How to defragment local disks. How to defragment a disk and why do it? Hard disk structuring with built-in software
When you copy a new movie to your hard drive or install a program, information is written to different parts of the disk. Sometimes these fragments are located so far away that when accessing them, the read head has to seriously wander across the surface of the media - as a result, system performance is reduced.
To collect these scattered pieces of files on the HDD, you need to perform defragmentation. During this operation, parts of the recorded data are ordered, which makes accessing them faster.
Attention! If you have an SSD drive, then never run defragmentation! This operation will not bring any benefit and will reduce the storage resources of the drive.
If you use an HDD drive, you should definitely know how to defragment the disk. And not just know, but constantly put into practice to extend the life of your drive.
Standard Windows Tools
Windows developers know very well what your hard drive needs to last for a long time. correct operation, therefore, the operating system has a defragmentation function preinstalled.
Remember that for correct defragmentation, there must be at least 15% free space on the hard drive to collect files.
To use the built-in cleaning mechanism hard drive to avoid unnecessary fragments, you need to go to “My Computer”:
After a short diagnostic, the percentage of its fragmentation will appear next to the selected partition. If it is zero, then leave that disk alone and move on to next volume. Check all disks this way.
If you see that a partition is heavily fragmented, select it and click the “Disk Defragmenter” button.
The amount of time it will take to complete this operation depends on several indicators:
- Disk read and write speed.
- Amount of fragmented data.
- The total volume of the section.
The higher the values indicated, the longer you will have to wait. It is highly undesirable to interrupt the procedure, so plan to start it at a time when you definitely do not have to turn off the computer. 
For convenience, enable automatic defragmentation on a schedule. Click the “Enable Schedule” button and specify the frequency, day and time, and select the sections to which these settings will apply. 
After setting the necessary parameters, click “Ok” to save the new configuration.
Third party software
You can perform defragmentation using third party applications, fortunately, a huge number of them have now been released.
Among the free, proven utilities are programs such as Auslogics Disk Defrag,IObit Smart Defrag, Piriform Defragger, etc.
They all operate on the same principle, so let’s look at how they work using an example Auslogics Disk Defrag.
To perform defragmentation, check required section and click the "Defrag" button. 
IN Auslogics program Disk Defrag also has the ability to set a schedule - to do this, open the “Settings” menu and select the “Scheduler” item. 
To set a schedule, check the “Defragment automaticaly” checkbox, and then select the time and a specific disk partition (or all partitions). 
After saving the configuration, the program will automatically scan the disk and collect fragments from its surface in one place.
You learned about what defragmentation is, why and with what tools it needs to be done. But so that when doing this system operation there were no unexpected errors, it is recommended to follow the helpful tips below:
- Run defragmentation at least once every one to two months, especially if you constantly delete old files and write new ones.
- Do not perform other actions on the computer during this operation, so as not to distract the system from solving the task of putting things in order on the hard drive.
- Use whenever possible third party programs, as they provide a wider range of functions.
Defragmenting your hard drive is one way to speed up Windows computer 7, so don't forget about this useful system function. So you don't have to constantly monitor state of hard disk and its fragmentation, install automatic check Scheduled. This feature is available on all systems older than Windows Vista.
It happens that disasters begin on a completely new computer. Programs that launched in seconds a few months ago now make you wait to load. long time, and when copying or opening “heavy” files you have to wait so long that you don’t have enough patience. It is possible that the data on the disk has become fragmented. Read on to learn how to defragment a disk.
File system from the inside
The location of all data on the HDD has a certain sequence. It is ideal when one file is placed in adjacent sectors, but in practice this is not achievable. If you write several small files to disk, then delete one of them, and then copy a file whose size is several times larger than the size of the deleted one, some of the data will be written in place of the erased document, and some in free space- for other files. It turns out that information on the disk is stored in the form of pieces (fragments).
Any file is logically single, but physically it can be located in tens of thousands of different sectors. Considering that during operation, recording information in the operating system does not stop, very soon pieces of absolutely all files begin to be located far from adjacent sectors. In this case, reading a sequentially placed file is performed in one cycle.
If a file is fragmented, the disk head is constantly moving, trying to find all the pieces. Since it takes time to move the head and read each fragment, the computer may appear to be frozen. To deal with this problem, every operating system has a program to hard defragmentation disk.
Technical description
Defragmentation is the process of redistributing information on a hard drive, during which parts of files are moved into contiguous areas. That is, each fragment of one file follows the previous one. Defragmentation can increase the speed of reading information from the HDD. Accordingly, loading programs and the OS is also faster.
As noted earlier, a program built into the OS can perform hard drive maintenance. Disk defragmentation, however, should not be done too often. It is best to do it once every few weeks. But you shouldn’t delay this procedure for more than six months.
Some sites spread rumors that defragmentation wears out the disk excessively. But a HDD that is not properly maintained works at peak capacity all the time, and the defragmentation procedure lasts 2-3 hours (depending on the disk size).
How to defragment a disk?
