Many thanks to #27 Nobody (#comment-480114) for your feedback and user experiences.

I think I shall research These Hybrids or perhaps even contact the manufacturer directly as Your experience is most concerning indeed. [I must admit I never get around to or am perhaps too lazy to defrag since I've installed my Hybrids into notebooks, so it sounds like perhaps this is one occasion where procrastination has proved to be worthwhile]

@33, try to google for free recovery software; some of the freebies actually work pretty well. Google, "Best free recovery programs" and often you will retrieve a comparison site where you can read what someone studied about the programs in that field to find the one that's best for you.

You also might want to try to Google for free help for your problem- just describe it as concisely as you can. Maybe like, "Lost 9900+ .dst, .pes, .sew, .jpg files etc. after backup with Malwarebytes Secure Backup. How can I get them back?"
Then look at the names of the sites that offer free help and see if someone already had the same problem, and if not, choose one of the sites that seems to solve problems similar to your own. You usually have to join, but they're free (be sure to check) and then you can submit your own ticket for individual help. Make your title very descriptive, as the techs use the titles to see if the problem is something they can handle. Don't write, "Help me!" or something similar; it takes much longer to get the help you need.

There's a lot of very smart people out there! You will find help from someone. I do all the time! I wish you well, and I'll pray for you that you are able to recover your important files.

Pat Snyder (#33)

I understand your pain, but an answer would require a lot of additional information concerning what operating system you are using, and in particular how and where these embroidery files are stored on (I presume) your hard drive.

I suggest you post an email address where you can be reached, or I can be contacted at e45467@gmail.com

No, I am not selling anything.

Pat, your only chance exists IF you had a backup file made from the night before... and I will bet you did not.

No scolding intended, you hurt enough.

My creds? Retired IT.

I hope you can have a backup file. Your "Hijack" is okay by me. We are half geeks and half normal peeps here. There really isn't many places for a newbie to ask. I feel your frantic-ness. Sorry.

Try Recuva if you have time.

At the most a hard drive will need an occasional defrag, once in a very blue moon. Most, these days, will never need one at all. It'd need an awful lot of data, very seriously fragmented across a very large HDD to affect computer performance in any way. The Windows built in defrag tool is more than adequate for the job. So is the Glary one, and much more informative.

I am SO SORRY TO HIJACK this thread. I used Malwarebytes Secure Backup with disastrous results. I have 63,000, embroidery files. When I went to restore,there were 9,963 errors. "Padding is invalid and cannot be removed." Most were embroidery files (.dst, .pes, .sew, etc.,) but many were .jpg files.

Malwarebytes support says it is my problem with my software. How does that compute to having .jpg files not downloading?

If anyone can help,I would appreciate it. I lost a lot of files, where can I get a reliable backup? Again, I apologize for hijacking this thread, I just could not think of anywhere to turn.

Can there emerge harddisk corruption due to ongoing defrag while I need to force the somputer to shut down abruptly by removing its batteries?

about ashampoo spamming: i use some of their programs, and when i started to feel that i receive too much mails from them (and it was really too much), i set my mail program to send them directly to spam. so i didnt see any of their mails for years (just their titles, as i look "for sure" on the contet of spam box before emptying it)...

Those with Glary Utilities already have a good defrag tool. If you missed the GAOTD of it, then get Glary's standalone defrag tool, which also can run on your schedule - Free:

http://www.glarysoft.com/disk-speedup/

With modern processor speeds, SATA 3 interfaces, and modern drives, defragging does *very* little to help access speeds.

What it IS good for, however, is making files contiguous so that when you accidentally delete one, it's painless to recover it.

And as others have said, defragging SSDs shortens their life like crazy. Don't do it.

After I confirm my email address, it takes me to a page where I'm supposed to Complete my Profile, but there's nothing to click on, no boxes to enter my info.

@#17 Avid GOTD Follower
Afaik hybrid drives work like a normal HDDs coupled with a SSD cache. As I had one of these setups I can tell you that the manufacturer of the SSD said "do not defrag". Part of this may be the lifetime reducement but there is one even more compelling reason not to defrag a hybrid drive. The SSD part will no longer know which data to cache as all datasets are accessed regularly. The result is poor performance.
I did defrag the drive once and it took a week to get acceptable performance again. The drive had to rebuild internal access lists.
As this is a background optimizer doing defrags whenever the system is idle ................
Imho a good tool for normal HDDs because you don't have to supervise it closely but do not use it on SSDs and hybrid drives.

So it's a glorified task scheduler with eye candy? I'm leery of trying it as all other ashampoo products I've installed/tried normally silently add their bonus software with no option to opt out. Like tool bars to name one.

My version of Windows already has a built in defrag scheduler, so I will pass. I can see the use of an auto defrag, I just don't think I would choose it from this comp.

