If I'm capturing an image with imagex.exe /capture ..., does it matter if I defrag the hard disk prior to doing so (or strictly speaking, before sysprep)? Is there any benefit to doing so with a file-based imager like this? Would there be any benefit to defragging after applying the image?
I am asking about defragging non-SSD drives. I believe defragging an SSD is generally considered a no-no.
No, you don't need to. Imagex.exe creates a WIM file which is a file-based disk image. It's not a disk clone so it won't take into account the way the disk space is used or where the free space is.
Same goes for applying the image to a machine - I doubt you would need to defrag.
On the flip side, defragging is definitely recommended when capturing block level images using Ghost or SCVMM P2V.
