http://www.abelssoft.net

What’s It Do?

JetDrive Ultimate automatically or manually defragments the hard drive and Registry, checks disk for errors, and provides detailed report and summary of all operations. It defrags single files or specific folders manually if desired and displays drive space graphically to locate wasted space.


Does it do what it promises?

Reviewer 1: Yes, it defragments all attached drives quickly with a few added extras such as cleaning temporary files. It operates using a nice 3-D graphic interface. It claims to be 20% more efficient than Windows defragmenting utility.

Reviewer 2: While Jet Drive Ultimate performs all of its promised functions, the claims for increased performance seem exaggerated. I did not achieve anywhere close to a 20% increase in system performance although 1) they disclaimed that as a maximum amount and 2) I already had good defragmentation policies in place on my system. As it runs on initial installation, Jet Drive Ultimate grabs more screen space and resources than is justified for a non-emergency task that can run in the background. Customizing its options through its menu can force it to only run once one’s system has been idle for a period of time. When run in this fashion, it is a beneficial addition to your computer setup.

Reviewer 3: Yes, to a point. It does check one’s disk, cleans up temporary files and defrags it, and does so quite simply. It certainly is not a difficult program for one to use, including people who would consider themselves to be novices. However, I did not see a noticeable change in the speed at which the computer operated before and after defragmentation of the main boot-up drive -- which had, in fact, not been defragged for quite a long time.

Reviewer 4: No. The developer’s Web site suggests that one’s computer can be returned to the performance experienced when it was new and “regain this lost speed” simply by using JetDrive to defrag the hard drive, and by using JetDrive one can “restore it [the hard drive] to an optimal state.” While JetDrive does defrag the hard drive, to suggest that this alone will return a computer to the performance level of when new or even speed up the computer is misleading. Defragmenting, also referred to as “defragging,” reorganizes the hard drive by putting pieces of related data back together so that files are organized in a contiguous fashion. As a result, the computer system accesses files more efficiently and this may speed up retrieval time somewhat, but any overall performance gains are negligible at best. In fact, due in part to today’s faster and larger hard drives, many experts question the need to defrag t all or, at best, only rarely. A quick Web search will demonstrate that nearly all claims as to the benefit of defragging a hard drive. and certainly the claim that it will significantly increase system performance, are made by software companies who sell defrag programs. There are additional tools such as a temporary file cleaners among others available in the JetDrive program which do seem to work as promised, but as this program’s primary purpose if to defrag hard drives I will direct my comments to that.


Was it easy to install?

Reviewer 1: Yes, the download and install was typical.

Reviewer 2: Installation was fast and easy. The program starts up upon completion of installation and begins analyzing and defragmenting the system disk without asking. It also installs a startup program automatically. I personally would like to be asked before a program begins making changes on my system, even if the publisher believes these changes to be beneficial.

Reviewer 3: Yes. It was a standard Windows installation procedure, and I was able to place the program and its shortcuts where I wanted.

Reviewer 4: No. This is an unusually large 35.6MB download that takes up 66.4MB of space on the hard drive and requires downloading/installing Microsoft Net 2.0 Framework. While it uses a standard installation wizard, it gives no options as to installing desktop icons and, in a highly unusual practice, does not allow examining the EULA (End User License Agreement) until after the installation. Furthermore, it has a very incomplete uninstallation process leaving 27 fragments in the Windows Registry in addition to for files and the installer program. Also interesting and a bit suspicious if the fact that it needs to breach the firewall and use port 80 to contact the Internet before being uninstalled.

Abellsoft, developers of Jet Drive, responded: We do not agree with these statements:
We do not have a EULA so it’s not true that it would be displayed after installing. Everyone can check this on his/her own. JetDrive does not use the Registry for storing. The only two keys that are created belong to the Inno setup installation program which is one of the most often used setup programs. Those are, however, removed on installation. The same with the files. An internet connection when uninstalling the software is only used to display a survey in order to ask the user for reasons which we use to improve future versions. However, the user is asked in advance if he wants to participate in this.


Good Points?

Reviewer 1: JetDrive has a clean but rather cartoonish 3-D interface. It is capable of defragmenting several drives at the same time based on one’s settings. It can be set to defragment only the “system drive” where Windows resides or all attached drives. The “AutoJet” feature can monitor drives and defragment them while the computer is idle for a settable amount of time from 5 minutes to four hours. AutoJet defaults to start with Windows but can be turned off or on at will. When the defragmentation is complete, JetDrive displays the results in a nice 3-D graphic presentation that shows a lot of information about the drive such as; file system, free space, used space, drive size, total clusters, number of free and used clusters, start time of defragmentation and total time used, number of files moved and number of files defragmented. The final result is also displayed in a 3-D pie chart and bar chart for visualization.