Here, you may learn how to schedule one for yourself.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555098

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/schedule-regular-disk-defragmenter#1TC=windows-7

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/configure-disk-defragmenter-schedule-in-windows-vista/

Do not defrag SSDs at all!

Hard disks are completely different.

Defragging hard disks is less important if the disk isn't nearly full.

Do not defrag SSD's frequently. I repeat, do not defrag SSD's frequently. Wont do any good for the hard disc but it'll end up ruining it though. The last time I defragged was in the summer of 2013! I used Defraggler and it worked pretty well. I guess!! And that was pretty much free as far as I remember.

Been using Auslogics Defag for years - free with 'Pro' version available on GOTD about once a year

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/

Defragmentation in general means wear and tear a hard disk. Don't do it, if not necessary.

Defrag-Tools make sense only for boot drives/partitions. For all other drives/partitions do this:

a) move (copy & delete) all files to a different drive, e.g. an external USB3-Disk - but NOT to a different partition on the same drive.
b) move (copy & delete) all files back.

This way you get a defragmented disk/partition with a minimum wear and tear!

An SSD drive as a boot drive boost every computer (old or young) to the max! SSD's don't need to be defragmented, it's even harmful to them.

It could be useful to defrag a boot partition on a hard disk, but I never did this, because I use Windows hibernation-mode to shut down the computer (in hibernation the RAM content is stored on the boot drive). I do a regular boot only once a month and to me it would not make sense to defrag.

I have been using this product for years. It runs quietly in the background so there's no need to manually run Windows defrag. Like Nigel said, "set it and forget it".

It might be good, but I prefer Diskeeper Pro ... also this version of the giveaway, does not it supports Windows 8 or 8.1 or the newest Windows version. Also Diskeeper Pro can do large size hard drives. Not sure if the freebie has a limitation on drive sizes it can handle.

I find that the comments that have been made are mostly useless. I would like anyone who comments to have tried the program. I use many Ashampoo programs. I am glad I do because my computer totally crashed on September 9th. I had no problem with my programs from Ashampoo. I just downloaded them from their website. Wished that were true of other programs from this site. I will try this later today.

Greetings, I have tried this and other programs to defrag., but i always go back to PERFECT DISK as it is a hassle free, no nonsence program, that does a super job. A paid program but you can find free downloads on your favourite sites.

This is a pretty good defrag, but it has not been updated in over 5 years. If you have WinOptimizer it's already included in it as a module. It doesn't have many options. The main ones are boot-time defrag and silent-defrag(running in the background).
I use MyDefrag and...
PowerDefragmenter, a free GUI for Contig:
http://rejzor.wordpress.com/powerdefrag/

Question regarding defragging Hybrid HDD's : Should Hybrid Harddrives (such as Seagate Momentus XT 2.5" Notebook HDD partSSD) be defragged just like any other ROTATING HDD or should they be treated like SSD's and not defragged at all.

As I understand Hybrid drives they're sort of 9 tenths rotating HDD's to 1 tenth SSD and the solid state chips have a pre-defined number of uses programmed in to them(?) whereas a rotating HDD in theory can rotate for many many years if operated in an optimum enviroment.

So will I damage a Hybrid Drive if I defrag it regularly, or, will regular defragging of a Hybrid Drive bring about a hdd failure much sooner than would Normally be the case?

Decent enough software. I personally prefer Defraggler so will be giving this one a miss.

However, on the subject of Ashampoo. Unlike most companies, their giveaways are unlimited and they are reinstallable. in other words you're being given the software for nothing to use for as long as you like.

The price you pay is that they ask you to register. If you already have an AShampoo account, then it's a simple matter to (a) register the software to that account and (b) to log in to your account to unsubscribe from Ashampoo's newsletters.

The entire process is fast and painless and utterly negates this rubbish about this or any other giveaway being an exercise in harvesting email addresses.

If this process is too much effort for you, then I suggest that you skip the giveaway and look elsewhere.

Note that the majority of paid programs nowadays require some form of registration, including name and email address, so what on earth is the huge problem with registering free software?

I use My Defrag that uses an entirely new alogirythm to defrag disks. I prevously used the defrag program provided with Windows 7, the Auslogics Defrag program, and the Puran Utilities defrag program. My Defrag is so different that it would take hours to defrag a drive previously done by Auslogics or others. The reverse is also true, that is, that a disk dfragged with My Defrag would take hours to defrag with Auslogics. Is My Defrag better? I think so based on a non-analytical "gut" feeling of faster program response.

It will be VERY INTERESTiNG indeed, to read the comments from various regular contributors (and some would say 'Authorities' such as mike, Giovanni & XP-Man) about this program & the subject of defragmenting, in general.