To call staffing program to defragment, you need to open “My Computer” and click right click mouse on the icon of any logical drive. In the menu, select "Properties" and open the tab called "Service". After clicking on the "Defragmentation" button, a window with a list of disks will appear. By selecting one of them, you can perform defragmentation or pre-check the disk. When testing, the program will try to determine whether the disk needs to be serviced, and at the end of the work it will give a result with the percentage of file fragmentation.
Since disk defragmentation cannot be done in a few minutes (it takes several hours), it is best to perform maintenance when the computer is not needed for work.
Third party utilities
Many people scold standard program Windows for slowness and small quantity custom settings and refuse to use it, since disk defragmentation can be done using third-party tools. Among them, O&O Defrag and Auslogics Defrag are usually distinguished, which are recognized by the entire computer community as the best.
The performance of most programs and the entire system as a whole largely depends on the settings and condition of the hard drive, so every PC user should know how to defragment the disk.
One of the factors affecting performance permanent memory computer is fragmentation - separation of parts executable files into many segments, as a result of which the process of reading them slows down.
To eliminate this phenomenon, it is necessary to regularly carry out a defragmentation procedure, which moves individual blocks of program files into one row.
This process takes place entirely in automatic mode, and the user only needs to set a few initial settings.
This program, firstly, does not have serious restrictions for free version, and secondly, it consumes few system resources, which makes it one of the leaders in this segment.
- After the first launch of the program, it is recommended to translate it into Russian, which will facilitate further work. Why is it necessary to top panel select Setting and then Options and set the desired language.
Defraggler's main window is divided into three vertical zones. The top one contains information about logical drives and their characteristics. The average clearly demonstrates the degree of fragmentation of the selected disk.
And the bottom one contains several tabs with all sorts of options that contain data about various aspects operation of the hard drive and provide tools for working with it.
- Now let's take a closer look at each of the tabs. The first of them is the name of the disk that is selected on this moment from the list at the top of the main window. The amount of used/free memory is displayed on the right.
And on the left there are keys for launching a benchmark test (performance assessment) for the disk.
- In the next tab you can see a list of files located on the disk and sort them according to various criteria. And also conduct a selective analysis of each file to determine the degree of “spreading” across the section.
- The third tab allows you to search for files by name or size. This can be useful if you need to defragment individual important system files.
- On the Disk Map tab you can see a legend (decryption symbols) defragmentation map located in the middle of the main window.
- The Status tab displays various technical specifications hard drive, such as temperature, serial number, number of read errors, etc.
In order to fully understand what these numbers mean, the user will need to carefully study the technology of the structure and operation of hard drives.
- Last tab contains statistical information about all file system ordering procedures performed using Defraggler.
Defragmenting a hard drive is 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. Windows system breaks them into small pieces (they are called clusters) and writes them down 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?
Every version of Windows has 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. It depends on the quantity free space in a specific section and on 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 all local disks in turn (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.”
Why is it necessary to periodically defragment disks? When a computer writes information to HDD, it cannot perform this operation in a compact way. For example, one part of a file may be written at the beginning, while the rest of the file may be written to the end of the disc. Such fragmentation when writing files leads to, What computer programs start to work slowly because the computer spends more time recovering files from their fragments, which are distributed throughout the drive.
The defragmentation process arranges files and free space on storage devices in such a way as to reduce the time it takes to read these files. There are several hard drive defragmentation tools and one of these tools comes with operating system Windows.
It must be kept in mind that every Windows version has own information about using the information storage device. The following list shows the meaning of the zones on the disk, according to their color:
Performing a disk defragmentation
Defragmentation in Windows 7
Keep in mind that full defragmentation function drive in Windows 7 is performed automatically, however, if you want to do the process manually, you must follow the instructions below:
Windows 7 tools also allow you to program the timing of the defragmentation process. If you want to change day of week, when the process of organizing files is carried out, follow the instructions:
- Click on the “Create program” button;
- Open the days of the week menu;
- Select one of the days of the week;
- Click on the “Accept” button;
- Click on the "Close" button.
Defragmentation in other versions of Windows
Click on the icon "My computer" on the desktop. Right-click on the icon of the disk you want to defragment, for example, C. In the drop-down menu, select "Properties" and then select the option "Disk Properties", a dialog box will appear as a result. In the window that appears, click on the tab "Tools" and select the option "Defragment Now".
The defragmentation process should be performed from time to time, as mentioned above. After the process is completed pay attention to the output information. It is important to repeatedly defragment files that you use frequently and that have more than 20 fragments on your hard drive. There is no point in organizing files that you very rarely use.
If in information window a file has appeared that you usually use, and which consists of several fragments, you can use free tool to organize it individually, or organize a group of selected files. You can find this program on the Internet. She uses command line And launched by the "Run" command, which appears in home menu.
Disk defragmentation using the command line
Run a disk defragmenter program. In the menu that appears, select the option "Run". Write dfrg.msc in the window. You can also select the item in the initial menu "All programs", click on options "Extras", then select "System Tools" And "Disk Defragmenter".
Click on the button "Analyze" so you can see the disk damage and then look at the information. Before continuing the process, make sure that you have selected the drive whose files you want to organize, and then click on the button "Defragment disk" and wait for the process to complete.
