I also use diskeeper, not only on the desktops on the servers too.
I checked my manuals from Microsoft for all of the servers, NT4, 2000 and 2003, and they all basically say this:
"...Anytime you add files to or remove files from a drive, the data on the drive can become fragmented. When a drive is fragmented, large files can't be written to a single continuous area on the disk. As a result the operating system must write the files to several smaller areas on the dik which means more time is spent reading the file from the disk. To reduce fragmentation, you should periodically analyze and defragment disks using Disk Defragmenter..."
For NT4, the manuals refer you to KB article 155679 about installing a 3rd party defragmenter. However the defragmenter in Windows Server 2000 was made for Microsoft by Executive Software, the developers of Diskeeper. In checking their help, I discovered that they have a product on the market for every Windows Software Version from Windows 95, to Windows Server 2003 w/Server Appliance Kit.
I know that my customers who hadn't been defragging told me after the first time I defragged their server that it ran quicker than it had before.
The thing I like about the Executive Diskeeper over the Microsoft version of it is that you can use "set it and forget it" so that you don't have to keep setting it up to run. They also have a program called administrator, which allows you to set and control the whole network's defragmenting from one point on your network, so the users don't have to worry. It also has a process called "frag shield" which will keep the paging file and the MFT in a contiguous manner so that as it grows it won't endup fragmenting. It also helps so that the MFT doesn't get overwritten by other files.
the Executive software version of diskeeper also allows you to set priorities for running it, so it is transparent to users.
I know that it sounds like I'm a sales person for Diskeeper, I'm not, I'm a computer instructor, who tests everything on my own machines before I will teach it. for me, on my personal machines, diskeeper increased the speed of the system a good 25%, and I'm running 1GB of RAM on my "play" machine. The rest of the network runs 512 MB of RAM per machine
The other thing I've noticed, as an A+ Tech is that using Diskeeper, or any defrag program, the read/write head doesn't have to keep moving over the disk searching for an empty spot to write data to because of the fragmentation. This saves wear and tear, and in the long run money, because the disk works better and longer!
I hope that will help you make your decision. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to send me a private msg.
By the way, I am the Network Administrator for a literacy program in Indiana. When I took over as Admin, there system was nothing but fragmented sectors on the drives and server. They have seen a 100% improvement since we started defragging their drive.
Kaycek
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Don't give up and Don't give in