What is disk defragmentation? Imagine you have important papers randomly scattered all over your desk—in order to find something, you have to go through the entire pile each time. If you took the time to organize them into files, you could quickly and easily find what you’re looking for. Computers tend to save changes to a file to the largest continuous space on the hard disk, which can often be in a different place than where other parts of the file are stored. Over time, your hard disk can become "fragmented," which means that your files are scattered in pieces across your hard disk. Every time you go to access a file, then, your computer must search the entire hard disk to find all the pieces related to that file. Excessive fragmentation slows down your computer's response time, so it's a good idea to defragment your hard disk regularly. Defragmentation sounds serious. Is it complicated? Not at all. Regularly defragmenting your hard disk helps your PC access files more quickly and efficiently. Analyze can assess the fragmentation level of your hard disk and then let you know if you need to defragment it (that is, reorganize the files on your hard disk) for better performance. With your files stored neatly, without fragmentation, your PC should be able to perform more quickly and efficiently. How do I defragment my hard disk? It’s easy—just be sure to close all other open programs, then double-click "My Computer > Right-Click "HDD Letter (normal is C):" > Properties > Tools (Tab) > Defragment" The the analyze feature will then check your hard disk for its level of fragmentation and if it’s more than 10% fragmented, I recommend that you defragment it. You can then choose to follow the recommendation or not. Keep in mind that defragmentation can take awhile; especially the first time you do it. You may want to do this when you don’t need to be using your computer. How often should I do this? I recommend a defragmentation once a month for optimal hard drive performance. {I also Highly reccomend "Diskeeper"}
you should basically do it after you load something new on your computer, or like me, after I get windows installed, and all updates, defrag time.
A note.. Diskeeper is probly the best one out there, but it is only a 30-day trial. Refer to masters pinned software thread for free defraggers. Nice post AKW.
Thanks, and yes, I suppose you could use a secondary type defragmentor. I also have no explored how to defrag in Macintosh version OSs.
Ooo your reminded me. Now...1gig left...*grabs dvd and starts burning* well there is a day gone trying to clear 15% of my hard drive to defrag
I defrag whenever my PC is acting sluggish....I can really tell when Counter Strike takes a long time to load ( Usually takes me 30 Seconds or less to have the game running full) But after I defrag, There is a noticable difference...
i read about this in gaming like a year ago it was about the psp and some one said u can do this to ur hdd i myself dont notice any speed or performance after doing this (maybe cuz i have 200 gb and only 30 is used up)
I do it regularly like every 2 weeks, or whenever I load something big, like Steam or PS. I dont notcie any speed diff, but it keeps it neat
yes ive been told that it is bad to defrag often, once a month is good enough and if you have a large hard drive then there isnt any need to, ex if you have 20 gigs used and ur hard drive is 250 gigs, no need to, its when u have a 25 gig hard drive and 20 of it is filled, but the more often you defrag, the less time it takes
You obviously didn't read what I said. I explained why you need to defragment often. Everything you said up there is completely false. The bigger the hard drive, the more and more likely the fragmentation.