Reviewer 2:
By default, Jet Drive Ultimate program starts working at startup, taking up too much screen space and processor time to justify the task of defragmentation. Fortunately, the settings of the program can be set so that defragmentation is only done after the system has been idle for a period of time. This process is known as Autojet and it makes running this program much more manageable. It appeared to defragment my system well and without compromising my files. The gain was marginal because I already use PageDefrag, Sysinternal’s (now Microsoft’s) free defragmentation program, to keep my system files defragmented , and I have the defragmentation program which is included with Windows XP set to run automatically (via a batch command) on a regular basis. It cleans up temp files from your disk before defragmenting. This is a logical task sequence.

Reviewer 3: Unlike many programs on the market, Jet Drive carries out its advertised functions, and has not allowed itself to become bloated with a large number of other features not related to its main task. When the program starts the main screen is displayed with a few Menu Buttons along the top and disks are identified below that, identifying the drive letter, size of disk, percentage of free space, and the file system. Jet Drive both internal drives and external USB drives but does not list memory keys. Each disk shows whether defragmentation is recommended.

A square graph represents clusters on the drive and, in an analysis of the drive, red rectangles represent fragmented sections of the drive. In defragmentation, the program first does a quick cleanup of temporary files., an important step to avoid wasting time defragging useless files.
When the defragmentation is completed, a window reports the process with graphics and statistics, and the report can be printed, exported in a number of different formats, saved to disk or emailed. The Ultimate Version of the program includes the option of selecting specific files to defragment such as system files or other individual files.

Reviewer 4: While the developer. AblesSoft seems to be a well respected German software developer with excellent credentials, I found little to like about this program. It is an easy to use program and offers defrag options to defrag individual programs as well as a “quick defrag” to defragment Windows core files only—both of which are nice features to have available. There is also a rather unique option to change the graphics on the GUI (Graphic User Interface) from 3D to 2D to save on resources, something needed on slower or older computers, especially with this utility (see below). The purchaser is provided a “life-time license” with no annual fees and with an “update guarantee” that includes free updates for two years. I commend the developer for this liberal license and update policy at a time when the trend seems to be going in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, however, all of the above does not a good disc defragmenter make.


Weak Points?

Reviewer 1: After using this program for several months, both on “AutoJet” and manual mode, I found no significant issues. It performed well and was unobtrusive, working quietly in the background to keep my drives cleaned up.

Reviewer 2: Upon the first program run after installation, it does not ask for permission to defrag one’s drives and does not report what it is doing as it is working. It appeared that it was only defragging my system drive. In reality, it was defragmenting all of my partitions on my hard drive. It takes many minutes to analyze the drive before defragmenting, even on a drive which is supposed to be 100% optimized. The folder visualizer was initially incredibly slow. It ran for over an hour on my system before I aborted it with only a small percentage of the task completed. I ran it again a few weeks into my evaluation period and it ran much more quickly and to completion. It was disquieting that I received multiple error messages over time that there was an “Error in Defragmentation” but there was no detail provided about what the nature and seriousness of the error might be. There was only the request to restart Autojet. The publishers seem to pride themselves on the quality of their graphics in this program. The main visual display shows a grid of green, yellow, and red blocks which presumably represent sectors of the hard drive. There is no description as to what the blocks represent beyond “contiguous”, “fragmented”, free”, “used”, or “unmovable”, and clicking on the graphics brings up no further functionality.

Abellsoft, developers of Jet Drive, responded: Note: The next version will allow to display more detailed information explaining the grid entries and colors in non-technical words.


Reviewer 3: I did not have any particular problems with Jet Drive; however, there are English mistakes in the program, and many errors in the English Help file. This is an important weakness that needs urgent attention. If the Help files look sloppy, the impression is given that this is not a serious program.

Reviewer 4: There are serious flaws and a few weaknesses in this program. But first, allow me to get one major annoyance out of the way: KILL THE DOG! At least in Windows search I could get rid of “Rover” and in Word, “Clippy,” but all that can be done in JetDrive is to have him dig for bones rather than fetch. I am not four years old so I don’t find the need for a cartoon in my software programs. And if you were hoping that watching the dog “play” might distract me from how slow the program operates, all I can say is that you will definitely need something far more beguiling than a floppy-eared cartoon dog to do that! Above all else, it is a monumental waste of my computer’s resources! Aside from the dog, the greatest flaw was the inordinate and excessive amount of resources JetDrive consumes. Just sitting idle with the GUI open, it consumes 56MB of RAM memory, and in operation it is running my CPU at 100% This is simply unacceptable. The GUI is unattractive and non-intuitive. The colors are washed out and the strange graphic to the right of the screen which is to show defrag process is not only confusing, but looks like it was designed using an old typewriter.

