Smart Defrag v9 Review

A full review of Smart Defrag, a free defrag program

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Smart Defrag is a free defrag program that intelligently determines the best time to defrag your PC.

You can set it up to continually defragment your computer throughout the day and even do so while it's rebooting. There are lots of settings that provide deep customization, setting it above most other free defrag tools I've used

Disk Defrag tab selected in Smart Defrag 9

This review is of Smart Defrag version 9.3.0, released on January 9, 2024. Please let us know if there's a newer version to review.

Smart Defrag Pros & Cons

There are several reasons this has been one of my favorite free defrag utilities:

What We Like
  • Scheduled regular and boot time defragging

  • Can automatically shut down after a defrag

  • Option to auto analyze for defrag alerts

  • Boot time defragmenting

  • Optimization and/or prioritization can be scheduled

  • Exclude files and folders from a defrag

  • Can defrag just the free space

What We Don't Like
  • Doesn't support idle defrags for free

  • Tries to install unrelated programs during or after setup

  • Some options seen in the free version are actually only usable in Smart Defrag Pro

More About Smart Defrag

  • Works with the following operating systems: Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP
  • Supports running and scheduling a defrag during a reboot
  • Moves commonly used files to faster parts of the disk for quicker access
  • Option to replace the default Windows Disk Defragmenter program
  • A portable version of Smart Defrag can be found at PortableApps
  • When a defrag completes, the program shows a detailed report of every file that was defragmented
  • Option to shut down, sleep, hibernate, or reboot the computer once a defrag has completed
  • Can remove several types of junk files before starting a defrag
  • Able to defrag individual folders and files instead of the entire hard drive

Advanced Defrag Options

This program has unique features you may not find in similar software.

Boot Time Defrag

Under normal conditions, particular files in Windows are locked. You're unable to move these files because they're constantly being used. This poses a problem when you want to defrag those files, so Smart Defrag has an option to defrag the locked files.

The way this works is you set up the program to defragment the locked files when Windows isn't in use. The only time Windows isn't using the locked files is during a reboot, so Smart Defrag must run this type of defrag while your computer is rebooting.

It's from the Boot Time Defrag tab that you can enable this option.

Smart Defrag boot time defrag tab

Choose to enable boot time to defrag and then select any of the hard drives you have connected. The boot time defrag can be configured for the next reboot only, the first boot of every day, on every reboot, or the first boot on a specific day like every 7 days, 10 days, etc.

You also have control over what gets defragged. Pick from page files and hibernation files, MFT, and system files. There's a Specify files section in the settings that lets you defrag specific files of your choosing.

Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup is an area in the program's settings that you might miss if you're not looking for it. It lets you define portions of Windows that get scanned for junk files. You can have Smart Defrag clear out these files so it's not defragmenting them, which otherwise might make a defrag last longer than is necessary. I think this is a fantastic idea, so I'm happy to see the option in this program.

Disk Cleanup settings in Smart Defrag

When you run a manual defrag, you can have these junk areas cleaned up. Some of the areas included in the scan are the Recycle Bin, Edge temporary files, clipboard, old prefetch data, memory dumps, and chkdsk file fragments. There's even an extra setting to enable secure file deletion using DoD 5220.22-M, one of the most popular data sanitization methods.

My Thoughts on Smart Defrag

Smart Defrag is one of the best free defrag programs. You can install it and completely forget about it. It can be set up to constantly run in the background and automatically adjust its actions depending on what you're doing.

I really like that it lets me do a system cleanup during a disk analysis to clean up junk files I don't need. Smart Defrag cleans more areas than all the other defrag programs I've used. However, it doesn't do it automatically. If the program could auto-clean the files before every defrag, there'd be little to complain about.

On the main screen of the program, past the hard drives on the far right, is an option to add a file or folder to the list. You can include common files and folders that you wish to defrag on a regular basis. I really like this feature. It's a simple way to track things you may know are always fragmented and have direct access to defragment them.

I'm glad there's an exclude list in the settings. If you have data you don't mind contains fragments, then adding them there will exclude them from both an analysis and a defrag. Also, in the settings, you can choose to skip files that are over a particular file size, which is nice if you have many large files that would normally extend a defrag time if included.

Not all defrag programs support boot time scans, so the fact that this one does just adds to its awesomeness.

Something I'm not a fan of in any program is when the installer tries to get you to install additional software. The last time I installed Smart Defrag, it tried to add three other programs to my computer during setup, but it's easy to skip over that part and just get the defrag tool.

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