File Details |
|
| File Size | 1.1 MB |
|---|---|
| License | Freeware |
| Operating System | Windows (All) |
| Date Added | July 3, 2013 |
| Total Downloads | 619 |
| Publisher | Puran Software |
| Homepage | DiskFresh |
Publisher's Description
DiskFresh is a simple yet powerful tool that can refresh your hard disk signal by reading and writing each sector and hence making your disk more reliable for storage. It also informs you if there are any damaged/bad sectors so you know the right time to replace your disk. The best part is, unlike other tools it does all this when Windows is running and it does not interfere with the speed of your work at all.
Free for private and non-commercial use only.
Latest Reviews
BANDIT- reviewed v1.0 on Jun 15, 2013
Some User Notes.
Using the Installer:
- 1 new folder with the App files will be made in Prog Files.
- One file @C:\Win\sys32\drivers (PuranRefreshDriver.sys)
- Uninstall paths @HKLM
Make it portable..!!
- Use the "Prog Files" folder
- Place a copy of (PuranRefreshDriver.sys) into Sys32\drivers folder
Tested
4Gb Flash Drive with 1.31Mb data
03min 33sec (Read only Mode)
17min 30sec (Refresh Mode) 5x Longer
No Data Loss
Not tested on (Int or Ext) HDD yet.
Not tested on Sectors.
* Very easy to use
* Do the Math from above data for Large Drives
Only a 3 ATM
Hilbert reviewed v1.0 on Jun 12, 2013
As a veteran of far too many hard disk failures in recent months and the enormous amount of time wasted recovering data these failures entail, this utility sounds like a godsend. Nevertheless, it's hard to write a relevant review about DiskFresh until one has experienced actual statistical benefits from using it—that is less data actually being lost whenever hard disks fail.
I would say however that this utility is reasonably unique and it's hard to figure out why there aren't already many of its kind out there. Moreover, I'm not surprised that it comes from Puran Software a reasonably recent entry into the utilities market with an excellent set of free PC maintenance utilities.
That said, it is not the first of kind! For many years after migrating to the PC from my Tandy TRS-80 I lamented the loss of Kim Watt's marvellous set of utilities called 'Super Utility' which he launched way back in 1980. Amongst Super Utility's subroutines was a format routine called 'Format Without Erase'. It would read a floppy disk from end-to-end and in so doing it would lift (read) a sector's data into memory, reformat the sector, and then lay the sector's data back down onto the newly formatted track.
By this action 'Format Without Erase' would remagnetize and restore the surface of the disk to full magnetic intensity. (For example, if the magnetic remanence of the disk wasn't the full 100% due to fading over time and or magnetized screwdrivers etc. coming too close to disk with the consequence that its level was down to say 20%—a level that was still fully readable but which wouldn't be so for much longer—then 'Format Without Erase' would restore the remanence to full level.) And it really did work wonders on floppy disks.
Whether DiskFresh can achieve the same results with modern hard disks is moot and time will tell (but I'd think not). No doubt it'll be effective but hard disks, these days, are terribly proprietary devices that remap cylinders, and remap bad sectors without telling the user, have 'invisible-to-user' error correction and so on and so on. Ideally, DiskFresh would have to know all these details as well as the disk's actual physical parameters etc (and have direct access to the disk surface) to get a full and accurate picture of the disk's state. Well, as we've seen from experience, Hell will freeze over before manufacturers will allow this information out. They themselves have such utilities for manufacturing but they never see the light of day in case a competitor uses the reliability stats against them.
This is why when your hard disk fails you've haven't the foggiest clue as to what's gone wrong.
I've given three stars to DiskFresk for effort and I'll gladly move it up if the product 'delivers' over time.
I'd be very interested to know what experience other have with DiskFresh.
BANDIT- reviewed v1.0 on Jun 15, 2013
Some User Notes.
Using the Installer:
- 1 new folder with the App files will be made in Prog Files.
- One file @C:\Win\sys32\drivers (PuranRefreshDriver.sys)
- Uninstall paths @HKLM
Make it portable..!!
- Use the "Prog Files" folder
- Place a copy of (PuranRefreshDriver.sys) into Sys32\drivers folder
Tested
4Gb Flash Drive with 1.31Mb data
03min 33sec (Read only Mode)
17min 30sec (Refresh Mode) 5x Longer
No Data Loss
Not tested on (Int or Ext) HDD yet.
Not tested on Sectors.
* Very easy to use
* Do the Math from above data for Large Drives
Only a 3 ATM
Hilbert reviewed v1.0 on Jun 12, 2013
As a veteran of far too many hard disk failures in recent months and the enormous amount of time wasted recovering data these failures entail, this utility sounds like a godsend. Nevertheless, it's hard to write a relevant review about DiskFresh until one has experienced actual statistical benefits from using it—that is less data actually being lost whenever hard disks fail.
I would say however that this utility is reasonably unique and it's hard to figure out why there aren't already many of its kind out there. Moreover, I'm not surprised that it comes from Puran Software a reasonably recent entry into the utilities market with an excellent set of free PC maintenance utilities.
That said, it is not the first of kind! For many years after migrating to the PC from my Tandy TRS-80 I lamented the loss of Kim Watt's marvellous set of utilities called 'Super Utility' which he launched way back in 1980. Amongst Super Utility's subroutines was a format routine called 'Format Without Erase'. It would read a floppy disk from end-to-end and in so doing it would lift (read) a sector's data into memory, reformat the sector, and then lay the sector's data back down onto the newly formatted track.
By this action 'Format Without Erase' would remagnetize and restore the surface of the disk to full magnetic intensity. (For example, if the magnetic remanence of the disk wasn't the full 100% due to fading over time and or magnetized screwdrivers etc. coming too close to disk with the consequence that its level was down to say 20%—a level that was still fully readable but which wouldn't be so for much longer—then 'Format Without Erase' would restore the remanence to full level.) And it really did work wonders on floppy disks.
Whether DiskFresh can achieve the same results with modern hard disks is moot and time will tell (but I'd think not). No doubt it'll be effective but hard disks, these days, are terribly proprietary devices that remap cylinders, and remap bad sectors without telling the user, have 'invisible-to-user' error correction and so on and so on. Ideally, DiskFresh would have to know all these details as well as the disk's actual physical parameters etc (and have direct access to the disk surface) to get a full and accurate picture of the disk's state. Well, as we've seen from experience, Hell will freeze over before manufacturers will allow this information out. They themselves have such utilities for manufacturing but they never see the light of day in case a competitor uses the reliability stats against them.
This is why when your hard disk fails you've haven't the foggiest clue as to what's gone wrong.
I've given three stars to DiskFresk for effort and I'll gladly move it up if the product 'delivers' over time.
I'd be very interested to know what experience other have with DiskFresh.