There is also a repeating blue “progress bar” that once again consumes resources but tells the user nothing. It took me fully 10 minutes to figure out that I needed to click on the pie chart to select the disc drive to be defragmented as until I did so all other tool bar options were greyed out and disabled. Once the program begins to analyze the disc for fragmentation it immediately proceeds to then defragment without first showing the state of fragmentation and allowing the user to choose to proceed or not. When the program is closed it continues running in the system tray until it is exited from the icon. The check disc process is simply a version of the built-in Windows process and is thus redundant, and the temporary file cleaning is impossible to assess since it does not show what temporary files were found nor does it give the option of what to delete but, rather, it deletes them all!. As for the Registry defrag tool, I have no idea what it does. When using the highly respected jv16 Power Tools as my benchmark I could neither tell that it cleaned or compacted the Registry, so the Registry defrag is a mystery to me. One other interesting item that was a bit disconcerting: Why, when the program initializes, does it need to get through my firewall to use Port 80 to contact www.globalsign.net? This makes we wonder if I am dealing with spyware. Finally, there really is no emphasis on technical or customer support. Only by looking under “Contact Us” can an email address be found to request support or help. There is no turnaround time listed or little in the way of FAQs or help files. My request to support regarding the aforementioned spyware concern went unanswered.

Abellsoft, developer of Jet Drive, responded: We were not treated fairly by reviewer 4. We are sorry that this reviewer didn’t like the colors or graphics. He can choose between several skins, so we provide a variety of look and feel configurations for our users. Globalsign.net is not contacted by JetDrive. However, JetDrive is certified and signed with a digital signature from GlobalSign, one of the leading certification companies for signatures. Everyone can simply right click on our software files and check the digital certificate for validity. It might be possible that Windows has tried to validate the signature from GlobalSign. However, this would be a Windows functionality and not a JetDrive one. JetDrive can check for Updates automatically. Maybe this is what the reviewer saw when seeing an Internet connection on program startup? This functionality can be turned on or off in the configuration wizard. The reviewer claims that he cannot see the percentage on how much is finished but at the same time he even pasted a screenshot of the progress image to this report.


Other Comments?

Reviewer 1: JetDrive is another choice for defragmenting drives, a very important maintenance operation to keep one’s computer working well and quickly. It works better and is more flexible than the Windows defrag utility, and has a nicer looking interface than other available options.

Reviewer 2: Errors were found on my data drive (“F parameter not found”). Although the software description and help section implies that JetDrive fixes the problems, JetDrive uses Microsoft’s program, chkdsk, to do this task. While there are options to change the animations, there should be the option to turn the them off. The repetitive animation sequences were reminiscent of Microsoft Office’s “Clippy”, the animated paperclip, and did not contribute functionality to the program. JetDrive Ultimate gives the ability to defrag single files. While this is a function not found in Windows Defrag, I was hard pressed to find a use for this function. The visual display does not identify unfragmented individual files and I did not know of a way to find them on my own. Besides, deframenting the entire drive should include all of the individual files without special attention. The feature I was most surprised to not see in this program is the ability to relocate frequently used files to the fastest access areas of the disk.

Reviewer 3: Jet Drive can be configured to constantly monitor drives and keep them continually defragged. I do not want to do that, as defragging a drive does force it to work. I would prefer to use a tool such as this one only occasionally. I also find the program to be quite expensive, particularly considering the competition. Although the built-in Windows defragmentation program does have its shortcomings, it is included in Windows. There are also other defragmenters available, some of which are freeware. So, in spite of its ease-of-use, its graphics and other interesting features, this program may be overpriced.

Reviewer 4: As I mentioned at the start of this review many experts argue that today’s operating systems are efficient enough to eliminate the need for defragmenting altogether. I see no harm in defragmenting one’s hard drive when needed and the built- in Windows defrag tool indicates whether there is a need to defragment. I see no reason to spend money to purchase a program that really does nothing that can’t be done with either the built-in Windows tools or one of the many excellent and free defrag tools readily available.


Will you continue to use it?

Reviewer 1: I am a bit reluctant to have yet another process running in the background, consuming valuable resources. I will keep it and use it manually because of its capabilities of defragmenting multiple drives at one time but I will not use the AutoJet feature. Since I run regular maintenance cycles on my equipment, I don’t really need the AutoJet feature. For someone who is a bit lazy about upkeep, the AutoJet feature would be useful.

Reviewer 2: Yes, but only because it is already configured on my system. I could not justify spending $49.95 to achieve marginal improvements in a maintenance task which can be performed by other programs which are available for free.

Reviewer 3: No, because I already have a good disk defragmentation program.

Reviewer 4: No. I currently use the excellent and free Auslogics Disc Defragmenter rather than the built-in Windows tool but only because it is much faster and consumes almost zero resources.

OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
Windows XP Pro, XP Home

Back