Few of our readers know, much less have used, such a useful procedure as disk defragmentation. In this article we will try to tell you about why you need to defragment and how to do it.

Why is disk defragmentation needed?

Before talking about the defragmentation process, it’s worth saying a few words about why disk defragmentation is needed at all. As you know, data on hard disk partitions is written sequentially, everything seems to be fine, but there is one problem. When you delete files, sequentially written areas remain empty place. When creating and copying new files, they are partially copied into the “empty areas” that contained the files that we deleted. The recorded files do not completely fill the empty areas, and as a result, in each such area there remains quite a lot of empty and “useless” space, which is displayed as occupied. If you consider that deleting and writing new files happens very often, you can imagine how much is lost in the process. free space.

Disk defragmentation “presses” the recorded files on the hard drive towards each other, thereby freeing up free space on the partition. It is important to note that defragmentation is a data-safe procedure. Site experts recommend defragmenting once every 2-3 months or every time you don’t have enough free space on a certain partition of your hard drive. Now let's look at how to defragment a disk in pictures, with step by step description of this process.

How to Defragment a Disk

Defragmenting a disk is quite simple. Let's look at an example of defragmenting a disk in Windows 8. Before defragmenting, delete unnecessary files from the partition you want to defragment and empty the trash. To defragment, click on required section hard drive right click mouse and select “Properties”.

In the window that opens, select the “Tools” tab and click on the “Optimize” button in the “Optimization and disk defragmentation” section.

A window with disk optimization settings will appear in front of you. Select the desired section and click on the “Analyze” button.

After analysis, click on the “Optimize” button to defragment this partition.

The duration of this process will depend on the fullness of the disk and the number of free areas.

The process status will be displayed as a percentage in the "current status" line. After you have defragmented, close the windows and continue working on your computer.

Defragmentation hard drive- a simple operation that few people perform. And completely in vain. After all, with its help you can optimize the operation of your computer or laptop, make it open programs and files faster, and also extend the life of the HDD drive itself. And no additional programs There is no need to install it, because it can be done using built-in Windows tools.

This procedure is performed only for ordinary HDD drives. It is not required for SSD drives. This can only speed up their wear and tear, but will not affect the performance of the PC in any way.

First, let's look at the question of what defragmentation is and why it is needed.

When using a computer, users create new files every day. The Windows system breaks them into small pieces (they are called clusters) and writes them sequentially one after another. With this arrangement they are read very quickly, i.e. The PC or laptop works quickly.

In the process of moving, copying and deleting files, these clusters are scattered across the hard drive in a chaotic manner. This process is called fragmentation. And it slows down your PC.

When a user runs a document, it takes time for the computer to find all the individual pieces and put them together. Only then will it open the requested file. This may take 5 seconds, which is quite a long time.

To return everything to its place (i.e., to place the scattered pieces next to each other), defragmentation is performed. Actually, this is what it is needed for - to organize clusters and optimize PC operation, at least for a while.

Why for a while? Because in the future you will again create, copy and delete documents, and the situation will repeat itself again.

Don't worry, all your documents, movies, games will remain where you saved them. They will not move anywhere and will not be deleted. This is just how a computer works: it breaks files into pieces and then places them in a certain sequence. The order of clusters only affects the speed of the PC. But this will not affect the files themselves in any way.

By the way, sometimes users confuse the concepts of “defragmentation” and “formatting”. Defragmentation simply organizes the clusters. And any external changes You won't notice at all, because all the files will remain in their places.

And formatting is complete removal data. For example, today they often format a flash drive in order to copy it onto it later. Windows image(from the license disk) and make it bootable.

Now that you know why defragmentation is needed, let's look at how to do it.

How to run disk defragmentation on Windows 7?

At any Windows versions There is a built-in defragmenter. And this program is enough to perform this procedure.

The program window that we need will appear.

Typically, the default schedule here is enabled so that all local drives are defragmented every Wednesday at 1 am. This is too common for home PCs and laptops, so you can click the “Customize schedule” button and uncheck the box. Or select the “Monthly” option in the “Frequency” item.

It is recommended at least once every 1-2 months. Although it depends on how intensively you create and delete files. You can perform it provided that the fragmentation is 20% or higher (read about this below).

Before proceeding directly to the procedure itself, select any local disk and click “Analyze”. The system will analyze and show how many% are fragmented. If it is 20% or more, click the “Defragmentation” button. If it’s less, you can do it later.

