How long does it take O&O to do a "space" defrag on your system? Tells me seven hours and thirty minutes on mine. Seems like a very long time. Been used to Disckeeper which is very fast.

Mike,How long does it take O&O to do a "space" defrag on your system? Tells me seven hours and thirty minutes on mine. Seems like a very long time. Been used to Disckeeper which is very fast.

I haven't done it in a while because recently I've been doing railroad museum stuff rather than flight simulation stuff, so I can't give a good answer to your question. (And anyway the time required depends on drive size, the number of files and the degree of fragmentation.) That said, if you were to do a second run of O&O SPACE you would probably find that it takes considerably less time than it did before.Now ...There are no free lunches. If a different program is consistently running much faster than O&O then it must be doing a less thorough job than O&O. Do we care? I dunno. One of the links supplied above by Belga1 leads to an interview with a Microsoft person who believes that the time spent doing a super-thorough job is not worth it.My main interest in O&O is the NAME sort, not the throughness or speed of SPACE. I know this sounds approach sounds ridiculous, but when I ran the methodology and results past Phil Taylor, the former FS product manager, he didn't think it was ridiculous at all. I'm not telling other people what to do, I'm simply reporting on what I do and why I do it.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxHere's why somebody might NOT want to do what I do ...A maneuver like SPACE followed by NAME does a TREMENDOUS number of disk head seeks in a relatively short period of time. This becomes a kind of drive design stress test -- and some drive head positioners might very well overheat and burn out. I've had this happen to me with removable drives just from a major SPACE defrag.How can you tell in advance whether SPACE+NAME is going to be a problem for you? You can't. While the risks are low, if you're not willing to lose the drive, don't do the experiment. I'm willing to try these kinds of things because I'm always very thoroughly backed up and would not be in trouble if a primary drive were to die. (Major inconvenience, but nothing important would get lost.)Actually, folks, it's not "if" your hard drive were to die, it's "when". But that's a whole 'nother discussion -- how to "insure" yourself from file loss arising from drive death, electrical surges, computer theft, fires, blah blah blah.EDIT: In my long career (goes back to 1963) I've had all of these things and more happen to me. How about a plane crashing into the building you're working in? (Been there, done that, miraculously nobody was killed or injured!) How about stuff getting lost in a NYC power blackout and never beeing seen again?Work with this technology long enough, folks, and it WILL happen to you. When it does you will either be prepared or you will not. As I keep pointing out, Shouda Coulda Woulda doesn't count. When disaster strikes, you will either be backed up or you will not, and the really vital stuff either will be available offsite, or it will not. No free lunches, no excuses, no complaining. It's all up to you.