Shake is a file-system independent defragmentation software. Shake is very effective for defragmenting the ext3 Linux file system as support for offline defragmentation has been removed in the ext3 file system. Shake runs in the userspace and not in the kernel space, probably uses library functions  instead of system calls.

Whether ext3 needs defragmentation or not is itself a hugely debated topic and in my opinion it does not need frequent defragmentation. But, any file system gets mixed and matched after prolonged usage. You can check the level of fragmentation using the fsck command for any mounted disk. Alternatively, you can also use shake to check fragmentation using

shake -pvv my_dir

To install Shake, follow the instructions here.

Shake is currently available as Debian .deb installers and redhat rpms.

Using shake:

Using shake is utterly simple.

shake directory-name defragments any directory.

shake full_path_to_mount_point defragments any mounted disk.

find -iname '*.mp3' | sort | shake defragments all the mp3 files in a drive and place them in lexical order.

You can try out more combinations for a powerful usage. Shake is a really cool application and is the most handy one in its category.

Techie Buzz Verdict:

Shake is a very useful application and is easier to use than most other defragmentation softwares. It also has capabilities for selective defragmentation and has a lot of customizable options.

Techie Buzz Rating: 3/5 ( Good)