How long does disk defragmentation take? From a couple of minutes to 1-2 hours. This depends on the amount of free space in a particular partition and the percentage of fragmentation. The lower the first parameter and the higher the second, the longer it will take.

While performing the procedure, it is advisable not to install, copy, etc. anything. (best to run it during idle time). The maximum you can do is surf the Internet.

This procedure must be done for everyone local disks one by one (in my case there are 3 of them - C, D and E). After it’s finished, you can analyze it again and see the coveted line “0% fragmented” :)

Congratulations, now you know how to defragment a disk on Windows 7. Just don’t forget to do it at least once every 2 months.

Defragmenting a disk in Windows 8 is done in much the same way.

By the way, if you have installed SSD drive, then the built-in defragmenter simply will not allow you to perform this operation. It will be written there – “Optimization is impossible.”

Spending time eliminating defragmentation on your hard drive will help speed up slow computer. Personal computers(PCs) and laptops running in an operating environment Microsoft systems® Windows® come with software defragmentation, but may be needed for other operating systems third party programs. The software used to defragment your hard drive is easy to work with, but it can really tax your computer's processor and memory, and you have to wait to use it at times when you don't need your computer.
Your computer's operating system will dictate what steps you need to take to defragment your hard drive. For Windows® systems, you only need to open and run the defragmenter program. Running this hard drive defragmenter program regularly will help keep your computer running smoothly, especially when your hard drive gets full. Other operating systems do not include similar programs, but third party software is available for download.

Typical HDD The computer uses read/write heads to store and use information on the disk. When programs and files are first downloaded to your computer, the data is written to the same amount of disk space. When files are used, they usually do not change their location even when you delete them, and the files begin to spread across the entire disk. Once the disk becomes full, it becomes increasingly difficult to save files on it, and the computer writes information to any free space.

The computer keeps track of the location of all this information using a file management system. Older PCs use a system called File Allocation Table (FAT), but this system has been replaced new technology file system(NTFS). Fragmentation tends to be more problematic on computers that use NTFS, and speeds will likely increase dramatically when you perform a hard drive defragmentation that uses NTFS. NTFS reduces the effects of fragmentation, and there will also be benefits in more subtle ways.

To use programs or open files, the read/write head must assemble all necessary information. This is quick and easy to do when the file exists as single block, but when it is arranged as file chunks that are spread across the entire disk, the read/write head must physically move to each part of the disk, which slows down the process of reading information. Collecting pieces of fragmented files can add wear and tear to the HDD on your computer, which ultimately leads to costly repairs.

But, if you install a larger HDD in your PC, fragmentation becomes less harmful. Fragmentation occurs most often when the HDD volume approaches its maximum capacity. Adding volume through the use of internal or external hard drives, significantly increases the amount of available space so that files are less likely to be split into pieces, and they become less necessary to defragment the hard drive. When files or programs are transferred, they will be written to new disk as a defragmented file.

What is disk defragmentation?

Disk Defragmenter is the process of merging fragmented files on a hard drive.

Files on your hard drive become fragmented over time, whether they are saved, modified, or deleted. Changes made to the file are saved to other sectors of the hard drive remote from the location source file. Over time, fragmentation affects not only the file, but the entire hard drive. This slows down work, since to open a file you have to read information from different places on the hard drive.

Why do you need a disk defragmenter program?

A high degree of file fragmentation causes the hard drive to additional actions which slows down the work. Disk Defragmenter organizes fragmented files for easier efficient work, that is, a disk defragmentation program is needed to increase performance.

IN Windows there is a built-in Disk Defragmenter: Windows XP – \WINDOWS\system32\dfrg.msc; 40,1KB; Windows Vista – \Windows\System32\dfrgui.exe; 630KB. Third-party developers can also be used to defragment the disk.

The disk defragmentation program can run automatically (according to a specified schedule), but you can also run defragmentation manually.

How to run disk defragmentation manually

Click My computer –> select the desired disk;

– right button call –> Properties;

- in the window that opens Properties open the tab Service;

- In chapter Disk Defragmenter button Run defragmentation…;

- in the window that opens Disk Defragmenter click the button Defragmentation;

– wait for the defragmentation process to complete.

You can run defragmentation in another way: Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Defragmentation -> select the desired drive –> Defragmentation.