I found Giovanni's comment #11 back in 24FEB2014 most illuminating [http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/supereasy-live-defrag-1-0-5/#comment-400933] for instance I didn't know it was actually possible to defrag folders

XP-Man's comment #4 had some good content [http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/supereasy-live-defrag-1-0-5/#comment-400902] as well as some historic content dating back to 1980 in comment #12 [http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/supereasy-live-defrag-1-0-5/#comment-400950].

mike's comment #17 [http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/supereasy-live-defrag-1-0-5/#comment-400972], as well as his considered replies to some of the other topics participants comments #18 [http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/supereasy-live-defrag-1-0-5/#comment-400973] of the same date was very forthcoming with advice and infomation [http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/supereasy-live-defrag-1-0-5/#comment-400972]

Other references can be found - in the now dated 'pre-SSD' (relying on my memory) content, found at Donn Edwards’ and his 2 “Great Defrag Shootout” topics on his website.

Personally I'd like to find a definitive setup or guide for a fixed size Swap/Page File using NTFS on the same partition/HDD as the operating system in both Windows 7/Vista & Windows 8.1.

@Janie Weller

WOW! Didn't know about this built-in goodie from A-spam-poo! Fortunately I don't need to uninstall Downunda's Defragger 'cause it's FREE and PORTABLE

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/#d-portable

so now I'll go to A-spam-poo's Oktoberfest and play Space-Invaders!
(need to watch my Star Cruisers...)

@krypteller
https://harakirimail.com/
My personal data will perform Harakiri in about 11 hours, so you still got plenty of time to find it...
(Oh,lost a Star Cruiser...)

Prost!

When Ashampoo offers sad little programs of this type, in my opinion it is purely to harvest e-mail addresses. So if I did download it I would have to go of the rigmarole attempting to stop then sending me spam, yet again!
Keeping fragmentation to a minimum is better than defragmenting; certainly in the past I have done this by making the Pagefile (virtual memory) to a set size and running PageDefrag when the computer starts.
PageDefrag link:-
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb897426.aspx

This is probably much less necessary than it used to be as computers now have so much more memory, but I don't see it can do any harm.

My FREE favourite defrag program



MyDefragGui
http://www.wieldraaijer.nl/

OR Similar

MyDefrag
http://www.mydefrag.com/

Both are virtually the same and have a number of preset defrag schema or you can write your own routines.

Beside Auslogics Disk Defrag I use Puran Defrag - It provides many features which include revolutionary PIOZR, Automatic Defragmentation, Boot Time Defragmentation, Low Priority Defrag.
It also sports Individual File/Folder Defrag, GUI and Console Command Line, Restart/Shutdown after Boot Time Defrag, Native support for 64 Bit Systems and many more.

Normally defragment process removes all the System Restore Points
but in Puran Defrag you can customize the configuration so that restore points will not be removed .

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/Puran-Defrag.shtml

>How this is better from system (windows) defrag?

it has a Space Invacers game builtin.

Means you can interactive fight a battle for your hard drive clusters = if you fail, you lose data.

1 single StarShip = all office files
1 = Star Cruiser = all porn pictures
1 Mothership = fatal HDD Crash
...

Installed and registered without problems on a Win 8.1.2 Pro 64 bit system.

A program from the Ashampoo world, a rather old one, very old. The program is from December 2009.

I will not argue pro's and con's. Defragmentation is sometimes urgently needed and mostly not.

A small non resizable window opens, Ashampoo installs some extra task, a defrgfamentation service and a monitoring task and a "magical defrag taskbar"...

The non resizable window cannot show in the drive statistics, which files are mostly defraged.

http://www1.xup.to/exec/ximg.php?fid=63244613

One could argued, that this is a non interesting information, but if you give a file name, you should enable the user to read the file name. That simple.

You define your defrag task, let it run in the background and no, there is no magic at all. Even if there is a "magic defrag screensaver". It makes IMHO opinion no sense to run a permanent defrag task in the background.

You can disable SSD drives from defragmentation and disable removable drives. That's all.

You can have no influence in other defragmentation options, "prefatch layout" or "optimize free space" or what else.

A very simple defragmentation program from 2009. There are better programs on the market, free and paid.

Uninstalled via reboot.

#2 Lag
It's automatic, set it and forget it.....

ACHTUNG!!

Looks like good ol' A-spam-poo wants to strike again doing some email harvesting!
What are they up to? Perhaps they want to send us an invitation to the Oktoberfest?

Be prepared! I'll gladly share with you some countermeasures:

https://harakirimail.com/

Even better, goto 'Downunda' and grab this FREE gem:

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/

Prost!

I recommend IObit smart defrag it's free and it works!
http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.php

How this is better from system (windows) defrag? - this is a question, not cattiness.

Ashampoo is one of my favorite software company's AAA+++