PerfectDisk 2008 is the best defragger out there. Check out the poll over at Neowin and you'll find it is - by far - the most popular defrag utility with the members there. Try the free 30 day trial and you'll see a very noticeable difference in speed and responsiveness of your machine   

Ausvet mentioned UltimateDefrag 2008
http://www.disktrix.com/ud2008.htm
has been my defragger of choice for quite some time,
not because it's fast, but because of it's placement options.

It allows the user to choose where he wants his files placed on the drive.
They have a trial available, and the full version only runs at $30.

I have never timed a defrag, so I can't say about speed,
but a guesstimate for my Laptop's 160 gb drive with 100 gb used, @ 5400 rpm,
would be somewhere aroound 3 hours.

@ Ausvet
The 2008 version has just been released,
but it's been around a LOT longer than that,
which is why I'm suprised more people have not heard of it.

I have used PerfectDisk for some time in different versions it's fast & does the job!

I use Ashampoo Magic Defrag which I think I paid 5 bucks for. It defrags constantly in the background and I haven't had to defrag since I got it some time ago. I have defraggler and let it analyze occasionally to see if Ashampoo is doing its job and it is! No noticeable impact on performance.

As I said way up there ^^^^^^^^^^ it's all going to depend on what is actually on your system...including defrag frequency and disk size.

Here's a trick.....do a file-count on your C drive.....it'll help demonstrate the [likely] complexity of what's installed.....my C drive has 116,496 of them.....29.6gig of 60...

Diskeeper Pro Premier 2008 here and I never have to defrag manually at all. It runs in the background while I'm not using the computer automatically. So could never tell just how long it really takes. But it works OK for me.

SGT  

As Jafo said, there are quite a bit of variables to each system. Personally, Windows Defrag will suit your needs just fine provided that you exercise proper maintenance schedules. The first time defrag will take a long time. Run it overnight. From then on, perform a weekly defrag and you will not suffer long waiting times under NORMAL usage circumstances. It's still best to perform these on a scheduled basis during non-use hours though.

Diskeeper 20089 home addition is the best for my money. it degrags in the background constantly

Thank you very very much for all your input, guys and gals I truly appreciate it ... And thank you also for ataking the time out to Fill me in a little ..

I have decided to look at the free ones first , so This morning I went for the Auslogic recommended by WebGizmos , thanks man !! hetr is a copy paste of what happened ..



It took just under 30 minutes .. which is excellent ... !!

I will road-test the others too ... and keep you all updated as to how I got on ...

Once again thanks again folks !!

PS Has anybody else lost the edit button for their posts ?

woops mine just re-appeared ..Weird !

WebGiz is the Wiz my friend. I've been using Auslogic for quite some time now and for free it can't be beat. Why fix it if it ain't broke? Does the job in just under 30 min.

And really....if it does take a bit longer...start it just before you go to bed or something and let it do its thing. Unless of course you like watching the little blocks moving around.

Honestly.. its pretty much impossible to compare.. it completely depends on how fragmented your drive is to begin with.

Each defragger has it's own algorithm for defragging and optimization, so defrag times may vary greatly. I personally prefer the newest fully automatic defragmenters that defrag in real-time unlike older manual defraggers that need to be scheduled for late nights. Since the auto defraggers run using only idle resources, I can use the PC as usual even when multiple drives are being defragged. Very efficient and convenient- i never have to worry about when defrags begin or end, or spend any time defragging.

I agree!