Notes

1. It is advisable to defragment the disk at least once a month.

2. Defragmentation not only improves performance and performance, but also extends the life of the hard drive.

3. Before defragmenting, it is advisable to check the disk.

4. Depending on the size of the drive and the degree of fragmentation of the files, defragmentation may take from several minutes to several hours.

5. Although in modern systems you can not interrupt work during defragmentation, it is still better not to do anything else during defragmentation. Therefore, it is convenient to run defragmentation during downtime, for example, at night.

6. Experienced users can use the command line tool defrag.exe (Disk Defragmenter Module; \WINDOWS\system32\defrag.exe; 69,0KB) to generate detailed reports and perform additional tasks.

For this:

– click Start -> Run... -> Run program -> cmd -> OK;

– will start Interpreter Windows commands ;

– switch (if necessary) the keyboard layout to EN;

– after the system invitation C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> enter the command defrag with the necessary keys:

defrag<том>[-a] [-f] [-v] [-?]

volume– Drive letter, or mount point (for example, d: or d:\vol\mpoint)

-a– Analysis only

-f– Defragmentation even with limited disk space

-v– Detailed results

Jan 10 2013

Hello friends. Congratulations to everyone on the past and upcoming holidays. In this article I decided to touch on the topic of how to defragment a disk.

We will launch defragmentation in two operating rooms Windows systems XP and Windows 7. Last time we looked at several methods.

In order to begin performing any actions related to changing programs, including defragmentation, you must have administrator rights. If you don't have them, then nothing will work out. At the end of the post I posted two video lessons, if you are interested you can watch them.

Why do you need defragmentation at all?

Defragmentation - this is the optimization and updating of the logical structures of your sections logical drives for storing files and correct location clusters on the hard drive. In other words, defragmentation is special program(utility) that is present in all operating systems Windows, it acts as a storekeeper and hard drive cleaner. For detailed description You can look up what defragmentation is on Wikipedia.

Defragmentation is needed in order to organize files and clusters located on the hard drive. After defragmentation, the load on the disk is reduced, thereby increasing its service life.

For the defragmentation program to work effectively, the local hard drive that you want to defragment must have at least 15% free (unused) space. If you have less than 15%, then I recommend transferring some of the information to another hard drive or storage medium.

Well, let's finally start defragmenting our hard drives.

Defragmentation in Windows XP

There are several ways to run defragmentation.

First way

The first thing you need to do is turn on your computer.

Go to Start >>> All Programs >>> Accessories >>> System Tools >>> Disk Defragmentation.

Second way

Go to Start >>> My Computer (or desktop).

Right-click on the desired local disk, with which we want to defragment.

Go to the very bottom Properties tab.

Go to Tools and click Defragment…

Third way

Press the magic key combination Win+R on your keyboard.

In the window that appears, enter the dfrg.msc command.

After which the defragmentation program should start. We got into the defragmentation program, select the desired local hard drive and click analyze.

Upon completion of the analysis (usually about a minute or two), a message appears about whether to defragment this volume or not.

Click on disk defragmentation and all you can do is wait. This process can take quite a while long time from half an hour or more. Everything will depend on the size of the hard drive and the extent to which it is filled with your data.

After the process is completed, the following window will appear: Disk defragmentation completed; you can click view the report and review the information.

How to defragment a disk in Windows XP | website

Defragmentation in Windows Vista and Windows 7

This method is almost no different from Windows XP, the only thing is that the interface is slightly different, and all the functions remain the same, with the addition of the ability to run disk defragmentation on a schedule.

You can use the first method from Windows XP, or these steps, which are described below.

Go to My Computer on the desktop or Start Menu.

Select the desired local disk.

Right-click on it and go to Properties.

Go to the Service tab.

Click Defragment…

The Disk Defragmenter window will open.

Can choose required volume and click Analyze disk.

It is possible to immediately begin defragmenting the desired volume.

Also appeared new feature Set up a schedule. You can choose a time convenient for you and defragmentation will start automatically according to a schedule.

How to defragment a disk in Windows 7 | website

Let's sum it up

Today we discussed in detail the topic of how to defragment disks. We learned what defragmentation is, why it is needed and what benefits it can bring to our computer.

If you still have or have any questions related to disk defragmentation, you can ask them below in the comments to this article, and also use the form with me.

Thank you for reading me on