As far as I know, both iDefrag and TechTool Pro make sure that they do not undo what adaptive hotfile clustering has already done with the volume to improve its efficiency.

It is always a plus to get a performance improvement from optimization, but the most important benefit is simplification of the disk directory. Here is some text from a recent posting in our forums:

Let me try to make it clear how important these disk directory backups are.

If a volume develops irreparable disk directory damage, then the only way to recover the files is to use a file recovery program.

When file recovery programs recover files without making use of disk directory data, they are often able to recover files that are in one piece, but the recovered files have a generic, computer-generated name that bears no relation to the original and tells the user nothing of value. If the file is not in one piece, the recovery program provides nothing, because there is no way to know where the pieces of the file, beyond the first one, are. In such cases, having a backup of the disk directory is a very useful feature.

I urge you to configure the Protection feature to save the directory for each volume to itself, and to at least one other volume, preferably on another drive. Sometimes, disk directory damage prevents the backup of the disk directory for a given volume from being found on that volume.


MicroMat Inc
Makers of TechTool