Defragmenting a hard drive rearranges data so related information is stored together, making a computer run faster. To defragment a disk, select the disk, open Properties, select Tools, and hit Defrag Now. Analyze the disk first to see if it needs defragmentation.
When you defragment a disk on your computer, you help your computer run more efficiently so you can access your files faster. The disk that most often needs defragmentation is the hard drive. You can defragment a disk by selecting the disk you want and running the disk defragmenter program on your computer.
Computer memory can be thought of as a series of niches. When you save something to your hard drive, such as a file full of pictures, there may not be enough space in a hard drive, so your computer splits the file into individual pieces. Stick those pieces wherever there is space. Often this causes information from one file to be spread across several closets that aren’t even close to each other.
The problem comes when you try to open that file again. The computer has to search several closets before finding all the pieces of the file. This search takes time, which slows down your computer. When you defragment a disk, your computer rearranges your data so that related information is stored together, making your computer run faster.
To defragment a disk, first turn on your computer. Open the start menu in the lower left corner of the screen. Click on your computer. This will show you all the disks and some of the main files on your computer.
Using the right mouse button, click on the local disk (C:) icon. This is your hard drive. In the menu that opens, select Properties. This will show you a pie chart telling you how much space you have left on your hard drive. You must have free space on your hard drive to defragment a disk.
From the tabs at the top of the window, select Tools. This will give you three options: error checking, defragmentation and backup. Hit the Defrag Now button. This will open the disk defragmenter program.
To check if the disk really needs to be defragmented, click the analyze button at the bottom of the window. This will create a graph showing how the files are distributed on your hard drive. The program will also give you a recommendation to defragment or leave the disk alone.
If your disk needs to be defragmented, first make sure you are not running any other programs on your computer. Then press the defrag button at the bottom of the window. Depending on the amount of information saved on your hard drive, this process could take minutes or hours.
Wait for defragmentation to complete. Close the program. Now you can use your computer.
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