Defragmentation organizes files on a computer’s hard drive, improving performance and lifespan. Regular defragmentation is advised, with every two months being sufficient for average users. Defragmentation tools are included in most operating systems and can be accessed through System Tools or command line.
Over time and with regular use, the files and folders on a computer’s hard drive fail or become fragmented. When computer files are fragmented, they are usually disorganized and in the wrong place. This can cause your system to run slower and cause processing problems. Defragging your computer collects and organizes your files, which usually improves your computer’s recovery time and overall performance.
For example, a computer program must access various files on the hard drive each time it runs. If those files are scattered on opposite sides of your hard drive instead of neatly collected and organized, as they should be, your computer will have to work extra hard and take longer to access the information it needs. In some cases, severe defragmentation can even cause a program to stop running completely.
Defragging, also known as “defragging,” rearranges your hard drive by bringing together pieces of related data so that files are arranged contiguously. As a result, the computer system can access files more efficiently. By efficiently organizing your files and folders, defragmentation will leave your computer’s free space in one big block. This will save new files in an orderly manner, thus reducing the need for future defragmentation.
Advantages of defragmentation
As the overall size of disk drives continues to increase, regularly defragmenting a computer can even help increase its lifespan. A system has to work very hard to collect fragmented information on ever larger disks. Considering the amount of work involved, it seems likely that defragmentation could help a hard drive last much longer.
Although some computer experts argue that today’s operating systems are efficient enough to eliminate the need for defragmentation altogether, computer users are generally advised to defragment their systems on a regular basis. Average users will likely find that defragmenting every two months produces sufficient results. Users who experience frequent loss of efficiency and speed may choose to defragment more often.
How to defrag
All computer systems come with some type of defragmentation tool, commonly found in the “System Tools” option in Windows based PC environments. Such tools typically come with an analysis feature that will actually tell users whether or not their computers need defragmentation. You can also defragment disks from a “C prompt” command line using the “defrag” command. More information on how to defragment a computer should also be available on the Internet.
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